- Joined
- Jan 30, 2010
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 0
Good Morning SDNers!
My scores:
(Test 1) -------> (Test 2)
PA: 15 ---------> 18
QR: 15 ---------> 16 🙁
RC: 17 ---------> 19
Bio: 20 ---------> 20
GC: 18 ---------> 17 🙁
OC: 16 ---------> 22
TS: 18 ---------> 20
AA: 17----------> 19
I couldn't wait for the moment to come where I would post my scores and share my experience with you all! 🙂 First of all, my background: I recently graduated with a masters in Clinical Research Management with a GPA of 3.797; my undergraduate degree was in biology and have a 3.72 GPA and 3.62 sGPA. This is my second year applying. The last time I applied (2007), I did terrible on the DAT and decided would take time off, get a master's, and go ahead and start my family. I got pregnant with my first kiddo soon after and had him May 2008. That year I got one interview, but didn't go, because my husband just started settling here (started his own business), and with the little one on the way, well... you know the rest. I just recently had my second boy- he was born May 5, 2010. I had him two weeks before my due date. A couple of months back I put up a post asking if I should postpone my DAT for personal reasons and if studying for it while tending to a newborn would be a mistake. After all that has been said and done, I am definitely glad I pushed it back. Luckily, my second baby was a VBAC, so the heal time was much faster than my first cesarean.
I started studying for this test LIGHTLY in February, picked up the pace in March and April (7-9 hours a day) with the intention to take it May 1. But during that time we also bought a house (exciting!) and so I was moving while I was 8 months pregnant! Little to say, I sprained my back and thought I was in labor! lol! That was rough - not to mention my swollen face and legs that I had. So when the baby was born, I took 6 weeks off. Yes, you heard me 6 weeks. In the beginning, you're trying to breastfeed, get your milk supply where it needs to be, and feeding literally every 2 hours - that means if I fed him a 10AM, spend 1 hour feeding, 1 hour downtime, then I have to feed him again a noon. The same routine happened at night too, so I was severely sleep deprived. To top all that off, I still had my two year old that I had to take care of. So in the midst of all that, I remained positive finished my application, sent that off in mid-June. I just got an email saying it was submitted July 22.
So, I decided, okay, there has got to be a solution - I'm getting ZERO studying done. So what I ended up doing was I set myself on my computer desk, with my materials on the desk, and breastfeed while studying. Breastfeeding takes forever (30 minutes - 1 hour) and so does studying, so I figured I can just combine the two. I would burp him, change his diaper, put him in his swing next to me and then get back to it. Then in the middle of all that, I would tend to my toddler as I said previously - breakfast, lunch, dinner, cook, clean, bathe him, read him a book (he loves books!), change his diapers as well (I know I need to potty train him), etc. etc. So, that's how I took my breaks, by taking care of my kids. And then when nap time came along around noon - I would put both of them to sleep and do a timed PAT (CDP) or timed reading (CDR) since that was the only time I would be able to do that in peace, but a bunch of times I would get interrupted and couldn't keep timing myself (i.e. when they would wake up).
I would wake up really early to get time to myself (5:30AM) - shower, eat, and study till around 8 AM, which is when the kids wake up and keep studying till like 9 PM, but like I said, I really can't say how many hours I studied b/c of the kids.
Days leading up to my exam: I mostly reviewed Cliff's AP, Princeton Review Hyperlearning for the Biological Sciences (MCAT book), notes I took on Chad's videos, went over some George Wolfe videos (evolution and taxonomy mostly), did some timed topscore exams (when my husband got off work to watch the kids a bit at night), and did a math test from destroyer every day (timed in the morning). I wasn't nervous, if anything I was smiling and super happy b/c all the crap I had been putting my family through was finally going to be over. Like how I put it to my husband, I'm not the only one who took the DAT, my husband and two boys had to "take" the DAT as well. But I guess this experience proved to me that I can still study and manage if I put forth the effort and still be a mom and a student. Another thing I kept telling myself was to not look at this experience as me having to jump through this hoop in order to get into dental school and to think of it as part of the process of becoming a dentist.
The Day Before: I maintained my sanity for the sake of my kids. I didn't want them seeing me get emotional or go crazy
, especially because I am still breastfeeding, and well my baby can feel when I am not at ease and all those hormones go into my milk and he starts feeling what I'm feeling. There were a couple of times when I was super stressed, and some of those "stress" hormones went into my milk and the poor booger was irritable for most of the day and even spit up most of my milk. If anything, just holding my baby and goofing around with him, or having my toddler come up to me and say, "I love you Mama" was what made that day not as bad as it could otherwise have been.
