I should just give up.

[MikeyD914]

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Just took my DAT the 2nd time. 17AA again. I seriously thought i was going to come out with a 21+ TS I thought i had maybe 6 questions max wrong in bio, 5-7 wrong GC and like 4-5 wrong in OC. I finished the science part with 21 minutes remaining and went over and over until time ran out. I seriously do not know what in the world happened.

My RC was the HARDEST thing ever. There was no straight up questions (maybe like 20/50. Numerous questions asking about things regarding the entire passage at once and each passage had 17+ paragraphs. I went from 19 last year to 16 this year.

I seroiusly thought i completely DESTROYED the PAT section. top front end, angles, keyholes, and cubes were so easy, ended up doing worse than last year again, from 19 -17

I should just give up my hopes and dreams of becomming a dentist. I seriously don't even know what to do with my life at this point. By far the worst day in my 23 years of living. I feel like I just completely hit rock bottom.

Funny thing is I graduated last year took. Bio major/chem minor. I did well in all of my science classes had 3.6 science gpa in classes like Microbiology, Neurology, Biochem 1 and 2, Immunology.

It's not like I didn't know the material. If you ask me anything from Bio I could tell you everything. I pretty much know the 80 pages of feralis notes by heart. Orgo i thought I did WAy better on i got a 20 on it.

last year
17 bio
17gc
20 oc
19 pat
19 rc
14qr

today
17 bio
17gc
20 oc
17 pat
16 rc
14 qr

I am just so bummed out. I had a lot of disturbances throughout my study time with people being sick. family issues, etc.

What should I do?

 

[hope_to_match]

First of all...breath! take a few days to clear your mind before you make any decisions. But definitely do not give up!

 

[supergenius310]

Just took my DAT the 2nd time. 17AA again. I seriously thought i was going to come out with a 21+ TS I thought i had maybe 6 questions max wrong in bio, 5-7 wrong GC and like 4-5 wrong in OC. I finished the science part with 21 minutes remaining and went over and over until time ran out. I seriously do not know what in the world happened.

My RC was the HARDEST thing ever. There was no straight up questions (maybe like 20/50. Numerous questions asking about things regarding the entire passage at once and each passage had 17+ paragraphs. I went from 19 last year to 16 this year.

I seroiusly thought i completely DESTROYED the PAT section. top front end, angles, keyholes, and cubes were so easy, ended up doing worse than last year again, from 19 -17

I should just give up my hopes and dreams of becomming a dentist. I seriously don't even know what to do with my life at this point. By far the worst day in my 23 years of living. I feel like I just completely hit rock bottom.

Funny thing is I graduated last year took. Bio major/chem minor. I did well in all of my science classes had 3.6 science gpa in classes like Microbiology, Neurology, Biochem 1 and 2, Immunology.

It's not like I didn't know the material. If you ask me anything from Bio I could tell you everything. I pretty much know the 80 pages of feralis notes by heart. Orgo i thought I did WAy better on i got a 20 on it.

last year
17 bio
17gc
20 oc
19 pat
19 rc
14qr

today
17 bio
17gc
20 oc
17 pat
16 rc
14 qr

I am just so bummed out. I had a lot of disturbances throughout my study time with people being sick. family issues, etc.

What should I do?

Hey man, don't give up. What exactly went wrong on the exam? You seemed to be rock solid ready for it too. You seemed to have used the highly used DAT material that is available. Was it the nerves or was the exam really that hard? You still have a chance to retake a third time, so don't lose hope just yet. Let us know what you are feeling and maybe we'll give you some suggestions.

 

[kiki23]

No you got this! Don't EVER give up on your dream!!!.. This early in the game! So you didn't get the score you want, pick yourself up and try again! Take a day or two off figure out how you can study better this time around and DO IT! You have to be your number one cheerleader and motivator! know that it is possible for you to achieve a higher score! BELIEVE! You got this!

 

[john616]

I would definitely don't give up now. Did you change anything in your study habits when you took it for the second time?

