How I Self-Studied for the DAT and got an Academic Average of 25

Two summers ago, I was a “pre-dental” student who had just started preparing (albeit not wholeheartedly) for the Canadian Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) to be held in November.

While MCAT-takers and American pre-dents have the luxury of taking their respective standardized tests during the summer, some cruel person responsible for organizing the Dental Aptitude Test decided that Canadian dental school hopefuls must write theirs in either November or February. As if the questions themselves weren’t challenging enough, we also had to balance our test prep with midterms, assignments, essays, labs… Talk about an exercise in time management.

Why Self-Study?

Although there are several test prep courses available, I chose to forego them because:

• They are expensive. Costs range from hundreds to thousands of dollars! Even with a discount, buying my own DAT prep materials would be much cheaper.
• They weren’t convenient for me with regards to both time & location. That summer, I was volunteering 9-to-5 in a research lab and the last thing I wanted to do after work was sit in a 3-hour lesson.
• I wanted to learn on my own schedule. I’d rather spread out my studying and continually review until November so the material would still be fresh in my mind come Test Day. A summer prep course wouldn’t have been enough.
• I wanted to focus on my weaknesses. I had already taken introductory biology, chemistry and many other science courses in university. I didn’t need a course to teach me what I could re-learn from my notes. However, my PAT and carving skills were weaker and I wanted to focus on improving them.
• Friends/peers who had taken the courses did not find them super helpful.

Please keep in mind that I am simply recounting what worked for me two years ago. I don’t claim that it is the best way to study or a guaranteed way to get a 25 AA.

Keep reading for a list of Eventual DDS-approved prep materials & a timeline of how I studied!!

The Materials

I started studying in July and buried my innate procrastinatory habits under a huge stack of DAT prep materials:

• Canadian Dental Association’s Dental Aptitude Test Preparation Manual: $20; available here (or $65 for the whole prep kit)
• Kaplan Dental Admissions Test guide aka Kaplan Blue Book (KBB): $50.76; available here
• CliffsAP Biology (3rd edition): $14.59; available here
• The Princeton Review MCAT General Chemistry Review: $33.86; available here
• Orgoman DAT Destroyer: $149.95; available here
• IQ Publications Perceptual Ability Test books A, B & C: $24.95 each; available here
• IQ Publications Soap Carving: $39.95; available here
• Crack the DAT PAT: starting from $99 for 5 tests; available here

*Prices listed do not include applicable taxes or shipping.

Money-saving Tip!: Check your local Craigslist, Kijiji, University classifieds or premed101 forum for discounted, second-hand items! Don’t forget to take advantage of Ebates.ca and receive cash-back for online purchases from retailers such as Amazon or Indigo. If you’re hesitant to drop the money, scope out potential buys at your local library or University library or read reviews from other pre-dents at the StudentDoctor.net or premed101.com forums.

How I Studied for Each Section

The Canadian DAT is slightly different from the American version and a completely different beast from the MCAT. Per the Canadian Dental Association website, the DAT covers:

• “The Survey of the Natural Sciences consists of 40 Biology and 30 General Chemistry questions.
• The Perceptual Ability Test consists of 90 questions.
• The Reading Comprehension Test (English only) consists of 50 questions.
• Optional Manual Dexterity Test”

There are no organic chemistry or quantitative reasoning (math) sections on the Canadian DAT. A more detailed description of each section is available here. Each section is taken independently, which means you won’t be able to revise your answers for one section during the time allotted for another section.

Biology

My main reference was the CliffNotes AP book. I also used the KBB, but I think Cliffs is a more thorough and understandable resource. Cliffs also has several MCQs at the end of each section and two practice tests at the end of the book. All the questions have answers with explanations. The DAT is wide in breadth but not depth! Cliffs covered everything my DAT tested.

After learning the material with Cliffs and KBB, I powered through the DAT Destroyer’s 420 biology questions. This was such a great review material because: 1) it matched or exceeded the difficulty level of the official DAT questions 2) the questions had detailed explanations.

Chemistry

My main reference was a chemistry book from TPR’s MCAT course pack. It had a number of example problems. After going through it, I made my own formula “cheat sheet”.

