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- Sep 15, 2014
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So I just took the DAT and sadly I am very disappointed with my scores. I felt so defeated after I left the testing center.Luckily for many of the people who benefit from reading this message, I am not scared to post this or ashamed of what people may think. This could maybe help the student who has struggled with the DAT and have not received the many wonderful scores you see on here. Not too often you see bad scores on here so here it goes:
Bio: 18 GC: 17 OC:15 QR:12 RC:15 PAT:17 TS:17 AA:15
A little about myself
I studied for a long time with this test(more than the avg 3-4 months you see) and I had many days where it was common to put in 8-12 hours a day. I am a firm believer(still am) that if you put in the work, you will get the scores you want. Sadly, my scores do not reflect that, even though I have a 3.7 GPA. If I could have avoided these mistakes I am about to explain, I think my scores would have been a lot higher!!
My sources
The products I used were DAT Destroyer, DAT Genius, Qvault, Chads Videos/quizzes, and DAT Bootcamp. A lot of students mentioned on here if you take DAT Bootcamp/Genius and know them, you will be good to go....so they said
Reflection(What I learned during/after the exam)
1. Get rest during the week of the exam. I was killing myself waking up at like 6AM and going to bed at almost midnight. I could definitely feel the exhaustion while I was taking the exam. Also, I know it's hard to do because of how stressed you maybe, but try to take the day off before your exam. No, seriously, that was one of my first thoughts while taking the exam. It will help your mind tremendously. Your brain won't feel so foggy.
2. DO NOT rely so heavily on these time testing sources, especially Bootcamp! You would think sometimes by the stuff you read on SDN that if you were to complete Bootcamp/Qvault Bio/etc , and get a score close to your goal, that you will be good to go! Wrong! Although these tests may expand your knowledge on what you might see on the exam, I don't believe you should just rely on these. Try to UNDERSTAND as much as possible, not memorize the solutions or problems. When you see something that you feel you understand about 60% or 75%....make sure you take the necessary steps to make sure you understand it 100%! The worst thing you can see on the DAT is a question you have seen so many damn times, but your mind was foggy enough to not answer it correctly or you forget how to you should answer that particular question. I HATE THIS!!! 😡 It could have been easy points in the bag for you if you just focused on it more.
3. I don't think your practice scores on some of these testing sources are as accurate of a score predictor as some people claim to be. I scored lower on my actual exam than I did on some of my practice tests. I probably should have taken the DAT 2009 test to get a real feel for what kind of scores I would receive. Oh well, it is what it is.
4. Do not wait till the last minute to focus on QR!! Trust me. This score can really bring down your AA score if you don't practice this. The problems are not impossible to do, in fact, a lot are really simple. However, if you don't practice the problems, and you become stressed or tired while coming to this section(pretty normal if you ask me), it's easy to forget how to do some of these problems and your mind goes blank.
5. Come to the RC section with a game plan. I read a lot on SDN that if you just do "Search and Destroy" you will be good to go. I still highly recommend you come in there with a strategy and that you PRACTICE. Otherwise, I will tell you what is going to happen. When you see the clock ticking, and you spent about 10 min so far, and you only answered about 1 or 2 questions, you will start to panic....quick. Especially when you have about 15-18 more questions left before you go on to the next passage. Try to practice. Even if you get discourage from your results from practice tests. Btw, I was scoring 18/19 in DAT Genius(took it about a month before my exam) and I got a 15 on mine. Maybe it's because I didn't practice enough, or maybe it's because I didn't come up with a game plan or practice close enough to the exam date.
6. I would have focused on using Destroyer more for all the other sections. I think my Orgo score would have definitely gone up, as well as the other sections. I did the Bio section a few days before and it saved me!! I must have saw like 3-4 questions from the Destroyer alone on my Bio section. I wish I would used it for the Orgo section and touched up on GC a little more. Also, as much as I wanted to throw this book across the table every time, I would have used the Math Destroyer more too.
7. I am sure this is a given, but practice in PAT and get in the habit of making it like a chore to do. That 15 min here, or 10 min there, will add up a lot over time if you can do that daily.
8. Make sure you focus on your time! It will fly by like crazy and before you know it, you will have a lot of questions left to answer in a short amount of time. I had to guess on like 5 or 6 questions on my science section I just randomly marked because I underestimated my ability to get through them with the time I was given.
9. Double check the answers you put to your question before you move on to the next one. It is easy to accidentally select the wrong answer choice. It is also easy to make stupid mistakes and be completely unaware because of how confident you were in answering that question. The absolutely weirdest thing for me on this exam was how I finished the GC section thinking I got a 22 or higher and how I thought the questions were so easy to answer. Seriously, I was thinking "they really just decided to throw me that joke of a question on there?" Well clearly, I either made a lot of mistakes or didn't know how to solve the problem since I got a freaking 17 on that section!
Final Thoughts
I know it seems as if everyone here on SDN has a 20-25 score in the DAT. I mean, it is easy to think that if that is all you see in here....but it's not true at all. The average is definitely below that. Even students with a high GPA can get their ass kicked on this exam. Try to understand(not memorize) everything you can.
With that being said....CHANCE ME!! What are my chances of getting into dental school?!
Jk, I know I don't have a shot at all applying with these scores. I posted this breakdown to help those who are not getting the amazing scores on this site to let you know, you are definitely not alone. Believe it or not, you can still post a breakdown, even if you don't have stellar scores. It can still help people out by helping them avoid some of the mistakes you made. So with that being said, post your crappy scores my people! Just suck it up Post them!! No one really knows who you are here on SDN anyways so don't be afraid to post your failures and openly talk about them.
