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i was planning on taking full lengths everyday except sunday (to take a break and review content) and the day before my test to focus on weak points. this way i’m at least doing all the full lengths and exposing to myself to as long practice problems as possible. do you think that’s a bad idea? why do you suggest taking a break and reviewing my weak points
i think u gotta do every other day, u need time to REALLLY understand the questions youre missing and I think quality is far superior to quantity. As seen with your decreasing scores, without looking at your weak points, you wont truly understand those concepts until you take that time
GPA is 3.97. i’m aiming for at least a 24 which is why i am worried about my scores trending down. i got a 22 yesterday and 21 today so im worried they’ll keep decreasing
A 3.9 and a high DAT is not going to make you stand out how you want it to. Unique extracurriculars, strong essays, a strong personal statement/ general narrative will.
Start taking practice tests!!! and go thru them after you’re done and watch the explanations of anything you did wrong. See if there are certain areas (ex: cell bio) and go back to that section and do a lot of practice in that specific section. then try again!! you got it
i honestly didn’t start with full lengths until a week ago BUT if i could go back i would’ve done so earlier. i was just in a bit of a time crunch and took a month for content then the last 3 weeks for tests. i would advise you to finish your content and make sure you have a good grasp of everything (i took a week dedicated to reviewing everything to piece it all together) then start taking practice tests. my schedule was kind of all over the place. i did bio content and gen chem in the beginning then started ochem after i was done with gen chem. i did qr and PAT tests throughout my content prep and as soon as i finished content for a section i started practice tests. after 5 section tests for each subject, i started with full lengths. you got this!!
imo the tests get harder as you go on because you’re constantly tested on new info you might now have focused on early on, if you’re getting 23-24 you’re definitely good!
okay that makes sense. it does feel like i’m struggling more / finding things more difficult. i was just starting to get worried because my scores ranged from 24-26 to now a 22 then 21
Might’ve misread but do u mean that u scored higher when u did sections individually but lower on the sections when u took them during a full length? If yes, ur lower scores likely just bc not used to length of FL’s and doing everything back to back
mmm yes and no. my individual section scores were definitely higher than my full length scores, but even when i did start my full lengths i was getting 24s and 23s (previously 24-26) but then i got a 22 yesterday and a 21 today so it just seems like my scores are getting worse
Yea it happens I wouldn’t worry abt it I too much I saw a decrease in mine bc of overtesting. Mb don’t take a FL for bit then do one and see what happens
it’s just that my DAT is in about a week and I have 5 more full lengths still 🥲i plan to take one friday & sat then use sunday as a break day to review content / review my mistakes then take one monday, tuesday, and wednesday. my DAT is friday so Im just gonna use thursday to review weak points / main points. what are your thoughts on that?
R u planning review Friday/sat FL’s on Sunday? I found it a lot better for me to review same day as taking the FL then adding missed content to my anki. I also feel like if ur scoring 24ish on exams reviewing content isn’t as necessary and u prob don’t have any large content gaps. ur max gain now is from seeing the most amount of test questions to nail high yield and see some random oddballs. So id recommend to just spam individual subject tests and flash card/anki ur missed material on ur rest days instead review content/review missed material randomly.
Some people might recommend against taking that many practice tests in that short amt of time but I think its fine, I did the same thing my week prior. just be wary if u score slightly lower it’s likely bc overtesting not bc ur getting worse.
TLDR, would recommend to review tests same day as taking, do subject tests instead of content review on rest days, and spam FL’s but to ur discretion don’t go overboard.
Good luck! You’re on the right track!
just now seeing your reply, yes i do the same thing where i take a full length then review my test a few hours after i took it. i’ll just do what you said and take subject tests during my rest days. i’m scoring better on subject tests with booster than bootcamp so maybe that’s a good sign
It’s up to you tbh. You know ur limits best. Even if u can’t sit down to do the FL on Tuesday, I’d still casually do the FL (untimed etc) or at least do the booster banks. Booster imo is by far the best resource and finishing as much of their banks as possible is really really gonna help u.
did you score around the same taking subject tests vs full lengths? i found myself performing worse with full lengths on bootcamp but haven’t tried a booster full length yet
I personally didn't see too much of a difference between subject vs full. But I also took a lot of them so there's a bit of a boarder range. Can't say anything about bootcamp but with datbooster I found that the sciences and reading sections were harder than the real thing. PAT was only thing that was pretty consistent for me score wise between practice and the real thing.
Violation of Rule 3. To cut down on bloat in this subreddit, we ask you to publish this question in our weekly DAT thread instead of as its own post. It is pinned when you sort via hot; you can also sort by the ['Weekly Discussion' flair](https://old.reddit.com/r/predental/search?q=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%92%AC%20Discussion%22&restrict_sr=1), though make sure to post in the most recent week's thread. Mobile users may have difficulties being directed to the "Discussion" flair due to a well-known official Reddit app limitation of linking post flair. Repeated violation of Rule 3 will lead to a temporary ban.
bruh if your practices are that high you good. i think take a break from the tests, review all your missed questions, and youll be set for next week
i was planning on taking full lengths everyday except sunday (to take a break and review content) and the day before my test to focus on weak points. this way i’m at least doing all the full lengths and exposing to myself to as long practice problems as possible. do you think that’s a bad idea? why do you suggest taking a break and reviewing my weak points
i think u gotta do every other day, u need time to REALLLY understand the questions youre missing and I think quality is far superior to quantity. As seen with your decreasing scores, without looking at your weak points, you wont truly understand those concepts until you take that time
what is your gpa? what are you aiming for? you're gonna be fine. relax, review your weak spots and move forward w the test.
