My DAT Experience

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boilerman2

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Hey guys! I just took my DAT yesterday and was very shocked and surprised with my scores. A lot of the posts on these forums helped me in my studies, so I thought I would post my scores and describe my study process.

Perceptual Ability: 21

QR:
20

RC:
25

Biology:
25

Gen Chem:
30

OChem:
22

TS:
25

AA:
24

Study Breakdown:

Kaplan 2015, DAT Destroyer, CRACK DAT PAT, and Math Destroyer

I studied for about 5 and a half weeks, from 6-8 hours a day (only 2-3 a day on weekends, if that). Took about two weeks to read the Kaplan book (didn't look at QR section), then went through DAT destroyer twice (except QR) and went back and read Kaplan from time to time on sections I needed a bit more refreshing on.

Perceptual Ability: I got the 10 test edition of CRACK DAT PAT and took all 10 of them, starting out with getting 17-18 on first couple, and getting around 22-23 by the time I got to the 10th. I found it was very good in everything except some of the keyholes on my DAT were literally indescribable shapes, and there is no preparing for them. The cube counting on CRACK DAT was harder than my actual DAT, the hole punching, angles, TFE, and pattern folding were all similar (Pattern folding may have been a little easier on my DAT). The Kaplan practice DAT keyholes were more comparable to the actual DAT, except for the odd shapes. However, the rest of Kaplan (especially angles and hole punching) is much easier than the real DAT. Overall, I am happy with my 21.

Qr: Math Destroyer was great! Much harder than the actual DAT. I typically never finished a Math Destroyer Exam on time, so when I was flying through the QR section, I got a little to complacent towards the end, and ended up running out of time. I would say that the Math Destroyer, had I kept my original pace, would have given me 21+ for sure.

RC: No way to prepare. The only thing I did was do the practice sections in my Kaplan book and on the two practice DAT's that came with it. I used the search and destroy method. Didn't look at the passage at all before I started the questions. I found a lot of it was factual, maybe a little of critical thinking. There were only 1-2 questions per passage about tone, opinion, etc. I jotted down which numbers those were, and after I finished the other questions I was able to have good guesses for them.

Science: I am a biology major, so that probable helped with my Bio score a bit. I am heading into my senior year of undergrad, and a lot of the material I had taken a year or two ago. Kaplan was a good refresher of the material for me, but in no way would have been enough. DAT DESTROYER WAS AMAZING. I attribute my OChem and Gen Chem scores directly to the Destroyer. The questions are pretty tough at first, but really help solidify difficult concepts. The road maps for orgo in the destroyer are awesome.

Practice DAT's: I took two full length practice DAT's, one two weeks before my exam, the other 1 week before my exam. I did better on my real DAT on everything except PAT (23 on both practice exams). I only got a 19 AA and 21 AA, respectively, on those two practice exams, but it really showed me where I needed to focus my last week of studying to shore up the gaps in my knowledge, and prepared me for the length of the exam.

Good luck to everyone! I hope your DAT experience goes as well as mine did 🙂.

 
I don't go to Purdue, but my boyfriend did, so to your scores I say:

BOILER UP!! And congrats!!!

If you don't go to Purdue, then that is pretty awkward (lol), and I just want to say congratulations if that's the case 🙂 :laugh:
 
CRACK DAT PAT I think has fairly easy TFE compared to some other sources. Do you think TFE on CRACK DAT vs REAL DAT is comparable?
 
CRACK DAT PAT I think has fairly easy TFE compared to some other sources. Do you think TFE on CRACK DAT vs REAL DAT is comparable?
I thought it was. I don't really remember it all that well though to be honest; the adrenaline haha! I thought it was fairly similar from what I can remember. It was probably a little harder on the DAT, but I still felt I was reasonably prepared for that section.
 
Hey guys! I just took my DAT yesterday and was very shocked and surprised with my scores. A lot of the posts on these forums helped me in my studies, so I thought I would post my scores and describe my study process.

