18AA on DAT, what do I do??

[Longtimenodental]

Hello! I just took my DAT and got
18AA
18 TS
19 OC
18Bio
16GC...NOOOO
18 RC
18QR

I honestly am very disappointed. On all my booster practice tests I got 20. And my gen chem was 20-25! I was surprised how specific the questions were on my Ochem and gen chem sections on the real DAT. I want to retake but now I feel like I don't know where to start because it feels like Booster wasn't representative.

Any advice? Should I retake?
I have a 3.52 bachelors GPA, but 3.89 Science GPA, Dental assistant for 6 years, Firefighter/paramedic experience. Not sure if that will cover up this mishap though...

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[macsak]

Hello! I just took my DAT and got
18AA
18 TS
19 OC
18Bio
16GC...NOOOO
18 RC
18QR

I honestly am very disappointed. On all my booster practice tests I got 20. And my gen chem was 20-25! I was surprised how specific the questions were on my Ochem and gen chem sections on the real DAT. I want to retake but now I feel like I don't know where to start because it feels like Booster wasn't representative.

Any advice? Should I retake?
I have a 3.52 bachelors GPA, but 3.89 Science GPA, Dental assistant for 6 years, Firefighter/paramedic experience. Not sure if that will cover up this mishap though...

it depends on your school list

you still have time to retake because 90 days is mid july, and that's not too late...

 

[Ryxndek]

I think it's probably best to retake your DAT, an 18AA isn't going to open a lot of doors for you and you will most likely be stuck in a private school program and in a lot of debt. It will save you thousands in tuition if you spend a little more time studying for a retake. But if you have money to burn or are getting help, private schools are certainly very nice and have state-of-the art tech

Booster has been regarded as a solid resource, but I have read that others have added supplemental resources such as Destroyer and chad's notes. I feel as though we are missing some critical details:

1. How long did you study for the exam, how many hours a day?
2. How many practice exams did you take?

Your school list will be large with an 18AA, the net will need to be cast wide. Probably 12-15 schools minimum, mostly being privates. This will set you back about 3.5-5k total for applying to that many schools depending on which ones you apply to.

But I agree above, 3 months is plenty of time for retake, and scores received in july aren't considered late by any means.

 

[Longtimenodental]

I think it's probably best to retake your DAT, an 18AA isn't going to open a lot of doors for you and you will most likely be stuck in a private school program and in a lot of debt. It will save you thousands in tuition if you spend a little more time studying for a retake. But if you have money to burn or are getting help, private schools are certainly very nice and have state-of-the art tech

Booster has been regarded as a solid resource, but I have read that others have added supplemental resources such as Destroyer and chad's notes. I feel as though we are missing some critical details:

1. How long did you study for the exam, how many hours a day?
2. How many practice exams did you take?

Your school list will be large with an 18AA, the net will need to be cast wide. Probably 12-15 schools minimum, mostly being privates. This will set you back about 3.5-5k total for applying to that many schools depending on which ones you apply to.

But I agree above, 3 months is plenty of time for retake, and scores received in july aren't considered late by any means.

I studied for 3 months about 20hrs a week, and took all 10 practice tests. That is why I am so confused

 

[Ryxndek]

I studied for 3 months about 20hrs a week, and took all 10 practice tests. That is why I am so confused

certainly weird, I actually found the questions on my DAT far easier than my practice exams. However, I used Kaplan not DAT booster. Kaplans questions were so insanely difficult, I was averaging 16s-17s on my practice exams. My last exam was an 18AA. But certainly helped come the exam.

I'm not sure how difficult booster's questions were. Did you think the questions on booster were equivalent in difficultly compared to the actual exam?

 

[Longtimenodental]

certainly weird, I actually found the questions on my DAT far easier than my practice exams. However, I used Kaplan not DAT booster.

I'm not sure how difficult booster's questions were. Did you think the questions on booster were equivalent in difficultly compared to the actual exam?

I thought the Bio section was similar. Even the subjects tested on Booster vs. real was comparable. However, with my Chem and Ochem I was surprised at the questions. Some of the questions on my gen chem section I genuinely never saw even in my chem class. I didn't have any periodic table trends, pH, neutral vs acidic salts...etc. And Ochem same story. I am currently in the last two weeks of my Ochem 2 course and feel very confident about it. Got an A in ochem 1 and will probably get an A in ochem 2.

Sounds like I should supplement booster with Kaplan and/or Destroyer. But like I said, I studied a lot and was doing really well on the chem sections on Booster. It was always Bio bringing me down 15-17s on practice exam.

Question: if I retake DAT do they take the best score or the most recent? Or does it depend on schools?

 

[Ryxndek]

I thought the Bio section was similar. Even the subjects tested on Booster vs. real was comparable. However, with my Chem and Ochem I was surprised at the questions. Some of the questions on my gen chem section I genuinely never saw even in my chem class. I didn't have any periodic table trends, pH, neutral vs acidic salts...etc. And Ochem same story. I am currently in the last two weeks of my Ochem 2 course and feel very confident about it. Got an A in ochem 1 and will probably get an A in ochem 2.

Sounds like I should supplement booster with Kaplan and/or Destroyer. But like I said, I studied a lot and was doing really well on the chem sections on Booster. It was always Bio bringing me down 15-17s on practice exam.

Question: if I retake DAT do they take the best score or the most recent? Or does it depend on schools?

I wouldn't supplement with kaplan, it would be too expensive. Kaplan self paced is around 700$ for 3-4 months. I thought it was worth it, but most will disagree. I would supplement with destroyer and chad's notes.

Schools will take the most recent score, but they will see your previous scores and can use them to rank you. Someone who went from 18 to 22 will be looked at more fondly than someone who went from 18 to 19, or had 3 tests and did 18,18,19. You want to show solid improvement and that you can handle long standardized exams. If you do worse than your previous score that is not good.

People get in with 18s and 19s but its slim and lowers you chances to receive scholarships or have options. Retaking exam will put you In a better position if you think you can improve your score by 2-3 points, which is certainly possible.

 

[Longtimenodental]

certainly weird, I actually found the questions on my DAT far easier than my practice exams. However, I used Kaplan not DAT booster. Kaplans questions were so insanely difficult, I was averaging 16s-17s on my practice exams. My last exam was an 18AA. But certainly helped come the exam.

I'm not sure how difficult booster's questions were. Did you think the questions on booster were equivalent in difficultly compared to the actual exam?

good to know, thank you very much!

 

[doc toothache]

I wouldn't supplement with kaplan, it would be too expensive. Kaplan self paced is around 700$ for 3-4 months. I thought it was worth it, but most will disagree. I would supplement with destroyer and chad's notes.

Schools will take the most recent score, but they will see your previous scores and can use them to rank you. Someone who went from 18 to 22 will be looked at more fondly than someone who went from 18 to 19, or had 3 tests and did 18,18,19. You want to show solid improvement and that you can handle long standardized exams. If you do worse than your previous score that is not good.

People get in with 18s and 19s but its slim and lowers you chances to receive scholarships or have options. Retaking exam will put you In a better position if you think you can improve your score by 2-3 points, which is certainly possible.

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[Big Time Hoosier]

I’d retake. The schools most likely to give you any consideration all cost $600,000 or more. I wouldn’t even apply to these schools simply due to cost alone.

Big Hoss