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- Mar 6, 2013
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I made it guys. I feel like I just started studying for this thing like it was last week. Time absolutely flew!
This was the hardest thing I have had to do in my life. Period. I sacrificed my family, my friends, my summer, even my physical and mental health for this test. I gained some of the weight back that I lost from the gym in the past year in a half. I feel that I weakened a lot of friendships by having to ignore their calls and texts knowing they would want to go out and party and have fun. I had to ignore a lot of clients for work. I have never been so stressed out in my life. I was emotionally broken, had a huge lack of confidence, found myself even CRYING sometimes as a 21 year old 6' tall male. I officially hate my house as I spent most of the day inside of it over the summer. However, it was all worth it. EVERYTHING worked out. They always will for you guys.
-----------------------
Real / BC Average
PAT: 17 / x
QR: 19 / 19
RC: 25 / 19
BIO: 24 / 23
GC: 22 / 21
OC: 26 / 22
TS: 24
AA: 23
Before I mention anything, I just wanted to take a second and say thanks to everyone on here. The support from the community was incredible. The amount of private messages I have had and conversations with people over the past few months was one of the things that kept me motivated and on track.
BIG shoutout to Nancy from Destroyer, Ari from Bootcamp, AintNobodyGotTimeForDAT, APDental, BYU4YOU, JLT223, DMIKES, Ardwan, and the entire DAT study chat on GroupMe. I am sure I am leaving out a few people but my brain is mostly syrup right now so don't be offended!
Time spent studying: Middle of May - July 26
I usually spent about 3-4 hours a day in may, 5-7 hours in early June, and 6-10 hours in July daily. It was rough
Materials I used: Chad's videos, Bootcamp, and Destroyer, Feralis and a little bit of qvault Bio.
I won't go too in depth about the materials as I am sure this is the go to for the forum, but these materials are literally the best. They are the reason why average acceptance is such a high percentile. They prepare you very well and although super frustrating, they do get the job done. I only did one full length bootcamp test and then did the rest section by section individually. I didn't think it was worth it to tire myself out 2 weeks out from the test.
Section breakdown:
Sciences
I didn't think bio was too bad. Some questions were sort of out there but overall it was very doable. Feralis and Destroyer definitely got the job done. Bootcamp was great for a few questions and to get the layout of the test down. Gen chem was my "worst" subject, and it definitely felt like this during the test. I honestly thought I did terrible on this section because I had like 8 questions in a row marked for later. I simply wasn't "Getting" the calculations and some of the stuff they were asking. I think I just needed more practice (more on that later). Organic chemistry was very simple. No crazy reactions or conceptual stuff, just a few "Aww crap" moments when I saw the one or 2 questions I missed and knew right away it was something so simple but neglected to brush up on. I don't think the SNS section itself was anything crazy difficult, but I do think I did get lucky with a few 50/50 guesses.
Preparation: I watched bits and pieces of Chad's videos, and did most of the Bio destroyer once. I read Feralis mostly with a little Cliffs as well. I skimmed through the Gen chem and orgo portions of destroyer. Honestly I hope Nancy doesn't get mad at me for neglecting Destroyer but it seriously is the best resource. If I had the practice destroyer is able to provide for the Orgo and Gen chem sections, I definitely would have gotten perfect scores on these sections. However, I think my strong foundation contributed to my success so don't think you can get off the hook too easy!
PAT
I really hated this section. I skipped the first 30 questions and went straight to the hole punching. Nothing crazy, bootcamp generators will prepare you well. There was 1 or 2 I quickly picked the best answer in my head since it usually worked on the generators. Cube counting wasn't hard but did have some arrangements I wasn't used to. There was also one figure that definitely didn't have the right answer choice but oh well (I counted 7 cubes but 5 was the max). Pattern folding was a mess but it was sort of easy if you took your time and practiced. The shading was TERRIBLE though. My eyes killed me differentiating the shading between the non shading. I quickly half answered/guessed on the rest and went back. Returned to the beginning and went through. Literally guessed on all of angle ranking. I feel bad because this is my lowest section but I honestly didn't prepare for this section as much as the others but I scored what I wanted and what I expected so no bitterness there! I spent my time on the sciences instead and it paid off.
I prepped for this section using bootcamp generators only
RC
So at this point my brain was completely dead. I was exhausted. However, my questions were in order and they weren't too difficult. It was much easier than bootcamp but nothing much else to say.
QR
So I thought I was exhausted during RC? Boy was I wrong. I was literally harvesting energy from any possible outlet to persevere through this section. I thought this section was really hard and I didn't have to use many formulas. It was more plug n chug which was a little weird but I was happy since I apparently ended doing up much better than I thought. I must have had like 15 questions marked, but I think the most important thing that I did was "give up" quickly on harder questions which let me pick up the easy points. I don't think this section was very close to bootcamp as people say but it definitely was slightly more or less on par with the difficulty.
Preparation: I used math destroyer a bit and did about 6 QR tests on bootcamp and saw an upward trend in scores and knew I was ready.
