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[GNF8300]

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I just finished my DAT. I haven't posted on this forum, but I've surfed it fairly addictively over the past couple of weeks. Scores are:

PAT -26
QR - 17
RC - 22
BIO - 20
GC - 19
OC - 22

TS - 21
AA -20

My cGPA is about 3.7 with a sGPA of around 3.8 (conservative estimates-AADSAS pending) from a smaller, private. I only write this to give you an idea of my academic background.

I'm more than willing to answer any questions about how I prepared, what I thought, what classes I've had, when I took them, etcetera. Just to go ahead and answer the first couple questions, I prepared with the Kaplan online course and the internet when I had questions. It's good material from Kaplan, in general. Kaplan is a good BASE, you'll need to expand. Some of GC calcs I had never seen before through the material, but conceptually, Kaplan is on point. The OC is good conceptually also, just make sure you look at all kinds of reactions. I never did the RC sections, so I wouldn't know how they compare. PAT is pretty similar, but you have to be more precise with angle rankings on the actual test. I never scored above 22 on my practice tests for this section. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic about this section.

As for QR, Kaplan was SERIOULY WEAK on this section. I was getting about 90% on the practice timed tests before today's debacle. Taking that section today was, like jumping into Artic Circle with only a pair of water wings. There were about 7-8 problem setups that I wasn't ready for, and I'm fairly confident that I missed every trig problem. Note: I'm sure the problems aren't that tough (so don't freak out), but if it takes more than about 30 seconds to realize how to go about solving the problem up, it's bad news.

I'm won't be around much today, but I'll try to respond to questions tonight. It's been helpful to read what people have been posting, so I'm going to try to return the favor.

 

[Bruinlove]

Good Job! Now go out tonight and have lots of -OH's! 😀

 

[harrygt]

Very nice scores! Congrats!
Can we get a break down of each section? That would be great!

 

[sl2obel2ts]

how was RC? how was biology section, what material did u use for bio?

 

[Simiam]

what kinds of set up are you talking about with QR?? How did it differ from Kaplan... Permutations? Geometry? Trig functions? Algebra?

 

[GNF8300]

I'm not sure what kind of break down you want. They have the types of problems and how many there are on the ADA site. It's about what you'd expect from looking at the site. I had probably four calculations for GC, and maybe 7-10 reactions for OC. As for BIO, if you have a Kaplan book, I suggest expanding out certain topics in the form notes. I read the Kaplan book, and memorized all the subject tests. Frankly, if you have time, just get on wikipedia and then ping (type in "endocrinology" and then read that page and if something jumps out at you click on it and repeat the process) around for a couple of hours a day. Kaplan's subject tests will give you a good idea of the depth you need to go on each topic, but the book itself doesn't go deep enough even though it gives the outline for all the topics on the test.

The RC was pretty much seek and destroy. You end up reading/scanning the majority of the passage which helps. I only had a handful of tone questions, and time wasn't an issue.

Setups for word problems and conversions (it's easy to get the right answer, but what if you mix up your conversions or divisions then have to redo it, you're in hot water). It helps to do as many practice problems as possible just to see the various ways different concepts can be tested. Algebra's all through it; love algebra, and it'll love you back. The combination formula is good to know, although I didn't have it on mine. Also, very little geometry (this is most likely a fluke). Basically, it's like everyone says, do as many problems as you can. Personally, I had, no joke, about 5 trig problems (3 straight up and 2 word probs). Kaplan's trig section is a JOKE for these, so they absolutely killed me. Know how to solve different kinds of trig functions. Kaplan's trig focused on identities. These are good to know, but they will do you NO good on the DAT since you'll have to work out these problems. ADA's site says you'll have a few of these, don't remember how many, but don't expect to see problems like tanx=sinx/cosx. The only thing I can really add that's new is that you need to have a good understanding of all kinds of trig beyond the identities<-that's worth the price of admission.

