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- Jul 5, 2012
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Hi everyone I just wanted to write about my DAT experience, so that I could hopefully help one of you in your preparation. I referred to SDN many times throughout my prep and thought that this would be a good way to give back. I just got done applying to dental schools about two weeks ago. I took the DAT June 19.
PAT 21
QR 17
RC 17
BIO 22
GC 24
OC 24
TS 23
AA 21
Initially, I was kind of nervous about the 17s in QR and RC, but after doing some research I am comfortable with applying with these scores. I do not want to take this thing again.
PRE-DAT
This winter I took a Kaplan course. I felt I had a great instructor that knew his material and he was always willing to quickly respond to emails about the DAT, application stuff, etc. The Kaplan online materials were very useful. During the winter semester I did my best to keep up with the course. I did fall behind a little bit because I was busy with my other courses and working in a research lab. Once I finished the winter term, I reread the Kaplan Study Notes highlighting and making notes on material I felt I did not know that well. I studied a solid 8 weeks while taking another course during the spring term. Studying varied anywhere between 3-8 hours a day and I tried to take at least one or two days off a week. The last 3 weeks leading up to my test day I studied until I could not look at my notes anymore, which was about 3 days before the test.
Kaplan Materials-Great for the sciences.
Achiever 5 Tests-Use as a learning tool. Achiever tests are scary and way more difficult than the real thing. I consistently scored between 15-18 on each section.
CrackDAT PAT-Very similar to the real thing.
DAT Destroyer-I'm very happy that I was recommended to use this by a friend. I would recommend this to all studying for the DAT. It was definitely worth the money.
PAT-I used Kaplan, Achiever, and CrackDAT PAT. Kaplan was easier compared to the actual test. Achiever PAT scared me, but it was good practice. I felt CrackDAT PAT was the best product because it was most indicative of the real thing.
QR-Kaplan, Achiever, and DAT Destroyer. This section kind of surprised me on the real DAT. I felt that I was prepared for it. Kaplan's QR sections were redundant; many of the questions were the same but with different numbers. Make sure to know your Trig. Identities.
RC-I was scoring between 18-20 on the Kaplan practice DATs and 15-17 on Achiever. In hindsight I should have studied RC much more.
BIO-I felt the Kaplan material and the DAT Destroyer were great for this section. I would not recommend starting the Destroyer until you studied for a couple weeks. The Destroyer is extremely difficult the first time you go through it, especially for BIO. For me, when going through the Destroyer I did not time myself. I worked through the Destroyer at my own pace, completing a few pages at a time, correcting the answers, and reading the explanations in the back of each section. I felt I did the most learning when I was reading these explanations. Often, I would take notes and highlight the explanations because they were helpful. I reviewed this section 3 or 4 times after completing it.
GC and OC-Again, Kaplan Material and the Destroyer were sufficient for this section. I felt Kaplan GC and OC sections were similar to harder than the real DAT. For the Destroyer, I used the same method of studying for these sections as I did for BIO. I reviewed each section multiple times.
I periodically took the Kaplan practice DATs for the first couple of weeks of studying. I then moved onto Achiever Tests. I only finished the first 4 of them because they were so demoralizing. Achiever was a great learning tool. Throughout this entire process, immediately after taking the tests I would review the sciences. I would take notes on what I got wrong and then make study guides for that specific information. I felt when reading through the answers for the practice DATs and the Destroyer I was learning the most.
At the beginning of this process I tried to study each portion of the test equally each day. As I began taking the practice tests I found myself focusing on one or two sections of the test a day. I would use studying for the PAT as a break between studying for the sciences.
TEST-DAY
I did not know the first question of the test and I panicked. I choose an answer, marked the question, and moved on. I marked between 13-18 questions in the sciences. I finished the sciences with 25 to 30 minutes left. I then reviewed all marked questions. I changed the majority of my initial answers that were marked, which made me nervous. I think I was able to finish this section quickly because I did not spend a lot of time on the questions I had marked. This gave me time to review the entire science portion of the test until about mid way through the organic section.
The top-front-end of the PAT was extremely difficult, but everything else seemed about similar to my practice material. I had time to review all marked PAT questions.
I felt very anxious whiling taking RC section and I believe that was reflected in my score. One section was terribly harder than the other two and that's probably were I lost the majority of my points.
I ran out of time for QR section. I marked a few questions, but never was able to review. I had 5-6 trig identity problems that were much more difficult than anything I saw in my practice material.
POST-DAT
My scores kind of surprised me because I was not expecting to score as high as I did in the sciences and lower than I was normally scoring in the QR and RC (compared to Kaplan). Having the DAT done was a relief because I could figure out what schools I could apply too. I think the most important part of preparing for this test is making sure you take breaks between studying and doing something you enjoy, for me that was exercising and hanging out with friends. It was very intimidating to begin studying for this test, but once you get in a groove of studying you become used to it. Good Luck!
