DAT score is relative to others, correct?

[irishpint]

If I remember correctly, on my DAT score sheet it gave me my scores relative to other people who had taken it. My scores are on par or lower than a lot of people here yet my % were all in the top 30% of test takers. How does this make sense...are there actually people out there that get 14-17s??

Just curious....

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[tinman831]

If I remember correctly, on my DAT score sheet it gave me my scores relative to other people who had taken it. My scores are on par or lower than a lot of people here yet my % were all in the top 30% of test takers. How does this make sense...are there actually people out there that get 14-17s??

Just curious....

Those percentages are how you fit in to those people who took the test that same day. 18-19 is usually around average for the DAT. and yes... people do get 14-17's.

 

[zacharydent]

Those percentages are how you fit in to those people who took the test that same day. 18-19 is usually around average for the DAT. and yes... people do get 14-17's.

Thats funny, I just found out today that I got accepted. I got a 13 in the MATH section and I think I was in the 20th percentile.

You know, it was never mentioned in any of my interviews, course I did get B's in my math courses in college in the first year.

Its crazy how that just doesn't even matter now.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPIEEEEEEE BABY!

 

[philicity]

Those percentages are how you fit in to those people who took the test that same day. 18-19 is usually around average for the DAT. and yes... people do get 14-17's.

Really?!?! Relative to the people who took it THAT day? Can anyone second this or provide a source for the info?

 

[irishpint]

Really?!?! Relative to the people who took it THAT day? Can anyone second this or provide a source for the info?

i was told it was relative to those who had taken it within 2 weeks or something.
So it sounds like an 18 one week is different than an 18 another week?
Maybe if I find out when all the stupid kids take theirs....

 

[americanpierg]

Thats funny, I just found out today that I got accepted. I got a 13 in the MATH section and I think I was in the 20th percentile.

You know, it was never mentioned in any of my interviews, course I did get B's in my math courses in college in the first year.

Its crazy how that just doesn't even matter now.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPIEEEEEEE BABY!

NO way is 13 in the 20th percentile... stop lying geez

 

[BabberSher]

i was told it was relative to those who had taken it within 2 weeks or something.
So it sounds like an 18 one week is different than an 18 another week?
Maybe if I find out when all the stupid kids take theirs....

LOL

I would take it the day OF or AFTER St. Patricks Day!
Everyone will be drunk or have a major hang-over, so if ur sober, U'll definitly be in the 90%...

 

[zacharydent]

NO way is 13 in the 20th percentile... stop lying geez

I swear on my life man! I promise you.
did you think the percentile should be lower?

Think about it. I only missed around 5 questions less than someone with a 17.

I promise, thats no lie!!!!


It doesnt matter though. It was never brought up.

 

[americanpierg]

LOL

I would take it the day OF or AFTER St. Patricks Day!
Everyone will be drunk or have a major hang-over, so if ur sober, U'll definitly be in the 90%...

Thats not cool...it totally ruins the whole standardized part of the DAT being a standardized test... a 26 one month might only be a 22 the next month

 

[timthomascu05]

Thats not cool...it totally ruins the whole standardized part of the DAT being a standardized test... a 26 one month might only be a 22 the next month

All though the percentile may be realative the score is not, for example if you get 90 percent right in the bio section you will get a score of a twenty something....or if you got 50 percent right you will get a score of 16. The raw score(1-30) is directly related to your performance( percent correct) on the DAT not on where you stand on some bell curve.....

 

[DentalNerd]

Call the ADA. They will tell you. I called to ask this very same question. It was some time ago so I don't remember exactly what they told me. The percentiles are based on people taking the SAME version of the test. Remember, they have multiple versions of the DAT. The percentiles are also based on several years of test taking....not one day or one week.

For the 13 QR score, 20 percentile means that 80% of the test takers scored higher than you.

For example, my 20 in Bio was an 89.5 percentile while my Orgo 17 was 54.8. The higher the Standard Score, the higher the Percentile and vice versa.

Anyway, Congratulations on your acceptance! Now that you're accepted, it really doesn't matter.

 

[zacharydent]

Call the ADA. They will tell you. I called to ask this very same question. It was some time ago so I don't remember exactly what they told me. The percentiles are based on people taking the SAME version of the test. Remember, they have multiple versions of the DAT. The percentiles are also based on several years of test taking....not one day or one week.

For the 13 QR score, 20 percentile means that 80% of the test takers scored higher than you.

For example, my 20 in Bio was an 89.5 percentile while my Orgo 17 was 54.8. The higher the Standard Score, the higher the Percentile and vice versa.

Anyway, Congratulations on your acceptance! Now that you're accepted, it really doesn't matter.

