Retake? DAT done 3/22

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dentaldream2010

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I finished my first DAT on 3/22, here are my scores:

PAT 20
BIO 21
GC 25
OC 30
RC 14
QR 24
TS 24
AA 23

I know my RC score is 😱... But do you guys think I stand a chance if I keep these scores and not retaking the exam? I have a science GPA of 3.96 and a cGPA of 3.93. I finished the QR section with about 15 minutes left and went back to the questions I marked. I swear that there was no correct answers to 2 of the questions I marked. Therefore, a couple days later, I kept on calling ADA about 10 times per day for about 2 weeks. I also wrote down the problems and faxed it to them. Finally a couple days ago they called me and gave me two options: 1. to retake the test within 30 days for free. 2. to keep my scores. What do you guys think I should do? I don't think the exam is that bad except for the BIO part, which I think was HARDDDD... I don't know if I"m good enough to give a break down of my test since all the scores in here are 🙄...but if you guys want, I'll do it🙂. Thanks everyone!!! I need to make the decision quick since now I'm down to 27 days...thanks🙂

BIO: I spent a lot of time reviewing this section. The test was really RANDOM and there were like 5-7 questions I've never seen before given I'm a Biology major. The materials I used were: KBB, Campbell textbook, Cliffs, and a little bit of Schaum's Outline of Biology. The 377 Destroyer problems did not do its justice for my version.

GC: This section was ok. I think it's comparable to topscore, and easier than Achiever for sure. Few calculation and lots of concepts. The materials I used were: KBB, my college textbook here and there.

OC: I spent too much time on the Biology section that left me with exactly 9 minutes to go through this section and yeah... At the beginning I thought I'll bomb this section given that I normally give myself 20 minutes on this section alone. It's really straight forward and easy on the actual DAT. Material used: KBB, Textbook from college.

PAT: I didn't study a lot for this section...hehe... I did the CDP, but I was too lazy to go over my mistakes...lol...Material used: CDP and Achiever PAT.

RC: I don't think I can say anything about this section. One of my passages were 17 paragraphs long and instead of fighting through it... I sat back, which shows on my scores.

QR: I thought it was easy. I finished with 15 minutes left. I memorized multiplication table from 1-15. While doing practice tests, I usually do the math in my head first, unless I can't come up with the answer then I'll use the other method.
 
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People are going to have mixed feelings about this one... but I wouldnt retake the test if I were you... pretty much everyone has a hard time with the RC portion of the test.

Edit. Mind sharing what study materials you used? 🙂
 
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How did you study Ochem? did you solve alot of problems or basically memorized concepts? I'm using KBB and MCAT and Destroyers for this section
 
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damn. this is a tough one. those scores so amazing, lol almost seems like a typo. are u sure it isnt a 24 RC???

dschools are pretty big on RC....honestly don't know if you should retake. I think with scores this high it's a higher chance of doing worse (i may be mistaken, plus those people take it 3 months later vs. you taking it 30 days)

You could def. improve RC within 30 days.

wth ur wondering whether ur good enough to give us a breakdown?! TS 24.. breakdown please :]

Great scores nonetheless.
 
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God I hate this, a perfect f****** score ruined by the stupidest section of the DAT.

Do not retake. Call all the dental schools you want to attend and tell them what happen. Compare the number of schools that tell you to retake vs not-retake..... which ever number wins is the thing you should do

Aside from that, great job on the DAT👍
 
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Wow, that's the craziest thing I've ever seen! I know this is going to sound idiotic, but you might consider a retake. Some schools will automatically disqualify you if you have below a certain score on any section (usually 15 or so I think). Besides, I know for a fact that RC and PAT are the highest scores on average so it looks worse that on a section most people do best on, you got a 14 which means you only got about 18 questions correct out of 50, or roughly 1 out of every 3 questions.

[For RC and PAT in 2007, 50th percentile hits at 18, where every other section (except QR at 16) has its 50th percentile at 17. RC is the only section whose mean is above 18, meaning that RC is the highest overall section across the nation. These numbers are according to the ADA DAT score frequency distribution for 2007. That's the newest one I have.]

Figure out where you want to apply and give those schools a call to see what their cut off is and then go from there, but I personally think that's a red flag.
 
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dentaldream2010 said:
I finished my first DAT on 3/22, here are my scores:

PAT 20
BIO 21
GC 25
OC 30
RC 14
QR 24
TS 24
AA 23

I know my RC score is 😱... But do you guys think I stand a chance if I keep these scores and not retaking the exam? I have a science GPA of 3.96 and a cGPA of 3.93. I finished the QR section with about 15 minutes left and went back to the questions I marked. I swear that there was no correct answers to 2 of the questions I marked. Therefore, a couple days later, I kept on calling ADA about 10 times per day for about 2 weeks. I also wrote down the problems and faxed it to them. Finally a couple days ago they called me and gave me two options: 1. to retake the test within 30 days for free. 2. to keep my scores. What do you guys think I should do? I don't think the exam is that bad except for the BIO part, which I think was HARDDDD... I don't know if I"m good enough to give a break down of my test since all the scores in here are 🙄...but if you guys want, I'll do it🙂. Thanks everyone!!! I need to make the decision quick since now I'm down to 27 days...thanks🙂
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Congrats on great scores and your gpa is wow!
Still you are going to need a retake imo.
RC 14 is a totally diff story than QR14 or less.
RC is def one of the most important sections on the exam.
within 30days, you won't need to start all over again so I would def. retake. Im sure you will maintain those good scores and if you could bring up that RC to 18 or 19+ you should be more than fine next cycle. GL
 
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First of all, congratulations on all of the other scores. However... I would unfortunately also suggest a retake for most of the same reasons listed above. 14 is just too low, and RC is just too important.
 
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Congratulations on the high QR and science scores! Unfortunately, I agree with ashlander and UCLADDS. I know for a fact that a few of the schools I spoke to about the DAT breakdown said their cut-off for RC is an 18. If it we're QR it wouldn't matter as much. I was told by one school that they found a positive correlation on the performance of dental students based on their RC scores.... 30 days is a good deal- everything should still be relatively fresh! Did you get the piano passage...? People on here seem to think that's a tough one. Good Luck!
 
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Oh! And I would LOVE to know what you used to study-mostly for Orgo and QR(to have 15 minutes left over!?!?!) You rocked that!
 
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Thanks everyone 🙂. I contacted 4 schools during the past 2 weeks and 1 of them said I don't need to retake and the other 3 said I'll have a higher chance if I retake. I think I can get my RC up a little bit since my Topscore RC were all 20+ and achiever RC were 18, 19, and 19 respectively. The thing is I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before and I was exhausted when it comes to RC🙁. Thanks everyone, I guess I'll have to retake. For the sections that I enjoyed, I remembered almost all the questions that were on my test, but RC i don't even remember a line. That's how much I hate that section.. lol.. I'll do a break down later.

OC, I only used the KBB.
QR, I did 50% of the math in my head...while studying, I used the same method...unless I struggle, then i'll use the other option.
 
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Ok, than retake the thing ASAP!!! Im sure youre going to well again... It seems like you have the material down pretty well... just focus on the RC part a little bit more this time 🙂
 
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