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Rating: 
Summary: Weak Biology Section!
Review: According to the guide at dentalschooladmission.com the biology section is weak and I agree since I have the Kaplan book! You need another guide for biology. Also, the CD test is not too representive of the DAT format but our choices are limited in software products.Michael
Rating: 
Summary: The Bible for DAT study, but beware
Review: All I used to study for the DAT was the Kaplan book and the Top Score Pro software by ScholarWare. I'm an excellent case study as to the effectiveness of this study material because I've recently taken the DAT and I haven't taken a science class in more than 5 years. Needless to say, I had pretty much forgotten everything that I'd ever learned about the natural sciences, and I relied almost exclusively on this book to prepare me for the test. ... For the most part, the tests that are provided with this book have outstanding validity. After taking the DAT, I was especially impressed with the Organic and Inorganic sections of the written exam in the back of the book. The questions provided with the book are very good examples of the type of questions that you're likely to see on the test. Unlike some of the people who are critiquing the sample tests in this book, I care much less about presentation and far more about content. Currently, I am a computer programmer by trade and I can make a test look like the DAT fairly easily, but the trick is in the questions. I knock this book down a star because I believe that they need to update the biology portion of the text. The sample tests provided with this book, as well as with the Top Score Pro software, indicated that biology was an obvious area of strength for me, but that turned out not to be the case at all. The real DAT biology section is very heavy in asking questions about evolution, ecology, and topics in genetics that aren't addressed in this book. Of the 40 questions I received, I'd say that more than 25 of the questions were over these topics. I didn't receive any questions over the topics that I studied very heavily, which included the Kreb's Cycle, the Calvin Cycle, Mitosis and Meiosis and I received only a small handful of questions about the Nervous System, the Digestive System, the Musculoskeletal System...etc. etc. These general topics were simply not addressed very heavily in my DAT, and if my DAT was typical of the sort of thing that you can expect from your DAT, then they should update their biology portion to reflect the changing times. Based on my results to this point, I'd have to say that this book is a very good study tool and that I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: I bought this book along with TopScore CD. I looked at the reviews and thought this is a wonderful book for preparation for DAT. Well, it is not even close. The content in this book is not enough for the real DAT, especially the biology part. Fortunately I found this out before the test and I had to postpone the test one week later than I scheduled. I bought the Schaum's Outline for Biology and Chemsitry (two review books) and studied those two books intensively in the last week before DAT. Here is my scores: Bio 22, Gen 28, Org 25. I do think the Schaum's Outlines saved me from a big failure. I am glad that I didn't trust this book. And Schaum's books are amazingly inexpensive. That can save you about 20 bucks. And I am not selling my used Kaplan book here because I don't think it's that useful. Good luck with your test!
Rating:
Summary: Very Satisfied from Good Study Guide
Review: The Kaplan DAT book was a good study guide to use to prepare for the DAT - especially when compared to other brands. By studying mainly the review book, a few textbooks for reference, and the TopScore CD, I was able to perform very well on the exam. The Science section was very thorough and helped prepare me for what showed up on the exam. The Biology was heavy in detail which actually posed to be a problem - many of the areas which I spent time studying did not show up in great detail on the exam. But hey, better safe than sorry.
The reading section was very accurate in mimicing the reading section on the exam. The math was close as well - TopScore did a better job with math questions however. The Kaplan book did cover some great math skills. The PAT is the only area where I wish the book worked more with. The DAT was much more difficult than I had expected - especially for angle ranking. I would suggest the more practice the better. Aside from the PAT (which still helped greatly), the book is a great buy. I recommend it for anyone willing to work hard for this exam. An added note, I performed much better on the DAT than the Kaplan exams. The book helps with keeping motivation high.
Rating:
Summary: A little disappointed
Review: The software seemed to crash a lot and I didn't get much help from the company. Once I got it to work (a few times) I could not practice any section I wanted from the one computer test they give. Also, when I took the real DAT yesterday, the real DAT computer format was much different than Kaplans. The screens, reading comprehension, and the important question review screen, etc. were not the same. Kaplan only gave me one computer test too. Their book cover seemed to imply 2 full tests! (I guess they are counting the paper one in the book (a little deceiving...so BEWARE of that). I could not print out questions from the computer and it was difficult to go through their review screens to get to the questions I missed. There are NO TOPICS for the qestions so it was hard reviewing a little bit more about the questions I missed in my college text books. One important thing was my scores on the real DAT were lower than my Kaplan scores. My overall was 18/19 PAT and my Kaplan was 21/22 PAT. If I were to do it again, I would depend more on my college text books. The text reviewed some sciences, and general math. Not bad, but not great. I found myself going to my college text books for more explainations. Overall, I don't think I can recommend it. Hope to see you in dental school in 2001 :)
Rating:
Summary: Canadian DAT read this review
Review: There are limited reference books for the Canadian DAT, which is quite different from the American DAT (the Cdn DAT has soap carving for manual dexterity testing and does not have organic chem and math on the exam).
Primarily, I used the biological science, chem, reading comprehension and PAT sections for review and practice. The last time I learned the content in university was about 8 years ago, but I found that the biology and chem reviews were comprehensive enough and prepared me enough. However, I need to point out that this is a thinking test and questions on the exam are tricky and does not necessarily ask for straight memory work and when it is recall type questions, it tends to be obscure detail you wouldn't think you'd need to remember in such detail. The reading comprehension and PAT were helpful, but again, it doesn't give enough practice. I found the suggested approach to doing the PAT in this book was useful.
I did not like the CD. Reading comprehension on the CD didn't do anything for me because it wasn't representative of the format (the reading selections were unusually short) and the rotating objects in the PAT section were not helpful to me, at least)
My advice is to do more timed practice exams. Do as many as you can.
As for the Canadian DAT, I also used practice exams from IQ Publications (not the greatest because there isn't much out there for the Canadian DAT market, but has decent practice exams). Their book on soap carving you should definitely get, but don't get their soap carving kit (the exacto knife is different than the one used in the actual exam), get the one from the Canadian Dental Association plus extra soap pieces.
The Canadian DAT was a relatively difficult exam, but I did relatively well (I am competitive with same scores as the applicants who got into dental schools in Canada--the ones that gave entrance statistics anyways). My review came from this Kaplan book and intensive practice before the exam. Of course, don't forget practice, hard work, and discipline! I studied 3 - 4 months in advance, but I was busy with my daytime job. Probably studied only 1/2 to 1 hour weekdays, a little longer on weekends. Closer to the week before the exam, I studied the entire evening. Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: A must for DAT review
Review: This book is a good solid core reference for study. The practice tests on the CD are good, as well as the TopScore CD. I was frustrated to see that most of what I studied hard for on the biology portion, was not on the test. I guess that is just the luck of the draw in the world of testing. The keyhole problems were harder on the actual DAT, and the angles were very close and hard to discern. Fortunately, I did well despite the challenges. Really utilize the practice tests to get used to working fast. I am an older returning student - 11 years since graduating from Dental Hygiene school - and really needed a good reference book, since I had no texts from which to study. This was it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Guide
Review: This book is plain genius. i just took the DAT and got very good scores thanks to this book. The CD was helpful, although the PAT is harder on the exam. You guys will not regret paying 50 buckaroos for this one.
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