Need to start studying for my DAT again....help plzz

[molar3]

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Hey guys,
so I need to start studying for my DAT again. I took it this past summer and i dont think i did particularly bad......my scores were
19 bio
19 orgo
23 gen chem
total science 20
pat 17
qr:15
AA: 20

so with that said......i reallly dont think im getting accepted this cycle because i've gotten zero interview invites and I need to bring my gpa up. So perhaps that score above is good enough for someone with like a 3.6 - 3.7 gpa, but thats NOT me.
The problem is, I reallllyyyy thought i was going to do better on my DAT my first time. I felt really prepared and I did so many problems so i just dont even know HOW to STUDY this time or WHAT to study again for that matter.
The first time i used cliffs ap bio, dat destroyer (except not too much for bio bc i was on a time crunch, i mainly focused on cliffs for bio). I did all the destroyer gen chem and orgo problems like 2-3 times.....and i did chads vids and all his quizzes.
For QR i have math destroyer (i only made it up to test 6 and i was struggling). I dont think the QR section is particularly "hard" on the DAT, i just think its time consuming. I defly couldve solved all those problems especially bc i'd seen them before in math destroyer but i DIDNT HAVE TIME!!!!!! i blind guessed on like the last .....7 problems or something.
I also studied like day and night for my DAT this summer, literally all day long.
I dont know where to start studying again? I need to take my DAT by the begg. of january before i start taking classes, sooooo i need to get a move on.
any suggestions? I have no idea what to do differently or if i should use different materials . fml. someone please help me
This time around mind you, im aiming for at least a 23AA and at least a 20 PAT? I think its doable.....now how to achieve those scores im not so sure. shoot me.
i also had crack dat pat but im sooooooooooooo bad at TFE and angles
THANKS!!!!!

oh yea and i did all 3 topscore tests lastime too

 

[healthcaree]

well it looks like your gchem is good enough. just work on bio and ochem for science..

PAT, i haven't used it but it seems like Crack DAT PAT works really well for the others. personally i think DAT achiever PAT section helped me a lot. try DAT achiever this time (although i think the science sections are way too hard. makes the real DAT look easier though!)

for QR, all i have to say is, math destroyer. it seems like you do have the book.. don't try to only familiarize the problems, but also TIME YOURSELF. i timed myself for each test, and when i first started, i wasn't able to finish it, but around test 9,10 i was able to finish the test with 5 mins left. it really is about timing. try to solve the problems with a short-way. that's the key.

ochem should be good enough with kaplan BB + chad's video + dat destroyer.

bio, i personally used cliff's myself and scored a 22; i scored a 18 on my first DAT. this section is really based on your luck, just like reading i would say.

just work hard, and also pray that you'll get an easier test next time 🙂 and the cycle is still going on so don't lose hope!

 

[AmpedUp]

where did you apply?

those scores don't seem terrible to me. perhaps lack of shadowing and ec's/volunteering?

 

[Mr Tooth Fairy]

where did you apply?

those scores don't seem terrible to me. perhaps lack of shadowing and ec's/volunteering?

From what was said, it could be the GPA that's holding the OP back...

 

[yappy]

OP: i guess what we're asking is what was your GPA, what schools did you apply to (or how many), & when did you apply? Your dat doesnt seem bad at all. If your gpa is really low maybe you just need to raise it and leave to dat alone... though I'm sure you could do better if that's what you wanted. math destroyer has helped me with my math.

 

[AmpedUp]

From what was said, it could be the GPA that's holding the OP back...

oops!

selective reading on my part - i found the numbers 3.6-3.7 gpa and assumed that was the OP's. in that case, consider retaking the DAT (and on the side, figure out what you can do to raise that GPA - consider a post-bacc if you don't get anything this cycle).