 

[MikeyD914]

Hey man, don't give up. What exactly went wrong on the exam? You seemed to be rock solid ready for it too. You seemed to have used the highly used DAT material that is available. Was it the nerves or was the exam really that hard? You still have a chance to retake a third time, so don't lose hope just yet. Let us know what you are feeling and maybe we'll give you some suggestions.

i have every thing. bootcamp, qvault, topscore, destroyer 2012 chads. CDP

i just seriously dont know what went wrong. to be honest i didnt even touch destroyer or math destroyer, i only did the first 2 exams for math destroyer and just looked at the roadmaps for orgo.

I have no choice but to email all my schools again and tell them I will be retaking in november 26th again.

I am going to do destroyer like 5 times and get achiever the next time. Im gonna practice all the CDP exams until I get a 30 in each exam (have all 10 exams software doesnt expire)

I need to learn math desperately .

I know I should of changed my study habits different but I was running out of time i should of extended my exam to 2-3 weeks from now i know i could of finished studying for math and solidified all of my sciences and PAT.

I just don't know what happened? I wasn't even nervous during the exam I was excited because I thought I was doing pretty damn good!!! ESPECIALLY in Sciences and PAT!!!!!!!!!

 

[paymaant]

Are you planning on applying this cycle? If not, just take a couple months to get your mind off the DAT and then get back into study mode just in time to have your scores ready for next year's application cycle. Having a negative outlook on this isn't going to help you. Having the right mindset is always key!

 

[supergenius310]

i have every thing. bootcamp, qvault, topscore, destroyer 2012 chads. CDP

i just seriously dont know what went wrong. to be honest i didnt even touch destroyer or math destroyer, i only did the first 2 exams for math destroyer and just looked at the roadmaps for orgo.

I have no choice but to email all my schools again and tell them I will be retaking in november 26th again.

I am going to do destroyer like 5 times and get achiever the next time. Im gonna practice all the CDP exams until I get a 30 in each exam (have all 10 exams software doesnt expire)

I need to learn math desperately .

I know I should of changed my study habits different but I was running out of time i should of extended my exam to 2-3 weeks from now i know i could of finished studying for math and solidified all of my sciences and PAT.

I just don't know what happened? I wasn't even nervous during the exam I was excited because I thought I was doing pretty damn good!!! ESPECIALLY in Sciences and PAT!!!!!!!!!

It might have just been bad luck? I would definitely suggest going through destroyer...I mean if so many people who scored well on here used it...then I think it's the key to your success.

 

[MikeyD914]

Are you planning on applying this cycle? If not, just take a couple months to get your mind off the DAT and then get back into study mode just in time to have your scores ready for next year's application cycle. Having a negative outlook on this isn't going to help you. Having the right mindset is always key!

I already applied in June. including the secondary apps. I should of waited i spent a lot of money

 

[helloworld9]

Don't give up hope! Maybe it was just an unlucky draw and a lot of hard questions popped up in one test (I'm not exactly sure if that's how it works but it's a possibility!)

You said you didn't touch Destroyer which may have been a stumbling block since it really grinds things into your head. Without asking about your scores for Bootcamp, TSP, and Qvault, did they reflect the scores you got? If so then...that's rather fishy. But if not, they could tell you something else about either how you take tests or the accuracy of the materials, and even uncover certain strategies that worked or didn't work.

In hindsight it's easy to get down on yourself for what you could have done, but it's in the past now and since you've graduated you're free from the stresses of studying for finals and midterms so you can focus the entirety of your time and energy for the third attempt! (unless you're working, but still I think that would be less stressful than being in school and having to study) Don't get discouraged or give up! As they always say "third time's the charm" so keep your chin up! The OFFICIAL deadline is December and some schools have an alternate list if you look really good that will guarantee a spot for next year so it's worth a shot!

 

[MikeyD914]

Don't give up hope! Maybe it was just an unlucky draw and a lot of hard questions popped up in one test (I'm not exactly sure if that's how it works but it's a possibility!)