The Day of: The people at the testing center were wonderful and the environment was easy going. I even got to talking to guy about my baby when he said he just became a new parent about a week ago. lol. But this time around I was SUPER nervous. I don't know, I kept saying prayers to keep my nerves down, but yeah.. 🙁
Natural Sciences: So I started the exam and I was okay with bio, I didn't think it was as RANDOM as people were saying it was. I did get that weird figure, guessed and moved on. But once I hit the chem section, I don't know, I was reading some of the questions and didn't know how to solve them right off the bat, or would solve and not get an answer that matched with one of the answer choices! (this happened on like 3-4 problems) and I was taking toooooo much time on this, so I marked them, skipped and moved on to ochem. By then I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest b/c it was beating so friggin hard. I did ochem in like 15 minutes and went back to my genchem. I love ochem. It's always been one of my strengths. I had a hard prof back in undergrad and made an A in both semesters - plus Chad was a big help in this section as well. (Materials I used: AP Cliffs (2x), Hyperlearning for MCAT biological sciences (1x), Anki (several times), George Wolfe thinkwell videos, DAT Destroyer (2-3x), Chad's videos/ supplemental material (frequently))
PAT: I thought keyholes was harder than the real thing. Hole punching was easier, so was TFE, and pattern folding. I thought I did well in this section, I don't know what happened to be honest. I was doing okay on CDP ranging b/w a 19-21. I bought the 10 test version and even did the first 3 again before the exam.
Reading: First passage was rough, but the last two passages I had learned about in my graduate biochemistry class and so I was able to answer them without reading the passage. I only read the through the first passage, but the last two I used search and destroy. I think CDR did help with this for me. I bought the 5 test version, but only had time to do the first 3. I made a 17, 18, 20.
QR: I knew I was going to bomb this part. And honestly, after I was done with most of my test I thought I did so bad and just wanted to finish and go home. I guessed on a good chunk of the q's and just moved on. Another thing is you have to click "CE" on the calculator otherwise it stores your numbers and gives you the wrong answer - but I thought it did help even though my score says otherwise. I know my score is bad here, but I did think that math destroyer was good. I just don't have a good math background and I blame it on the school system in the states. I really hope I can put my kids in a private school where they can become math whizzes b/c it shows up on any standardized test you have to take. I used Math Destroyer and went through it 2x. I also blame my low score on the fact that I was nervous and rushing so that I could finish on time.
I used topscore to practice, but only did the science section since it was tough to go through it all, and so here are my scores:
bio/genchem/ochem
1:17/19/18
2:18/19/19
3:18/19/18
Anyways, I'm happy with my scores and don't plan on retaking. I don't want to go through it all over again. I just wish my genchem and QR was at least one point higher. I want to get into Baylor and their average DAT score is a 19 with an 18 PAT so I fall into their range. I have TONS of shadowing hours ( >200), lots of research (undergrad and grad), volunteer tutor in my community for kids grades 3-6, and have a decent GPA. So what do you guys think?
My scores:
(Test 1) -------> (Test 2)
PA: 15 ---------> 18
QR: 15 ---------> 16 🙁
RC: 17 ---------> 19
Bio: 20 ---------> 20
GC: 18 ---------> 17 🙁
OC: 16 ---------> 22
TS: 18 ---------> 20
AA: 17----------> 19
I couldn't wait for the moment to come where I would post my scores and share my experience with you all! 🙂 First of all, my background: I recently graduated with a masters in Clinical Research Management with a GPA of 3.797; my undergraduate degree was in biology and have a 3.72 GPA and 3.62 sGPA. This is my second year applying. The last time I applied (2007), I did terrible on the DAT and decided would take time off, get a master's, and go ahead and start my family. I got pregnant with my first kiddo soon after and had him May 2008. That year I got one interview, but didn't go, because my husband just started settling here (started his own business), and with the little one on the way, well... you know the rest. I just recently had my second boy- he was born May 5, 2010. I had him two weeks before my due date. A couple of months back I put up a post asking if I should postpone my DAT for personal reasons and if studying for it while tending to a newborn would be a mistake. After all that has been said and done, I am definitely glad I pushed it back. Luckily, my second baby was a VBAC, so the heal time was much faster than my first cesarean.
I started studying for this test LIGHTLY in February, picked up the pace in March and April (7-9 hours a day) with the intention to take it May 1. But during that time we also bought a house (exciting!) and so I was moving while I was 8 months pregnant! Little to say, I sprained my back and thought I was in labor! lol! That was rough - not to mention my swollen face and legs that I had. So when the baby was born, I took 6 weeks off. Yes, you heard me 6 weeks. In the beginning, you're trying to breastfeed, get your milk supply where it needs to be, and feeding literally every 2 hours - that means if I fed him a 10AM, spend 1 hour feeding, 1 hour downtime, then I have to feed him again a noon. The same routine happened at night too, so I was severely sleep deprived. To top all that off, I still had my two year old that I had to take care of. So in the midst of all that, I remained positive finished my application, sent that off in mid-June. I just got an email saying it was submitted July 22.
