- Joined
- Mar 8, 2014
- Messages
- 213
- Reaction score
- 138
Hey guys! I just took my DAT this morning and am elated with my scores. To start, I would like to thank the SDN community. Without you guys, this score would not have been possible. The knowledge I've gained here was invaluable and now I feel it is my duty to give back to that which nurtured my growth and ability to succeed. I am still in shock that I received the scores that I did. My GPA's aren't great so I knew I had to make a statement with this test. This was about the score I was hoping to get, but I didn't think I'd actually get it. Just goes to show that if you put in the work, it pays off.
PAT: 23
QR: 22
RC: 25
BIO: 26
GC: 25
OC: 25
TS: 26
AA: 25
Here's a quick breakdown of materials I used in case you just want to get in and out. A more detailed breakdown is included further below.
Materials Used for Review:
1. Chad's Videos (11/10)
2. Feralis' Notes (9.5/10)
3. Barrons AP Bio/Cliffs AP Bio (9/10)
Materials Used for Practice:
1. DAT Bootcamp (11/10)
2. DAT Qvault (11/10)
3. DAT Destroyer (9/10)
4. Math Destroyer (10/10)
5. Organic Chemistry Odyssey (9/10)
Practice Test Scores for DAT Qvault
Bio: 20/19/20/19/18/21/20/22/19/22
GC: 20/20/17/21/20/20/21/24/22
OC: 18/20/20/21/21/21/20/21/18
PAT: 18/19/20/22/22/20
Practice Test Scores for DAT Bootcamp (I didn't record my first 2 so scores start from exam 3; retake of exam #1 two days before my exam)
Bio: 20/21/22/30
GC: 26/19/20/23
OC: 19/22/21/27
PAT: 21/20/21/23
Logistics:
My study time was about 11 weeks, partly because I am horrible at sticking to a study plan. I must have re-planned out what I was going to do with my remaining time at least 5 times. This added much unnecessary stress. Don't do this. Make a plan and stick to it, but it's also important to know how to adapt it to your needs. Also, know that practice tests will guide you to where you need to, but you have put in the work to improve those areas.
Another factor that helped me were flashcards. Yeah, I know, I never use flashcards either, but when I noticed I kept getting questions wrong that I've been exposed to before, I decided that it was time to go old school. Went to Wal-Mart, bought like 700 flashcards and went to town. Anything I got wrong from Bootcamp or Qvault, anything I thought was important from Feralis' notes, anything I knew I would forget, I wrote it down. The last 2 days before my exam, I went through ALL of them. Probably not the best time to review them as I got worried to see that I had forgotten some of the things I had written weeks before, but I made sure I knew every single one before exam time.
Biology 26
Review
I reviewed this section using a mixture of Cliff's, Barron's, and Feralis'.
Cliff's and Barron's are great resources but are notorious for lacking in physiology. Feralis' notes has everything you could need. The only reason I gave it a 9.5 was that it was a little too detailed, in hindsight. However, better safe than sorry. I would advise making your own set of COMPLETE notes that you can study from for this section. It is time consuming, but I believe putting in your own words, and formatting it yourself is infinitely better than just reading someone else's work over and over.
Also, when reviewing notes, try to formulate questions for yourself in your head to make connections. For instance, if a gene that codes for a pyruvate transport protein was mutated, what would occur? Well, (1) pyruvate would build up in the cytosol and (2) the Krebs Cycle would no longer be able to occur. This may not be entirely right but I used it in order to make sure I knew which cellular processes were occurring where. Using pathology-based questions is a great way to test yourself.
Practice
I started by using DAT Destroyer. Good for getting down concepts into your head but overkill in some aspects. I would suggest doing this after your review to solidify your knowledge, then go into Bootcamp/QVault to polish everything. I planned on going through it twice but I got lazy after the first time and went straight to software practice. I used a spreadsheet to jot my answers.
DAT Qvault biology has huge number of questions on every topic. The layout and user interface is amazing. They provide specific breakdowns of which subjects you got wrong so you know what areas to work on. Some questions were a bit out of the scope but definitely worth getting.
DAT Bootcamp has quickly become the gold standard for practice tests. Good balance of challenging questions with very helpful explanations.
Flash cards were made from all 3 sources.
Test
Definitely breadth over depth. The bio section of the DAT has become much less regurgitation and more application. Make sure you understand the concepts. Memorization of all of Feralis' notes will probably get you a 20+, but memorization and being able to critically think with that knowledge will take you a lot further.
