I don't know what to do to improve my scores.

[StudentDentistsRock]

Hi all,

I'm not gonna lie, I'm coming here for some encouragement and happy thoughts. Recently, things have just been so stressful whether its the DAT or my AADSAS application.

I'm currently scoring the following on DAT bootcamp practice subject tests:
GC 22 average
OC 20 average
Bio 19 average
PAT 17 average
RC below 15 (only took one subject test).
QR 17 (only one subject test).

My goal is to aim for a 23, however, I will be happy with a 21-22. I am starting to lose all faith. For the past three days, I just decided not to do anything because I don't know what to do anymore about my last three scores. I also need an improvement on bio. Everyday that passes by, material seeps out of my head. I'm not doing any better on the PAT, have no idea what I'm doing with RC and QR. For now, I have been focusing on secondary applications and my ps. I plan to submit my app tomorrow so hopefully that will rid some stress.

My test is June 27th. However, I am obviously not ready. I'm thinking of postponing maximum to July 10th. Its just, I'm starting to lose faith and not feel like doing this anymore. My scores are really starting to get the best of me.

Although English is my first language, I still have difficulties with reading. Angle ranking, keyhole, patterns, TFE are slashing the bjeepers out of me. I spend WAY too much time trying to figure out these questions (I'm not fast enough). When it comes to QR, prob/stats and comparison are giving me a hard time. For bio, anatomy and genetics are my downfall.

Any encouraging thoughts or advice? I'm a relatively competitive applicant with a 3.92 science and overall GPA, strong rec letters, and decent extracurriculars. I'm afraid the DAT is going to be my ultimate downfall. I'm scared that I've come this far and it'll all end up in the gutter.

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[deleted738762]

You're going to need to postpone the exam because your confidence a week before is no beuno and you'll still be on time (they say mid July is still good) and focus on bio, qr, rc, and pat. You might have to just study those sections better and grind them out. Also how can you turn in your application early without knowing your DAT scores? Also there isn't much anatomy on the DAT, just a lot of physiology. I took anatomy and believe me memorizing muscles and nerves is not on the DAT : )

 

[MickeyMug]

What materials are you using to study for the DAT?

 

[Faefly]

The stress is because submitting the application ate up your prep dat time and made you anxious. You shouldn't have worried about it since your test was already very early.

Remember!
Your goal is Harvard
You have the gpa
the only thing is causing you to be behind is the stress of having to apply early!

QR is not gonna improve in a week! In our topic let's share something useful, we shared so many good math sources on youtube.
I also encourage you to purchase a gre book to get practice on the new kind of questions. Plus math destroyer. Math get better with practice, but you can't get better without understanding the basics.

RC not gonna improve in a week! Keep on reading Scientific American articles (read 3-4 every day), and find a strategy that good for you. In order for the strategy to work, you need more practice consider (DAtqvault+crack for RC both are equally good, achiver have 10 tests or 3, or 5 depending on how much you want to pay, you really need extra practice to be faster)

Bio need more than a week to get improved! Since you already reviewed it, consider either reading a lot quizlet ap biology and watching more videos on youtube to keep on retaining the info. Also on the same topic people have been sharing bio youtube videos, check them out if you need to. Let's share helpful resources with each others (dat takers)

Pat gets better with a lot generator. Also, other websites have more pat practice questions if you are done with the 10 in bootcamp.

You obviously need to postpone for the end of July! Since you already finishing the application. So, by the time you take the dat, your transcripts have already been verified.

Best of luck, you can do it, your science scores are good and they will get better!

Don't let stress stand in the way of you and your dream.

One last thing to say:

I remember you said you applying to 4 schools only, I hope you made them 8 to be on the safer side.

 

[corgination]

Giving yourself an extra week or two to prepare will make a huge difference, if you do want to postpone it. I haven't taken the DAT yet (its this coming Friday for me) and I definitely feel a little unprepared, but for tests like this, very rarely will anyone feel 100% ready to take it on.

