June 3 DAT (3 weeks later.. and I'm finally done with DAT :D!)

[lazybummy]

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So yayyy finally done. I want to say thanks to every1 who's been answering my questions throughout. (Chem,bio,orgo) etc. U guys were awesome. I constantly check this forum to compare my score to every1 else's.. on the practice exams to hopefully predict how mine will go.. so i'm going to post mine and my study tips to help others too.

My official DAT score:
PAT-22 (93.8)
Bio -21 (95.5)
Gen Chem - 22 (95.2)
Orgo - 19 (75.7)
Reading C - 21 (88.9)
QR - 20 (95.1)
TS - 21 (96.2)
AA - 21 (97.2)


3.5 weeks.. that's all it takes. I didn't really study every single day... so maybe 2.5-3 weeks is really enuff.

PAT - I practiced with achiever and topscore. It was much easier than achiever.. but a bit harder than topscore. I constantly told myself to speed up.. the first two sections really sucked up my time.. I was unsure about 14/15 of my angle questions.. i was used to doing them with me touching the monitor.. then i realized i couldn't do that in the exam... so meh. I'm happy with this section.

Biology - i was surprised that i got a 21.. seriously during the exam.. i was shaking sooooo badly that i couldn't really focus at first lol. I was unsure about 7 of the questions.. i swear i thought i was going to get a 17 or something. I used Campbell study guide + kaplan for this section. A lot of application on my test.... nothing really random tho.

Gen Chem - I studied by .. practicing with achiever and topscore. I skimmed thru Examkrackers Gen Chem + Kaplan bluebook to understand some concepts. Nothing much was done. Surprised i did well in this section too.. it's been 3 years since i took gen chem.

Orgo - a lot of crazy reactions.. I wasn't too sure about a lot of my answers. I also been scoring the lowest on all my practice exams in this section too.. so a 19 is good enuff for me 🙂. I used examkrackers orgo to understand the concepts.. but it didn't really go in much about specific reagents+ reactions.. so i used Kaplan... read thru it once made myself a study sheet.

RC - I was really lucky in this section. I'm a psych major... and i got 2 brain related passages (brain receptor, cancer, i forgot the last). Search and destroy... there were some tone questions.. but they are really easy.. some "what would u add in the last paragraph" so and so.. the wrong answers were REALLY obvious.

QR - I'm not great at standardized style math. I struggled a bit in my practice exams. But I just set a goal.. i wanted a 20 which means just do 30/40 questions correctly and guess randomly on the remaining 10. 1 of the guessed ones is bound to be right too. It worked out in my favor 😀!! Didn't really study much for this section. I dont think u could have really.

So study material: Topscore, Achiever, Kaplan Bluebook, Examkrackers Orgo + Gen chem, Campbell Study guide.

Kaplan Bluebook + CD
Test 1:
PAT 20
Bio 22
Gen Chem 19
Orgo 18
RC 16
QR 24

Test 2
PAT 20
Bio 21
Gen Chem 19
Orgo 18
RC 19
QR 22

Achievers:
Exam 1
PAT 17
Bio 18
Gen Chem 18
Orgo 17
RC 21
QR 20

Exam 2
PAT 18
Bio 17
Gen Chem 17
Orgo 18
RC 21
QR 20

Exam 3
PAT 17
Bio 18
Gen Chem 18
Orgo 16
RC 23
QR 19

Topscores:
Exam 1 (May 23)
PAT: 21
Bio: 21
Gen Chem: 19
Orgo: 18
RC: 20
QR: 18

Exam 2 (May 26)
PAT: 23
Bio: 19
Gen Chem: 19
Orgo 18
RC: 21
QR:18

Exam 3 (June 1)
PAT: 24
Bio: 20
Gen Chem: 19
Orgo: 19
RC: 19
QR: 20

Sorry this post is long. I'm just really excited to be done haha. Undergrad NYU. Science GPA: 3.6, Overall 3.7, double major bio+psych (3.5 and 4.0).. and a math minor. I hope i'm good to go. Thanks again for every1's help through out!!! Good luck studyinggg and applying!!