General Chemistry 25
Review
Chad (noun): Dealer of Knowledge. Reaper of Chemistries. A God among Men.
As you probably already know, Chad is the go-to for the chemistries, recommended by nearly all of SDN's DAT takers, and for good reason. His ability to teach difficult concepts so you remember them a timely manner is unmatched. Watching Chad is important, but it's worthless if you don't take good notes. You will forget things and you will need to review these notes to remember.
Practice
Afterwards, I practiced using DAT Destroyer. It kicked my butt the first time, especially the calculations. As I went through it, I marked any questions I got wrong and that I thought were important in an excel spreadsheet. My last week or so, I went through these again as I still felt GC was a weak point.
Used DAT Qvault and DAT Bootcamp for more practice after Destroyer. If I had to pick, Bootcamp > QVault but both were helpful.
Flash cards, again, were made from these 3 sources.
Test
Mostly straight-forward questions. I did mark quite a few I was unsure of but moved onto OC before returning. I don't think I got these right and this unfortunately, I believe, affected my ability to concentrate during the PAT section.
Organic Chemistry 25
Review
Same as GC.
Practice
Chad is great, however, I will say that he does not go over every reaction/reagent that you may need. I definitely came across a question that wasn't included in Chad's lectures, but luckily I was exposed to it in either Destroyer, Bootcamp or QVault. Thus, make sure you practice with other tools! You never know what might show up on the test.
Odyssey was surprisingly helpful. It's definitely not one of the universally recommended tools like Chad's or Destroyer, but it helped me to work out my weak points. Each chapter is broken down into a certain discipline such as stereochemistry, substitution reactions, carbohydrates, lab techniques, aromatics, etc and each has ~40-50 questions. After doing a certain chapter of Odyssey and making flash cards for it, I definitely felt I knew that concept inside and out. Not essential but recommended if you can afford the money and time.
Yup, more flash cards were made.
Test
I thought this sections was fairly straight-forward as well. Mastering the basics will probably get you a 20+.
Perceptual Ability 23
Practice
Unlike many of my fellow SDNers, I didn't get CDP because I read mixed reviews about it being too easy. However, I think as long as you supplement CDP with Bootcamp, you should be golden. I used only Bootcamp and Qvault. Qvault is quite easy, especially with the angles, but it's not horrible. I used Qvault in between the 5 Bootcamp tests, which were definitely harder and more closer to the real thing. Bootcamp prepares you for the more difficult third-folds, tear-inducing angles, and hair-splitting proportions you could see on the real test. The way they breakdown every answer is incredible. It shows that Ari and his team put in a lot of effort into this program for us pre-dents. Worth every penny.
Test
As I said before, I came into PAT more focused about not getting everything right in the sciences. Don't do this! If you have time left (which I didn't) take a second to reset your mind. Forget about your performance in the sciences. You will now be using a different part of your brain to succeed!
Reading Comprehension 25
Practice
Alright, so this is score is what surprised me the most. I did like a total of maybe like 5 practice tests for RC and that's it. I used Bootcamp and Qvault. I thought both were pretty hard compared to the real thing but I barely practiced this section so don't take my word for it. I'm not the best reader and I figured that wasn't going to change. I tried all kinds of strategies but I didn't really feel comfortable with any of them. Search and destroy gave me heart palpitations when I couldn't find answers so I knew this method wasn't for me. I tried passage mapping and question mapping but got inconsistent scores.
Test
All 3 of my articles had varying levels of "scientific density", but they were all fairly short compared to what I did in practice. I think reading the passage enthusiastically and really trying to understand it is key to doing well. Read like you enjoy it. Read like its something you want to learn.
Quantitative Reasoning 22
Practice
Considering how much I neglected this section, I'm definitely happy with this score. I started with Chad's math videos since I had access to them. It was good for reestablishing my math foundation but if you're already good at math, you could probably skip this. I got shafted on like every Math Destroyer test, scoring around 25-30/40. With Bootcamp, I was scoring like 20/40 because I always ran out of time (I didn't realize Bootcamp stated that it was actually much harder than the real thing ). The fact that I was barely improving discouraged me from trying to perfect it.
Test
In my opinion, Math Destroyer and Bootcamp were both overkill by a mile. However, being exposed to the harder questions definitely helped. I clearly got some wrong but I would've have been happy with a 19+ so this was a pleasant surprise.
