Terrible QR scores Please HELP!!

[DentalStudent8991]

Hey Everyone,

I am currently using DAT Booster to study and all my sections have really improved besides QR. I am consistently getting 13's on the practice tests and my DAT is about three weeks out. Im starting to get very discouraged because no matter how many times I review the formulas and watch the videos, and do the supplemental questions NOTHING seems to be helping. Out of the 40 questions or so I get about 15-20 right.

I really dont want math of all things to be the reason my average comes down or be the reason I dont get into dental school (get autofiltered out for such a low score)

Does anyone have any advice on how to get better? I would prefer not having to pay for another "course" or lesson but if there isnt a better way than it seems I dont have a choice!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Chicago_predental]

My Booster QR scores were pretty much around 13-14, but I got a 20 in QR on the real DAT. Since your exam is in 3 weeks, id make a list of common themes in questions you are getting incorrect. Is it is more of a time issue, or content issue? Its difficult to say if you should move your exam, but one thing that really helped me improve in QR was finding key phrases in questions in order to connect a certain methodology. Good luck!

 

[DentalStudent8991]

My Booster QR scores were pretty much around 13-14, but I got a 20 in QR on the real DAT. Since your exam is in 3 weeks, id make a list of common themes in questions you are getting incorrect. Is it is more of a time issue, or content issue? Its difficult to say if you should move your exam, but one thing that really helped me improve in QR was finding key phrases in questions in order to connect a certain methodology. Good luck!

Thank you for the response! and honestly I think I face a combination of both. When the problems are straight froward algebra or geometry I can get through them pretty quickly. But soon as I encounter a word problem involving rates, probability, or perm/combinations I start to panic and I think I waste a bunch of time that way too. For whatever reason I feel as if Boosters QR section is extremely hard? But maybe thats just me not knowing my stuff?

Realistically, I know Im not going to get a super high score on QR but I just want an 17 or 18. Booster has a two part Math Crash course that are $100 each and Math Destroyer is another 100 bucks. But I want to avoid spending more money.

Any tips on free resources?

 

[Chicago_predental]

Thank you for the response! and honestly I think I face a combination of both. When the problems are straight froward algebra or geometry I can get through them pretty quickly. But soon as I encounter a word problem involving rates, probability, or perm/combinations I start to panic and I think I waste a bunch of time that way too. For whatever reason I feel as if Boosters QR section is extremely hard? But maybe thats just me not knowing my stuff?

Realistically, I know Im not going to get a super high score on QR but I just want an 17 or 18. Booster has a two part Math Crash course that are $100 each and Math Destroyer is another 100 bucks. But I want to avoid spending more money.

Any tips on free resources?

Check out Orgoman's YT channel! They have a ton of great QR (and other subjects) videos which helped with Booster as well The crash courses came out right after my exam, but in all honesty the investment may be the difference between a solid QR score vs retake. I used Math Destroyer and found that + Booster very complementary and I ended up with 2 minutes to spare on the real exam. I was always running out of time as well, but I think using both the Math Destroyer with Booster made me much more efficient in my approach to problem solving. Also check out the video solutions because theres always shortcuts there especially with probability because that was one of my worst topics before Booster/Destroyer

 

[dental.alice]

I would strongly encourage that you watch some of the QR webinars that Booster has uploaded. I also watched a ton of Orgoman's YT channel for topics that I noticed I was always getting wrong. Math Destroyer may be slighlty expensive, but it's less expensive than having to retake the DAT if you score very poorly without it. I would highly reccommend the book but if that's not in the budget, at least join the 2021 Official DAT Destroyer and OAT Destroyer Study Group by Dr. Romano on facebook to go through all the practice problems they post. One thing that I personally found helpful was marking all the questions I got wrong from the Booster practice exams, then I would go through all my marked questions daily in the Marked Questions section. I would only unmark if I felt as though I fully understood how to solve the problem and this eventually helped me with my speed. I probably spent around 3 hrs/day for the first week, and gradually was able to spend less and less time as I targeted my weak topics. Sometimes I would spend 15-20 minutes trying to wrap my head around 1 problem to understand what the heck was going on, but honestly it's better to spend that time during practice than having absolutely no clue when seeing a similar question on the real thing.

Like you, I also freaked out with statistics. I watched and re-watched all the explanation videos for probability on Booster, and marked those questions in particular for review. Khan Academy also was a great resource for me on youtube!

While I do think that the QR practice tests on Booster is slightly more difficult, it prepared me 100% to do well on the real thing. Mind you the last math class (Calc) I took was in high school, and I literally got a 13 on my first QR Booster practice test. I ended up with a 21 on actual test day!

Wish you the best on the DAT and on this cycle! Maybe we'll be classmates

 

[DAT Destroyer]

I would strongly encourage that you watch some of the QR webinars that Booster has uploaded. I also watched a ton of Orgoman's YT channel for topics that I noticed I was always getting wrong. Math Destroyer may be slighlty expensive, but it's less expensive than having to retake the DAT if you score very poorly without it. I would highly reccommend the book but if that's not in the budget, at least join the 2021 Official DAT Destroyer and OAT Destroyer Study Group by Dr. Romano on facebook to go through all the practice problems they post. One thing that I personally found helpful was marking all the questions I got wrong from the Booster practice exams, then I would go through all my marked questions daily in the Marked Questions section. I would only unmark if I felt as though I fully understood how to solve the problem and this eventually helped me with my speed. I probably spent around 3 hrs/day for the first week, and gradually was able to spend less and less time as I targeted my weak topics. Sometimes I would spend 15-20 minutes trying to wrap my head around 1 problem to understand what the heck was going on, but honestly it's better to spend that time during practice than having absolutely no clue when seeing a similar question on the real thing.

Like you, I also freaked out with statistics. I watched and re-watched all the explanation videos for probability on Booster, and marked those questions in particular for review. Khan Academy also was a great resource for me on youtube!

While I do think that the QR practice tests on Booster is slightly more difficult, it prepared me 100% to do well on the real thing. Mind you the last math class (Calc) I took was in high school, and I literally got a 13 on my first QR Booster practice test. I ended up with a 21 on actual test day!

Wish you the best on the DAT and on this cycle! Maybe we'll be classmates

This is great advice, having to take the DAT exam again is very expensive not to mention the anxiety that goes along with a retake(you also run the risk of missing this cycle). It seems like what you are doing is not effective. We have a library of free videos by our Professor Blois that students find very helpful. You need to build a solid foundation and quick tricks to solving the problems quickly. The Math Destroyer shows shortcuts on how to approach problems and our students that use it have found it very helpful. Unfortunately through the years I have worked with students who are retaking the DAT due to a low QR score, don't let that be you. Trust you instinct and don't take the DAT until you rectify this problem.

Nancy, co/owner, Destroyer Books

 

[Abbasr2000]

Hey Everyone,

I am currently using DAT Booster to study and all my sections have really improved besides QR. I am consistently getting 13's on the practice tests and my DAT is about three weeks out. Im starting to get very discouraged because no matter how many times I review the formulas and watch the videos, and do the supplemental questions NOTHING seems to be helping. Out of the 40 questions or so I get about 15-20 right.

I really dont want math of all things to be the reason my average comes down or be the reason I dont get into dental school (get autofiltered out for such a low score)

Does anyone have any advice on how to get better? I would prefer not having to pay for another "course" or lesson but if there isnt a better way than it seems I dont have a choice!

The DATBooster math is a bit harder than the actual exam so don't stress yourself. If you can understand how to do all of the problems on booster then you should be more than fine on the exam. I think booster shows an accurate representation of the questions, but the difficulty is a bit higher than the actual exam.