So, I decided, okay, there has got to be a solution - I'm getting ZERO studying done. So what I ended up doing was I set myself on my computer desk, with my materials on the desk, and breastfeed while studying. Breastfeeding takes forever (30 minutes - 1 hour) and so does studying, so I figured I can just combine the two. I would burp him, change his diaper, put him in his swing next to me and then get back to it. Then in the middle of all that, I would tend to my toddler as I said previously - breakfast, lunch, dinner, cook, clean, bathe him, read him a book (he loves books!), change his diapers as well (I know I need to potty train him), etc. etc. So, that's how I took my breaks, by taking care of my kids. And then when nap time came along around noon - I would put both of them to sleep and do a timed PAT (CDP) or timed reading (CDR) since that was the only time I would be able to do that in peace, but a bunch of times I would get interrupted and couldn't keep timing myself (i.e. when they would wake up).
I would wake up really early to get time to myself (5:30AM) - shower, eat, and study till around 8 AM, which is when the kids wake up and keep studying till like 9 PM, but like I said, I really can't say how many hours I studied b/c of the kids.
Days leading up to my exam: I mostly reviewed Cliff's AP, Princeton Review Hyperlearning for the Biological Sciences (MCAT book), notes I took on Chad's videos, went over some George Wolfe videos (evolution and taxonomy mostly), did some timed topscore exams (when my husband got off work to watch the kids a bit at night), and did a math test from destroyer every day (timed in the morning). I wasn't nervous, if anything I was smiling and super happy b/c all the crap I had been putting my family through was finally going to be over. Like how I put it to my husband, I'm not the only one who took the DAT, my husband and two boys had to "take" the DAT as well. But I guess this experience proved to me that I can still study and manage if I put forth the effort and still be a mom and a student. Another thing I kept telling myself was to not look at this experience as me having to jump through this hoop in order to get into dental school and to think of it as part of the process of becoming a dentist.
The Day Before: I maintained my sanity for the sake of my kids. I didn't want them seeing me get emotional or go crazy
, especially because I am still breastfeeding, and well my baby can feel when I am not at ease and all those hormones go into my milk and he starts feeling what I'm feeling. There were a couple of times when I was super stressed, and some of those "stress" hormones went into my milk and the poor booger was irritable for most of the day and even spit up most of my milk. If anything, just holding my baby and goofing around with him, or having my toddler come up to me and say, "I love you Mama" was what made that day not as bad as it could otherwise have been. The Day of: The people at the testing center were wonderful and the environment was easy going. I even got to talking to guy about my baby when he said he just became a new parent about a week ago. lol. But this time around I was SUPER nervous. I don't know, I kept saying prayers to keep my nerves down, but yeah.. 🙁
Natural Sciences: So I started the exam and I was okay with bio, I didn't think it was as RANDOM as people were saying it was. I did get that weird figure, guessed and moved on. But once I hit the chem section, I don't know, I was reading some of the questions and didn't know how to solve them right off the bat, or would solve and not get an answer that matched with one of the answer choices! (this happened on like 3-4 problems) and I was taking toooooo much time on this, so I marked them, skipped and moved on to ochem. By then I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest b/c it was beating so friggin hard. I did ochem in like 15 minutes and went back to my genchem. I love ochem. It's always been one of my strengths. I had a hard prof back in undergrad and made an A in both semesters - plus Chad was a big help in this section as well. (Materials I used: AP Cliffs (2x), Hyperlearning for MCAT biological sciences (1x), Anki (several times), George Wolfe thinkwell videos, DAT Destroyer (2-3x), Chad's videos/ supplemental material (frequently))
PAT: I thought keyholes was harder than the real thing. Hole punching was easier, so was TFE, and pattern folding. I thought I did well in this section, I don't know what happened to be honest. I was doing okay on CDP ranging b/w a 19-21. I bought the 10 test version and even did the first 3 again before the exam.
Reading: First passage was rough, but the last two passages I had learned about in my graduate biochemistry class and so I was able to answer them without reading the passage. I only read the through the first passage, but the last two I used search and destroy. I think CDR did help with this for me. I bought the 5 test version, but only had time to do the first 3. I made a 17, 18, 20.
QR: I knew I was going to bomb this part. And honestly, after I was done with most of my test I thought I did so bad and just wanted to finish and go home. I guessed on a good chunk of the q's and just moved on. Another thing is you have to click "CE" on the calculator otherwise it stores your numbers and gives you the wrong answer - but I thought it did help even though my score says otherwise. I know my score is bad here, but I did think that math destroyer was good. I just don't have a good math background and I blame it on the school system in the states. I really hope I can put my kids in a private school where they can become math whizzes b/c it shows up on any standardized test you have to take. I used Math Destroyer and went through it 2x. I also blame my low score on the fact that I was nervous and rushing so that I could finish on time.
I used topscore to practice, but only did the science section since it was tough to go through it all, and so here are my scores:
bio/genchem/ochem
1:17/19/18
2:18/19/19
3:18/19/18
Anyways, I'm happy with my scores and don't plan on retaking. I don't want to go through it all over again. I just wish my genchem and QR was at least one point higher. I want to get into Baylor and their average DAT score is a 19 with an 18 PAT so I fall into their range. I have TONS of shadowing hours ( >200), lots of research (undergrad and grad), volunteer tutor in my community for kids grades 3-6, and have a decent GPA. So what do you guys think?
Last edited:
