Short and sweet DAT breakdown. Taken 5/30

[kerfufle]

AA=21
TS=21
PAT=21
RC=23
QR=16
Bio=24
Ochem=25
Gen Chem=17

I've used SDN a lot but I rarely ever post but I thought I'd share my DAT experience. I studied for approximately 2 months.

Materials: Chads, Cliffs, Dat Bootcamp(best resource in my opinion),Destroyer very lightly.

Bio (24)- Actual test wasn't too bad but I feel bad for non-bio majors. I probably had 6 questions not covered by cliffs including 3 really random evolution questions that I knew because of my major. Really heavy genetics but it was all pretty basic for the most part, being a bio major is what best prepared me and then after that bootcamp.

GC(17)- I was so shocked by this score because I'd been scoring higher in GC than Ochem on all of my practice tests. What happened was I made the decision to skip this section and leave it for last because it was usually the most time consuming for me. I ended up not having any time by the time I finished ochem(less than 15 min) and rushed through and likely made easy mistakes, I knew my stuff and just blew it. On bootcamp I usually got 20's and 21's.

Ochem (25)- I never memorized roadmaps or anything but I had an extremely difficult undergrad ochem professor so I was very well prepared. The funny thing is I only averaged around 20's on bootcamp but I happened to know all of the reactions I saw on the real thing so I may have been a bit fortunate. I knew all of the reactions on chads really well.

PAT (21)- Easier than bootcamp for the most part. Keyholes were just as hard but different, the real dat just had a ton of faces on each shape. TFE was much easier on the real thing when compared to bootcamp only one or two where line counting worked. Angles were easy for me but I practiced them a lot. Hole punch was easier than expected only 3 or 4 really challenging ones if you can handle bootcamp it will be a breeze. Cube counting was pretty easy but I'm pretty sure I screwed up one entire set by the time I noticed my mistake it was too late and I was running out of time. Pattern folding was honestly on par with bootcamp but I struggled with a few for way too long so I don't think I performed too well.

RC (23)- I was honestly shocked I didn't get a perfect score. I just read the article then answer the questions, I read a lot so I'd say i'm a pretty fast reader. I think doing search and destroy is insane because the articles really aren't that difficult to read but to each his own. I tried search and destroy on my first bootcamp reading test and got a 17 after that I just read the articles and usually scored around a 23.

QR (16)- Didn't really study or care. Usually got 18's and 19's on bootcamp.

Summary: I was pretty happy with my scores other than gen chem. I've called all of the schools I was planning on applying to and they pretty much told me that although it doesn't look great it won't be what keeps me from getting an interview if the rest of my application looks ok. I'm a pretty chill cat so I don't really freak out like a lot of people on here so the though of retaking hasn't and wont cross my mind.

Here are the rest of my stats:

oGPA:3.59
sGPA:3.53
Shadow hours:100
Service hours:2,000+
Job experience: I actually work with undergraduate admissions offices at Universities around the country and help them with their recruitment both internationally and domestically. It's a pretty amazing job and I could make a career of it if I wasn't going into dentistry, the schools I've talked to have been impressed with my work experience.

I submitted my app on Tuesday 6/3 and applied to 13 schools. I'll let you guys know when the interviews start coming in, good luck! There is not silver bullet to doing well on the DAT it's all about just putting in the time.

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[Daneosaurus]

Nice scores! If schools you called said your QR is okay, then ok!

I also find myself feeling like I have a distinct advantage due to being a bio major. I consistently get 25+ scores on Bootcamp bio, destroyer bio is fairly easy for me, and the only thing I had to learn was A&P, some of which I knew thanks to cell bio and gen bio 2. I'm taking genetics now, and I doubt the DAT goes into as much genetic info past the first unit in my class.

You said you used Destroyer lightly. Would you mind elaborating on that? D

 

[kerfufle]

So for Destroyer I went through about half of Chem and Ochem and all of Bio, again my chem score blew but I knew my stuff it was more of a running out of time issue.

As far as QR schools basically told me it wasn't a big deal and they don't look at it too much. One school said that it could potentially be used to weed me out against other people being considered for interviews but they have a 19 AA for their class last year so if they deny me it wont be because of the DAT alone. I should also mention I used Ferallis for things that weren't in cliffs like bone physiology and a few other things.

But it sounds like you're going to do great just be confident and knock it out of the park.

 

[Daneosaurus]

Awesome! Yeah, It was my plan to skip g chem and go straight to orgo, but I have been warned against it. I'll probably just do everything in a linear fashion until I see a problem that'll take me some time. At that point I'm going to mark "B" (the new "C") and mark the question to remind myself to go back to it.

 

[shrister]

Awesome! Yeah, It was my plan to skip g chem and go straight to orgo, but I have been warned against it. I'll probably just do everything in a linear fashion until I see a problem that'll take me some time. At that point I'm going to mark "B" (the new "C") and mark the question to remind myself to go back to it.

I feel like if you skip gen chem on real test you'll waste so much time clicking next. It's not like bootcamp where you can select what number you want to start working on.

 

[shrister]

I feel like if you skip gen chem on real test you'll waste so much time clicking next. It's not like bootcamp where you can select what number you want to start working on.

You should try to cut down your bio time because it's almost all perceptual and should be able to answer fast

 

[kerfufle]

You should try to cut down your bio time because it's almost all perceptual and should be able to answer fast

This was honestly my mistake and to make matters worse I kept writing out my rxns for ochem so I completely ran out of time.

 

[shrister]

This was honestly my mistake and to make matters worse I kept writing out my rxns for ochem so I completely ran out of time.

Yeah for ochem it's second nature to want to write it out, even though you know the answer. But obviously you have to cut it down a little, especially for one step questions with like SN2,etc... Chemistry was always my longest part too but on the actual test day I ended the sciences with 16 minutes left. I'm no smarter than anyone else, so form good test taking habits.

 

[shrister]

Yeah for ochem it's second nature to want to write it out, even though you know the answer. But obviously you have to cut it down a little, especially for one step questions with like SN2,etc... Chemistry was always my longest part too but on the actual test day I ended the sciences with 16 minutes left. I'm no smarter than anyone else, so form good test taking habits.

By saying you should do this stuff, I'm not implying you need to take the test again haha. Just saying that in case you do plan on it.

 

[kerfufle]

By saying you should do this stuff, I'm not implying you need to take the test again haha. Just saying that in case you do plan on it.

I probably wont but that's great advice, I applied pretty wisely and talked to every school I applied to before I did so I think I'll get interviews.

 

[Ari Rezaei]

Awesome scores, congratulations!