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- Jul 16, 2016
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Hi guys!! After trolling these threads for the past couple months, I finally took the DAT today!! Before I start, I just wanted to say that I was EXTREMELY nervous to take the DAT! Standardized tests are not my forte and I was really nervous about getting a really low score and I got so overwhelmed from some of the high scores people would post on these forums. I have a solid GPA so I didn't feel like this test would define me getting into dental school, however, I had a lot of anxiety the months leading up to my test. Never the less, I am extremely thrilled with my scores and hope that my advice helps those who are still studying for the DAT!
My Scores!
PAT: 22
QR: 20
RC: 22
BIO: 19
GC: 21
OC: 21
TS: 20
AA: 21
What I used:
So I started studying in April, however, I probably only averaged 5-10 hours a week. However, in the middle of May I amped things up. I studied every week day for 8 hours and the starting in the middle of June, I started to study 10 hours a day leading up to my test day. I took multiple practice tests throughout my studying and the last one I took was 2 days before my test. People say not to study the day before, but I reviewed some things and I found it to be really helpful! I probably only reviewed for 2 hours max the day before though.
Kaplan (5/10): So I signed up for a Kaplan class in April and was planning on taking the exam June 15. However, I quickly realized that Kaplan is NOT the best resource for studying DAT, especially regarding the PAT. I also lost a lot of time in April/ beginning of May studying because of my classes so I don't recommend starting to study while you're finishing the semester. I rescheduled my test for July 16th and I subscribed to DAT bootcamp and bought the DAT Destroyer shortly after. I used the class to structure the way that I studied, however, it was not a good way to learn the material and test yourself besides the full length tests. I do not think I would have achieved the scores I was got by solely using Kaplan. Definitely not worth the money.
DAT Bootcamp (10/10): One word: PAT! I took every single PAT test that DAT Bootcamp provides and I even redid tests 1-5 a month after I did them the first time. I was consistently getting 19 and 20s on the test, trust me the DAT bootcamp tests are much harder than the actual test, but its a good thing because it helps with timing and you won't be surprised on the actual exam. I also think that the science tests are extremely helpful and I went through each of them separately with with a full length. Also, I highly recommend doing all of the reading comprehension tests. I took the first 2 with my full lengths and thought they were too hard and used the Kaplan tests instead. Wrong idea, I wish I would have done more of bootcamp's reading comp tests!
Chad's Videos (8/10): Chad is literally a Gen Chem legend!! I took Gen Chem 2 years ago so I really needed to relearn some of the materials and I was able to grasp the concepts immediately because of Chad! The gen chem videos were free on his website and so were the Orgo videos and the quizzes at the end of each lesson are very good at solidifying the concepts you've learned before moving to destroyer questions.
Ferralis Notes (7/10): These notes are everything you need to know about biology and more! I spent everyday going through a few pages and making notecards and then I would review the notecards at night. I ended it with over 500 notecards and they were all extremely helpful. Sometimes the notes are overkill and hard to read but its good at making sure you know everything that you could be tested on.
DAT Destroyer (10/10): I would like to dedicate my chemistry and orgo scores to Dr. Romano and Nancy. No joke this book SAVED me. I went over it 3 times and the first time I probably missed 1/2 of the questions, but by the 3rd time I had everything down. Its good that its hard and you will be so relieved when you see the actual test if you go through destroyer and actually conceptualize each of the questions. No surprise here there is nothing that competes to the destroyer regarding practice questions for chemistry and organic. Also, their Biology section is really good at testing what you know and discovering what sections you need to look over.
Practice Test Scores! (In the order I took them)
BIO/CHEM/ORGO/PAT/READ/QUANT
Kaplan 1 (Diagnostic): 15/17/18/16/18/18
Bootcamp 1: 17/18/18/18/20/19
Bootcamp 2:18/19/20/19/20/20
Bootcamp 3: 18/19/20/19/x/19
Bootcamp 4: 21/22/19/18/x/20
Bootcamp 5: 19/20/22/20/x/19
Kaplan 2:18/19/19/20/22/19
Kaplan 3:19/21/19/20/24/19
Kaplan 4:20/21/20/19/21/20
Day of the Test!
I woke up at 530 and did a quick yoga session with my mom, then I showered and made sure I had all my stuff together. For 30 minutes before I left, I went through a few PAT angle, TFE, and apertures to get warmed up followed by a couple bio, chem and orgo sections just to get my brain in the zone. I left for the test center and arrived 30 minutes before. They let me keep my lunch and math flashcards in my locker and I went to the test. ADVICE: Bring sealed earplugs in their original container! They have noise canceling headphones but they are kind of heavy and so I'm happy I brought ear plugs instead.