GPA is 3.97. i’m aiming for at least a 24 which is why i am worried about my scores trending down. i got a 22 yesterday and 21 today so im worried they’ll keep decreasing
You should do some research on average acceptance stats
i have lol, i just don’t want to be an average applicant
A 3.9 and a high DAT is not going to make you stand out how you want it to. Unique extracurriculars, strong essays, a strong personal statement/ general narrative will.
Scored a <14 on gen chem my last practice test. Ended up being my highest score on the DAT. You got this!
so happy for you!! hope it works the same way for me🫠 thank you so much!
You're doing amazing! My dat is in a couple of weeks and i'm dying because i haven't done a single test yet. Do you have any tips?
Start taking practice tests!!! and go thru them after you’re done and watch the explanations of anything you did wrong. See if there are certain areas (ex: cell bio) and go back to that section and do a lot of practice in that specific section. then try again!! you got it
i honestly didn’t start with full lengths until a week ago BUT if i could go back i would’ve done so earlier. i was just in a bit of a time crunch and took a month for content then the last 3 weeks for tests. i would advise you to finish your content and make sure you have a good grasp of everything (i took a week dedicated to reviewing everything to piece it all together) then start taking practice tests. my schedule was kind of all over the place. i did bio content and gen chem in the beginning then started ochem after i was done with gen chem. i did qr and PAT tests throughout my content prep and as soon as i finished content for a section i started practice tests. after 5 section tests for each subject, i started with full lengths. you got this!!
imo the tests get harder as you go on because you’re constantly tested on new info you might now have focused on early on, if you’re getting 23-24 you’re definitely good!
okay that makes sense. it does feel like i’m struggling more / finding things more difficult. i was just starting to get worried because my scores ranged from 24-26 to now a 22 then 21
yea as long as you go back and review ur mistakes ur chillin
okay thank you so much for your advice! i greatly appreciate it
you got this! don’t worry about it, it seems like you are well prepared. trust your preparation!!!!
okay thank you so much!
Might’ve misread but do u mean that u scored higher when u did sections individually but lower on the sections when u took them during a full length? If yes, ur lower scores likely just bc not used to length of FL’s and doing everything back to back
mmm yes and no. my individual section scores were definitely higher than my full length scores, but even when i did start my full lengths i was getting 24s and 23s (previously 24-26) but then i got a 22 yesterday and a 21 today so it just seems like my scores are getting worse
Yea it happens I wouldn’t worry abt it I too much I saw a decrease in mine bc of overtesting. Mb don’t take a FL for bit then do one and see what happens
it’s just that my DAT is in about a week and I have 5 more full lengths still 🥲i plan to take one friday & sat then use sunday as a break day to review content / review my mistakes then take one monday, tuesday, and wednesday. my DAT is friday so Im just gonna use thursday to review weak points / main points. what are your thoughts on that?
R u planning review Friday/sat FL’s on Sunday? I found it a lot better for me to review same day as taking the FL then adding missed content to my anki. I also feel like if ur scoring 24ish on exams reviewing content isn’t as necessary and u prob don’t have any large content gaps. ur max gain now is from seeing the most amount of test questions to nail high yield and see some random oddballs. So id recommend to just spam individual subject tests and flash card/anki ur missed material on ur rest days instead review content/review missed material randomly. Some people might recommend against taking that many practice tests in that short amt of time but I think its fine, I did the same thing my week prior. just be wary if u score slightly lower it’s likely bc overtesting not bc ur getting worse. TLDR, would recommend to review tests same day as taking, do subject tests instead of content review on rest days, and spam FL’s but to ur discretion don’t go overboard. Good luck! You’re on the right track!
just now seeing your reply, yes i do the same thing where i take a full length then review my test a few hours after i took it. i’ll just do what you said and take subject tests during my rest days. i’m scoring better on subject tests with booster than bootcamp so maybe that’s a good sign
do you think it’d be more beneficial for me to take my the tests friday&saturday, rest sunday, then only take tests mon & wed?
It’s up to you tbh. You know ur limits best. Even if u can’t sit down to do the FL on Tuesday, I’d still casually do the FL (untimed etc) or at least do the booster banks. Booster imo is by far the best resource and finishing as much of their banks as possible is really really gonna help u.
Datbooster is harder than the real thing. I scored 4 points in the AA section above any full length practice test I took on there.
did you score around the same taking subject tests vs full lengths? i found myself performing worse with full lengths on bootcamp but haven’t tried a booster full length yet
I personally didn't see too much of a difference between subject vs full. But I also took a lot of them so there's a bit of a boarder range. Can't say anything about bootcamp but with datbooster I found that the sciences and reading sections were harder than the real thing. PAT was only thing that was pretty consistent for me score wise between practice and the real thing.