Overall, I am so so happy to be finished, yet it is sort of bittersweet. I need to get my application finished so I can finally enjoy the rest of summer but this is such a huge load removed from my shoulders! All of the studying was worth it in the end, and although I don't regret studying for so long, the one thing I do regret is all of the STRESS. If I knew the outcome I would've saved a year or two from my life that I won't get back. It doesn't take a smart person to do well on this. You just have to have the strength and perseverance. I have countlessly been frustrated, given up, was upset and had mini toddler tantrums about studying, yet I kept moving forward. 2 weeks out from the test was the worst. I seriously think I had minor depression from my testing scores and just my constant mistakes even though I knew all of my notes inside out. Although I think I did get lucky by not being tested on my weak spots, I did improve on a lot of my weakness to be where I am as I type this. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT! It is a blessing to make myself, my family, and all those who supported me proud by my results.
Some tips I have for anyone who is studying: Never give up on destroyer. it will destroy you. I know you have heard that countless of times but it is true. Never give up and you will succeed. How badly do you want to win?
Also, give yourself a break now and then. It is critical. If I wasn't so burned out I probably would have been able to focus a bit better on the test and maybe improve by a few points. It was clear to me that I wasn't able to think straight, even before I hit begin on the beginning of the sciences. It is imperative you take the test with a clear mind.
Also, don't get too stressed out. I mentioned 2 weeks out was terrible and I was panicking and nervous and depressed etc. Within a week I pieced my ass together and tried to be as calm as possible. This was critical for me doing well. I was semi relaxed this morning and throughout the past weekend, trying to keep a clear mind. I studied a little bit yesterday which was a mistake, take the WHOLE day off before.
Refer to these old threads I made, you can see it in my messages how delirious and panicked I was, but could you blame me? The only thing I did after writing those messages was persevering!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/discouraged-from-practice-tests-8-weeks-out.1203676/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/where-to-start-with-qr.1206617/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pat-starting-point.1209823/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/severely-burned-out-1-week-until-test-day.1211798/
Lastly, practice test scores will not dictate your real thing 100% of the time. I remember being on the phone with Nancy last week and she told me to not entirely throw out the notion of rescheduling. I absolutely refused! However, in a way she was right. I walked into the test today feeling confident in a cocky sort of way. Make sure you are 100% prepared for the test so you don't disappoint yourself, but don't let 20+s in bootcamp give you false confidence. I at times told myself I just wanted it to be over with which in a way was a mistake, but it worked out in my situation. Thanks again guys, and see you in dental school
This was the hardest thing I have had to do in my life. Period. I sacrificed my family, my friends, my summer, even my physical and mental health for this test. I gained some of the weight back that I lost from the gym in the past year in a half. I feel that I weakened a lot of friendships by having to ignore their calls and texts knowing they would want to go out and party and have fun. I had to ignore a lot of clients for work. I have never been so stressed out in my life. I was emotionally broken, had a huge lack of confidence, found myself even CRYING sometimes as a 21 year old 6' tall male. I officially hate my house as I spent most of the day inside of it over the summer. However, it was all worth it. EVERYTHING worked out. They always will for you guys.
-----------------------
Real / BC Average
PAT: 17 / x
QR: 19 / 19
RC: 25 / 19
BIO: 24 / 23
GC: 22 / 21
OC: 26 / 22
TS: 24
AA: 23
Before I mention anything, I just wanted to take a second and say thanks to everyone on here. The support from the community was incredible. The amount of private messages I have had and conversations with people over the past few months was one of the things that kept me motivated and on track.
BIG shoutout to Nancy from Destroyer, Ari from Bootcamp, AintNobodyGotTimeForDAT, APDental, BYU4YOU, JLT223, DMIKES, Ardwan, and the entire DAT study chat on GroupMe. I am sure I am leaving out a few people but my brain is mostly syrup right now so don't be offended!
Time spent studying: Middle of May - July 26
I usually spent about 3-4 hours a day in may, 5-7 hours in early June, and 6-10 hours in July daily. It was rough
Materials I used: Chad's videos, Bootcamp, and Destroyer, Feralis and a little bit of qvault Bio.
I won't go too in depth about the materials as I am sure this is the go to for the forum, but these materials are literally the best. They are the reason why average acceptance is such a high percentile. They prepare you very well and although super frustrating, they do get the job done. I only did one full length bootcamp test and then did the rest section by section individually. I didn't think it was worth it to tire myself out 2 weeks out from the test.
Section breakdown:
Sciences
I didn't think bio was too bad. Some questions were sort of out there but overall it was very doable. Feralis and Destroyer definitely got the job done. Bootcamp was great for a few questions and to get the layout of the test down. Gen chem was my "worst" subject, and it definitely felt like this during the test. I honestly thought I did terrible on this section because I had like 8 questions in a row marked for later. I simply wasn't "Getting" the calculations and some of the stuff they were asking. I think I just needed more practice (more on that later). Organic chemistry was very simple. No crazy reactions or conceptual stuff, just a few "Aww crap" moments when I saw the one or 2 questions I missed and knew right away it was something so simple but neglected to brush up on. I don't think the SNS section itself was anything crazy difficult, but I do think I did get lucky with a few 50/50 guesses.
