Is this going to be enough? Breakdown

[Nateftw]

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Hey guys, I just got back from my DAT 20 minutes ago. And.. well, I REALLY don't want to take my DAT again. First off, I would like to say that the Bio section was NOTHING like Kaplan.. I applied for this cycle, and schools have everything but my scores. But anyways. Here is my breakdown

PAT-23
QR-22
RC-16 🙁 <- completely ran out of time, and guessed on last 10 q.
BIO-19
GC-21
OC-23
TS-21
AA-20

sGPA 3.61
cGPA 3.55
bcpGPA 3.68

I really don't want to take this again.... I can't say it enough. I really really really really don't want to take it again. But I might have to, too late of an applicant and I might have to apply next year. And I know dental schools are going to ask "why didn't you retake your DAT." Sorry for the venting. Input appreciated. Thanks

 

[dentdavis]

do you mind posting a breakdown?

 

[dentalml]

When you say bio section was nothing like Kaplan, do you mean it's way harder?
My bio score in kaplan sucks and if the real thing is that much harder...i'm screwed 🙁

 

[Nateftw]

do you mind posting a breakdown?

Sure, I can try. First off, I used Kaplan, and Achiever as my main study resources. I studied for about 2 months, at around 3-4 hours per day for 6 days a week. I always took 1 day off. I basically stopped studying 2 days before the exam.

BIO- It was really random, you just need to know everything. It was not similar to Kaplan at all, but is similar to Achiever exams 4 and 5. I studied for this section the MOST, and got one of my lowest scores on it. I thought I knew everything that I needed to know...guess not.

GChem- 50% calculations mainly just dealing with Molarity. The rest of it was basic stuff like rank by size, boiling point, etc. Overall, pretty easy. Just like Kaplans stuff.

OChem- Don't remember too much here. It was pretty basic though. Organic Chemistry by Paula Bruice is by far, the best Ochem text that I have used. I definitely recommend it if anyone is having troubles on Ochem.

PAT: The angle ranking, and pattern folding was more difficult than Kaplans, and more similar to achiever. The Top-front-end questions, and keyholes were much easier on the real exam, and more similar to Kaplan.

RC: I didn't really study for this section, as it shows. But I feel like reading is something you develop over time. To me, it really depended on the passages that I was reading. On some passages I would get 80%+ and on others, I would get under 50%. On the actual test, I completely ran out of time, so I guessed on the last 10, and barely read through the questions.

QR: I was surprised that most of the questions were pretty simple, and much easier than...basically everything. The calculator also made this section really easy. I used it for almost everything (despite people saying not to). It is a little laggy sometimes, but I was just careful, and made sure that it registered every number entry.

 

[Nateftw]

When you say bio section was nothing like Kaplan, do you mean it's way harder?
My bio score in kaplan sucks and if the real thing is that much harder...i'm screwed 🙁

Yeah, it was harder. There was a lot of things that were simply not covered by Kaplan. The rest of kaplan is a pretty good representation though! (aside from pat angle ranking). So don't sweat it. I would just recommend skimming through a real Biology textbook.

But also, don't they change every test? So the exam you get might be much more like Kaplan..you never know?

 

[r8 dds]

Wow, you kinda have scores like mine, except you have a point higher in GC and QR! Darn! I'm wondering about the same thing as to whether or not to retake! The 16 in RC, will surely be looked at. Other than that, the scores are pretty good!

 

[oliveira8]

.

 

[Nateftw]

I'm in the same boat you are. I applied late (and for this cycle), and took the test today. I scored a 21AA, 20TS, 23PAT... I'm just hoping those scores will be enough for this cycle.

But I totally agree with you on Kaplan. I took the Kaplan course and kind of regret it. I did not use Destroyer or any other prep material, and think my money would have been spent better on these courses rather than Kaplan. The Kaplan course made me feel confident, but I felt biology (especially) and chemistry were kind of off as far as material they provided. Also, angle rankings and hole punching were significantly harder today as compared to the Kaplan test.

Yeah, the Kaplan classroom was pretty bad. My teacher actually didn't know what she was talking about sometimes. I found myself correcting her, because I didn't want her giving out the wrong information to the class. After a while, I realized I couldn't trust what she said, so I had question marks drawn everywhere to remind myself to look up when I get home about anything that she said that seemed questionable.

Good luck to you, we seem to be in the same exact boat. I hope we both get in somewhere!

 

[yappy]

Seems like if you guys dont get in... it will NOT be because of your DAT. GL with your apps. and congratz.