SDN 2009 DAT Poll

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nze82

nze82

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Recently, I have seen posts with extremely high DAT scores. Such posts have made other members of SDN, who still haven't taken their exam, freak out quite a bit. There have been extensive discussions about this topic on this forum. Some believe that SDN represents a small % of the entire applicant pool, some believe people make fake scores, and yet some believe that only those applicants with extremely competitive scores post their scores here to show off.
Just to get a rough idea of how people are really performing on the DAT, I invite you guys to participate in this poll. It's completely anonymous, so you can post regardless of your scores (high or low) without being accused of lying or showing off. Furthermore, people with below average scores who don't feel comfortable making an individual post regarding their DAT performance can also participate in this poll.
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There's already a thread like this in pre-dental. Also, your poll doesn't have an option for scores under 16 so I don't see how that's gonna encourage anyone.
 
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sugarsting said:
There's already a thread like this in pre-dental. Also, your poll doesn't have an option for scores under 16 so I don't see how that's gonna encourage anyone.
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I was not interested to know how many people on this forum are scoring below 16, because those people are obviously not competitive enough and they will be eliminated early on during the process (As harsh as that may sound!!).
I didn't post this poll to encourage anyone; I did it to inform them.
If you don't like it, there's an easy solution to it. Don't vote here!:)
 
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Hmmm...It seems like the scores on SDN aren't that different from that of the real world after all. Majority of people are scoring in the 19-21 range, which IMO is a very realistic range.
 
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All this really does is reinforce that SDN is a poor representation of scores regardless of reason. When 94% of submissions have over 50th percentile scores on AA and PAT is even worse, it's pretty clearly there's misrepresentation.
 
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a1pha said:
All this really does is reinforce that SDN is a poor representation of scores regardless of reason. When 94% of submissions have over 50th percentile scores on AA and PAT is even worse, it's pretty clearly there's misrepresentation.
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agree!
 
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a1pha said:
All this really does is reinforce that SDN is a poor representation of scores regardless of reason. When 94% of submissions have over 50th percentile scores on AA and PAT is even worse, it's pretty clearly there's misrepresentation.
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Obviously a sample size this small doesn't represent the entire applicant pool, and this poll was never intended to do so. Many people were saying that the scores on SDN are super high. I posted this poll to show them that that's not necessarily true. Again, majority of people on SDN (not across the country) are scoring in the 19-21 range. This is a very reasonable range and I'm sure anyone who has put in the effort can score within this range.
Unlike what many believe, this poll shows that not everyone is scoring 23+.
Even when you look at predents.com, you can see that the majority of people who have gotten accepted at some school have scored within the 19-21 range (Again I'm not suggesting that predents.com is an accurate representation of the real population). I'm simply showing people that they'll be fine as long as they fall within this range. Of course, there are always those few people who score 24+, as shown in this poll.
Besides, when you look at the AA scores, it's almost a bell-shaped curve (even with this small sample size), which shows that SDN scores aren't that off and they roughly represent a standard distribution!
At the end, you're entitled to your opinion and you're more than welcome not to participate in this poll, if you feel like it's such a misrepresentation of the scores.

 
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Whoa there man...not attacking your poll. I think it's a great idea...I'm just saying that to those people with average scores (17.5ish), this data could still be a bit depressing and they should stay positive. It's not my opinion that this data shows a misrepresentation, it's a fact. In addition to what I said before, 24+ AA is 99.x percentile...while 11% of the poll shows people getting these scores. I'm just trying to keep it positive for the average applicant my friend. SDN can get pretty intimidating during the application process.
 
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a1pha said:
Whoa there man...not attacking your poll. I think it's a great idea...I'm just saying that to those people with average scores (17.5ish), this data could still be a bit depressing and they should stay positive. It's not my opinion that this data shows a misrepresentation, it's a fact. In addition to what I said before, 24+ AA is 99.x percentile...while 11% of the poll shows people getting these scores. I'm just trying to keep it positive for the average applicant my friend. SDN can get pretty intimidating during the application process.
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I didn't say you're attacking anything. I simply said if you don't like voting you don't have to.:)
And regarding %, those numbers are not accurate at all, because they're calculated based on 8 different categories (4 AA and 4 PA). So, the % next to each AA category is actually calculated based on all 8 categories, and not only the 4 AA categories. Subsequently, those numbers should be completely ignored.
This is not an accurate poll by any means, it's simply here to give people a general idea about the rough distribution of scores earned by SDN members and not the entire applicant pool.
People with average scores (according to you 17.5) should be worried about their DAT scores, because they're average, and with today's intense competition average scores won't do much good for you (Of course, there's always a chance one could get in with those average scores, but it would be a very slim chance).
Being positive is different than being irrational. If you're scoring 17 on your DAT it's probably a good idea to realize the fact that you need to retake rather than maintaining a positive attitude that wouldn't translate into anything in terms of making your application more competitive compared to your other counterparts.
A positive attitude is good if you've done what you were supposed to do. If you've slacked off and you've ended up with horrible scores, staying positive is anything but a virtue!

