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Hey,

 

I wouldn't write off Rock the DAT just because a couple people didn't like it. Generally, people have given us positive feedback, and the people in my dental class who have taken it found that it helped them a lot to do well on the DAT and get in. So, definitely consider it as a (much cheaper) alternative to Kaplan. :-)

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Other than for the carving section, you can get a lot out of the Kaplan book alone. Generally, people use Kaplan because they have trouble pacing their studying and want a schedule to follow. Most of my dental colleagues (among various schools) never took Kaplan, Rock the DAT, DAT tutor, nor the UT course (which I think is new - please correct me if I am wrong).

 

If cost is not a factor, then go ahead and try one of those businesses. It would only help you (however small or large). However, if it is, then I would suggest looking at the KAPLAN book to see if you are comfortable with the expected knowledge.

 

As for carving, some areas have local tutor groups/businesses that can offer help and guidance. Some people do ok on their own, but others really need help to get started. It's up to you how you want to tackle this section. Also, as many people have pointed out on this forum, some schools do not care about the carving score.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I, for one, never took the DAT course. Although I did decent on the exam, my friends did even better, especially on perception, carving, and reading comp because they took rock the dat. There are tricks that they told me afterward that i wish i knew before the test. they would've made my life so much easier. i am now in dentistry, and a lot of my classmates took the course and found it helpful. it's way cheaper than Kaplan and Kaplan doesn't even focus that much on carving because it's american!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought that rock the dat had a way better "bang for your buck". They were able to help w/ the carving with TONS of 1 on 1 help, as opposed to Kaplan... i wish i had taken rock the dat first, i could have saved a lot of money by avoiding kaplan... oh well, live and learn...

 

but like shepherdjones up there said, i think that they were helpful w/ tricks for the perceptual, things that i wouldn't have figured out on my own... good well rounded course IMHO...

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There was a complain thread on the forum about the rock the dat course you may wanna read it before signing up.

 

I took kaplans and i found it very well organized and it covered all sections of the dat equally. However, because there was like 20 people in the class, the carving section was not very well managed by the instructor (there is one instructor) so i did learn alot for carving but i wasnt reallly comfortable with carving by the end of the course. Keep in mind that studing the kaplan stuff cover to cover does not mean that you gonna do well on the sciences for exampl. The november dat had lots of stuff that was not covered by kaplan texts/ course especially for the Biology section. also the PAT was lots harder than kaplans. but as long as u practice the PAT you should be fine

 

Because i live in city near toronto i decided to take the U of T Student DAT prep course. I found it really good for carving i learned lots of tricks and tips, it was on the weekend and there werent many people in class there was like 8people and like 10 instructor ( very well prepared and very nice bunch of people) plus its was less expensive than rock the dat (only $150).

 

Also i found that there are booklets that suppose to be a good representation of the canadian dat (kaplan represent the american dat). Its called the IQ publications, i found that the PAT books are really good and the questions are harder than kaplans. Also IQ pub carving booklet was amazing it had good stuff in it. There was about 10 practice pictures in the booklet and about 5 of them were used by kaplan for practice.

 

Finally if you feel you are comfortable with sciences they you can buy kaplan book (for sciences and reading comp) and take either rock the dat or the u of t prep course (for carving) and the IQ publication for PAT.

Hope this helps

 

Good luck with everything:)

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  • 4 weeks later...

I personally took Rock the DAT as a predent student, and I have a 29 in reading comp, 28 in carving, and above 20 in everything else. I think that speaks for itself, and it was my biggest motivator to become involved with Rock the DAT after I entered dental school.

 

I think it was more you than the course :o but congrats all the same!! I'm not for or against the RTD course. Whatever helps you get the best score is what should be done.

 

If you had crap scores on a 1st take and amazing ones on a retake, that might be more meaningful and persuasive. ;)

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I wouldn't say it was all me, as I'm not really a smart guy (just ask my classmates!) it was taking the course to learn effective ways to attack problems, then practicing those techniques over and over again.

 

But yeah, as you said, whatever it takes is the bottom line. In my case, I wanted to do anything and everything to improve my application.

 

You IS the man. ;)

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  • 2 years later...

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