When to retake the DAT/studying advice

[Chelsea24]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Still no interviews this cycle, unfortunately beginning to plan for reapplying next cycle.
GPA: 3.3
1st DAT: 19GC / 19OC / 15Bio / 20RC / 19 QR / 19PAT (Assuming the 15 in bio is killing me this app cycle)
Want to move up to a 21/22 in all areas.

I want to apply the first day that I possibly can for this cycle. I am wondering when it is best to take the DAT this time. I was thinking sometime around May 20th if possible (might be too late?). I want to be realistic and know that I am graduating this spring and will have events around that and struggled just not having enough time the last time I studied. I am only in 6 credits this semester so I will be able to fully focus on this test while also volunteering and strengthening my shadowing hour totals.

Study habits: Used the typical 8 week study guide from this site (Destroyer, Chads, Cliffs, KBB, Crack the DAT (for PAT help)). I followed this more or less, along with the last week or so using DAT Bootcamp which was very helpful and I wish I would have used that more. I specifically struggled studying for and performing on the Biology section. Does anyone have major advice for this? I was thinking of going more thoroughly through Cliffs and KBB making notecards and constantly studying them throughout my months of studying.
I found Destroyer helpful for QR but I found Bootcamp to be significantly more comparable to the actual DAT. I think I'm good at math and want to do a bit better in that section as well. Advice there?

PAT: The hole punching section became easy along with cube counting and keyhole due to strategies found on this site. I struggled big time with the angle section, top front end and the 3D pattern folding as well. Help here would be awesome too.

Will I need more/less time this time around since I will have a solid background in all areas besides bio?

Need most help with Bio section.

Thanks for any and all help and sorry for the very typical DAT help post.

 

[eldmd_32]

Here's an analysis and advice without any sugar coating (don't be offended). But yeah that 15 Bio really killed you. Also your gpa is middle of the road. That being said, the combination of your GPA and the somewhat average looking DAT (19) left the initial impression of your application to be slightly less than desired scattered amongst the hundreds (potentially thousands) of other applications received by dental schools. I think retaking the DAT around May 20th is an extremely good idea. It's good timing as your score will most likely get to the schools you apply to around early-mid June. Since you've studied considerably for it I would suggest that you take a lot more practice tests and supplement this with reviewing Chads, Cliffs, and maybe another resource again to beef up your bio and brush up on chem to enhance those scores. You need a rather impressive DAT to offset your GPA as most schools want to see a 3.5-3.8. Make sure that by the time you retake your DAT your practice scores are above your goal for each section consistently as this will give you a good indication and confidence that you can your goal score for each section on the actual test. Hope this was helpful. Good luck!

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

I think with Math, you also have to worry about speed. In practice I get 21-25 on QR but I know I could get higher because I'm not going super fast. My science scores aren't that great and I know I've been reviewing a ton, actively taking notes and doing practice problems but my practice scores haven't gotten much better since 2 weeks ago because I throw away points to carelessness and not noticing exactly what the question asks sometimes. Have you used Feralis notes for Bio? KBB and Cliff's should be good but try supplementing with some other stuff too. Not sure if this is the best idea, but I've heard the Kaplan MCAT bio book is good for anatomy and I'm using it to study all my anatomy because that's something I haven't memorized completely yet. I think May 20th is a great date! I'm taking mine Jan 21st and it'll be my first attempt. I really want my DAT to offset my GPA and i've been pretty decent with standardized testing in the past. My GPA when I apply is going to be a 3.4 overall maybe with like a 3.3 science if i can keep up the trend of improving. I'm going to try to apply for 2017 but if I don't get in, I'll improve my app. I had a pretty damn good fall semester (3.8 ogpa/3.7 sgpa) but it was my only good one lol. Before that I always got under a 3.5 🙁. I'm not super good at PAT either tbh. Also have you taken the official ADA practice exams? Prometric offers one too; I haven't taken it yet but I'm pretty sure it's from the ADA and it's online so that seems like it would be really legit! From what my friend told me, Topscore is a worthwhile investment and pretty similar to the real DAT so you should consider getting that also! For math, you want to look at the types of questions you get wrong and figure out an efficient way to do them. I know how to do almost every single problem (like 37-39/40) but my speed seems to be lacking a little.