From my studying so far, I can tell you that practicing constantly is what's helping me. I watched my scores go from 15-16 during my first week of studying to ~22 across the board now (sometimes higher!) on Bootcamp and other practice material, just from constantly practicing and learning why I got something wrong. Honestly, making mistakes, and then learning from them, will help you tremendously so don't let that get you down. I struggled hard with the basic botany topics and the endocrine axis (axises? axes?) and missed most of those questions, but constant practice and redoing those questions actually made the information stay in my head and helped me learn the major concepts.

Maybe you should take a day or two off and go have some fun. Go for a drive, hang out with some friends, whatever you like to do for fun, and then come back refreshed and ready to hunker down and study. I took a day off this past weekend because my stress was getting the better of me, and it definitely helped me. I retook some tests since then (ie 2007, 2009, some Bootcamp, some others) and my scores improved by at least 2-3 points in each section.

And like Faefly said, your science scores are great! You can dedicate more time towards the weaker subjects and strengthen them.

 

[StudentDentistsRock]

What materials are you using to study for the DAT?

The typical materials: Chad's, math destroyer, DAT destroyer, Cliff's 3rd edition, and bootcamp.

The stress is because submitting the application ate up your prep dat time and made you anxious. You shouldn't have worried about it since your test was already very early.

Remember!
Your goal is Harvard
You have the gpa
the only thing is causing you to be behind is the stress of having to apply early!

QR is not gonna improve in a week! In our topic let's share something useful, we shared so many good math sources on youtube.
I also encourage you to purchase a gre book to get practice on the new kind of questions. Plus math destroyer. Math get better with practice, but you can't get better without understanding the basics.

RC not gonna improve in a week! Keep on reading Scientific American articles (read 3-4 every day), and find a strategy that good for you. In order for the strategy to work, you need more practice consider (DAtqvault+crack for RC both are equally good, achiver have 10 tests or 3, or 5 depending on how much you want to pay, you really need extra practice to be faster)

Bio need more than a week to get improved! Since you already reviewed it, consider either reading a lot quizlet ap biology and watching more videos on youtube to keep on retaining the info. Also on the same topic people have been sharing bio youtube videos, check them out if you need to. Let's share helpful resources with each others (dat takers)

Pat gets better with a lot generator. Also, other websites have more pat practice questions if you are done with the 10 in bootcamp.

You obviously need to postpone for the end of July! Since you already finishing the application. So, by the time you take the dat, your transcripts have already been verified.

Best of luck, you can do it, your science scores are good and they will get better!

Don't let stress stand in the way of you and your dream.

One last thing to say:

I remember you said you applying to 4 schools only, I hope you made them 8 to be on the safer side.

Faefly, thanks a ton! Honestly, you don't know how encouraging this is for me. I promise to battle through this as hard as I can! Best of luck to you as well! P.s: I added Maryland and Pitt to my list!

@corgination thank you too! I also wish you the best of luck with your DAT!

 

[kjseals9]

As for the PAT, I really found that watching youtube videos on how to conquer each PAT section really helped. There are some really great techniques out there to figure out how to analyze and attack the problem in under a minute! Also, figure out which problems you're best at, and practice doing those first and then go back to the questions you're not as good at. This really helped me maximize my score, so that I could get the most possible correct answers.

 

[StudentDentistsRock]

As for the PAT, I really found that watching youtube videos on how to conquer each PAT section really helped. There are some really great techniques out there to figure out how to analyze and attack the problem in under a minute! Also, figure out which problems you're best at, and practice doing those first and then go back to the questions you're not as good at. This really helped me maximize my score, so that I could get the most possible correct answers.

Definitely will do. Thanks for the advice!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Faefly]

What kind of topics should we be reading? Like specifically bio, chem, evolution? Or does it really just not matter? I've seen this recommendation from a lot of other people too and so just wondering what subject/topic would be best. Thank you

I would add physics articles as well.
The good thing about bootcamp, they have daily read suggestions. Let me give you the link to that.
Reading Comprehension | DAT Bootcamp
I think you can access that without needing to upgrade.
So if you read 3-4 every day, you'll improve.

 

[Faefly]

Cool!! Thank you!! I didn't know of this! Lots of help

forgot to say it is at the end of the page if you didn't see that.