Sorry for any typo,grammar mistakes....wrote this in a rush.
See you on the next breakdown!
Bio: 18 GC: 17 OC:15 QR:12 RC:15 PAT:17 TS:17 AA:15
A little about myself
I studied for a long time with this test(more than the avg 3-4 months you see) and I had many days where it was common to put in 8-12 hours a day. I am a firm believer(still am) that if you put in the work, you will get the scores you want. Sadly, my scores do not reflect that, even though I have a 3.7 GPA. If I could have avoided these mistakes I am about to explain, I think my scores would have been a lot higher!!
My sources
The products I used were DAT Destroyer, DAT Genius, Qvault, Chads Videos/quizzes, and DAT Bootcamp. A lot of students mentioned on here if you take DAT Bootcamp/Genius and know them, you will be good to go....so they said
Reflection(What I learned during/after the exam)
1. Get rest during the week of the exam. I was killing myself waking up at like 6AM and going to bed at almost midnight. I could definitely feel the exhaustion while I was taking the exam. Also, I know it's hard to do because of how stressed you maybe, but try to take the day off before your exam. No, seriously, that was one of my first thoughts while taking the exam. It will help your mind tremendously. Your brain won't feel so foggy.
2. DO NOT rely so heavily on these time testing sources, especially Bootcamp! You would think sometimes by the stuff you read on SDN that if you were to complete Bootcamp/Qvault Bio/etc , and get a score close to your goal, that you will be good to go! Wrong! Although these tests may expand your knowledge on what you might see on the exam, I don't believe you should just rely on these. Try to UNDERSTAND as much as possible, not memorize the solutions or problems. When you see something that you feel you understand about 60% or 75%....make sure you take the necessary steps to make sure you understand it 100%! The worst thing you can see on the DAT is a question you have seen so many damn times, but your mind was foggy enough to not answer it correctly or you forget how to you should answer that particular question. I HATE THIS!!! 😡 It could have been easy points in the bag for you if you just focused on it more.
3. I don't think your practice scores on some of these testing sources are as accurate of a score predictor as some people claim to be. I scored lower on my actual exam than I did on some of my practice tests. I probably should have taken the DAT 2009 test to get a real feel for what kind of scores I would receive. Oh well, it is what it is.
4. Do not wait till the last minute to focus on QR!! Trust me. This score can really bring down your AA score if you don't practice this. The problems are not impossible to do, in fact, a lot are really simple. However, if you don't practice the problems, and you become stressed or tired while coming to this section(pretty normal if you ask me), it's easy to forget how to do some of these problems and your mind goes blank.
5. Come to the RC section with a game plan. I read a lot on SDN that if you just do "Search and Destroy" you will be good to go. I still highly recommend you come in there with a strategy and that you PRACTICE. Otherwise, I will tell you what is going to happen. When you see the clock ticking, and you spent about 10 min so far, and you only answered about 1 or 2 questions, you will start to panic....quick. Especially when you have about 15-18 more questions left before you go on to the next passage. Try to practice. Even if you get discourage from your results from practice tests. Btw, I was scoring 18/19 in DAT Genius(took it about a month before my exam) and I got a 15 on mine. Maybe it's because I didn't practice enough, or maybe it's because I didn't come up with a game plan or practice close enough to the exam date.
6. I would have focused on using Destroyer more for all the other sections. I think my Orgo score would have definitely gone up, as well as the other sections. I did the Bio section a few days before and it saved me!! I must have saw like 3-4 questions from the Destroyer alone on my Bio section. I wish I would used it for the Orgo section and touched up on GC a little more. Also, as much as I wanted to throw this book across the table every time, I would have used the Math Destroyer more too.
7. I am sure this is a given, but practice in PAT and get in the habit of making it like a chore to do. That 15 min here, or 10 min there, will add up a lot over time if you can do that daily.
8. Make sure you focus on your time! It will fly by like crazy and before you know it, you will have a lot of questions left to answer in a short amount of time. I had to guess on like 5 or 6 questions on my science section I just randomly marked because I underestimated my ability to get through them with the time I was given.
9. Double check the answers you put to your question before you move on to the next one. It is easy to accidentally select the wrong answer choice. It is also easy to make stupid mistakes and be completely unaware because of how confident you were in answering that question. The absolutely weirdest thing for me on this exam was how I finished the GC section thinking I got a 22 or higher and how I thought the questions were so easy to answer. Seriously, I was thinking "they really just decided to throw me that joke of a question on there?" Well clearly, I either made a lot of mistakes or didn't know how to solve the problem since I got a freaking 17 on that section!
Final Thoughts
I know it seems as if everyone here on SDN has a 20-25 score in the DAT. I mean, it is easy to think that if that is all you see in here....but it's not true at all. The average is definitely below that. Even students with a high GPA can get their ass kicked on this exam. Try to understand(not memorize) everything you can.
With that being said....CHANCE ME!! What are my chances of getting into dental school?!
Jk, I know I don't have a shot at all applying with these scores. I posted this breakdown to help those who are not getting the amazing scores on this site to let you know, you are definitely not alone. Believe it or not, you can still post a breakdown, even if you don't have stellar scores. It can still help people out by helping them avoid some of the mistakes you made. So with that being said, post your crappy scores my people! Just suck it up Post them!! No one really knows who you are here on SDN anyways so don't be afraid to post your failures and openly talk about them.
Sorry for any typo,grammar mistakes....wrote this in a rush.
See you on the next breakdown!
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