 

[Simiam]

One more thing... I do well in all sections of the PAT save the angle ranking.... How did you pull it off? any tricks or do you just have some mad angle skills

 

[GNF8300]

If you get stuck, I'd suggest just covering up the rays with your paper near the angle. The rays can get distracting, but if you do this you can more accurately compare two angles without the optical illusion resulting from the fact that one of them is huge and the other isn't. As for me, it's a God-given ability to visualize and rotate objects in my head. It's nothing I can take credit for.

 

[Simiam]

You can't hold anything up to the screen I thought?

 

[Bruinlove]

You can't hold anything up to the screen I thought?

Yeah, he/she broke a rule. But many prometric centers don't care if student breaks a rule or two.

I dare anyone to do such thing at the center where I took the exam. Dental schools will never see your scores.

 

[GNF8300]

It's a way to PRACTICE seeing the angles. I didn't need to do it. If you do it while you try to work the practice problems, you should be able to visualize and focus in on the angle better during the test.

 

[GNF8300]

You obviously can't manipulate the screen during the test. Sorry to be misleading about that.

 

[snooper92]

congrats on your scores...

Since you did so well on the PAT, can you suggest any helpful advice for keyholes and top-end-front? I'm going crazy over these 2 sections.

I've been practicing keyholes and often think the answers are random, meaning that they aren't drawn to scale (seemingly too small or too large for the object), or they think you should have realized some aspect of the object that wasn't something you would know for certain to be present, if you know what I mean. When I look at the right answer, it seems so arbitrary, and often I don't know why my answer was any worse than the supposed "right" one.

Also, for top-end-front, it takes me freaking forever to figure out what the heck is going on with the 2 views. It just eats up so much time.

Congrats again on your scores. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[eilrahcmi]

did you use crack the pat?

 

[DrReo]

Amazing scores!


I had one trig problem. If one had a lot of time, they could easily figure it out... note: a lot

 

[GNF8300]

Looking at the keyhole problems, I think it's easiest to look at the answer choices first and get an idea of how you'll have to look at the object since in most cases the choices are fairly similar. The next best thing is to look any edges (also slants) or odd shapes and how they are spacially. For example, do the edges meet flush or is there a space, are there any notches that would be visible or would they by absorbed into the rest of the object. Also, it's worth while to know how pyramids, cylinders (shown as squares from the side and front), and holes running through objects are depicted. A lot of times, you can throw out an answer or two immediately. After that, all you have to do is look at the details of the remaining choices to see if they sync up with the object itself.

You can see every aspect of the figure itself (there aren't any hidden features), it's just a matter of knowing how certain key things look from different angles and what gets absorbed, because the outline from one side is usually not what the keyhole ends up looking like.

The T/F/E problems get easier the more you do. Again, look at the answer choices intially to get an idea of what the object looks like on the whole. Then, the best thing to do for the side, for example, is again to look for any odd shapes and make sure to note whether they're imbedded and where they are (front, middle, back) in the top and front views. Also, a big thing that should help is to pay attention to where the solid lines and dotted lines should be on the object and look for the same in the answers. For example, if there's a triangle pointing to the right on the top view that composes that whole side and there's a crazy zig zag patern on the other side (and everything's in plane) then look for three solid lines on the End projection with lots of dotted lines interspersed. Pay attention to the spacing and whether a solid line covers up where you'd expect a dotted line also.

Probably the best advice if you're faced with a figure that you just have no idea what it looks like is to look at the answers first. This should give you an idea of what it looks like in space, which will make answering the question easier. Let me know if you have any questions, since it's hard to explain without have a figure there to use as an example. If you have Kaplan's online program (this is really the only thing I can think of), pick some problems you're having problems with and pm me the numbers. I'll try to help you figure out why the answers are correct. This goes for anyone else having issues with PAT problems that has Kaplan's online course. Note: I won't send you any actual problems, and I don't want you to send me any actual problems; you have to respect copyrights, they're there for a reason.

I didn't use Crack PAT.