 
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nze82 said:
I didn't say you're attacking anything. I simply said if you don't like voting you don't have to.:)
And regarding %, those numbers are not accurate at all, because they're calculated based on 8 different categories (4 AA and 4 PA). So, the % next to each AA category is actually calculated based on all 8 categories, and not only the 4 AA categories. Subsequently, those numbers should be completely ignored.
This is not an accurate poll by any means, it's simply here to give people a general idea about the rough distribution of scores earned by SDN members and not the entire applicant pool.
People with average scores (according to you 17.5) should be worried about their DAT scores, because they're average, and with today's intense competition average scores won't do much good for you (Of course, there's always a chance one could get in with those average scores, but it would be a very slim chance).
Being positive is different than being irrational. If you're scoring 17 on your DAT it's probably a good idea to realize the fact that you need to retake rather than maintaining a positive attitude that wouldn't translate into anything in terms of making your application more competitive compared to your other counterparts.
A positive attitude is good if you've done what you were supposed to do. If you've slacked off and you've ended up with horrible scores, staying positive is anything but a virtue!
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+1 def true
 
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nze82 said:


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If you make it a multiple choice question, I'm sure 99% of us would figure out 19-21 range is the most popular choice, just take a look at the ADEA DS guide or Doc Toothache's charts/threads/guide. Instead of grouping 19-21AA together, you should separate them out to make it less predictable.
 
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nze82 said:
Furthermore, people with below average scores who don't feel comfortable making an individual post regarding their DAT performance can also participate in this poll.
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...as long as they scored over 16.
 
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Honestly...I don't think there is any need to freak out.

The percentiles on your exam should give you all the information you need. It is probably more reliable than an annonymous poll.

I just can't get past the fact that people could be inflating their scores (simply because it is too easy).


http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=504083&highlight=password

password: ada

This is the most recent score distribution released by the ada (the one on their website is from 2005; a bit outdated).
 
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Emmie said:
If you make it a multiple choice question, I'm sure 99% of us would figure out 19-21 range is the most popular choice, just take a look at the ADEA DS guide or Doc Toothache's charts/threads/guide. Instead of grouping 19-21AA together, you should separate them out to make it less predictable.
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This is not voting for the high school prom queen. So popularity of choices shouldn't have much to do with the category you're voting for. It's about where people's scores are falling. So, far it seems majority of people are scoring in the 19-21 range. It's not because for whatever reason they like this range better than other choices, it's because their DAT score falls within this range, so they're choosing this option.
If people scored in the 16-18 range, then they would have chosen that category. It has nothing to do with one choice being more popular than the other.
 
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nze82 said:
Ask me if I care :laugh:
The funny part is that you keep coming back to read my comments, despite the fact that you find my font color "Patronizing."
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Because I was kidding. Just because I criticized your poll doesn't mean I don't like you. But you do make some rude comments...
 
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sugarsting said:
Because I was kidding. Just because I criticized your poll doesn't mean I don't like you. But you do make some rude comments...
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Well, I was kidding too. Problem solved!
Now can we move on? Because this can go on forever, and that's not why I posted this poll.
Don't worry though, we can always argue with each other via PM:laugh: and leave this poll to people who are interested in the outcome.
 
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Emmie said:
If you make it a multiple choice question, I'm sure 99% of us would figure out 19-21 range is the most popular choice, just take a look at the ADEA DS guide or Doc Toothache's charts/threads/guide. Instead of grouping 19-21AA together, you should separate them out to make it less predictable.
Click to expand...


wow!!!!!!
 
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nze82 said:
Well, I was kidding too. Problem solved!
Now can we move on? Because this can go on forever, and that's not why I posted this poll.
Don't worry though, we can always argue with each other via PM:laugh: and leave this poll to people who are interested in the outcome.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to tell you that the outcome is extremely predictable! :p
 
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Emmie said:
I'm sorry to tell you that the outcome is extremely predictable! :p
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Aren't you cute Emmie?:laugh:

Yea! I agree, let's move on before this gets ugly. People who want to vote can vote and those who think this is a complete waste of time can keep their votes. Hopefully, some people can look at this poll and make some sense out of it, and hopefully those who think it's completely senseless can ignore it.
The least that this poll is doing is that it's gathering all the AA/PAT scores together and it's putting them in a graphical representation. Each and everyone of us can have a completely different interpretation of this graphical representation and I'm OK with that.

 
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funny I have to say this, but somewhat OT lol:

what I find very interesting about this poll so far is that ~18% of participants in the poll scored 24+ on the PAT, while the percentile for the 24 I received was 99.3! does this further support the many inclinations that SDN really does only represent an extremely small minority of test takers?
Any thoughts?

and sorry for the comment about it being OT, I just thought it was comical :laugh:
 
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nflesher87 said:
funny I have to say this, but somewhat OT lol:

what I find very interesting about this poll so far is that ~18% of participants in the poll scored 24+ on the PAT, while the percentile for the 24 I received was 99.3! does this further support the many inclinations that SDN really does only represent an extremely small minority of test takers?
Any thoughts?

and sorry for the comment about it being OT, I just thought it was comical :laugh:
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If you posted your comment after reading the above posts you would have known why the percentages aren't accurate!
So, I suggest you scroll up!:)
 
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I'm just posting this to pull up this thread again, so that more people can vote, since I've seen many new scores coming in lately!
 
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Quick count for AA on predents:

26 (4)
25 (2)
24 (18) 24+ (4.67%)
23 (35)
22 (51) 22-23 (16.73%)
21 (76)
20 (106) 19-21 (59.14%
19 (122)
18 (61) 16-18 (19.07%)
17 (34)
16 (3)
 
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