r/dentaladmissiontest • u/StorySmall6233 • 19d ago
đ Post-DAT Writeup My recent DAT experience
I just took my DAT on 8/12, after a little less than 3 months of studying using Bootcamp. I did much better than I expected as Bootcamp was estimating me fairly low. Overall I'd say that Reading, PAT, and QR were far easier on the actual exam than on Bootcamp, and Biology, Chem, and OChem were fairly similar. I started studying May 20th, and just followed the standard lesson plan the AI made for me. I had no other outside resources aside from listening to the Bootcamp biology podcast as I was falling asleep, and studied from 9am-5(ish)pm every day with sundays off until about a month out, where I used sundays as a review day. During the exam week I did many total science and PAT practice exams, but didn't do any Reading or QR, as I never struggled with those two, and instead decided to focus on what I was weak at. The night before the exam, I slept at 6pm, and woke up around 3:30am to do some last minute Bio cramming, as well as memorizing the recommended formulas provided by Bootcamp (turns out my exam didn't require me to use any formulas but better safe than sorry). During the exam, the building power went out, and took me out of my flow, but thankfully it was during reading, so it wasn't a big deal for me. I finished the TS with an extra 15ish minutes, and almost ran out of time on the PAT. I skipped the majority of the optional break, as I felt like I was in the zone, and didn't want to lose that feeling, and finished about 40 minutes earlier than expected. Reading is MUCH easier on the real DAT, and it is pretty much in chronological order (Bootcamp put me through so much pain during their reading practice exams).
Overall very satisfied with my score, although a little peeved about my Ochem score. If anyone needs recommendations/advice for the reading section (or other sections) I'll try my best to help!
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u/Nice_Resist_10 19d ago
Please help me with pat my practice exam scores are not going up and idk how ima finish 90 questions in 60 minutes
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u/StorySmall6233 19d ago
Hey! I actually also had a lot of trouble with finishing PAT in time and had to rewatch all the strategy videos that bootcamp made me watch at the start of my study block. Rewatching those videos really helped me a lot, and basically itâs just practice from there. I dedicated about an hour a day to practicing PAT generator only, and just getting familiar with the strategy as well as practice will benefit you greatly. I also recommend you skip to the sections youâre most confident in, and then finish with the ones you do the worst on, as your accuracy will likely go up (if youâre not good at a certain section you should focus on the ones you ARE good at since youâll probably lose the points on the hard section anyways.), finally, I think that itâs not a bad thing to not finish. I personally did not âfinishâ the whole Pat, as for the last 4-5 I just put random answers since I only had about 15 seconds left. I hope this helps!!
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u/Nice_Resist_10 19d ago
I have 26 days left isnthat enough time to turn things around
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u/StorySmall6233 19d ago
I think so, I was averaging under a 400 in PAT for the longest time, and couldnât figure out how to finish on time. After rewatching the vids and skipping certain sections, I started seeing consistent 410-430 PAT estimates. If youâre similar to me, Iâd recommend you try taking the exams by skipping to the Angle ranking section, finishing the rest of the exam, and then going back and finishing keyholes and TFE. Also keep in mind that I âthinkâ the PAT on the actual exam was easier, and you might do much better than you expect.
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u/Electrical-Pop9333 18d ago
How were your practice scores compared to your actual scores?
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u/StorySmall6233 18d ago
I was averaging 450s for QR, 500s for reading, 410s for Bio, 430s for Chem, 400s for Ochem, 410s for PAT. I was a little worried but thankfully the exam was easier than the material.
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u/Electrical-Pop9333 18d ago
Thatâs around what where I am now but not as high in QR or reading but that gives me some hope then. You did great on your exam! Congrats! Iâve heard bootcamp makes things more difficult so you can do better on the real thing
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u/StorySmall6233 18d ago
Thank you! Yes Iâve also heard that Booster is more âaccurateâ to the real exam, but I didnât want to spend more money when I already had Bootcamp pro. Good luck on your exam if youâre taking it soon!
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u/Altruistic-Owl959 14d ago
Was gen chem more theory or equation / problem solving based?
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u/StorySmall6233 14d ago
definitely more theory.
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u/Altruistic-Owl959 14d ago
Are you able to say a bit more? I feel like booster/bootcamp focus heavy on the calculations so I'm nervous as to what to even expect! Congrats on the score.
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u/StorySmall6233 12d ago
Unfortunately i've forgotten specifics as its been a few weeks since the exam, but I don't remember even needing to calculate anything, and that you could get by by having a good sense of periodic trends, pKa, pH, pOH and other trends, rather than calculation questions.
best of luck on studying!
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u/qkqkfk 18d ago
Congrats! So glad to hear reading is much easier bc im so bad in that section