Best DAT score?

[aphistis]

I'm wondering, after taking the DAT last fall (I switched to dent from med my junior year), how everybody's best scores went. I thought the whole test went pretty well, and I got solid scores (17x2, 19x2, 21x2) except for Reading Comprehension. I got a 29. I thought the RC test was really easy for some reason, but I didn't think anything of it till the interview committees all commented on it. Did anybody else do spectacularly well on one or two sections without it affecting the rest of their test?

--Bill Johnson
Indiana University School of Dentistry '07

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[w3chen99]

the section IS easy...all you do is go straight to the questions and then quickly go back to the passage and find the answers. Virtually no main idea or implied meaning questions....

 

[ItsGavinC]

Agreed. I finished that section in 25 minutes, and only missed two questions.

 

[tinker bell]

Hehe, what can I say? Gavin is the man.

 

[FMLizard]

Either take some business, English, or Lib Arts courses, or get a LSAT study guide. The LSAT is basically all verbal, and is more advanced in these areas than the DAT. If you can handle the stuff on there, you will be fine for the DAT.

 

[hockeydentist]

Guys I can't seem to break from a 19 on the practice exams in Reading comprehension.


I can get through two really easily, and then when i get to the THIRD READING SECTION, i CAN'T CONCENTRATE ANY MORE.

ANY TIPS. BASICALLY I GET TWO PASSAGES AND QUESTIONS COMPETELY RIGHT AND THEN ON THE THIRD IT GOES DOWN HILL. THATS ON BOTH BARRONS AND KAPLANS.

 

[tinker bell]

You will concentrate on your exam. Don't worry, just keep on practicing

 

[aphistis]

This goes against everything I was taught about reading comprehension, but I never actually *read* the whole thing. It saves concentration. Lemme explain:

Skim through the article at first, like you're supposed to. Don't worry about memorizing anything, though; all you're after here is enough understanding to assemble a general, reference outline in your head ("OK, intro, then bacterial basics, then Gram traits, some pathologies, touch on antibiotic resistance, and we're done"), and identify some of the "money terms"--stuff you'd expect to find on a test question (you're in college, you know how to identify likely questions).

At that point you're ready to hit the questions. On the DAT you're given plenty of time for RC, so you do it like this:

1. If you remember the answer to the question from the reading, mark it and go on.

2. If you don't (*this* is why you're remembering that outline!), you know where in the article to find the section with information on the question. Scan through it again till you find what you're after, and bingo.

Normally I'll be the first to admit this isn't a good way to read an essay for understanding, but the DAT is hardly a "normal" environment! There is very little synthesis in the RC section; it's all fact-based, and all the facts are located in the article. Good luck!

 

[FMLizard]

eek! The DAT reading is science stuff?? I was hoping I could flex my liberal arts/business muscle on this section.

 

[aphistis]

There's all sorts of stuff in there. I just picked that out of an article I remembered on my own DAT. There's all sorts of stuff on there, but the point of this all is that you don't have to worry about dunking yourself in knowledge beforehand Everything you need to know to answer the questions is there in the article; you just need a good system for finding the information when you need to look it up.

 

[ItsGavinC]

And I hardly even need a good system for finding stuff on my exam. The questions told me what paragraph to go to.

I'm an English major, but the Reading section was *much* easier than I had anticipated. I had hoped for a 20-21, and scored higher than that.