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DAT Scores:
PAT: 22
Bio: 22
Gc: 26
Oc: 26
RC: 17
QR: 22
TS: 24
AA: 22
First of all I just want to thank everyone on this forum who helped me (you know who you are).
I will give a detailed breakdown tomorrow as I'm scheduled to be highly intoxicated shortly. The only thing I can say is that I'm not really satisfied with my scores although they're really not that bad. Everyone who knows me on here knows that I'm not being cocky by saying that. I just feel like, with the time I put into studying for this test, I didn't do as well as I should have. And I think y'all know which section I'm pissed about the most! It pretty much ruined my AA. But then again, RC was my weakest section and I honestly tried and did everything I could to improve it, so I guess you can call me stupid. That won't offend me as that requires me giving a ****.
BREAKDOWN:
I sort of regret scheduling my test at 1:30. I think 11-ish would've been the perfect time. I woke up at 9:30, had a good breakfast, and went over my final/important notes I had made for each science section (only about 3 pages). I was ready to leave the house by 11, but it was too early. So I started walking around the house like a crazy man and my stress level was increasing with every pace. I finally left the house around noon and luckily I was able to start my test right when I got there. And oh, I hope your prometric lady won't be as flirtatious as mine was. She had me redo my picture because I didn't smile! I was like I almost feel my testicles in my mouth and you want me to smile for you?! My prometric center was pretty new and everything was nice. However, with the stress I was having I think that was the last thing I gave a **** about.
First of all, before I get started, what I'm going to say is only based on the version I got!!!
Bio: Some people say it's random, some say it's not. But they need to define random first. I believe Bio in general is random! To me if they gave me 40 questions on just genetics or taxonomy, then I'd say it wasn't random, but that's obviously not the case with any version you get on the DAT. Anyways, I honestly thought bio was very difficult! Although I have mentioned before that you only say a test was easy if you know all the answers and you say it was hard if you don't know the answer, but honestly I had very few straight forward questions. I had to think deep for a lot of questions, and there were some questions that I had to read 3 times just to understand what the hell it was asking. I honestly knew my bio and I thought it was absolutely not easy!
What I used to study for bio:
1. My old bio book, Life: Science of Biology = great book! I honestly haven't seen one subject that has been mentioned in any other book that hasn't been covered in my old bio book.
2. Cliffs: I would definitely recommend it.
3. Destroyer: I would go through Cliffs first and then do destroyer. Pretty good source!
4. Notes and lectures from my graduate program (They saved my ass on a couple questions)
5. DATQVAULT: Good source of questions and good practice for the DAT. I was getting between 32-38. But I think my average was like 36 on the benchmark tests.
My suggestion: I don't think there's any way you can be completely prepared for bio. I believe your performance in your general bio classes is a good representation of how you'd do on this section. Unfortunately I didn't do well in my undergrad bio (any general science class really), but I learned a **** ton in my graduate program which I think made up for my poor performance in undergrad. Bottom line, go through as many books and questions you can get your hands on and if you have the time!
Gc: To be honest I was scared of this section and I don't even know why! This was the section I made a lot of stupid mistakes on my practice tests. This section wasn't that bad honestly. Quite a few straight forward set up calculations. But I wouldn't say I had more conceptual questions than calculations though. I'd say there were 5 or 6 questions I was stuck on and I honestly think I got lucky with some of them, because I was 50-50 on 2 answers. This section is very doable if you can avoid stupid mistakes.
What I used to study for Gc:
1. Chad's: This kid is a gifted teacher. He loves to teach and he's damn good at it. I've known Chad personally for the past 4, 5 years and I used to go to his Ochem reviews at ASU all the time. He's always made concepts easier to understand. If you haven't had Gchem for a while and are rusty, then his reviews are the best source to start with.
2. Destroyer: That's pretty much all I did after going through Chad's videos. I went through it 4 times. This is key to do well on this sections.
3. 1001 Questions for MCAT: A lot of the questions on this book were unnecessary to know for the DAT, but it really fills in the gaps for any conceptual type of question. As a matter of fact, it helped me with a couple of questions on my DAT that weren't really covered in the destroyer.
My suggestion: Start with Chad. Take notes. Review those notes until you have them down 100%, and then hit the destroyer. Make sure you know the concepts behind every question rather than just memorizing the question.
Oc: Oh boy! I honestly thought I was gonna get a 19 or something like that on this section. I was really surprised with my score. I'm not gonna lie, I must have gotten lucky. Trust me, Ochem was probably my strongest section and I struggled with this section today! It's ironic how Ochem and Bio were my strongest subjects and I really struggled with both today. There were some questions that I had never seen anywhere before (they weren't reactions). I had a few multi-step reactions. Similar to the ones that are in the destroyer but a lot more confusing. It's not too difficult to figure them out but they really mindf*ck you with the answer choices they put on there. Overall, Ochem was my strongest subject and the Ochem on my version was NOT a piece of cake as a lot of people say. But then again, it's different with every version.
