Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the Dental Admissions Test (Barron's DAT: Dental Admissions Test)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

First of all, this book is not as bad as others make it out to be. But I think people should realize that this book is NOT a complete guide for the DAT. The science review sections were condensed...very much like preliminary lecture notes. However, the PAT section was very helpful. I found the level of hardness on the real test very similar to the book's. What I suggest is you use Kaplan or TopScore (some very heavy duty review books) along with this book for the PAT section. Then, a few days before the test, flip this book open to go through the materials quickly to keep your brain in science mode. And, of course, constantly practice the PAT section. My prelimary PAT score was 13 when I signed up for Kaplan (which was useless btw), and with this book I got an 18 on the real PAT.

I must concur with the other reviewers. This book is loaded with mistakes, particularly in the science and math sections of their two practice exams. It was extremely frustrating to doubt whether YOU were wrong or whether the BOOK was wrong when reviewing your answers to the exams.

Furthermore, their science and math review sections were extremely paltry. Buy an MCAT test prep book for the sciences and a GRE book for the math review.

The only saving quality of the book is that it is one of the few sources that provide a practice PAT section. For me, that made this book worth the purchase.

-david

I reviewed for the Natural Sciences and PAT with this text. The survey of natural sciences sections are decent but the PAT section I thought was helpful. I also used Dr. Kanani's book at dentalschooladmission.com and TopScore Pro for the DAT to get me better prepared. I recommend them both. Actual DAT is similar to TopScore Pro and Dr. Kanani's book explains everything possible in between.

If you feel that your future is worth 10 bucks than this is the book for you. This book is an example of everything that is wrong when studying for the DAT. I cannot tell you how many errors I found while flipping through the pages...the errors not only included a multitude of typo's, but more importantly conceptual errors. This book contradicts Kaplan and my organic chem book in explaining substitution reactions, their explanation of rate laws is inaccurate, and the practice exams have many errors that will make you believe you are an idiot...an idiot in the sense that you know you are right without a doubt, but Barrons answers the question differently. I did not buy this book, but i received it from a friend and we both agreed that it was subpar. If zero stars were an option I would have selected that.

I used this along with Kaplan and TopScore to prepare for the DAT. This book was helpful for the PAT section only. The PAT section offers several tips on how to finish the questions quickly and accurately. The perceptual section on the actual DAT was more difficult than in this book however, so I still didn't score as well as I would have liked, but I think this book helped some. For the price, it's worth buying for the PAT section, but look to Kaplan for better science review, and topscore for better practice tests. The practice tests in Barrons are worth doing to get a feel for the types of questions, but they are all on paper, which is much different than a computer, and also cross-check every question you are unsure of with a textbook; there are numerous errors! The last comment I have is that the reading sections in the book are not very representative of the types of passages on the real DAT. Nearly every Barrons passage focused on some study or detail within the field of dentistry with which I was unfamiliar making them difficult to follow. On the DAT I had questions about broader topics in science that were much more familiar from my college science classes and thus easier to follow.

This book has faults (sample exam errors, etc.) that have been abundantly pointed out by other reviewers, but the hints for the PAT are worth the money alone. I found the PAT on the DAT to be more difficult than some other prep products's sample tests would have you believe (Although, I did score well on the PAT). This book alone takes a methodical approach to finding the right answer, but also getting it fast, which was my problem. The science review sections were not as complete as some other books, but I found many of the explanations helpful in clarifying things that I had never learned well in my prereq classes, especially in the O Chem section, where the idea of using acid and base chemistry to solve problems was emphasized in a very helpful way. I would not recommend using this as your only review material, but in conjunction with TopScore Pro and my textbooks, etc., it helped me get very good scores on all sections of the DAT.

I just took the DAT and used this book in conjunction with others. It is ok for the Science sections, however the reading comp section is not representative of what is on the actual test. The passages on the real test are not all about Dentistry. There are also plenty of errors in the PAT section. I would recommend the coursework from Kaplan. I would also recommend the KSF review since their questions are somewhat representative of what the actual exam covers. Also they have modified the 2007 exam questions a bit so do be shocked when you see them.

All reviews are right.
This book is filled with mistakes. Like.. zillion of them.
I got so frustrated after I finished practice test but it turned out, so many answers were wrong.
Question itself is ok but answer is all messed up.. It can lead u wrong direction. Do not buy this book.

I dont know who Barrons got to edit the information and practice test answers in this book, but I could have done a better job!! The answers to many of the practice test questions were completely wrong and some review sections could be misleading. Save your time and money and dont buy this book

...This book gave me some excellent pointers for the PAT. For the PAT review, I give it 4 1/2 stars (minus 1/2 a point for a few obvious errors of course.)

If you're looking for a good science review, this book will not help AT ALL. Not only were a few things it said totally opposite of what my o-chem book said (eg Sn2 and Sn1 reactions), but the review itself is so short and vague that it doesn't help with the numerous details you have to know for the DAT. I strongly recommend an MCAT book - such as the Betz Guide ("Complete Preparation") - for science review. These books not only provide detailed review but also many, many practice questions as well as explanations for each one.

This book does not solely focus on the DAT though, and I enjoyed it for the extra material it included such as sample essays and interviews with dentists.