 

[molar3]

Hey guys,
Yea my gpa is low, my science is only a 2.77 and my cum is a 3.3, i applied in june but i didnt take my DAT till the end of the summer.
I applied to NYU, tufts, temple, upenn (haha), chicago, and BU. Nothing so far. No rejections but no interviews either. Im just assuming that my science gpa is too low because a few of the schools i called basically hinted at my gpa being too low. shoot me.
So yea, i've decided to do an informal postbac starting in january (2nd semester) and going through summer session1 (ends in the beg/middle of june), taking about 22-23 credits and hope it boosts my gpa enough and then reapplying that same summer. i'm not sure what my other options/alternatives would be because doing a masters wont increase my undergrad gpa which is what i need/want.
I'm honestly only retaking my DAT bc i feel like my PAT and QR sections were too low and i feel like if my GPA isnt stellar I cant have a 17 PAT too, that just doesnt look good.
Ugh stressful

 

[321931]

Hey guys,
Yea my gpa is low, my science is only a 2.77 and my cum is a 3.3, i applied in june but i didnt take my DAT till the end of the summer.
I applied to NYU, tufts, temple, upenn (haha), chicago, and BU. Nothing so far. No rejections but no interviews either. Im just assuming that my science gpa is too low because a few of the schools i called basically hinted at my gpa being too low. shoot me.
So yea, i've decided to do an informal postbac starting in january (2nd semester) and going through summer session1 (ends in the beg/middle of june), taking about 22-23 credits and hope it boosts my gpa enough and then reapplying that same summer. i'm not sure what my other options/alternatives would be because doing a masters wont increase my undergrad gpa which is what i need/want.
I'm honestly only retaking my DAT bc i feel like my PAT and QR sections were too low and i feel like if my GPA isnt stellar I cant have a 17 PAT too, that just doesnt look good.
Ugh stressful

Your science gpa is the big thing. Take a ton of science classes/post-bac in order to alleviate it. Your DAT scores are fine (except the PAT is a bit low). Focus sci gpa then dat. gl!🙂

 

[klzblz]

I really liked Orgoman's DAT destroyer. I bought the 2010 version used on craigslist to avoid the high cost. It took some getting used to, as it's not in a traditional 'study' format, but I did much better with it than just reading material prior to doing practice DATs.

 

[Jenna2010]

My advice (from my experience):-

For QR, do the Math destroyer... but before you start on the section tests you did not reach last time, go over ALL the ones you did do. Make yourself a formula sheet from the answers in the QR destroyer and go over it as much as possible. Then move on to do the remaining sections TIMED without the formula sheet. You really can finish with extra time remaining.

Also, from my own experience (and I hope this does not sound mean at all, but this is what I went through)... if you think you can do better on the test, then you can do better studying for it. I learned that the hard way.

Good luck! I hope you get in this cycle so you won't have to stress too much.

 

[DividedByZero]

The thing is, for most schools it won't even matter what DAT score you get since your sciGPA is most likely not meeting the cut off point (usually around 2.75-3.00 depending on the school). You have to seriously consider taking enough post-bac courses to raise it to the 3.0 mark OR ace a 1-year non-thesis masters program in bio before applying again. Also, you should probably apply more broadly - I have a 3.87 GPA (3.2o/3.1sci) from my masters and a 21 AA and haven't heard yet from any of the schools that you applied to - but I have 5 interviews already because I applied broadly. It may be true that you might not have to worry about it if you do meet your goal of a 23+ AA DAT but that's like 99.x%-tile, which is doable with a lot of studying but since you've taken the DAT before - you also know it's going to be highly dependent on luck. My advice would be to take luck out of the equation and just focus on your GPA. Good luck... err, I mean happy studying, man.

 

[iwantdental]

for the PAT i really recommend Crack DAT PAT. the first time i took the DAT I got a 19 in the PAT section. the second time around I did all of the PAT practice sections in CDP and got a 24.

for qr i agree that math destroyer is a really good resource to use.

good luck!

 

[yappy]

Yeah OP take science classes if you dont get in... if you're not a science major you can bump that sci gpa up fast. DO NOT take too many to where you're earning B's in them - take just enough to get A's in almost any of them. If I were you I would take some challenging ones... but also alot of easy ones that I could ace... b/c in the end gpa is just a number.