Bio(19): Bio is my absolute worst section so I was thrilled with this score!! Like everyone says this stuff was random. I would say out of the 40 questions I knew about 30 of them right away and narrowed 5 of the remaining 10 down to 2 answers. I had absolutely not idea what a couple of them were but I was able to eliminate some of the answer choices and make an educated guess. I did have a few random questions on photosynthesis and plants but they were pretty straight forward and luckily I had reviewed the material before.
Chem(21): Seriously when I went through this test I was thanking Nancy and Dr. Romano in the head. I knew how to do every question and I think where I missed questions came from not reading the questions correctly or careless mistakes because I felt extremely prepared for this section. However, I went a little fast because I wanted to have enough time for organic and to check over my biology questions.
Orgo (21): Again, I literally felt like some of the questions I had seen before on DAT destroyer. It was very straight forward and I finished the exam with plenty of time to check my answers. Review your ortho para meta directors before the exam I had quite a few questions on those, and if you have destroyer the multi step synthesis problems are gold! Nothing I had on this section was harder than those!
PAT (22): Similar- a bit easier than the DAT bootcamp tests. The angles I had were really tough so I was happy that I did the angle generator on bootcamp almost every day while I was studying. Some of the TFE I couldn't distinguish between 2 of the answers and the apertures were all over the place. The proportions were wack and I guessed on a lot of them. Overall very happy with this section though
Reading Comprehension (22): Again, I wish I would have done more bootcamp section tests because I feel like I could have gotten a higher score. Time is everything, the questions are practically in order of the passages. I did only have 10 minutes for my last passage so I think thats where most of my points were lost but I was able to make an educated guess on all of the questions.
QR (20): I was very surprised with my score because I put very little time into studying for this section. I have always been good at math, but the timing was a huge concern for me with this sections. The first bootcamp test I took I only got through 3/4 of the questions. On the real DAT I got tripped up on a question and ended up spending way too much time on it so I was rushed for the last 5 questions and only got to check 2 of ones I marked so I was very shocked to see this score! I thought I got a 15 not kidding!
Overall I would like to thank Chad, Ari, Dr. Romano and Nancy for all of their amazing prep materials that I was able to use to prepare for this test. If you take anything out of my post please remember that over 20 scores are possible for the average test taker. Seriously I cannot stress enough how nervous I was for this test because of my past experience with standardized tests! I started studying in late May and once I got Bootcamp and my Destroyer came in I spent about 8 hours studying a day. My biggest advice is go with your gut and don't be nervous. I think I wasted 5 minutes freaking out at the beginning of SNS and I had to tell myself to calm down and do my best because this test does not define you! Don't let anxiety or the fear of not knowing a question get to you or you'll waste a lot of time and lose your focus. Choose the best answer and move on!
My Scores!
PAT: 22
QR: 20
RC: 22
BIO: 19
GC: 21
OC: 21
TS: 20
AA: 21
What I used:
So I started studying in April, however, I probably only averaged 5-10 hours a week. However, in the middle of May I amped things up. I studied every week day for 8 hours and the starting in the middle of June, I started to study 10 hours a day leading up to my test day. I took multiple practice tests throughout my studying and the last one I took was 2 days before my test. People say not to study the day before, but I reviewed some things and I found it to be really helpful! I probably only reviewed for 2 hours max the day before though.
Kaplan (5/10): So I signed up for a Kaplan class in April and was planning on taking the exam June 15. However, I quickly realized that Kaplan is NOT the best resource for studying DAT, especially regarding the PAT. I also lost a lot of time in April/ beginning of May studying because of my classes so I don't recommend starting to study while you're finishing the semester. I rescheduled my test for July 16th and I subscribed to DAT bootcamp and bought the DAT Destroyer shortly after. I used the class to structure the way that I studied, however, it was not a good way to learn the material and test yourself besides the full length tests. I do not think I would have achieved the scores I was got by solely using Kaplan. Definitely not worth the money.
DAT Bootcamp (10/10): One word: PAT! I took every single PAT test that DAT Bootcamp provides and I even redid tests 1-5 a month after I did them the first time. I was consistently getting 19 and 20s on the test, trust me the DAT bootcamp tests are much harder than the actual test, but its a good thing because it helps with timing and you won't be surprised on the actual exam. I also think that the science tests are extremely helpful and I went through each of them separately with with a full length. Also, I highly recommend doing all of the reading comprehension tests. I took the first 2 with my full lengths and thought they were too hard and used the Kaplan tests instead. Wrong idea, I wish I would have done more of bootcamp's reading comp tests!
Chad's Videos (8/10): Chad is literally a Gen Chem legend!! I took Gen Chem 2 years ago so I really needed to relearn some of the materials and I was able to grasp the concepts immediately because of Chad! The gen chem videos were free on his website and so were the Orgo videos and the quizzes at the end of each lesson are very good at solidifying the concepts you've learned before moving to destroyer questions.
