Taking the DAT on July 2014 Group

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AlvaDentistry

AlvaDentistry

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Hello my Dear Future Dentists,

I am also studying for the DAT. Lets support each other and answer the following questions:

1. How are you feeling?
2. For how long have you studied/do you plan to study for?
3. Weakest area/areas.
4. Materials that you are using.
5. Things that have helped you on the way.
6. Any additional info you might have. For instance anyone you know who has taken the DAT recently and have tips, motivational stories etc...

Add more questions if you have!

I wish you all the best and a "stress-free" time before the DAT (it seems impossible huh?)

:woot:
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I'll join! Mine is at the end of the month.

1. Bleeeghhhh I was doing fine for the first month, now I'm a bit burnt out and getting anxious.
2. I was doing 8-10 hours a day, hope to continue that until my test.
3. ORGO. I didn't do great in my classes and I definitely didn't retain anything. Chad's has helped a ton but I still need to work on understanding/memorizing the reactions. Bio is also giving me trouble just because it's so broad and I'm not a bio major. Oh and TFE makes me want to bash my head into the wall. :bang:
4. Finishing up Chad's/Cliff's/Feralis now. I'll be starting the Destroyer soon and then eventually Bootcamp. I like the DAT Question of the Day that Bootcamp sends, and Youtube is a great resource for PAT and Bio.
5. Dunkin Donuts :p I just try to keep motivated and if I'm starting to feel drained for the day, I do something else to get my mind off of the stress. I've also stayed on campus for the summer instead of moving back home because being in a school environment and going to the library seeing other students studying gets me in the right mindset.
6. A bunch of people have told me that going for a run/working out in the middle of the day has helped them clear their mind and boost their energy after studying 8+ hours a day. I have yet to try this out since I'm recovering from an injury, but I'm sure it works.

"Stress-free" yeah, right! I've been driving my boyfriend nuts because all I ever talk about is the DAT. It's consuming my liiiiiiife.


Good luck to all! May the odds be ever in our favor.
 
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Mine is this Saturday..., I've been trying to study past month but it's been rough... My weakest areas are probably gennchem (those damn calculations) and pattern folding : tfe/ keyhole on the pat, and some word problems on dat math. But no fears... I was practicing with datbootcamp/datqvault/day destroyer (rereading solutions this week prior to exam) and getting my datbooster tomorrow. Mostly this week going to study pat/RC and QR
 
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The thing is to keep practicing problems even if you already did them to reinforce the answers into your brain...
 
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My DAT is this thursday and boy am I burnt out. I've been studying since I got out of school. Like around May 14th. My weakest areas would probably be math section. I've been using the DAT achiever and have not been doing so hot. Other study materials I've been using include Cliff's AP bio, DAT destroyer, Crack dat pat, math destroyer, and just the internet on top of old notes from my classes. It's been rough. But, good luck to everyone out there!
 
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It is good to hear from you all.
I believe we all feel similar emotions. Some days I feel like studying LESS but then I realize I still have so much to do.

Like TheDanger said I feel I will never finish with biology!! And yea all the memorizing part! (Indeed it consumes your life, I even had issues in my relationship haha)

syeh3: Good Luck! You will be fine, try to practice on those areas you feel weak at. Overall I feel you are feeling positive and that is great.

dauntless123: Good luck to you too! Dont stress out about Achiever so much. I have heard it is really hard for most of the sections.
 
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1. Pretty stressed and burnt out like thedanger. Was alright during first half of the month but kinda dying now with constant studying everyday.
2. Been studying hardcore since beginning of June
3. Probably ecology/taxonomy/QR/maybe gen chem and ochem but no practice test yet so not sure.
4. Cliffs/Feralis/Chad/Destroyers
5. Eat and stay healthy; splash water on yourself occasional and drink lots of water.
6. No motivational tips except maybe watch some motivational youtube vids from will smith or eric thomas like another guy posted on his breakdown haha.

But yeah Goodluck guys see you all post your breakdown. Hopefully we all get 30's!
 
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1. Really burnt out haha
2. Since I was out of school (mid May)
3. RC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am doing fine in other sections but my RC score is DRAGGING MY AA DOWN :(
4. Chad, Cliffs, Feralis, Quizlet flashcards made by others, Youtube videos (Craig Savage, Bozeman), my own notes from last year, Destroyer, CDR, Destroyer
5. Family, God
 
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I'm 6 days and 12 hours exactly from my DAT. Just finalizing my "Important $h#t to know" notes for the sciences then prolly gonna do the Science section of test#5 of BC. I've been studying since mid April and I feel 100x more prepared than last time I took it and I still got a whole nother week! I'm having to retake cause I messed up in Reading and QR (yea I know... ) and could've done better in BIO.

By the way I created a community on google plus that we share notes, ask questions, or whatever your concerns are about this DAT. If your interested in joining message me your google email address and make sure you have google plus activated.

