Today, I will continue on where I left off from last post.

Geometry - Unfortunately, I don’t remember any geometry problems from the test I took. But I am pretty sure there were some.  Know stuff like circumference/area of a circle.  Don’t think you have to worry about proofs, I highly doubt it will be on it. Just know the basic, commonly used formulas.  If you did well in geometry in high school, I wouldn’t worry about a bit.

Trigonometry – Know sine, cosine, and tangent. And their identities.  I mean the most you can expect is like finding a unknown side/angle of a common(i.e. 30-60-90) right triangles. Memorizing those common trig values (i.e. sin 60, cos 30, tan 45, etc) may be useful and save you some time if you see them on the test. Other than that, I don’t really have much to say.

Word problems – Yes there are lots of these. It uses combination of every topic listed above. My suggestion is to skim the problem really quick once and have some kind of idea what kind of problem it is. Then read it once more carefully this time and work out the problem.

Overall, this section is not hard in terms of difficulty but may be hard because of the time issue.  If you get stuck on a problem, SKIP it and come back later. For me, time was not an issue maybe because I was already pretty fast. Anyway, if you think your major problem is time, just practice and practice. That’s all you can do. Also, don’t make foolish calculation error, because that’s like losing points for something you know. I hate it, you hate it.

Before I end this post, I want to recommend some of the materials you should use to practice.

1. Kaplan Online QR practice problems. I think they are harder than the real ones but still a good practice.

2.  TopScore. Very good questions. Most reliable predictor of how well you will do on the real test.

                                              
3. Kaplan DAT 2008-2009 Edition (with CD-ROM) (Kaplan Dat (Dental Admission Test)). Decent questions, good for practicing.
                                                                         
4. Free Practice GMAT Math Test by ETS. Go to their website and find it. I am too lazy to look for it myself now, heh. A bit harder than DAT QR if I remember correctly.

5. Math Workbook for the New SAT (Barron’s Math Workbook for the Sat I)3rd Edition. Man, if you are running out of problems to do and want to do more, try this one. Lots of problems.
                                                                          

6. DAT achiever. I almost forgot. The QR questions from this software is more representative of the real thing.  You can get it here. http://3tquest.com/index.html

7. Crack DAT PAT & Crack DAT MATH “Bundle Package” for the Dental Admission Test. Extra problems. Get all the problems you can.

That’s all for the QR section. If I remember anything relevant, I will definately add them.

Here, I am sitting down on my computer unable to watch the Lakers game since I don’t have damn cable.  (Yes, I started yesterday). So I am going to write my first real post regarding how to do well on DAT. This post will go over how I studied for the QR section of the DAT. I am going over this section first because I got the best score out of all the sections. I believe I only got one question wrong since I got a 29. But before I go into any detail, I would like to talk about one important tip on studying for the DAT. Some of you may know but I am sure there are people who do not know it but should know it. If you go to the DAT website, there’s a study guide made by the DAT people. If you are lazy to find it on your own, here is the link, http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_examinee_guide_2008.pdf. Most of the stuff in the pdf file are pretty much useless in preparing for the DAT except the test specification section (page 18-19).  This is what I used to figure out what to study for each section. If you conquer all the topics listed in that section, I guarantee you will do well on your test.

So going back to quantitative reasoning, the guide lists the topics that must be studied. 

Algebra – equations and expressions, inequalities, exponential notation, absolute
value, ratios and proportions, and graphical analysis;

Numerical calculations – fractions and decimals,
percentages, approximations and scientific notation;

Conversions – temperature, time, weight, and distance;

Probability and Statistics;

Geometry;

Trigonometry;

Applied Mathematics (word) Problems.

 Those are the topics that you must be familiar with before going into the testing center. Do not overestimate any of the topics. For example, you must know the conversion for time, distance, temperature, and weight. I know one of my friends had a question on temperature conversion and I had a question that required a distance conversion.

Honestly, I have to say that if you know your high school math, you should do well. However, I do believe the difficulty of QR section lies in the limited amount of time rather than the difficulty of each problem. My best advice for you is to brush up on all the topics and PRACTICE. But before you do mass practice, let’s go over each topic.

Algebra – really basic. If you don’t know basic algebra, there are tons of resources on the internet that you can probably use. On my test, I saw quite a few basic algebra equation problems, but I don’t remember seeing any graphical analysis or inequalities. Still, I recommend you should still know them.

Numerical calculation – Don’t really have much to say about this section although I saw a few of these. Just practice if you are slow.

Conversions – Yes, these are on the test. If you want to get a 20+, you better know your conversions. I don’t think it’s necessary to know every single conversion in the world, but if you know the major ones you should be fine. For example, celsius to farenheit, miles to km, inches to cm, lbs to kg, and so on. Don’t worry about all the obscure ones, just know the ones you have seen in your life many times.

Probability and Statistics – Probably the hardest section for most people and for me. I had about four of these problems and I did not know how to do two of them. Fortunately, I had some extra time to do one of them manually without using any formula. Anyway, learn to do these types of problems. Know permutations and combinations for sure.

Ok, I am tired of writing, I will continue next time.

 

 

Hi, I am making this blog to help out people who are struggling but want to ace the DAT. To briefly introduce myself, I am a predental student who will be going to a dental school in east coast this coming August. I took my DAT in 2006 and did pretty well on it (24 AA).  I know studying for DAT was not an easy task; I spent my entire 2006 summer to prepare for the test. In this blog, I am going to go over various relevant topics. It won’t be, however, be so constructive and organized; I am just going to write whatever that comes into my mind on any day. So stay tuned.