DAT OVER!! Thanks

[Balki]

Thanks to all of you who posted information about the test. I was reading the reviews silently and now just after taking my test thought to write and tell you about my personal expereince.

Here are my scores

AA 21
PAT 17
Qr 18
Read 20
Bio 18
CHEM 25
Orgo 25
Total
Science 21

I am dissapointed about my PAT scores, in fact very dissapointed. The monitor was surprisingly good but af course not good enough.
I thought PAT was hard, very hard angles hard to distinguish, Cubes were very hard as well
I think 3 of the cube arrangements were 25 and up cubes. SO count very quickly and effeciently.

Chem and Orgo were very simple and mostly theoretical. You can throw away Kaplan and Barron's chem sections they are useless. Get the DAT official practice guide and look at it, then cover every question in depth examining every possible combination.

Organic chem: same as chem very unlike Barron's or Kaplan moslty theoretical, I had 3 question pertaining to resonance structures, and one was rather challenging. But again I'd practice from the DAT guide and read old notes from ORGO classes and textbook.

Reading was about the same as TOP score and in fact the passages were rather interesting.

Bio: Had a lot of what I call bull**** questions. Lots of clasification and taxanomy and very detailed.

Qr: I got sloppy at this section and start skipping questions without realization that I skipped a lot and didn't have enough time to finish them all. My advice work fast, very fast and if you can do the question but think it might take a little time -- DO it don't skip. Even though at the end DAT puts several easy algebra questions. I was surprised about my score on this section , because I am good in math and in fact tutor it, but everything comes down to WORD problems and being able to do calculations fast, very fast.

Guys I need your help. Do you think I have a shot at interviews with these scores? my Pat is very low, do you think the AA will overshadow the PAT score? I am a little depressed because of it now. And if you think some school might look at such a combo can you suggest what schools? Again thank you, this post has been incredible help.

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[rsweeney]

Stranger (TV show I assume), your scores are perfect . Fureel though, I cannot believe you got a 25 in both Ochem and Gchem. You have a VERY good chance at getting an interview with those scores. Don't be upset at your PAT score. First off, 17 is not bad. Second, your AA will overshadow any score you are worried about. Great job!

 

[Balki]

Thanks I hope admissions will think the same way. I am going to finish my application the next few days.
It's from the Tv show indeed: "Perfect strangers".

 

[AT03]

Great job !!!

An average of 21 will get you into most dental school. So don?t worry about the fact that you scored only 17 on PAT. Keep in mind that the last several ppl who took DAT recently they all scored in the range of between 17 to 19 in the PAT. Also, don?t forget the average score of an average SDN member is higher than the national average. .b/c in here we have the advantage of learning from each other as well as ppl who?ve already taken the DAT.

 

[deeps005]

Hey balki, I PMed you...great job on the DAT by the way. also does anyone know where i can get a copy of the DAT official practice guide? thanks.

 

[SloppyJoe]

Balki,
Good scores. You have no problem at most of private schools. I have exactly the same scores as you. Are you a cali resident?

 

[jetjesse]

Balki,
Where do you get that official DAT you spoke of earlier?

 

[Balki]

Hey guys, maybe I didn't make myself clear by the official DAT i mean the official practice test that is included in the paper application booklet. Also if you have a big school ask your advisor for previous years of DAT booklet, you never know.

SloppyJoe,
No I am from the east coast so I am applying to many school in NY NJ, and Con Area here is the list

Columbia
UCONN
StonyBrook
NJ School of Dental MEd
NYU

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks again guys for reassurance.

 

[PERFECT3434]

Balki,

dude you did awsome. their is no reason for you to be scared or depressed or even worried about dental school. your scores are as good as they get. Trust me you will be fine.

just relax and enjoy your summer and do as much as you can because comes next year you will be studying your head off in whatever school you choose.

congrats to you again.
wish i had your scores.

 

[PERFECT3434]

BTW, for people who haven't taken the DAT yet, i hope you guys don't just think you will get the same test as Balki or me or someone else.

for BAlki the BIO section was though and the reading was good (in fact interesting). for me, it was completely the opposite. I was done 20 mins ahead of time on the natural Sci section and was completely lost and guessed many Q's on the reading section.

the truth is, you never know what you'll get. so, my advice to you is to not throw anything away and study every thing and use every resource you have available to you. Like Balki's PAT, i thought that the PAT was very hard. I always thought i should get at least a 21 on PAT and ended up getting 18.

so, seriously just know your stuff and know it well because you may get everything you thought it would be on the exam.

good luck to you all!

 

[Balki]

PERFECT3434, thank you for the words of encouragement

I think you make perfect sense about knowing everything. YOu guys know how tests work: What you avoid and think (hoping) it will not appear most absolutely will. So I think what many people suggest "STUDY what you don't know" which is not as it sounds.
Regarding the throw away part I was trying to explain about my expereince and how I thought the practice tests resemble the actual one. This of course can be true for me and not true for many people.
The other thing I wanted to add is the art of test taking. There are people who good at standarized tests and people that are horrible at it. At any rate when you walk into that test center be confident and concentrate.

Good luck to all of you and thank you to everyone who posted their oppinion