For those of you who have taken the Canadian DAT test...

[c8chenya]

Hi everyone, I am really worried about the DAT, in particular the science section where Biology questions seem to be really really random O_O

 

I mean will I have to know small little details like the sizes of prokaryotic ribosomes 70s, 50s and 30s or will it suffice just to know that prokaryotic cells differ from eukaryotic cells but they both have ribosomes?

 

How was the difficulty of the science section compared to the sample test in the CDA manual, Kaplan blue book, Barron's, other resources?

 

How was the difficulty of the PAT compared to Barrons, Kaplan, Crack DAT?

[AlisonR]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but does anyone know the answer to this?

[Jbergs]

The biology section is a weird one. When I wrote it, I found that 30/40 questions were simple, foundational facts and concepts. The other 10 were extremely specific and depended on how well you memorized tiny details, though I doubt you'd have to know the sizes of ribosomes. I used the Blue Book and Barron's AP Biology, and I think there were only 1 or 2 questions that I didn't recall seeing in either book. That doesn't mean I knew I got 38 correct, just that I remembered them addressed at some point within the texts. Using these two resources, I scored a 24 on the biology section.

 

I only used the Blue Book for the PAT section, and I'd score in the mid-high 20s on the practice tests with 5-10 minutes to spare. The real thing was like one punch in the face after another. I had to completely guess on about 4 questions because I ran out of time, and there was a lot of going with my gut (especially with the angles). Not to scare you, but the real PAT made the Kaplan practice tests seem like some Fisher-Price preschool game. By some stroke of luck, I still pulled a 25. I've heard a lot of good things about Crack DAT PAT, so you might want to look into it, especially if you don't want to write the PAT section completely rattled like I was!

 

There's still plenty of time before the November writing, so keep doing your research and asking questions. Most important of all - approach the DAT like you only want to write it once!

[svetochka.ivanova]

The biology section is a weird one. When I wrote it, I found that 30/40 questions were simple, foundational facts and concepts. The other 10 were extremely specific and depended on how well you memorized tiny details, though I doubt you'd have to know the sizes of ribosomes. I used the Blue Book and Barron's AP Biology, and I think there were only 1 or 2 questions that I didn't recall seeing in either book. That doesn't mean I knew I got 38 correct, just that I remembered them addressed at some point within the texts. Using these two resources, I scored a 24 on the biology section.

 

I only used the Blue Book for the PAT section, and I'd score in the mid-high 20s on the practice tests with 5-10 minutes to spare. The real thing was like one punch in the face after another. I had to completely guess on about 4 questions because I ran out of time, and there was a lot of going with my gut (especially with the angles). Not to scare you, but the real PAT made the Kaplan practice tests seem like some Fisher-Price preschool game. By some stroke of luck, I still pulled a 25. I've heard a lot of good things about Crack DAT PAT, so you might want to look into it, especially if you don't want to write the PAT section completely rattled like I was!

 

There's still plenty of time before the November writing, so keep doing your research and asking questions. Most important of all - approach the DAT like you only want to write it once!

 

Hello If you don't mind me asking- what is the Blue Book that you are talking about?-Kaplan

[Jbergs]

Hello If you don't mind me asking- what is the Blue Book that you are talking about?-Kaplan

 

It's a huge book that covers much of the info you'll need to know for each of the sections of the American DAT, which means you can ignore the QR and organic chem sections for the Canadian DAT.

[happy_girl123]

Hey,

 

-for Biology:

 

Kaplan blue book is a good source, but there are so many topics that it doesnt include as detailed as required (especially for the physiology section). The best thing to do is to review your first year biologies. I also found AP biology helpful.

 

-For chemistry, Kaplan blue book is more than enough

 

-For PAT section : KAPLAN is useless, real DAT is way harder than kaplan and I honestly dont know any other good sources. I tried several other references but I don't think they were standard

[spektor]

Do you need to take biology, and general chemistry in undergrad, to do well on the DAT? I noticed that bio, and general chem aren't even prerequisites for some dental schools like U of T, and Western...

Is taking organic chemistry, and biochemistry enough to de well on the DAT?

[steez]

For the PAT, the IQ publication books are great. The only thing that was harder than those practice test on the DAT were the angles. I found the angle questions easy on all of my practice tests, but they were much harder on the actual exam because they used obtuse angles and flipped angles around etc

[123321]

Do you need to take biology, and general chemistry in undergrad, to do well on the DAT? I noticed that bio, and general chem aren't even prerequisites for some dental schools like U of T, and Western...

Is taking organic chemistry, and biochemistry enough to de well on the DAT?

 

Take general bio and chem - they'll only help you on the DAT. Pretty much all of the content taught in those classes will potentially show up on the test.

 

You'll probably need them as prereqs to be able to register in biochem and orgo.