What I used to study for Oc:
1. Organic Chemistry Odyssey: The best source you could ever get your hands on for Ochem! It is amazing how much I learned after going through that book. It makes you 'understand' organic chemistry.
2. Destroyer: Great source as well. But there was nothing on the destroyer that wasn't covered in Odyssey since they're both written by Dr. Romano.
3. 1001 Questions for MCAT: meeeeh! It's definitely not a bad thing to go through but nothing really especial about it. However, it did help me understand acid/base reactions and everything about titration curves.
My suggestions: I never went over Chad's reviews since I had a good background, but as I said with Gchem, if you're rusty, definitely start with Chad. All I can say is that make sure you know the destroyer inside and out.
PAT: This is another section I thought I should've done better. I was getting 24's on CDP, I think I only got a couple of 22's.
Keyhole: It was definitely harder than CDP overall. There were some weird ass objects and some of the answers were really close calls!
TFE: I would say it was on par with CDP.
Angles: Same as CDP. Actually I tried glancing at the angles instead of staring at them for more than 3 seconds, and it works. The more you stare at the angles, the more mindf*cked you get.
Hole Punches: A lot easier than CDP, maybe with 1 or 2 exceptions.
Cube Counting: is cube counting!
Folding: I would say it was easier than CDP. I never really struggled with this folding, but mine was definitely easier than CDP.
What I used for PAT:
1. CDP: all I used.
My suggestion: Do CDP 🙂
RC: I don't think I am in any position to give advice or talk about this section. I really thought I did slightly better than a 17, but I guess not. I've always struggled with reading and I honestly did everything I could to improve this section. It didn't work, but hey, I tried!
What I used for RC:
1. CDR: I was getting 17's on this section and that's what I ended up with. So I guess it's a good representation of the real DAT. However, I had more tone questions than people often say they did.
My suggestion: who the f*ck am I to give you any suggestions about RC!
QR: I guess I can't complain about it as I really struggled with this section early on and I definitely improved my math by a lot within the past month. I guessed on 2 questions that I couldn't figure out right away but I'm really curious to know what else I got wrong. Also I never had any problems with the calculator and it was actually more helpful than anything else.
What I used to study for QR:
1. CDM: I really liked it and it was very close to the real DAT. Also it really helped me with timing.
2. Math Destroyer: Awesome!!! I think 95% of the questions were all covered in Math Destroyer! I went over it 3 or 4 time to a point that I knew how to go about every type of question as soon as I was done reading it.
My suggestion: Make sure you know Math Destroyer inside and out. I don't know how you could get anything lower than a 20 on this section if you have that book completely down. Also, if you're struggling with timing, I would really suggest CDM. I was getting 20's and 22's the second time I went over CDM (after I had gone over Math Destroyer twice). The first time I did CDM, I was getting 16's and 18's.
Practice Tests:
1. ADA 2009:
Bio/Gc/Oc
24/21/25 (I only missed 2 questions on Gc, but according to their scoring table, it was a 21!). I didn't do the other sections.
2. Topscore:
Bio/Gc/Oc/PAT/RC/QR
#1 24/19/25/23/22/22
#2 21/20/30/23/19/22
#3 22/25/28/22/19/25
I don't think the real DAT (my version) was any easier than Topscore. As a matter of fact, I feel like bio and especially ochem were a lot harder on the real DAT.
Final Words:
I want to thank everyone on here who helped me to get through the DAT again. It's good to know people who don't mind seeing others succeed along side themselves. At least, that's the mentality I've always had and I think I've done my sharing of helping others on here with whatever I knew.
I've been living on my own and away from parents since I was 15 years old. My life has had a lot of ups and downs, and quite frankly I could write a book about my life. I went from knowing absolutely no English, to having 7 scholarships for soccer, to almost living on the streets, to having only 30% chance of coming out of a coma (which I did obviously lol), to doing very shi*ty in school, to getting my Masters, and now getting through the DAT and awaiting dental school. I'm not trying to be a life-coacher and I know there are more people out there that have had bigger problems than me, but my point is if you put your mind into it and stop f*cking around, you can do anything! And I guarantee you the DAT would be the least of it.
I have a 3.83 graduate GPA and a 3.4 undergrad GPA. I've done 3 researches including one graduate level research. 350+ hours of community service and 1000+ hours of dental experience. If this won't get me into dental school, then I shall shoot myself in the eye twice.
I hope all of you on here who have taken the DAT or are planning on taking the DAT will be successful with your application this year. And I will end it with my own favorite quote: "Always be your true self, unless you're a f*cking loser" Poodidius Maximus.