You got that right. I was little suprised when I saw that low 13 pop up on the screen but it DOEST MATTER NOW!

 

[americanpierg]

Call the ADA. They will tell you. I called to ask this very same question. It was some time ago so I don't remember exactly what they told me. The percentiles are based on people taking the SAME version of the test. Remember, they have multiple versions of the DAT. The percentiles are also based on several years of test taking....not one day or one week.

For the 13 QR score, 20 percentile means that 80% of the test takers scored higher than you.

For example, my 20 in Bio was an 89.5 percentile while my Orgo 17 was 54.8. The higher the Standard Score, the higher the Percentile and vice versa.

Anyway, Congratulations on your acceptance! Now that you're accepted, it really doesn't matter.

ahh...thought he was saying top 20th percentile

 

[arash]

I am 100% sure that it has nothing to do with the test takers in a single day. I believe when you get your raw score, the raw score has been calculated very accurately based on the same question for each and every subject that other test takers had and what percentage of them missed that certain question; thus you can calculate the degree of difficulty of the question. So for example one test taker could miss 5 bio questions and get a 21, while another could miss the same number of questions and end up with 20 since his questionas were easier relatively. and based on your raw score you will be given a percentile of how many students have done the same or worse than you. I believe this is how their system works. Any more ideas? Just remember its all relative to other test takers.
americanpierg => 20% percentile means that 20% of test takers have done the same or worse than you in that subject not the opposite.

 

[americanpierg]

missing 5 questions gives you a 21???!?!?! WOw thats an insane percentage. how many questions are there usually in each section

 

[arash]

missing 5 questions gives you a 21???!?!?! WOw thats an insane percentage. how many questions are there usually in each section

For biology there are 40 questions and yes missing 5 will approximately give you 20-22 depending on the level of difficulty of the test. Gchem and Organic are each 30 questions. You can make 3-4 mistakes in order for a 20-22. For PAT with 90 questions you can miss 10-12 questions to get a 22 . RC has 50 questions and you can miss around 10 questions for a 21, and QR there are 40 and you can miss 8-10 for 20-22. These are the approximates that I found. Remember these are not accurate since they are always relative.

 

[djktennis]

If I remember correctly, on my DAT score sheet it gave me my scores relative to other people who had taken it. My scores are on par or lower than a lot of people here yet my % were all in the top 30% of test takers. How does this make sense...are there actually people out there that get 14-17s??

Just curious....

Yeah people do get 13's. Check out the guy going to West Virginia.

 

[darius99]

i got a 14 in QR, 29th percentile... but DAT math has no application to real life

 

[BabberSher]

Call the ADA. They will tell you. I called to ask this very same question. It was some time ago so I don't remember exactly what they told me. The percentiles are based on people taking the SAME version of the test. Remember, they have multiple versions of the DAT. The percentiles are also based on several years of test taking....not one day or one week.

For the 13 QR score, 20 percentile means that 80% of the test takers scored higher than you.

For example, my 20 in Bio was an 89.5 percentile while my Orgo 17 was 54.8. The higher the Standard Score, the higher the Percentile and vice versa.

Anyway, Congratulations on your acceptance! Now that you're accepted, it really doesn't matter.

Yeah, I think ur right about this. I have heard many people talk about a version of the test that was on the Stock Market for their Reading Comp. I had gotten this same version the last time i took the exam. What sucked was that I got a 20 on my PAT and my sheet said that I was only in the 70%. My Kaplan teacher said that he got a 22 and that was the 93rd percentile. I think it is just better to just see if your score is around or above a 20, as opposed to the % compared to other students.

 

[arash]

OK my 22 PAT was in 98.9 percentile. and my 21 Total Science was in 96.5 percentile. So does this mean that I had a harder version of the test?

 

[duh?]

All this talk about percentiles. Do the schools really care? People with say, a score of 19 may have percentiles that may range from X% to Y%. Schools don't set their cut-offs as percentiles, they use the scores. So if your score is maybe 20 and someone else has 17 and both of you have the same percentiles and applied to a school that has a cut-off of 18. Guess who may not get an interview--percentile or not....

 

[arash]

All this talk about percentiles. Do the schools really care? People with say, a score of 19 may have percentiles that may range from X% to Y%. Schools don't set their cut-offs as percentiles, they use the scores. So if your score is maybe 20 and someone else has 17 and both of you have the same percentiles and applied to a school that has a cut-off of 18. Guess who may not get an interview--percentile or not....

True, they don't even know your percentiles becaue ADA doesn't send it to them. They know mine since I faxed them my scores because I was already late in my application and couldn't wait for another 3 weeks for them to get my scores. Anyways point stressed, percentiles mean nothing.