 

[ttran9229]

Congratulations on the awesome scores! I wasn't aware that you were not allowed to touch the monitor during the exam. Is this true?

 

[mermaid66]

of course u cant touch the monitor othewise angle ranking would be a pice of cake
congrats on ur score . I think ur naturally smart in many ways . it took me 3 and 4 month to take the DAT( 6 hours everyday ) and still I did nt do good as u did I mean not even close . wish me luck this time around 😳

 

[Moe Lester]

TS 21 is a 96 percentile!

Shouldn't that be 90-92??? Anyone?

 

[lazybummy]

I wasn't aware that you couldn't touch the monitor either haha. But for some reason I thought of asking before going in. Or else my score would had been DQ 🙁.

Good luck mermaid! I'm sure u'll kick ass this time around.

And.. maybe my version of the test.. 21 is a 96 percentile? It's prob different for different versions.

 

[Moe Lester]

And.. maybe my version of the test.. 21 is a 96 percentile? It's prob different for different versions.

Yeah you are probably right, but a 96 percentile is very high for a 21 though. Well since the schools cannot see the percentile, fax them the score sheet so they can see the percentile...haha where are you applying?

 

[lazybummy]

I heard schools don't care about percentiles 🙁.

And.... i'm not really sure what schools fit my profile. My top choice is Maryland just because I'm from Maryland. 4 yr undergrad in NYU is making me poor 🙁. But for now i think im def going to apply to Maryland, NYU, Boston, Columbia, UPenn... any other suggestions? I realized that 4/5 schools i named are private....

I think the weakest part of my application will be dental experience.. so i'm going to complete 100+ hrs before applying. Which means.. end of June/early July. I hope i'm competitive enuff to not rush to apply now. I was on the premed track pretty much til end of first semester jr year.. so i have a lot of EC, leadership, award, research experiences... i did do some shadowing with dentists but i feel like it's not enuff just because i started so late (last semester).

Any inputs will be great!!

 

[runnyeggsham]

How many hours per day exactly?

 

[lazybummy]

Uh i'll say 4-8hr/day. Nothing crazy.

 

[Jongho Yoon]

Well since the schools cannot see the percentile,

Is it true?

And 22 was about 95% for me. Does percentile depend on the tests taken on the same day? or test versions?

 

[iwannabadentist]

whoa man, are you sure abt the percentages? AA 21 is 97th percentile? I don't see how that works out when my 22 AA was a 95th percentile?! Either way - fantastic scores!

 

[lazybummy]

whoa man, are you sure abt the percentages? AA 21 is 97th percentile? I don't see how that works out when my 22 AA was a 95th percentile?! Either way - fantastic scores!

Ya i'm pretty sure. I have the unofficial score right here with me. I was a little surprised that 21 was a 97 percentile too. Whatever, i'm happy with the version i got. Not going to complain 🙂)

 

[Mrbubbles]

every location has diferent rules when it comes to touching monitors, tying a sweater around ur waist vs. having to wear it or don't bring it in..etc...

call each center that's around u and check out their rules, i was allowed to touch my monitor.

 

[yuppers]

I heard schools don't care about percentiles 🙁.

And they shouldnt.... just because someone has a higher percentage doesnt mean they did better; the higher percentage (with same score) points to the fact that one test was easier than another.

 

[peerless218]

TS 21 is a 96 percentile!

Shouldn't that be 90-92??? Anyone?

I wasn't aware that you couldn't touch the monitor either haha. But for some reason I thought of asking before going in. Or else my score would had been DQ 🙁.

Good luck mermaid! I'm sure u'll kick ass this time around.

And.. maybe my version of the test.. 21 is a 96 percentile? It's prob different for different versions.

It's different on every test I guess. I got a 22 on my first DAT and it turns out to be 97.7% so...depends

 

[nze82]

Congratulations on the awesome scores! I wasn't aware that you were not allowed to touch the monitor during the exam. Is this true?

Depends on which center you go to. Trust me, I touched that monitor in ways I've never even touched my girlfriend before and no one cared. But I've heard that some center won't allow you to do that.