God Speed!
PAT: 22
Bio: 22
Gc: 26
Oc: 26
RC: 17
QR: 22
TS: 24
AA: 22
First of all I just want to thank everyone on this forum who helped me (you know who you are).
I will give a detailed breakdown tomorrow as I'm scheduled to be highly intoxicated shortly. The only thing I can say is that I'm not really satisfied with my scores although they're really not that bad. Everyone who knows me on here knows that I'm not being cocky by saying that. I just feel like, with the time I put into studying for this test, I didn't do as well as I should have. And I think y'all know which section I'm pissed about the most! It pretty much ruined my AA. But then again, RC was my weakest section and I honestly tried and did everything I could to improve it, so I guess you can call me stupid. That won't offend me as that requires me giving a ****.
BREAKDOWN:
I sort of regret scheduling my test at 1:30. I think 11-ish would've been the perfect time. I woke up at 9:30, had a good breakfast, and went over my final/important notes I had made for each science section (only about 3 pages). I was ready to leave the house by 11, but it was too early. So I started walking around the house like a crazy man and my stress level was increasing with every pace. I finally left the house around noon and luckily I was able to start my test right when I got there. And oh, I hope your prometric lady won't be as flirtatious as mine was. She had me redo my picture because I didn't smile! I was like I almost feel my testicles in my mouth and you want me to smile for you?! My prometric center was pretty new and everything was nice. However, with the stress I was having I think that was the last thing I gave a **** about.
First of all, before I get started, what I'm going to say is only based on the version I got!!!
Bio: Some people say it's random, some say it's not. But they need to define random first. I believe Bio in general is random! To me if they gave me 40 questions on just genetics or taxonomy, then I'd say it wasn't random, but that's obviously not the case with any version you get on the DAT. Anyways, I honestly thought bio was very difficult! Although I have mentioned before that you only say a test was easy if you know all the answers and you say it was hard if you don't know the answer, but honestly I had very few straight forward questions. I had to think deep for a lot of questions, and there were some questions that I had to read 3 times just to understand what the hell it was asking. I honestly knew my bio and I thought it was absolutely not easy!
What I used to study for bio:
1. My old bio book, Life: Science of Biology = great book! I honestly haven't seen one subject that has been mentioned in any other book that hasn't been covered in my old bio book.
2. Cliffs: I would definitely recommend it.
3. Destroyer: I would go through Cliffs first and then do destroyer. Pretty good source!
4. Notes and lectures from my graduate program (They saved my ass on a couple questions)
5. DATQVAULT: Good source of questions and good practice for the DAT. I was getting between 32-38. But I think my average was like 36 on the benchmark tests.
My suggestion: I don't think there's any way you can be completely prepared for bio. I believe your performance in your general bio classes is a good representation of how you'd do on this section. Unfortunately I didn't do well in my undergrad bio (any general science class really), but I learned a **** ton in my graduate program which I think made up for my poor performance in undergrad. Bottom line, go through as many books and questions you can get your hands on and if you have the time!
Gc: To be honest I was scared of this section and I don't even know why! This was the section I made a lot of stupid mistakes on my practice tests. This section wasn't that bad honestly. Quite a few straight forward set up calculations. But I wouldn't say I had more conceptual questions than calculations though. I'd say there were 5 or 6 questions I was stuck on and I honestly think I got lucky with some of them, because I was 50-50 on 2 answers. This section is very doable if you can avoid stupid mistakes.
What I used to study for Gc:
1. Chad's: This kid is a gifted teacher. He loves to teach and he's damn good at it. I've known Chad personally for the past 4, 5 years and I used to go to his Ochem reviews at ASU all the time. He's always made concepts easier to understand. If you haven't had Gchem for a while and are rusty, then his reviews are the best source to start with.
2. Destroyer: That's pretty much all I did after going through Chad's videos. I went through it 4 times. This is key to do well on this sections.
3. 1001 Questions for MCAT: A lot of the questions on this book were unnecessary to know for the DAT, but it really fills in the gaps for any conceptual type of question. As a matter of fact, it helped me with a couple of questions on my DAT that weren't really covered in the destroyer.
My suggestion: Start with Chad. Take notes. Review those notes until you have them down 100%, and then hit the destroyer. Make sure you know the concepts behind every question rather than just memorizing the question.
Oc: Oh boy! I honestly thought I was gonna get a 19 or something like that on this section. I was really surprised with my score. I'm not gonna lie, I must have gotten lucky. Trust me, Ochem was probably my strongest section and I struggled with this section today! It's ironic how Ochem and Bio were my strongest subjects and I really struggled with both today. There were some questions that I had never seen anywhere before (they weren't reactions). I had a few multi-step reactions. Similar to the ones that are in the destroyer but a lot more confusing. It's not too difficult to figure them out but they really mindf*ck you with the answer choices they put on there. Overall, Ochem was my strongest subject and the Ochem on my version was NOT a piece of cake as a lot of people say. But then again, it's different with every version.