Again, most of the review process was achieved by doing all 257 General Chemistry questions in the DAT Destroyer.

Reading Comprehension

I did well on the RC practice sections in the KBB. The RC section in the official CDA DAT prep book confirmed that the difficulty level was similar, so I actually did not practice any more for RC.

I used the “search and destroy” method. First, I would scan the questions (about 5 at a time) and note the keywords present in the questions and answers. Then, I’d scan the passage for the keywords or their synonyms until I found an appropriate answer. I never actually read the entire passage continuously from head to tail.

DAT passages are NOT complex or filled with advanced vocabulary or technical jargon. I would compare them to articles found in a respected newspaper or magazine. The passage topics are broad and unpredictable. For example, the November 2011 DAT featured passages about the language centres of the brain, and also about piano tuning.

The questions are really simple and generally ask for information that could be directly found in the passage. Unlike the Verbal Reasoning of the MCAT, you do not have to infer meaning or figure out the passage’s tone. Any difficulty from the DAT’s RC section derives from the sheer volume of questions. If you are having trouble with this section, I would suggest training yourself to speed read.

Perceptual Ability Test

Initially, I was doing well on the problems in the KBB and feeling pretty good. But I soon realized that the KBB PAT questions (especially the angle-ranking questions) are way too easy and only good for easing yourself into the PAT section.

The questions from IQ Publications were more challenging and has a difficulty on par with the actual exam. Each book (A, B, C) has 90 questions and an accompanying answer key. Unfortunately, the answer key does not offer explanations.

The Crack the DAT PAT program kicked my butt. The questions were a bit harder and more complex than the actual exam. Each question has an animation to visually explain the answer, so this may be helpful to those of you struggling with this section. But since it is a computer-based program and the Canadian DAT is paper-based, the test-taking strategies may differ.

I eventually devised PAT strategies derived from those outlined on PreDDS.net for all of the sections except angle-ranking.

Angle-ranking was challenging for me because all the so-called “strategies” simply boiled down to “use your judgement”. So, I sped through the angle-ranking questions first and try to spend as little time on each question as possible. I found that the longer I spent looking between the choices, the more I would doubt and confuse myself. It was better to go with my initial gut reaction and use the saved time on other PAT sections.

Manual Dexterity Test

I watched the free 15-part Soap Carving Demo on YouTube, which has a lot of great tips. First, I practised carving random patterns into the scrap soaps someone gave me. This gave me a feel for controlling the blade and the texture of the soap. Then, I practised measuring and carving the blueprints listed in IQ Publication’s Soap Carving book. I ended up only doing 6 full mock MDTs.

Timeline

The “Natural Sciences” section is generally covered by introductory biology and chemistry university courses. These courses are almost always required as pre-requisites to applying to dental school so it’s often advised to take the DAT after once you’ve completed these courses. Keep in mind that some schools will not consider DAT scores that are older than 2 years. All of the above considered, I started studying the summer after second year in preparation for the upcoming November 2011 DAT.

Over the summer, I read through the KBB, CliffsAP Biology and TPR MCAT General Chemistry book to refresh my memory of the courses I had taken in first-year. I made my own condensed notes and formula cheatsheets. After doing one mock DAT exam, I identified that PAT was my weakest section, studied the strategies to use and tackled as many problems as I could. At the end of the summer, I started meeting up with other pre-dents to practice for the Manual Dexterity Test.

By the time school started, I had finished learning the material and was just reviewing and testing myself. I tackled the questions in the DAT Destroyer, doing a few pages a night. I bought the CrackPAT software at the end of October because I ran out of PAT problems.

The Outcome

Each section is scored out of 30. A score of 20 is considered good. 21+ is considered competitive.

• Biology: 24
• Chemistry: 26
• Reading Comprehension: 25
• Perceptual Ability: 20
• Manual Dexterity: 11
• Total Science: 25
• Academic Average: 25

With the exception of my MDT score, I was pretty happy with my DAT results.

I hope my DAT breakdown is helpful to you! Don’t forget to check out my comparison chart of minimum and competitive DAT scores for each dental school!

Disclaimer: This post was inspired by medaholic’s Guide to Studying for the MCAT – great blog for anyone interested in medical school.