Ferralis Notes (7/10): These notes are everything you need to know about biology and more! I spent everyday going through a few pages and making notecards and then I would review the notecards at night. I ended it with over 500 notecards and they were all extremely helpful. Sometimes the notes are overkill and hard to read but its good at making sure you know everything that you could be tested on.
DAT Destroyer (10/10): I would like to dedicate my chemistry and orgo scores to Dr. Romano and Nancy. No joke this book SAVED me. I went over it 3 times and the first time I probably missed 1/2 of the questions, but by the 3rd time I had everything down. Its good that its hard and you will be so relieved when you see the actual test if you go through destroyer and actually conceptualize each of the questions. No surprise here there is nothing that competes to the destroyer regarding practice questions for chemistry and organic. Also, their Biology section is really good at testing what you know and discovering what sections you need to look over.
Practice Test Scores! (In the order I took them)
BIO/CHEM/ORGO/PAT/READ/QUANT
Kaplan 1 (Diagnostic): 15/17/18/16/18/18
Bootcamp 1: 17/18/18/18/20/19
Bootcamp 2:18/19/20/19/20/20
Bootcamp 3: 18/19/20/19/x/19
Bootcamp 4: 21/22/19/18/x/20
Bootcamp 5: 19/20/22/20/x/19
Kaplan 2:18/19/19/20/22/19
Kaplan 3:19/21/19/20/24/19
Kaplan 4:20/21/20/19/21/20
Day of the Test!
I woke up at 530 and did a quick yoga session with my mom, then I showered and made sure I had all my stuff together. For 30 minutes before I left, I went through a few PAT angle, TFE, and apertures to get warmed up followed by a couple bio, chem and orgo sections just to get my brain in the zone. I left for the test center and arrived 30 minutes before. They let me keep my lunch and math flashcards in my locker and I went to the test. ADVICE: Bring sealed earplugs in their original container! They have noise canceling headphones but they are kind of heavy and so I'm happy I brought ear plugs instead.
Bio(19): Bio is my absolute worst section so I was thrilled with this score!! Like everyone says this stuff was random. I would say out of the 40 questions I knew about 30 of them right away and narrowed 5 of the remaining 10 down to 2 answers. I had absolutely not idea what a couple of them were but I was able to eliminate some of the answer choices and make an educated guess. I did have a few random questions on photosynthesis and plants but they were pretty straight forward and luckily I had reviewed the material before.
Chem(21): Seriously when I went through this test I was thanking Nancy and Dr. Romano in the head. I knew how to do every question and I think where I missed questions came from not reading the questions correctly or careless mistakes because I felt extremely prepared for this section. However, I went a little fast because I wanted to have enough time for organic and to check over my biology questions.
Orgo (21): Again, I literally felt like some of the questions I had seen before on DAT destroyer. It was very straight forward and I finished the exam with plenty of time to check my answers. Review your ortho para meta directors before the exam I had quite a few questions on those, and if you have destroyer the multi step synthesis problems are gold! Nothing I had on this section was harder than those!
PAT (22): Similar- a bit easier than the DAT bootcamp tests. The angles I had were really tough so I was happy that I did the angle generator on bootcamp almost every day while I was studying. Some of the TFE I couldn't distinguish between 2 of the answers and the apertures were all over the place. The proportions were wack and I guessed on a lot of them. Overall very happy with this section though
Reading Comprehension (22): Again, I wish I would have done more bootcamp section tests because I feel like I could have gotten a higher score. Time is everything, the questions are practically in order of the passages. I did only have 10 minutes for my last passage so I think thats where most of my points were lost but I was able to make an educated guess on all of the questions.
QR (20): I was very surprised with my score because I put very little time into studying for this section. I have always been good at math, but the timing was a huge concern for me with this sections. The first bootcamp test I took I only got through 3/4 of the questions. On the real DAT I got tripped up on a question and ended up spending way too much time on it so I was rushed for the last 5 questions and only got to check 2 of ones I marked so I was very shocked to see this score! I thought I got a 15 not kidding!
Overall I would like to thank Chad, Ari, Dr. Romano and Nancy for all of their amazing prep materials that I was able to use to prepare for this test. If you take anything out of my post please remember that over 20 scores are possible for the average test taker. Seriously I cannot stress enough how nervous I was for this test because of my past experience with standardized tests! I started studying in late May and once I got Bootcamp and my Destroyer came in I spent about 8 hours studying a day. My biggest advice is go with your gut and don't be nervous. I think I wasted 5 minutes freaking out at the beginning of SNS and I had to tell myself to calm down and do my best because this test does not define you! Don't let anxiety or the fear of not knowing a question get to you or you'll waste a lot of time and lose your focus. Choose the best answer and move on!
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