Once again, I would like to thank SDN and everyone who posted their breakdowns. They helped me tremendously and I would like to pay it forward to future DAT takers. To sum up, just know that hard work beats out talent any day. I am not naturally smart or intelligent. I just decided that I would work my butt off to get a high score to help achieve my goal of being admitted into dental school. Work hard, work smart, and never give up!
Also, a shoutout to Starbucks for consistently making such tasty americanos.
PAT: 23
QR: 22
RC: 25
BIO: 26
GC: 25
OC: 25
TS: 26
AA: 25
Here's a quick breakdown of materials I used in case you just want to get in and out. A more detailed breakdown is included further below.
Materials Used for Review:
1. Chad's Videos (11/10)
2. Feralis' Notes (9.5/10)
3. Barrons AP Bio/Cliffs AP Bio (9/10)
Materials Used for Practice:
1. DAT Bootcamp (11/10)
2. DAT Qvault (11/10)
3. DAT Destroyer (9/10)
4. Math Destroyer (10/10)
5. Organic Chemistry Odyssey (9/10)
Practice Test Scores for DAT Qvault
Bio: 20/19/20/19/18/21/20/22/19/22
GC: 20/20/17/21/20/20/21/24/22
OC: 18/20/20/21/21/21/20/21/18
PAT: 18/19/20/22/22/20
Practice Test Scores for DAT Bootcamp (I didn't record my first 2 so scores start from exam 3; retake of exam #1 two days before my exam)
Bio: 20/21/22/30
GC: 26/19/20/23
OC: 19/22/21/27
PAT: 21/20/21/23
Logistics:
My study time was about 11 weeks, partly because I am horrible at sticking to a study plan. I must have re-planned out what I was going to do with my remaining time at least 5 times. This added much unnecessary stress. Don't do this. Make a plan and stick to it, but it's also important to know how to adapt it to your needs. Also, know that practice tests will guide you to where you need to, but you have put in the work to improve those areas.
Another factor that helped me were flashcards. Yeah, I know, I never use flashcards either, but when I noticed I kept getting questions wrong that I've been exposed to before, I decided that it was time to go old school. Went to Wal-Mart, bought like 700 flashcards and went to town. Anything I got wrong from Bootcamp or Qvault, anything I thought was important from Feralis' notes, anything I knew I would forget, I wrote it down. The last 2 days before my exam, I went through ALL of them. Probably not the best time to review them as I got worried to see that I had forgotten some of the things I had written weeks before, but I made sure I knew every single one before exam time.
Biology 26
Review
I reviewed this section using a mixture of Cliff's, Barron's, and Feralis'.
Cliff's and Barron's are great resources but are notorious for lacking in physiology. Feralis' notes has everything you could need. The only reason I gave it a 9.5 was that it was a little too detailed, in hindsight. However, better safe than sorry. I would advise making your own set of COMPLETE notes that you can study from for this section. It is time consuming, but I believe putting in your own words, and formatting it yourself is infinitely better than just reading someone else's work over and over.
Also, when reviewing notes, try to formulate questions for yourself in your head to make connections. For instance, if a gene that codes for a pyruvate transport protein was mutated, what would occur? Well, (1) pyruvate would build up in the cytosol and (2) the Krebs Cycle would no longer be able to occur. This may not be entirely right but I used it in order to make sure I knew which cellular processes were occurring where. Using pathology-based questions is a great way to test yourself.
Practice
I started by using DAT Destroyer. Good for getting down concepts into your head but overkill in some aspects. I would suggest doing this after your review to solidify your knowledge, then go into Bootcamp/QVault to polish everything. I planned on going through it twice but I got lazy after the first time and went straight to software practice. I used a spreadsheet to jot my answers.
DAT Qvault biology has huge number of questions on every topic. The layout and user interface is amazing. They provide specific breakdowns of which subjects you got wrong so you know what areas to work on. Some questions were a bit out of the scope but definitely worth getting.
DAT Bootcamp has quickly become the gold standard for practice tests. Good balance of challenging questions with very helpful explanations.
Flash cards were made from all 3 sources.
Test
Definitely breadth over depth. The bio section of the DAT has become much less regurgitation and more application. Make sure you understand the concepts. Memorization of all of Feralis' notes will probably get you a 20+, but memorization and being able to critically think with that knowledge will take you a lot further.
General Chemistry 25
Review
Chad (noun): Dealer of Knowledge. Reaper of Chemistries. A God among Men.
As you probably already know, Chad is the go-to for the chemistries, recommended by nearly all of SDN's DAT takers, and for good reason. His ability to teach difficult concepts so you remember them a timely manner is unmatched. Watching Chad is important, but it's worthless if you don't take good notes. You will forget things and you will need to review these notes to remember.
