I need your advise

[Sunshine2]

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Hey guys I am scheduled for a DAT retake Nov. 25 and I am considering waiting until next year. Let me tell you why and see what you think. I will graduate May'09 and wanted to enter dental school Aug. '09 so now I am in a time crunch to retake DAT and apply for this round. I took DAT in Aug. and made AA 16 (very disappointed). For a number of reasons out of my control the uninteruppted 3 months of study this summer didn't happen and I freaked when it came test time. Now I am looking at 10 weeks to prepare again while taking a full load at school this semester. I don't want another poor score on my record and I am beginning to question whether it is realistic to try to be ready by Nov. Do any of you think if I took Kaplan online I could be ready by Nov? I really don't want to wait another year to apply but now I am questioning whether it is worth risking another poor score if a I am not ready by Nov. Open for advise. Please help.

 

[klutzy1987]

Kalpan online is a waste of time, I would say get your own materials and study yourself. Get Cliffs, Destroyer, Crack DAT and MATH, Achiever, and maybe topscore and schaums. If you feel lik you need a background refresh in the chemistries maybe get Kaplans or review a textbook. Otherwise just buckle down and hit the books, Kaplans is too time consuming and is way to easy to be worth the money. You are in a rush and need to manage your time, avoid Kaplan at all costs unless you really know zero chemistry in which case destroyer will be too difficult.

 

[Orgodox]

I am not sure hoe busy your semester is. I studied during the spring semester but still needed 5 weeks to prepare once the summer came. I dont think you will have enough time to devote to serious study while having to attend classes and also keep your grades up. Remember you will have midterms one month before your test and I assume you will have to study hard for them. Are you really good at math or PAT or RC? If you are you might have a better shot but if not I dont think you can legitimately imrpove on all those areas while studying for science during the semester. I also don think Kaplan is the way to do it personally. Their stuff is very hard (harder actually) but good for gen chem and okay for orgo but while its comprehensive for bio, much of it is off the mark. Try and get some stuff thats more focused especially since your tight on time
Good luck

 

[achilles2]

Kalpan online is a waste of time, I would say get your own materials and study yourself. Get Cliffs, Destroyer, Crack DAT and MATH, Achiever, and maybe topscore and schaums. If you feel lik you need a background refresh in the chemistries maybe get Kaplans or review a textbook. Otherwise just buckle down and hit the books, Kaplans is too time consuming and is way to easy to be worth the money. You are in a rush and need to manage your time, avoid Kaplan at all costs unless you really know zero chemistry in which case destroyer will be too difficult.

no way I'll agree the kaplan classroom classes aren't the best unless you have an awesome teacher but the online stuff I will defend....I felt it helped me a great deal. Practice tests were spot on and the subject tests were great....there is no replacement for great practice questions esp on an interface similar to the electronic testing conditions that the DAT uses.....

I'd agree with crack DAT PAT kaplan was HORRIBLE for PAT.....destroyer is also useful for practice questions...

 

[Contach]

I whole-heartedly disagree with Klutzy134324. Kaplan Online stuff was the best. It was also the best practice for getting used to looking at a screen and answering questions. The explanations were great as well. You may need to supplement it with some further readings on wiki, sdn, or some text.

I agree with achilles.

I'm praising Kaplan even after I'm bitter about paying a grand for the course. (If that tells you how much of a redeeming quality the online materials are to Kaplan).

 

[Contach]

Hey guys I am scheduled for a DAT retake Nov. 25 and I am considering waiting until next year. Let me tell you why and see what you think. I will graduate May'09 and wanted to enter dental school Aug. '09 so now I am in a time crunch to retake DAT and apply for this round. I took DAT in Aug. and made AA 16 (very disappointed). For a number of reasons out of my control the uninteruppted 3 months of study this summer didn't happen and I freaked when it came test time. Now I am looking at 10 weeks to prepare again while taking a full load at school this semester. I don't want another poor score on my record and I am beginning to question whether it is realistic to try to be ready by Nov. Do any of you think if I took Kaplan online I could be ready by Nov? I really don't want to wait another year to apply but now I am questioning whether it is worth risking another poor score if a I am not ready by Nov. Open for advise. Please help.

you can finish the kaplan online things in a week. But that's probably not doing justice to it, because like I said, you should be supplementing it with outside readings when you don't know a topic.

Just study man. Study really hard and you'll get a really good score. Study moderately hard and you will get a decent score. Try and find shortcuts and don't study nearly as much as you could have, and end up regretting it.

 

[rdhdds1]

Hey guys I am scheduled for a DAT retake Nov. 25 and I am considering waiting until next year. Let me tell you why and see what you think. I will graduate May'09 and wanted to enter dental school Aug. '09 so now I am in a time crunch to retake DAT and apply for this round. I took DAT in Aug. and made AA 16 (very disappointed). For a number of reasons out of my control the uninteruppted 3 months of study this summer didn't happen and I freaked when it came test time. Now I am looking at 10 weeks to prepare again while taking a full load at school this semester. I don't want another poor score on my record and I am beginning to question whether it is realistic to try to be ready by Nov. Do any of you think if I took Kaplan online I could be ready by Nov? I really don't want to wait another year to apply but now I am questioning whether it is worth risking another poor score if a I am not ready by Nov. Open for advise. Please help.

Well Sunshine2 the advice seems pretty simple. Do what you are comfortable with.

I know how hard it is to work full time, go to school and then try and study for the DAT in a condensed amount of time. However, it is doable. I don't suggest it though. There are to many things on your plate and not being able to focus your time on studying that is needed for the DAT will limit you in your success.

My advice if you are to retake in Nov/Dec. Start studying now. Go over your dat scores and figure out which areas you truly need imporvement on. I mean if you got a 20+ PAT then just review but do not try and relearn all apsects of that part of the test. The same goes for other sections.

Grab supplemental material like CliffsAP bio, Destroyer, renew TS (if you have it and it has expired or will expire) jsut opt keep your speed and timing up, Schaums and ensure that you go throguh your old texts for additional problems. Kaplan online is a good idea as well.

When I took Kaplan I felt that the classroom aspect was truly not worth the time or money. However, the online was spot on. For most of us who took Kraplan the consensus is if we had to do it again we would 1) save our money and not take it or 2) only do the online.

The choice is yours and only you can make the decision that is right for your situation.

 

[Sunshine2]

Thanks to all for the advise. The reason I am so curious about the Kaplan online is because after reviewing my weakness I realized that two things hurt me 1) test taking technique and 2) stress (lack of sleep prior to test and nerves). I felt comfortable with the material presented but couldn't finish the sections on time. I know that I have to work on my speed. I have tons of material, Barrons, Kaplan blue book, Cliffs DAT, Topscore, and DAT destroyer(which I didn't get my hands on until a week before the test). If I could just develop some speed and confidence! I know I can do this. I think I will have to sleep on it for a few more days before I make a decision. Thanks again for the advise.

 

[paul510psu]

Kaplan online materials are fairly comprehensive (they helped me get the score that I got anyways), but I would not suggest studying them exclusively.

If I were you I would not rush my DAT re-take because another 16AA on your record would effectively end your dream of dental school. I would make sure that I was ready for a retake. However, to do this you're going to have to take a year "off". Find a research position or something at your school, or better yet, find a dentist that will help you learn about dentistry through hands on experience.

Good luck with your decision.