Google plus is easy to activate just click on the top right of the screen after signing in to your email on gmail.com and then it will be activated. If you got any questions about how to do it message me!

Good luck and whip DAT @$$!
 
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1. crappy lol I just hope I won't get questions that I didn't focus on, while I focused on many others
2. since end of May, I have 2 more weeks :D
3. RC :( I keep getting 18-20 on practice tests.. and around 19-20 on bio and chem
4. right now: qVault, destroyer, Feralis notes
5. Bootcamp, Feralis, CDP, CHAD!!!!! and 1000+ flashcards
6. none... watch the World Cup if you need to procrastinate!!!!!!!! Today's match was awesome! Go GERMANY
 
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Didnt even notice the questions at the top lol

1. How are you feeling? Anxious, prepared yet unprepared?, and exhausted

2. For how long have you studied/do you plan to study for? Since mid april so 10 weeks. Not everyday, in fact most the time 6 days a week tops except for this last week I will everyday before my test monday.

3. Weakest area/areas. QR and RC, Redneck is my first language not English so RC is difficult. Haha Im just messing but I just don't practice for RC because I did good the first time (2010) so didn't think I would need to study. QR just sucks because it's not important, its not fun, and the hardest part is focusing on it during the home stretch of the actual DAT.

4. Materials that you are using.

BIO
-My Cliff's/Destroyer/BC/Qvault notes I made from questions. I would look up even the incorrect answer choices if I didn't understand what they were.
-Chad's vids-I listen to his bio vids whenever I'm in my truck for extended periods of time. Good Outlines too for the important things in cell resp, mitosis, etc.
-anki flashcards-made flashcards of the sections people said they had difficult time with on their test or sections that frequently came up. Really good to use in between sets while I'm working out.

OC+GC

-Chad's vids, quizzes,/BC/Destroyer/qvault-made flashcards via anki and also with index cards especially for orgo.

RC-I've taken one BC but debating whether to continue with BC or try Qvault? Any suggestions? Cause I'll prolly do one or 2 more at best before my test.

5. Things that have helped you on the way
-Working out and Having fun on the weekends. Also plenty of Jim Beam and Miller Lite as needed ha.

6. Any additional info you might have. For instance anyone you know who has taken the DAT recently and have tips, motivational stories etc...

Don't do destroyer more than twice. In fact I just did once, and the hard ones, ones I missed, I would rewrite the problem and answer then go back over them when reviewing my gc/oc notes periodically.

Know the way you study. Do what got you to this point. Repetition with flashcards has worked for me so, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

If you don't feel ready, your not. I'm not talking about nerves, I mean if your taking practice tests on BC and you don't know/recognize at least 90% of the questions and answers are even talking about, reschedule.

Don't spend to much time on SDN, because it takes away from valuable study time (Do as I say not as I do lol)

Lastly, forget about the scores you see on here. Only the people that score that high posts their scores, which is a very very small %. Remember there are numerous other factors admissions considers when reviewing your application, as well as the interview. If all they cared about was the DAT, filling out the application on AADSAS would be a whole lot more faster!
 
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1. How are you feeling?
Trying to keep calm but inside I am freakingggg out!

2. For how long have you studied/do you plan to study for?
Been studying since school got out and now I'm just burned out. Somehow gotta pull through the next two weeks!

3. Weakest area/areas.
I think PAT, RC and QR!
With PAT, I feel like I do one part and then do okayish on the rest - then the next time I take another test, I do well one another section and bomb the rest -_-
QR - I hate MATH! I still don't get permutations & combinations and how to differentiate between the two. I get Chad's videos but when it comes to application I don't know how -_-
RC - still trying to figure out what works for me. Haven't really focused much on it because I want to get my sciences right first.

4. Materials that you are using.
AP cliff notes, Chad's videos, Bootcamp, DAT destroyer, MATH destroyer, Ferrali's notes, KBB (not so much), CDP

5. Things that have helped you on the way.
Writing things down. Except for bio. My initial few weeks I wasted time writing down notes from AP cliff notes and Ferralis notes. BAD decision! Takes WAY TOO MUCH TIME.
Taking the bootcamp tests. Helps a lot to manage your time. Though not sure how much. I didn't do well in my bootcamp tests and hence the additional freaking out.
 
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Just took it this morning (so technically I'm a July-er) and finished my write up. Wanted to stop in and say good luck! to everyone. The last few weeks I alternated between feeling really ready and like I was going to fail a couple sections. It's a mind game more than anything, but once you're on the other side it's pretty neat to reflect back.
 
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I never replied my questions so here I go:

1. How are you feeling? - On a roller-coaster! A great deal of emotions. Some days I feel I will do great, some days I feel I wont.

2. For how long have you studied/do you plan to study for? - Since May. I dont have an exact number of hours. I have tried to do more than 5 per day. But of course I have had some days that I have not been able to study at all.