PAT 21
QR 17
RC 17
BIO 22
GC 24
OC 24
TS 23
AA 21
Initially, I was kind of nervous about the 17s in QR and RC, but after doing some research I am comfortable with applying with these scores. I do not want to take this thing again.
PRE-DAT
This winter I took a Kaplan course. I felt I had a great instructor that knew his material and he was always willing to quickly respond to emails about the DAT, application stuff, etc. The Kaplan online materials were very useful. During the winter semester I did my best to keep up with the course. I did fall behind a little bit because I was busy with my other courses and working in a research lab. Once I finished the winter term, I reread the Kaplan Study Notes highlighting and making notes on material I felt I did not know that well. I studied a solid 8 weeks while taking another course during the spring term. Studying varied anywhere between 3-8 hours a day and I tried to take at least one or two days off a week. The last 3 weeks leading up to my test day I studied until I could not look at my notes anymore, which was about 3 days before the test.
Kaplan Materials-Great for the sciences.
Achiever 5 Tests-Use as a learning tool. Achiever tests are scary and way more difficult than the real thing. I consistently scored between 15-18 on each section.
CrackDAT PAT-Very similar to the real thing.
DAT Destroyer-I'm very happy that I was recommended to use this by a friend. I would recommend this to all studying for the DAT. It was definitely worth the money.
PAT-I used Kaplan, Achiever, and CrackDAT PAT. Kaplan was easier compared to the actual test. Achiever PAT scared me, but it was good practice. I felt CrackDAT PAT was the best product because it was most indicative of the real thing.
QR-Kaplan, Achiever, and DAT Destroyer. This section kind of surprised me on the real DAT. I felt that I was prepared for it. Kaplan's QR sections were redundant; many of the questions were the same but with different numbers. Make sure to know your Trig. Identities.
RC-I was scoring between 18-20 on the Kaplan practice DATs and 15-17 on Achiever. In hindsight I should have studied RC much more.
BIO-I felt the Kaplan material and the DAT Destroyer were great for this section. I would not recommend starting the Destroyer until you studied for a couple weeks. The Destroyer is extremely difficult the first time you go through it, especially for BIO. For me, when going through the Destroyer I did not time myself. I worked through the Destroyer at my own pace, completing a few pages at a time, correcting the answers, and reading the explanations in the back of each section. I felt I did the most learning when I was reading these explanations. Often, I would take notes and highlight the explanations because they were helpful. I reviewed this section 3 or 4 times after completing it.
GC and OC-Again, Kaplan Material and the Destroyer were sufficient for this section. I felt Kaplan GC and OC sections were similar to harder than the real DAT. For the Destroyer, I used the same method of studying for these sections as I did for BIO. I reviewed each section multiple times.
I periodically took the Kaplan practice DATs for the first couple of weeks of studying. I then moved onto Achiever Tests. I only finished the first 4 of them because they were so demoralizing. Achiever was a great learning tool. Throughout this entire process, immediately after taking the tests I would review the sciences. I would take notes on what I got wrong and then make study guides for that specific information. I felt when reading through the answers for the practice DATs and the Destroyer I was learning the most.
At the beginning of this process I tried to study each portion of the test equally each day. As I began taking the practice tests I found myself focusing on one or two sections of the test a day. I would use studying for the PAT as a break between studying for the sciences.
TEST-DAY
I did not know the first question of the test and I panicked. I choose an answer, marked the question, and moved on. I marked between 13-18 questions in the sciences. I finished the sciences with 25 to 30 minutes left. I then reviewed all marked questions. I changed the majority of my initial answers that were marked, which made me nervous. I think I was able to finish this section quickly because I did not spend a lot of time on the questions I had marked. This gave me time to review the entire science portion of the test until about mid way through the organic section.
The top-front-end of the PAT was extremely difficult, but everything else seemed about similar to my practice material. I had time to review all marked PAT questions.
I felt very anxious whiling taking RC section and I believe that was reflected in my score. One section was terribly harder than the other two and that's probably were I lost the majority of my points.
I ran out of time for QR section. I marked a few questions, but never was able to review. I had 5-6 trig identity problems that were much more difficult than anything I saw in my practice material.
POST-DAT
My scores kind of surprised me because I was not expecting to score as high as I did in the sciences and lower than I was normally scoring in the QR and RC (compared to Kaplan). Having the DAT done was a relief because I could figure out what schools I could apply too. I think the most important part of preparing for this test is making sure you take breaks between studying and doing something you enjoy, for me that was exercising and hanging out with friends. It was very intimidating to begin studying for this test, but once you get in a groove of studying you become used to it. Good Luck!
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