Predent transplant

[IcemanDDS]

Hi all...

I am a possible predental transplant looking at medicine. Non-trad, 27 yrs old, taken DAT twice (avg/above avg scores), applied 4 times to my state dental school, twice to several others. Does anyone have experience taking both the DAT and MCAT? I was just wondering how similar they are, aside from the obvious physics on mcat. I would like to start studying soon and planning on beginning with physics. I've mainly used kaplan DAT prep in the past, and open to you guys' suggestions on the best materials for mcat.

I'm new here, so any general advice would be helpful

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[Chga]

I went from predent to premed and i have taken both DAT and MCAT
i scored a 20 on DAT and 23 on MCAT both taken in august. Didnt really study for the MCAT but they are both pretty different.. MCAT was more about analyzing and due to boringness of the VR section it destroyed me with a 3 eww. anyways im studying for the MCAT all winter and am kind of lost on where to start. so... i would like suggestions as well on what to study.

 

[J ROD]

First off, I would suggest not to go into medicine just because you did not get into dental. The two are close but not that similar.

I took the DAT a while back and got a 19/20/16. Obviously, the 16 on PAT took me out and I never applied because I wanted med.

The MCAT is ALOT harder.

Read the stickies on this forum and they can lead you in the right direction because we have talked about everything to death.

For physics, use Berk review books. Princeton are good too but you have to take the class to get the books. Kaplan is decent.

Just be prepared to take it up a few notches...

 

[IcemanDDS]

Thx J, I'm gonna start reading the stickies...

A LOT harder??

 

[J ROD]

A LOT harder??

I spent an an extra two months on it and about 5 times the hours.

You can not just memorize science facts. It is a reasoning test that uses novel situations to test you. For me, it is a "different" kind of test where you have to get the content down, which requires actually understand it and not memorizing it, and then you have to take 6-10 practice tests to get a "feel" for the MCAT style of questioning and timing.

Basically, it is a beast of a test unless you are one of those naturally good reasoning test takers.

 

[IcemanDDS]

I spent an an extra two months on it and about 5 times the hours.

You can not just memorize science facts. It is a reasoning test that uses novel situations to test you. For me, it is a "different" kind of test where you have to get the content down, which requires actually understand it and not memorizing it, and then you have to take 6-10 practice tests to get a "feel" for the MCAT style of questioning and timing.

Basically, it is a beast of a test unless you are one of those naturally good reasoning test takers.

This is actually good news for me, because I hate memorizing and regurgitating. I actually know nothing of the style of the exam, so I guess I'll look at some practice MCATs and get a feel for it. I also did poorly on the QR section of the DAT both times, and to see that there is no pure math section on the MCAT is a relief. I think I can handle the Gchem and physics math.. but time to brush up on physics since its been 4 years since I had it