is it more difficult on the REAL exam?

do the graphics on the computers at the test center just suck?

or is it something else...?

i personally felt it was the graphics more than anything...

cuz... overall, the exam was "ok", but what i was expecting to do good/bad in was TOTALLY reversed. i thought math/verbal was gonna be low, and pat to be high.

i thought certain lines/vertices weren't clear and it threw me off. especially with the angles.

hey bro,
its like this; practice dat tests are like driving on a flat road and the actual test like a rollercoaster. you don't know what to expect, plus you have lots of anxiety which makes 2+2 really hard sometimes.

I think the graphics suck! The lines in most of the diagrams were thick and fussy; could not tell if the line was doted or solid. Most of the diagrams seemed to slanted as well. I do not think it was the monitor; it was most likely the makers of the test.

Originally posted by toothache
hey bro,
its like this; practice dat tests are like driving on a flat road and the actual test like a rollercoaster. you don't know what to expect, plus you have lots of anxiety which makes 2+2 really hard sometimes.

That was a good analogy!! You are exactly right.

The key to doing well on the REAL DAT is controlling your anxiety and not panicing when you see something unfamilliar or challenging. Just take a deep breath and do the best you can, and be confident that you prepared adequately.

Originally posted by Thaxil
I think the graphics suck! The lines in most of the diagrams were thick and fussy; could not tell if the line was doted or solid. Most of the diagrams seemed to slanted as well. I do not think it was the monitor; it was most likely the makers of the test.

yeah... i forgot ALL about the slanted lines. and the dotted/solid ones, too.

i think the line slanting was a huge set back for the keyholes, and fuzzinezz (heck even jaggedness) was the kiss of death for angles. i was about to throw serious hissy fit during the pat, really.

I think it's cuz the PAT test on the DAT is harder!

Also, yes..the graphics is difficult. The test taking situation is an anxious one. It can be very stressful and can cause mental errors. Just know that ifyou prepare and do fairly well on the practice versions, you'll do just fine on the real deal.

i think everyone is right about their posts, but everyone's test and experience were diff.

in my case, i totally remember the real thing. i consistantly scored 21-23 on Kaplan and 21 on topscore.
i got 18 on the real one. the angles were unreal. your couldn't tell the dots from the solid ones. god, i was even stuck on two cube counting problems(i told myself i'd kill myself if i ever miss one of those). the keyholes were just like topscore and the top front view stuff were fair.

my overall view, i think that anxiety plays the biggest role. on the practice you know nothing will happen if you screw up. on the real one, you know deep inside that this is it. you don't get another chance. well, not at least for another three months.

so again, knowing how to manage your nerves and anxiety is the key along with lots and lots of practice.

I don't mean to discourage anyone but the real PAT just felt like train wreck to me. I had time left over from the Science section so I went to the restroom, and I came back with a minute or so to spare. So I started very calm because I felt I did well on the science part and I thought it was a lot easier than the practice tests I used.

Then the PAT started. I just felt like I didn't know what the heck was going on for a while. The questions are a lot harder and there was always this pressure to keep the pace up. You have 90 questions to answer in 60 minutes so you have to be fast, and you have to know when to give up and just mark something. I was very relaxed for the entire test except the PAT. I went in knowing that I underprepared to the PAT so that may have also been a factor.


The one piece of advice I can give is that you cannot trust Kaplan, Barrons, Top Score or anything to give the real difficulty of the test.

The only one that I know of that accurately gives you the difficulty of the PAT is the official DAT registration booklet. Just go to a dental school's admissions office or to your school's placement office to get one. The test in the DAT registration isn't even full length so you don't get much to practice with so I would save it for last.

one other thin is that the PAT on every test is not as hard. some people get hard PAT section and easy BIO. others get harderBIO and easier PAT.

so basically, it just depends on your luck. you hae to be preparedfor everythin. i made the meistake and underestimated the RC and ended p with a 15.

be ready for everything because you never know what you are gona get.

perfect, u have pretty solid scores. why havent u been accepted anywhere yet?

i really don't hink my scores are good let aloe solid. the standards hae gone waaaaaaay up and i really think that my GPA and RC score of 15 has been killing me.

Originally posted by PERFECT3435
i really don't hink my scores are good let aloe solid. the standards hae gone waaaaaaay up and i really think that my GPA and RC score of 15 has been killing me.

Sure sometimes sections are harder during one test administration than another test administration, but the scoring takes this into account. This why the DAT is considered a standardized test. They come up with a statistical difficulty for each and every question on the test. If your test has a larger number of hard questions, then you can miss more questions to get the same score as someone who missed less on an easier test.

Another common misconception is that the test is curved - it is not curved. The test scores are standardized and can be reliably compared to scores received from upto 3 or more years ago. When the applicant pool gets stronger the average scores simply become larger, but it doesn't become harder to get a certain number score.

For example 16 on all sections was the intended average for all sections, but on recent administrations 17 is becoming the average for all sections. One day when the average gets significantly higher such as 18 or 19 they will go through a recentering process where they will make the test harder (or score harder - same thing) so that the average returns to 16. You will not be able to directly compare score prior to recentering to scores after recentering. You will need to either add a certain amount to the newer scores or subtract a certain amount from the older scores. After 3 years passes and those scores are no longer valid you don't need any correction at all.

the best practice that i have seen and discovered myself is to create your own test problems and answer choices. i know this is a long tedious procress but let me tell you, perfection is definitely possible. people say graphics sucks etc... just excuses, yeah the graphics could suck and hurt your score but if you really think about it you can work around the problem. example have you ever zoomed in a pic, the more you zoom the crappier the picture looks, well solution for the people who complain about crappy graphics is just kick back, distance yourself and the picture will look better. it's all about fine tuning... peace

Yeah, kick back and relax. Whatever.

Here is something nobody has mentioned....

On some of the questions, like cube counting, the darn thing was a hologram. When you stare at it, the picture changed. It was very wierd. I am sure other who took the test know what I am talking about!


No practice test did that!

Shawone,

How late did you stay up studying for the DAT the night before? I do not recall any holograms.

lol, not late at all. Other have told me they saw it too.

justs joking with you. My joke are pretty lame.

Originally posted by ShawnOne
lol, not late at all. Other have told me they saw it too.


i had one like it shawn and i know i missed at 2 question on that one.

I can just see it; I'll get to the DAT place and they'll hand out those funky red/blue 3-D glasses to use during the PAT. :laugh:

Just a new take on the matter...

It may be possible that the PAT is scored harder by the actual DAT than by TopScore or Kaplan. Meaning that even if you get the same number of problems right, the actual DAT gives you a lower score. At least I think this may be true to some degree.

But I also agree that the PAT is generally a little bit harder than TopScore and Kaplan. The graphics are poor on the computer screen making angle ranking more difficult than it appears in test prep material. Plus, I think we get upwardly biased prep results because TopScore and Kaplan occasionally reuse their images by rotating them into different variations, and we get used to them.