Want to take DATs... help please :)

[marymatthews]

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Hi,

I am interested in dentistry and I would like to take the DATs as soon as possible (before June of course). I am new to this and any feedback/advice is greatly appreciated.
I did a search, however, I did not find much information and/or the information was scattered and not complete. I am hoping to get a better unified answer please.
A little about me... I am an Ivy League graduate with a 3.4 gpa and 3.3 science gpa (bio major). Currently, I am doing a post bac (full time) at a local college to improve my science gpa. I have also started volunteering at a dentist's office. I would consider myself as economically disadvantaged.
So, if I want to take the DATs, how should I prepare exactly? What materials should I buy/use? What is recommended? What have top scorers used/done? What is a good study schedule/routine? etc.
I have a good science background, but never looked at a PAT section. On the SAT, I scored a 600 verbal and 650 math. Any other questions, feel free to ask.
Thanks a lot

 

[Blue Panther]

There is an entire sub-forum dedicated for the DAT:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=70

 

[krnkimsung]

Hi,

I am interested in dentistry and I would like to take the DATs as soon as possible (before June of course). I am new to this and any feedback/advice is greatly appreciated.
I did a search, however, I did not find much information and/or the information was scattered and not complete. I am hoping to get a better unified answer please.
A little about me... I am an Ivy League graduate with a 3.4 gpa and 3.3 science gpa (bio major). Currently, I am doing a post bac (full time) at a local college to improve my science gpa. I have also started volunteering at a dentist's office. I would consider myself as economically disadvantaged.
So, if I want to take the DATs, how should I prepare exactly? What materials should I buy/use? What is recommended? What have top scorers used/done? What is a good study schedule/routine? etc.
I have a good science background, but never looked at a PAT section. On the SAT, I scored a 600 verbal and 650 math. Any other questions, feel free to ask.
Thanks a lot

Just out of curiosity, how did you get into Ivy League school with 1250 SAT? I didn't get into any one of them with 1420 SAT and 4.3 Weighted GPA...(U Penn was my dream school) ended up going to Berkeley which I'm pretty happy with.

Anyway, a good starting point is to take Practice DAT test for free and figure out your weak area(s). PAT takes a lot of practice but it's definitely doable and plus it's the fun part of the exam. Plan to put aside about 1-1.5 months to focus on studying it for 3-4 hrs/day.

 

[marymatthews]

Ok so what materials should I use? What should I buy? etc

 

[BiomajorPreDent]

Read my sig, then go check out the DAT forums here on SDN. Good luck!

 

[dentalWorks]

I'll just copy/paste something I wrote a few days back to someone asking about "best DAT prep materials / methods"... This is the same stuff I did
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with regards to reading, I tried some of the passages on Kaplan blue book, Goodfry reading software, and I did soo terrible on those practice tests that I gave up on all RC, I didn't even develope a method to attack the articles, I just relied on LUCK....

with regards to MATH, I though DAT destoyer wasn't all that helpful but the MATH Destroyer was spot on. The MATH destroyer is a different book than DAT Destroyer, the MATH one has 10 math tests, each with 40 questions, if you master those 400 questions inside and out, your going to rock the math section of the DAT cause those questions from destroyer are, I swear Im gonna say 70-80% of them will show up with the same style just different numbers. the mistake I did was I only did the first 6-tests and I did them about 1-2 months before my test date, so I was outta practice by time I took the DAT.

At this poing, you should buy DAT Destroyer, its very good for chemistry and orgo, Biology is pretty good too for some random facts that wouln't be covered in Kaplan Blue book nor Cliff's AP biology

with regards to biology, yehhhhhh this section sucks cause its SOOOO BROAD. But, I started with Kaplan blue book, and found it very poorly organized for biology. It lacked alot of details, however, it was still good as an introductory biology.
-Start with Kaplan blue book
-Read all of Cliff's AP biology (anywhere from 1-3 times)
-Supplement Cliff's AP bilogy + KBB with your biology test... I personally loved Biology by raven, I thought it was 100 times better than Cambell
-Finally do the biology section of DAT Destroyer atleast 2-3 times, take notes / highlight stuff

with regards to general chem, yeh nothing beats Kaplan blue book, spot on. Perfect review guide. When your done with Kaplan Blue book, go on and hit DAT Destroyer atleast 1-3 times for this section.

with regards to orgo, kaplan blue book is pretty good, but DAT Destroyer is key here. Master DAT Destroyer orgo section and you'll be hitting 20+ on the orgo section of the DAT

Finally, PAT, Crack DAT PAT is the king. Master those 10 tests and you should easily score 20+ on the PAT. by the way, the scores you get on the Crack DAT PAT (esspecially toward the last ones) will be a very good indicator of how you'll do on the real test

 

[marymatthews]

Read my sig, then go check out the DAT forums here on SDN. Good luck!

sorry
whats your sig?