Preparation: I watched bits and pieces of Chad's videos, and did most of the Bio destroyer once. I read Feralis mostly with a little Cliffs as well. I skimmed through the Gen chem and orgo portions of destroyer. Honestly I hope Nancy doesn't get mad at me for neglecting Destroyer but it seriously is the best resource. If I had the practice destroyer is able to provide for the Orgo and Gen chem sections, I definitely would have gotten perfect scores on these sections. However, I think my strong foundation contributed to my success so don't think you can get off the hook too easy!
PAT
I really hated this section. I skipped the first 30 questions and went straight to the hole punching. Nothing crazy, bootcamp generators will prepare you well. There was 1 or 2 I quickly picked the best answer in my head since it usually worked on the generators. Cube counting wasn't hard but did have some arrangements I wasn't used to. There was also one figure that definitely didn't have the right answer choice but oh well (I counted 7 cubes but 5 was the max). Pattern folding was a mess but it was sort of easy if you took your time and practiced. The shading was TERRIBLE though. My eyes killed me differentiating the shading between the non shading. I quickly half answered/guessed on the rest and went back. Returned to the beginning and went through. Literally guessed on all of angle ranking. I feel bad because this is my lowest section but I honestly didn't prepare for this section as much as the others but I scored what I wanted and what I expected so no bitterness there! I spent my time on the sciences instead and it paid off.
I prepped for this section using bootcamp generators only
RC
So at this point my brain was completely dead. I was exhausted. However, my questions were in order and they weren't too difficult. It was much easier than bootcamp but nothing much else to say.
QR
So I thought I was exhausted during RC? Boy was I wrong. I was literally harvesting energy from any possible outlet to persevere through this section. I thought this section was really hard and I didn't have to use many formulas. It was more plug n chug which was a little weird but I was happy since I apparently ended doing up much better than I thought. I must have had like 15 questions marked, but I think the most important thing that I did was "give up" quickly on harder questions which let me pick up the easy points. I don't think this section was very close to bootcamp as people say but it definitely was slightly more or less on par with the difficulty.
Preparation: I used math destroyer a bit and did about 6 QR tests on bootcamp and saw an upward trend in scores and knew I was ready.
Overall, I am so so happy to be finished, yet it is sort of bittersweet. I need to get my application finished so I can finally enjoy the rest of summer but this is such a huge load removed from my shoulders! All of the studying was worth it in the end, and although I don't regret studying for so long, the one thing I do regret is all of the STRESS. If I knew the outcome I would've saved a year or two from my life that I won't get back. It doesn't take a smart person to do well on this. You just have to have the strength and perseverance. I have countlessly been frustrated, given up, was upset and had mini toddler tantrums about studying, yet I kept moving forward. 2 weeks out from the test was the worst. I seriously think I had minor depression from my testing scores and just my constant mistakes even though I knew all of my notes inside out. Although I think I did get lucky by not being tested on my weak spots, I did improve on a lot of my weakness to be where I am as I type this. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT! It is a blessing to make myself, my family, and all those who supported me proud by my results.
Some tips I have for anyone who is studying: Never give up on destroyer. it will destroy you. I know you have heard that countless of times but it is true. Never give up and you will succeed. How badly do you want to win?
Also, give yourself a break now and then. It is critical. If I wasn't so burned out I probably would have been able to focus a bit better on the test and maybe improve by a few points. It was clear to me that I wasn't able to think straight, even before I hit begin on the beginning of the sciences. It is imperative you take the test with a clear mind.
Also, don't get too stressed out. I mentioned 2 weeks out was terrible and I was panicking and nervous and depressed etc. Within a week I pieced my ass together and tried to be as calm as possible. This was critical for me doing well. I was semi relaxed this morning and throughout the past weekend, trying to keep a clear mind. I studied a little bit yesterday which was a mistake, take the WHOLE day off before.
Refer to these old threads I made, you can see it in my messages how delirious and panicked I was, but could you blame me? The only thing I did after writing those messages was persevering!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/discouraged-from-practice-tests-8-weeks-out.1203676/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/where-to-start-with-qr.1206617/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pat-starting-point.1209823/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/severely-burned-out-1-week-until-test-day.1211798/
Lastly, practice test scores will not dictate your real thing 100% of the time. I remember being on the phone with Nancy last week and she told me to not entirely throw out the notion of rescheduling. I absolutely refused! However, in a way she was right. I walked into the test today feeling confident in a cocky sort of way. Make sure you are 100% prepared for the test so you don't disappoint yourself, but don't let 20+s in bootcamp give you false confidence. I at times told myself I just wanted it to be over with which in a way was a mistake, but it worked out in my situation. Thanks again guys, and see you in dental school
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