You said you didn't touch Destroyer which may have been a stumbling block since it really grinds things into your head. Without asking about your scores for Bootcamp, TSP, and Qvault, did they reflect the scores you got? If so then...that's rather fishy. But if not, they could tell you something else about either how you take tests or the accuracy of the materials, and even uncover certain strategies that worked or didn't work.

In hindsight it's easy to get down on yourself for what you could have done, but it's in the past now and since you've graduated you're free from the stresses of studying for finals and midterms so you can focus the entirety of your time and energy for the third attempt! (unless you're working, but still I think that would be less stressful than being in school and having to study) Don't get discouraged or give up! As they always say "third time's the charm" so keep your chin up! The OFFICIAL deadline is December and some schools have an alternate list if you look really good that will guarantee a spot for next year so it's worth a shot!

i forgot to mention. i did lower than all of my bootcamp, topscore, and qvault exams. i was averaging between 17-19 on them. averaged 18-19 on topscore exams 1-2-3

 

[helloworld9]

Hmmm I don't want to dwell on the past too much, but looking ahead you have a couple options! First of course being you retake and knock it out of the ballpark! Not saying that this is going to be an easy task, but you know what you did wrong and there's countless breakdowns on SDN that could give you a good study schedule for the next 90 days that would certainly help!

I'm surprised because based on what everyone says, Bootcamp, TSP and Qvault are all pretty indicative of the actual test, but that really is weird...I got 19's on TSP and that's what I got on the first time DAT (i'm retaking too)
The only thing I can think of is that maybe your foundation needs to be stronger, not just taking those tests but understanding why all the answers are right and even knowing why the wrong ones are wrong. But enough of that talk.

To be completely honest, completing your app with your scores in November is very late and depending on what school you want to get into, you may have a better chance taking a year to shadow/work and study to apply early for next year's cycle. Not to be doubtful! But just my honest opinion. If you find the motivation in yourself to take it again however it would never hurt. They will take your scores from this November for next year's cycle, and all the material will still be fresh in your head since you just took it! (not to mention you can be done with it finally and sell your books or something) So either way it's kinda like a win-win situation! But hope is still there so don't give up!

 

[djtiesto14]

Very well said.

I feel your pain, OP.

I took DAT 4 times before I did well on the 5th time. Although I also had my own reasons in the previous 4 times that distracted me from studying (working full-time, raising a child, etc), at the end of the day, the cold truth is that no one really cares.

Now, considering you already paid for the secondary application fee as well, a retake will be a more sensible route under the premise that you will score well the next time. Find what you did wrong this time around, and make sure you are not repeating the same pattern for the next exam.

For whatever reason, if you give up on this cycle, do NOT lose hope !!
You have a pretty solid GPAs, but build up your applications to be stronger by doing more volunteering/extracurricular, taking upper division science classes, do a master program, and etc, so that even if you end up with say, a 18 AA, other parts of your application will complement the DAT score.

Good luck.

 

[Koalafied]

Just took my DAT the 2nd time. 17AA again. I seriously thought i was going to come out with a 21+ TS I thought i had maybe 6 questions max wrong in bio, 5-7 wrong GC and like 4-5 wrong in OC. I finished the science part with 21 minutes remaining and went over and over until time ran out. I seriously do not know what in the world happened.

My RC was the HARDEST thing ever. There was no straight up questions (maybe like 20/50. Numerous questions asking about things regarding the entire passage at once and each passage had 17+ paragraphs. I went from 19 last year to 16 this year.

I seroiusly thought i completely DESTROYED the PAT section. top front end, angles, keyholes, and cubes were so easy, ended up doing worse than last year again, from 19 -17

I should just give up my hopes and dreams of becomming a dentist. I seriously don't even know what to do with my life at this point. By far the worst day in my 23 years of living. I feel like I just completely hit rock bottom.

Funny thing is I graduated last year took. Bio major/chem minor. I did well in all of my science classes had 3.6 science gpa in classes like Microbiology, Neurology, Biochem 1 and 2, Immunology.