Practice
Afterwards, I practiced using DAT Destroyer. It kicked my butt the first time, especially the calculations. As I went through it, I marked any questions I got wrong and that I thought were important in an excel spreadsheet. My last week or so, I went through these again as I still felt GC was a weak point.
Used DAT Qvault and DAT Bootcamp for more practice after Destroyer. If I had to pick, Bootcamp > QVault but both were helpful.
Flash cards, again, were made from these 3 sources.
Test
Mostly straight-forward questions. I did mark quite a few I was unsure of but moved onto OC before returning. I don't think I got these right and this unfortunately, I believe, affected my ability to concentrate during the PAT section.
Organic Chemistry 25
Review
Same as GC.
Practice
Chad is great, however, I will say that he does not go over every reaction/reagent that you may need. I definitely came across a question that wasn't included in Chad's lectures, but luckily I was exposed to it in either Destroyer, Bootcamp or QVault. Thus, make sure you practice with other tools! You never know what might show up on the test.
Odyssey was surprisingly helpful. It's definitely not one of the universally recommended tools like Chad's or Destroyer, but it helped me to work out my weak points. Each chapter is broken down into a certain discipline such as stereochemistry, substitution reactions, carbohydrates, lab techniques, aromatics, etc and each has ~40-50 questions. After doing a certain chapter of Odyssey and making flash cards for it, I definitely felt I knew that concept inside and out. Not essential but recommended if you can afford the money and time.
Yup, more flash cards were made.
Test
I thought this sections was fairly straight-forward as well. Mastering the basics will probably get you a 20+.
Perceptual Ability 23
Practice
Unlike many of my fellow SDNers, I didn't get CDP because I read mixed reviews about it being too easy. However, I think as long as you supplement CDP with Bootcamp, you should be golden. I used only Bootcamp and Qvault. Qvault is quite easy, especially with the angles, but it's not horrible. I used Qvault in between the 5 Bootcamp tests, which were definitely harder and more closer to the real thing. Bootcamp prepares you for the more difficult third-folds, tear-inducing angles, and hair-splitting proportions you could see on the real test. The way they breakdown every answer is incredible. It shows that Ari and his team put in a lot of effort into this program for us pre-dents. Worth every penny.
Test
As I said before, I came into PAT more focused about not getting everything right in the sciences. Don't do this! If you have time left (which I didn't) take a second to reset your mind. Forget about your performance in the sciences. You will now be using a different part of your brain to succeed!
Reading Comprehension 25
Practice
Alright, so this is score is what surprised me the most. I did like a total of maybe like 5 practice tests for RC and that's it. I used Bootcamp and Qvault. I thought both were pretty hard compared to the real thing but I barely practiced this section so don't take my word for it. I'm not the best reader and I figured that wasn't going to change. I tried all kinds of strategies but I didn't really feel comfortable with any of them. Search and destroy gave me heart palpitations when I couldn't find answers so I knew this method wasn't for me. I tried passage mapping and question mapping but got inconsistent scores.
Test
All 3 of my articles had varying levels of "scientific density", but they were all fairly short compared to what I did in practice. I think reading the passage enthusiastically and really trying to understand it is key to doing well. Read like you enjoy it. Read like its something you want to learn.
Quantitative Reasoning 22
Practice
Considering how much I neglected this section, I'm definitely happy with this score. I started with Chad's math videos since I had access to them. It was good for reestablishing my math foundation but if you're already good at math, you could probably skip this. I got shafted on like every Math Destroyer test, scoring around 25-30/40. With Bootcamp, I was scoring like 20/40 because I always ran out of time (I didn't realize Bootcamp stated that it was actually much harder than the real thing ). The fact that I was barely improving discouraged me from trying to perfect it.
Test
In my opinion, Math Destroyer and Bootcamp were both overkill by a mile. However, being exposed to the harder questions definitely helped. I clearly got some wrong but I would've have been happy with a 19+ so this was a pleasant surprise.
Once again, I would like to thank SDN and everyone who posted their breakdowns. They helped me tremendously and I would like to pay it forward to future DAT takers. To sum up, just know that hard work beats out talent any day. I am not naturally smart or intelligent. I just decided that I would work my butt off to get a high score to help achieve my goal of being admitted into dental school. Work hard, work smart, and never give up!
Also, a shoutout to Starbucks for consistently making such tasty americanos.
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