What I used to study for Oc:
1. Organic Chemistry Odyssey: The best source you could ever get your hands on for Ochem! It is amazing how much I learned after going through that book. It makes you 'understand' organic chemistry.
2. Destroyer: Great source as well. But there was nothing on the destroyer that wasn't covered in Odyssey since they're both written by Dr. Romano.
3. 1001 Questions for MCAT: meeeeh! It's definitely not a bad thing to go through but nothing really especial about it. However, it did help me understand acid/base reactions and everything about titration curves.
My suggestions: I never went over Chad's reviews since I had a good background, but as I said with Gchem, if you're rusty, definitely start with Chad. All I can say is that make sure you know the destroyer inside and out.
PAT: This is another section I thought I should've done better. I was getting 24's on CDP, I think I only got a couple of 22's.
Keyhole: It was definitely harder than CDP overall. There were some weird ass objects and some of the answers were really close calls!
TFE: I would say it was on par with CDP.
Angles: Same as CDP. Actually I tried glancing at the angles instead of staring at them for more than 3 seconds, and it works. The more you stare at the angles, the more mindf*cked you get.
Hole Punches: A lot easier than CDP, maybe with 1 or 2 exceptions.
Cube Counting: is cube counting!
Folding: I would say it was easier than CDP. I never really struggled with this folding, but mine was definitely easier than CDP.
What I used for PAT:
1. CDP: all I used.
My suggestion: Do CDP 🙂
RC: I don't think I am in any position to give advice or talk about this section. I really thought I did slightly better than a 17, but I guess not. I've always struggled with reading and I honestly did everything I could to improve this section. It didn't work, but hey, I tried!
What I used for RC:
1. CDR: I was getting 17's on this section and that's what I ended up with. So I guess it's a good representation of the real DAT. However, I had more tone questions than people often say they did.
My suggestion: who the f*ck am I to give you any suggestions about RC!
QR: I guess I can't complain about it as I really struggled with this section early on and I definitely improved my math by a lot within the past month. I guessed on 2 questions that I couldn't figure out right away but I'm really curious to know what else I got wrong. Also I never had any problems with the calculator and it was actually more helpful than anything else.
What I used to study for QR:
1. CDM: I really liked it and it was very close to the real DAT. Also it really helped me with timing.
2. Math Destroyer: Awesome!!! I think 95% of the questions were all covered in Math Destroyer! I went over it 3 or 4 time to a point that I knew how to go about every type of question as soon as I was done reading it.
My suggestion: Make sure you know Math Destroyer inside and out. I don't know how you could get anything lower than a 20 on this section if you have that book completely down. Also, if you're struggling with timing, I would really suggest CDM. I was getting 20's and 22's the second time I went over CDM (after I had gone over Math Destroyer twice). The first time I did CDM, I was getting 16's and 18's.
Practice Tests:
1. ADA 2009:
Bio/Gc/Oc
24/21/25 (I only missed 2 questions on Gc, but according to their scoring table, it was a 21!). I didn't do the other sections.
2. Topscore:
Bio/Gc/Oc/PAT/RC/QR
#1 24/19/25/23/22/22
#2 21/20/30/23/19/22
#3 22/25/28/22/19/25
I don't think the real DAT (my version) was any easier than Topscore. As a matter of fact, I feel like bio and especially ochem were a lot harder on the real DAT.
Final Words:
I want to thank everyone on here who helped me to get through the DAT again. It's good to know people who don't mind seeing others succeed along side themselves. At least, that's the mentality I've always had and I think I've done my sharing of helping others on here with whatever I knew.
I've been living on my own and away from parents since I was 15 years old. My life has had a lot of ups and downs, and quite frankly I could write a book about my life. I went from knowing absolutely no English, to having 7 scholarships for soccer, to almost living on the streets, to having only 30% chance of coming out of a coma (which I did obviously lol), to doing very shi*ty in school, to getting my Masters, and now getting through the DAT and awaiting dental school. I'm not trying to be a life-coacher and I know there are more people out there that have had bigger problems than me, but my point is if you put your mind into it and stop f*cking around, you can do anything! And I guarantee you the DAT would be the least of it.
I have a 3.83 graduate GPA and a 3.4 undergrad GPA. I've done 3 researches including one graduate level research. 350+ hours of community service and 1000+ hours of dental experience. If this won't get me into dental school, then I shall shoot myself in the eye twice.
I hope all of you on here who have taken the DAT or are planning on taking the DAT will be successful with your application this year. And I will end it with my own favorite quote: "Always be your true self, unless you're a f*cking loser" Poodidius Maximus.
God Speed!
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