3. Weakest area/areas. - I believe RC because English is not my first language.

4. Materials that you are using. - Destroyer (the 3 books), even though I did the organic one long time ago and the math I am not planning to finish it. Cliff with Ferralis. Some Kapplan cards. Crack the PAT / RC.

5. Things that have helped you on the way. - I have tried to be positive and to talk to people who have been through this already. I have also tried to spend time with my loved ones and people who are positive overall, and yes, I have watched some world cup games. If you study all the time you will burn out.

I hope we all do great,
Lets be positive and give the best (always, not only for the DAT)
 
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Anybody taking in late July or thinking of delaying to late July? I'm thinking of delaying until the 25th, don't know if it is worth it or not.
 
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Nice! Good to know I'm not alone. How are you guys approaching your application (assuming you are applying for this cycle)? I am thinking of submitting this week and faxing the score report within a couple days of taking the test.
 
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bishbish777 said:
Nice! Good to know I'm not alone. How are you guys approaching your application (assuming you are applying for this cycle)? I am thinking of submitting this week and faxing the score report within a couple days of taking the test.
Click to expand...
You can do that. I did it. They will just put your application aside until they receive your DAT scores.
 
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GUYS, I am freaking out!! July 16th will be either a fantastic day or a miserably ugly fat dark depressing sad day...
 
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Mine is this Saturday - being I'm gonna practice pat a lot today and review all notes : problems :(
 
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Ahhhhhh!!! Freaking out mode on this thread.. I started to freak out once again today after I did my first bootcamp QR test....
 
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I don't know how is it compared to the real DAT, but the questions are long, and in my opinion, a little harder than the QR that appears on the DAT destroyer. I believe it has to do with the timing too... I mean if we have unlimited time to do those problems I think we could handle them. I don't really know how most of those problems can be done in less than 1 mn each. I guess practice is the key?

Has anyone used bootcamp for QR? Opinions? Suggestions?
 
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I have and I didn't like BC for this section only. I scored 20-18-21-21-19 and I always left 3-4 questions at the end that were really annoying and would take forever to solve (the lnN type of questions).. I don't think we will get anything that detailed considering there are none in the destroyers nor in other websites that offer practice tests.. I wouldn't base my QR knowledge on BC scores, try to practice using Destroyer, Math Destroyer or qvault
 
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That's good to know. I did not give it a try. I just wanted to see how the type of questions were. For the second test I will do my best and see how it goes.
Are you doing Math destroyer ? I did it up to exam 10 or so. It started to get tricky and I was reading that it was beyond the scope of the DAT.
 
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i kinda went over it like 6 weeks ago and now I am doing it again (1 test a day), I am definitely skipping anything after exam 10 because they get ridiculous and would freak me out for no reason haha bus I think both the math destroyer and dat destroyer have generally good practice questions
 
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QR section on bio is waaaay too long. Difficulty I would say is slightly harder as in more steps to solve the algebraic equations, etc. I for damn sure don't remember paragraph length questions on my DAT in 2010 or last september. "Longest" question I can recall was like Train A leaves at 10:00 travelling 50mph, train B passes train A in 3 hours. How fast is train b going?

That being said though, I do like the difficulty in the longer word problems in BC. Gives me an opportunity to work on my RC and QR at the same time!
 
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hahahahahahahahaha your last sentence...
I will look at it that way. If it doesnt help me with math, it will do it with RC.
 
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For those who have taken the DAT or for those who know for sure, do they give you the conversion factors for the math problems? The non-basic ones of course, for instance yards or things that we don't frequently use at school.
lbs - ounces or in to cm etc we have seen those more often.
So do they provide these things for us?
 
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I remember they did on some but not all. Like one was "convert 25000 km to inches (1in=2.54 cm). But another I had was how many kg are in 234 pounds with no conversion given in parenthesis.
 
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Ok.Thanks! Just in case ;)
1 lb = 16 oz
2 pints = 1 quart
1/4 quart = 1/16 gallon or
4 quarts = 1 gallon
3 ft = 1 yard
12 in = 1 ft
1 in = 2.56cm
1 kg = 2.2 lb
1 mile = 1.6 km
1760 yard = 1 mi
 
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Yard to miles is right there, the last one. I think with those you will be set, and of course the super basic ones from km to m to dm etc.
If anybody got more feel free to add them, or anything else important to know :)
 
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Do you guys think since I'm taking it during July 4, they will be lenient on the questions?
 
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Sig digits

300042=6 .0002500= 4 6.38 x 10^3=3 14 ppl = infinite (dont ask me why) 50800 = 3 0.789.006 = 6 (yes both decimals are supposed to be there) 50.007=5


By the way, this isn't just for the QR section
 
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syeh3 said:
Do you guys think since I'm taking it during July 4, they will be lenient on the questions?
Click to expand...

Yes as long as you wear something patriotic. Someone told me they took it last fourth of july in american flag speedos and got 25s across the board.
 
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