DAT Breakdown Compilation Thread (future test takers, look here!)

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8_man

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Inspired by Glimmer1991's Ultimate Breakdown Collection.

Introduction
Hey guys, 8_man here with a present for all you upcoming DAT takers. As a recent test-taker myself, nothing prepared me more than going through the breakdowns of those who absolutely killed it. Many others will agree with me, and so I took the liberty of compiling a list of recent (2013-present) DAT breakdowns. For those of you who don't know what a DAT breakdown is, it is basically a summary of one's entire testing experience. I glanced through each one for content, particularly for:
  1. a study schedule
  2. materials used
  3. practice test scores
  4. thoughts & advice
Hopefully this list will be useful to find guidance, motivation, or whatever one is seeking to obtain a competitive score. There are plenty of schedules to follow, so keep reading until you find one that fits your style. And if you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me or post a thread in the DAT sub-forum. We're all here to help each other.

Recources
There is a general consensus here on SDN about what study materials to use, so I'll just list them below for your convenience. All of these materials are tried, true, and tested to work, so long as you do your part and put in the effort. Having said that, it is NOT necessary to use all these resources to succeed on the DAT. If you want to better your chances, though, it is well worth the investment. And it's never a bad thing to be over-prepared.

Practice Exams:
1. DAT Bootcamp [online subscription].........................................($247 for 90 days)
Note: Includes PAT practice problems + generators
2. 2007 DAT Exam [PDF]............................................................(free)
3. 2009 DAT Exam [PDF]............................................................(free)
Note: Errors on exam. Double-check your answers here
Study Materials:
1. Course Saver, a.k.a. Chad's Videos [online subscription] ..........($50 for 30 days)
Subjects covered: General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Quantitative Reasoning
3. DAT Destroyer [book].............................................................($149.95)
Subjects covered: Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Quantitative Reasoning
4. Math Destroyer [book]............................................................($99.95)
Note: you can buy both Destroyer books for $199.95
5. Feralis' Notes [PDF]................................................................(free)
Subjects covered: Biology
6. Cliff's Biology Notes [PDF].................................................(free)
Subjects covered: Biology
Helpful SDN Posts:

Ari's 10 week Study Schedule

This is the go-to study guide here on the dental forums. For the DAT, ten weeks is ample time to prepare and earn a competitive score. However, the schedule itself is certainly not set in stone–many have modified it to suit their own preferences, so feel free to do the same! For example, if you want to shorten your study period down to 6 weeks, you would try to find days where you would condense the material into a single session. Or if you're already strong in a certain subject, you can eliminate its content review from your schedule.

For a PDF of Ari's study guide, click here.

Breakdowns
In case you are unfamiliar with how the DAT is scaled, here is a nice figure provided by Gold Standard DAT Prep.

DAT_Score_%20graph.jpg


The average score for newly accepted dental students is about a 20. This score would put you in the upper 16% of all test-takers. This is by no means an easy feat to accomplish, so be sure to plan carefully and study hard. The following breakdowns are from people who scored in the top 3% of all test-takers.

I sorted the DAT breakdowns in ascending order by their Academic Average (AA). The subsections of the DAT are listed and abbreviated for quick reference. For those who are new to the DAT and are unsure of what each stand for;

TS = Total science (the cumulative score of the Biology, Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry sections)
BIO = Biology
GC = Chemistry
OC = Organic Chemistry
RC = Reading comprehension
QR = Quantitative reasoning (math, up to Trigonometry)
PAT = Perceptual Ability Test​

There are numerous debates on which score holds the most weight with admissions committees. In my opinion, the ranking is: #1: AA, #2: TS, #3: RC, #4: PAT, #5: QR. However, this does not mean you can neglect the QR section of the DAT, since it does contribute to your AA.

And without further ado, here is the breakdown list–

22AA

23AA

24AA


25AA

26AA
27AA
28AA
29AA

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Members don't see this ad :)
Also, here's an older compilation thread full of great breakdowns from the past:

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ultimate-breakdown-collection.992975/

It's a bit out-dated but for the most part the good resources/strategies that people have used in the past are still good today. But refer to the breakdowns posted in this thread first before you look at the ones in the link posted above because the breakdowns on here are more recent.
 
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Members don't see this ad :)
Feel free to add me to this
Added, thanks for the contribution :nod:
Also, here's an older compilation thread full of great breakdowns from the past:

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ultimate-breakdown-collection.992975/

It's a bit out-dated but for the most part the good resources/strategies that people have used in the past are still good today. But refer to the breakdowns posted in this thread first before you look at the ones in the link posted above because the breakdowns on here are more recent.

Hey! I actually came across this same thread as well, which is what led me to make this one. As you noticed, the breakdowns are a bit dated (still useful, though).
 
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thank you for this compilation! this type of thing def helps ppl on the site.
please add my breakdown here as well! i focused on reviewing Ari's 10 week program so i think it can help many others!
 
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I better step my game up. 21 ain't cutting it anymore. haha
 
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thank you for this compilation! this type of thing def helps ppl on the site.
please add my breakdown here as well! i focused on reviewing Ari's 10 week program so i think it can help many others!
Done and...
Im sure you can sneak in a 22 AA in those breakdown links.
Done. :ninja:

Thanks for contributing!
 
I, personally, am a person who learns best if I am lectured to as opposed to reading text. Will Chad's Videos cover everything? Or should I look into buying the DAT Destroyer as well in order to get the practice problems I need. Is Kaplan not recommended as well? Sorry, noobie here!
Thanks again for this!
 
I, personally, am a person who learns best if I am lectured to as opposed to reading text. Will Chad's Videos cover everything? Or should I look into buying the DAT Destroyer as well in order to get the practice problems I need. Is Kaplan not recommended as well? Sorry, noobie here!
Thanks again for this!
Chad's will tell you everything you need to know for the chemistry, organic, and QR sections on the DAT. The bio videos are incomplete, so you're gonna need to use something else like Feralis' notes. Chad's also contains hundreds of practice problems and quizzes, so be sure to make use of those.

I never used Destroyer, but I only hear good things about it so I would recommend you use it. Going through practice problems is the best way to retain everything you've learned.

And don't use Kaplan.
 
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Can't believe I didn't see this until now, God bless you this is going to be so helpful in a year


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
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This is perfect. This will help so many people and save them a lot of time. Thanks for making this, and I'm honored to be on the list!
 
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This is amazing. I wish I had this a year ago when I was researching DAT study tools and breakdowns. Good Job @8_man !
 
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This is amazing. I wish I had this a year ago when I was researching DAT study tools and breakdowns. Good Job @8_man !
Thanks! SDN got me into dental school, so I'm just paying it forward. But it honestly takes very little effort on my part to make this, since everyone's writing the breakdowns for me haha
 
What benefits does Coursesaver have over Chadsvideos.com? Seems like chadsvideos has more videos (for free) as opposed to coursesaver which is a paid subscription.
 
What benefits does Coursesaver have over Chadsvideos.com? Seems like chadsvideos has more videos (for free) as opposed to coursesaver which is a paid subscription.

Chad's focuses on the chemistries, while Coursesaver.com contains Chad's, in addition to math and biology videos + quizzes.
 
If you're still in the market to add posts, feel free to add mine.

Thank you for compiling this information for the community!
 
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