 

[brightsmiles9]

SOLID SCORES!! Best of luck with the application process!

 

[Aceofspades]

For an AA of 21 to rank that high must mean that late May - early June is off season for the DAT. Either that, or people taking it now may be rushing to get their AADSAS in and bombing the exam, making percentages higher all around. I expect that the percentages will go down as we approach July/Aug.

 

[ttran9229]

Depends on which center you go to. Trust me, I touched that monitor in ways I've never even touched my girlfriend before and no one cared. But I've heard that some center won't allow you to do that.

Thanks for the info. When I take the exam, I need to remind myself that I'm at a strip club. Look, but don't touch. Unfortunately, I don't think the view would be as appealing...🙄

 

[nze82]

Thanks for the info. When I take the exam, I need to remind myself that I'm at a strip club. Look, but don't touch. Unfortunately, I don't think the view would be as appealing...🙄

That's an excellent idea. Perhaps I could've scored a 30 on the PAT section if I looked at it that way...

 

[yct87]

I've heard that the angle ranking is really hard, and pretty much all the angles look the same? Is this true?

Any tips on scoring well on this section?

 

[pppokerface]

how does touching the monitor help with angle ranking? just curious as to what the strategy is. CRACK PAT angles are killing me!

 

[lazybummy]

I've heard that the angle ranking is really hard, and pretty much all the angles look the same? Is this true?

Any tips on scoring well on this section?

Ya it's basically true. I wasn't sure about 14 of the questions in this section.. My advice is go with your gut. No matter how long u stare at it.. u still won't be sure.. so go with whatever your initial guess is.

 

[lazybummy]

how does touching the monitor help with angle ranking? just curious as to what the strategy is. CRACK PAT angles are killing me!

My strategy while doing the practice was "put my thumb over everything except the corner of the 2 unsure angles.." it kills off the "optical illusion" so u can easily tell which one is bigger. Like other suggested, check out if your center allows to touch the screen. I was not allowed :\

 

[orangutan777]

how does touching the monitor help with angle ranking? just curious as to what the strategy is. CRACK PAT angles are killing me!

it can also help you see complementary angles

 

[kallie902]

I had the same version of the RC as you did.. cancer of the eye, exercise, and neurotransmitters... what day did you take the test? I took mine 6/15. The RC was definitely easy, I wound up with a 25 which was like 99.5th percentile.. hopefully that offset my 16 on QR because I ran out of time. oops!!

 

[lazybummy]

I had the same version of the RC as you did.. cancer of the eye, exercise, and neurotransmitters... what day did you take the test? I took mine 6/15. The RC was definitely easy, I wound up with a 25 which was like 99.5th percentile.. hopefully that offset my 16 on QR because I ran out of time. oops!!

I took my test on June 3.. i think it was a Wednesday. I thought the RC was a lot easier than a lot of the practices i'd been doing. I Remember I LOVED the exercise passage. Each paragraph was 2-3 sentences long .. so it was really easy to look thru. I think i struggled with cancer.. just because it was my first passage and i was freaking out lol. But overall i ended up with a 21.. not a 25 like u smartypant 😛. Did u think the science on this version was really rough? Like harder than practices u were doing?

 

[allstardentist]

good job!

 

[kallie902]

i really ran out of time studying (i work full-time and was taking a class) so i didn't really take more than 1 practice test beforehand.. i thought the science wasn't too bad, i was just pissed because if i'd spent a legitimate amount of time studying (i studied for like, 3 weeks and i've been out of college for a year already) i think i could have done much better. did we definitely have the same science version if we had the same RC version?

 

[appulipzzz]

.

 

[lazybummy]

i really ran out of time studying (i work full-time and was taking a class) so i didn't really take more than 1 practice test beforehand.. i thought the science wasn't too bad, i was just pissed because if i'd spent a legitimate amount of time studying (i studied for like, 3 weeks and i've been out of college for a year already) i think i could have done much better. did we definitely have the same science version if we had the same RC version?

I believe so.. but i can't be 100% sure 😵.