Perceptual Ability: 21

QR:
20

RC:
25

Biology:
25

Gen Chem:
30

OChem:
22

TS:
25

AA:
24

Study Breakdown:

Kaplan 2015, DAT Destroyer, CRACK DAT PAT, and Math Destroyer

I studied for about 5 and a half weeks, from 6-8 hours a day (only 2-3 a day on weekends, if that). Took about two weeks to read the Kaplan book (didn't look at QR section), then went through DAT destroyer twice (except QR) and went back and read Kaplan from time to time on sections I needed a bit more refreshing on.

Perceptual Ability: I got the 10 test edition of CRACK DAT PAT and took all 10 of them, starting out with getting 17-18 on first couple, and getting around 22-23 by the time I got to the 10th. I found it was very good in everything except some of the keyholes on my DAT were literally indescribable shapes, and there is no preparing for them. The cube counting on CRACK DAT was harder than my actual DAT, the hole punching, angles, TFE, and pattern folding were all similar (Pattern folding may have been a little easier on my DAT). The Kaplan practice DAT keyholes were more comparable to the actual DAT, except for the odd shapes. However, the rest of Kaplan (especially angles and hole punching) is much easier than the real DAT. Overall, I am happy with my 21.

Qr: Math Destroyer was great! Much harder than the actual DAT. I typically never finished a Math Destroyer Exam on time, so when I was flying through the QR section, I got a little to complacent towards the end, and ended up running out of time. I would say that the Math Destroyer, had I kept my original pace, would have given me 21+ for sure.

RC: No way to prepare. The only thing I did was do the practice sections in my Kaplan book and on the two practice DAT's that came with it. I used the search and destroy method. Didn't look at the passage at all before I started the questions. I found a lot of it was factual, maybe a little of critical thinking. There were only 1-2 questions per passage about tone, opinion, etc. I jotted down which numbers those were, and after I finished the other questions I was able to have good guesses for them.

Science: I am a biology major, so that probable helped with my Bio score a bit. I am heading into my senior year of undergrad, and a lot of the material I had taken a year or two ago. Kaplan was a good refresher of the material for me, but in no way would have been enough. DAT DESTROYER WAS AMAZING. I attribute my OChem and Gen Chem scores directly to the Destroyer. The questions are pretty tough at first, but really help solidify difficult concepts. The road maps for orgo in the destroyer are awesome.

Practice DAT's: I took two full length practice DAT's, one two weeks before my exam, the other 1 week before my exam. I did better on my real DAT on everything except PAT (23 on both practice exams). I only got a 19 AA and 21 AA, respectively, on those two practice exams, but it really showed me where I needed to focus my last week of studying to shore up the gaps in my knowledge, and prepared me for the length of the exam.

Good luck to everyone! I hope your DAT experience goes as well as mine did 🙂.

Congratulations! Excellent scores, and that 30 in GenChem will catch the attention of dental schools. You should have no problem getting interviews and acceptance into dental school.

I am glad you found our materials helpful and part of your study tools.

Thank you for taking the time to write a breakdown of your DAT experience, it will help other students that are preparing.

I am sure you are celebrating as you should be.

Good luck in your journey to becoming a dentist!

Dr. Jim Romano and Nancy Steen
 
You mentioned that you jotted down the questions that were tone based. Was it easy going back and forth between questions? I know for the DAT you can't just click like question 18 you have to mark it then go to the end then click the marked question right?
Id like to know as well!
 
You mentioned that you jotted down the questions that were tone based. Was it easy going back and forth between questions? I know for the DAT you can't just click like question 18 you have to mark it then go to the end then click the marked question right?
Yea it wasn't to hard. There is like 16-18 questions for each passage. Only a couple questions in each passage are tone based. I did the questions for one passage, then went back to the tone ones for each passage before moving on to the next passage. By the end of the questions for each passage, I would say you end up reading close to 90% of it and can make a good guess.
 
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Congratulations on your achievement. Did you find Kaplan book helpful?
Yea for a refresher. The most useful part of the book were the practice DATs that came with it. I read the book once through (no RC or QR) and then went back to some of the chapters where I knew I needed to re-read (taxonomy).
 
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