It's not like I didn't know the material. If you ask me anything from Bio I could tell you everything. I pretty much know the 80 pages of feralis notes by heart. Orgo i thought I did WAy better on i got a 20 on it.

last year
17 bio
17gc
20 oc
19 pat
19 rc
14qr

today
17 bio
17gc
20 oc
17 pat
16 rc
14 qr

I am just so bummed out. I had a lot of disturbances throughout my study time with people being sick. family issues, etc.

What should I do?

How are you approaching the RC?

 

[steiner2]

Just took my DAT the 2nd time. 17AA again. I seriously thought i was going to come out with a 21+ TS I thought i had maybe 6 questions max wrong in bio, 5-7 wrong GC and like 4-5 wrong in OC. I finished the science part with 21 minutes remaining and went over and over until time ran out. I seriously do not know what in the world happened.

My RC was the HARDEST thing ever. There was no straight up questions (maybe like 20/50. Numerous questions asking about things regarding the entire passage at once and each passage had 17+ paragraphs. I went from 19 last year to 16 this year.

I seroiusly thought i completely DESTROYED the PAT section. top front end, angles, keyholes, and cubes were so easy, ended up doing worse than last year again, from 19 -17

You must've used Crack like me. It surprised the crap out of me how bad I did too after breezing through Crack.
Sometimes, you psych yourself out too. I think that's why I did poorly in the 2 sections I knew I was not going to do well in....and yup, I fulfilled it.

 

[starnova]

you're still very young
retake the DAT, there's always hope

 

[MikeyD914]

You guys are truly the best

 

[MikeyD914]

How are you approaching the RC?

Omg I was freaking out. I tried read the passage but there were so many paragraphs I was wasting so much time. I ended up resorting back to search and destroy and boy. It destroyed me for sure. I ended up running out of time so I guessed on like 8-9 questions.

 

[Koalafied]

Omg I was freaking out. I tried read the passage but there were so many paragraphs I was wasting so much time. I ended up resorting back to search and destroy and boy. It destroyed me for sure. I ended up running out of time so I guessed on like 8-9 questions.

Then don't freak out. Have you ever just tried critical reading?

 

[emitpeels]

How did you study? How many practice tests did you do?

 

[DrRoyal Pains]

Don't give up. If you REALLY want to be a dentist, you will accomplish your goals. While I was studying for the DAT, the way I looked at it was that I have spent way too much time and WAY too much money to let some stupid standardized test stop me from achieving my goals in life. You should take a few months off and do nothing but study, if it is possible for you to do that. You should know the material like the back of your hand, and when I say that, you should know it well enough to teach it to someone else. Also, do not overlook studying for the qr section. If you can do well enough in the sciences, it won't hinder your academic average, but if your science scores are average to below average, a bad qr score can make or break you. For RC, you need to experiment with different strategies. I used a combination of two strategies. One was I just READ the passage, take notes on each paragraph, and proceed to the questions. If I am running out of time, I went straight to the questions, wrote down keywords, and proceeded to read the passage. That worked well enough to get me a 20 in RC. Also, read anything and everything scientific you can get your hands on. Good luck to you.

 

[game33]

Don't give up my brother.....I definitely know that feeling. Last fall when I took it I went into the exam thinking I knew enough to get at least an 20 TS and ended up getting an 18 TS and I also did bad in RC and QR. I know it hurts and you feel hopeless but at least you have one more chance. I would clear my mind for like a week or 1.5 than get back to studying if you want to get in for next cycle. However if you want to wait and take time off then reapply next cycle, its totally up to you. I wouldn't give up if you still have a chance to take it a third time. DON'T GIVE UP. Have faith in the Al-mighty and everything will work out. Good Luck

 

[Luna724]

As far as the PAT section goes, CDP definitely was not even close to preparing me well for the real thing. For sure go through all the Qvault PAT before the exam and I can guarantee you will score 20+ on the real thing.

 

[Toadesque]

The RC section can be a nightmare. If you get easy questions the section can be a breeze such as facts explicitly stated in the passage or the tone, but if you get questions that ask you to form inferences or conclusions based on an experiment described in the passage...oh boy. This happened to me last time and I felt like breaking the computer screen right there. One after another I got a sequence of questions that were basically asking the same thing each time but with one variable changing in the experiment described and it was basically impossible to answer in the time given. I went from a 22 on my first time taking the exam to an 18

 

[Frank22]

Your only exceedingly poor score was your QR, and there are a number of schools who could care less about that score. Use your first scores and have a solid science GPA and you'll be fine. Don't worry about all of the scores over 20 on this forum; they are the exception and not the rule.

 

[ssd90]

Dont give up!! I took the DAT 3 times. I didnt take it seriously the first time around, second time I studied but still got a 19 aa..... the third time I scored a 21 AA with all sections being above 20 (except an 18 in QR). Take it the third time but this time study your butt off. 3rd times a charm 🙂

 

[tneimar]

I just read your story to my mom, who is a dentist for 20 years, and she asked me to tell you the following: "Based on the little bit of life experience I have had, I have no doubt that your knowledge is complete and profound, the only thing is that you need to let go of your nerves and dont give a S***. (lol) You are putting way too much stress on your head, and that's what gave you that score. Go ahead and apply and retake it in December, you will be slightly behind but it is worth a shot. Whatever you do, don't give up- dentistry is much bigger than the DAT."

Lol so DONT GIVE UP!!!! Im retaking it next week and Im iffy. And I have a friend who applied last year in December and she ended up getting in to USC. Everything happens for a reason!!!

 

[MikeyD914]

thanks for the support fellas! I really want to rock the DAT so bad! Destroyer will be incorporated into my brain by 2 months. Im gonna also get achiever this time i know its hard but if i do good on achiever i should do good on the exam. I dont think i should get qvault again because by this time i remember every answer by heart so it will be no point. ill get PAT and RC from qvault and thats it. same for bootcamp i memorize the entire science sections.

 

[tneimar]

thanks for the support fellas! I really want to rock the DAT so bad! Destroyer will be incorporated into my brain by 2 months. Im gonna also get achiever this time i know its hard but if i do good on achiever i should do good on the exam. I dont think i should get qvault again because by this time i remember every answer by heart so it will be no point. ill get PAT and RC from qvault and thats it. same for bootcamp i memorize the entire science sections.

Also, if you really want it, you can get there. To be a good dentist or even getting into dental school isnt all about the numbers... they want people who can work well with others and who have compassion. We aren't robots, and unless you want to go into research, an extensive amount of prep and study time doesn't determine anything in real life. This is ONLY for school. we will have to make decisions based on experience and good judgement later in the game... so as long as your driven, willing, and passionate... then you will get there. I have no doubt! 🙂👍

 

[MikeyD914]

Also, if you really want it, you can get there. To be a good dentist or even getting into dental school isnt all about the numbers... they want people who can work well with others and who have compassion. We aren't robots, and unless you want to go into research, an extensive amount of prep and study time doesn't determine anything in real life. This is ONLY for school. we will have to make decisions based on experience and good judgement later in the game... so as long as your driven, willing, and passionate... then you will get there. I have no doubt! 🙂👍

your 100 percent right. There are people who get denied in plenty of schools even while having a 22 or 23 AA because its not about how smart you are, its about how you interact with people, how determined you are and how hard working you are. Some people are just naturally very smart and excel academically but that's not always the best thing. You need to have the personalltiy and compassion to actually succeed and be very hard working, Which is how I am and I have the application to back it up. My application is great I just need to up my score about 2 points and that should be it! I'm going to do everything I can and expose myself to every material possible and master it. I will not give up!!

 

[Toadesque]

It is true that stats aren't everything. They might get you the interview but if you can't communicate with people properly the interviewers will eliminate you just like that (based on what my friends have told me who conduct d-school interviews)

 

[gn4]

don't give up buddy