Since there is a 90 day waiting period between test attempts and because it is real late in the application cycle, I am considering the option of retaking the DAT test before I apply for the next cycle in 2014. My breakdown is in the thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/dat-breakdown-11-12-2013.1041688/ . My score was 21 AA/ 21 TS.
The schools I've contacted said that a 20 AA/ 20 TS would be a competitive score, but what does that really mean? From this source (http://www.haverford.edu/deans/prehealth/documents/dentalschool_scores.pdf) you can see the DAT scores of accepted students. They range anywhere from as low as 14 to as high as 29. The average of accepted students would lie somewhere around 19 or 20 for most schools. Wouldn't a score of 21 AA/TS just be slightly above average? How can an average score be competitive?
I know that I underperformed on the DAT test in basically every section, but QR, which was my worst section, greatly lowered my AA score. The schools I am interested in and have contacted said they only looked at AA score.
I've previously scored a 800 on the math section of the SATs, so I'm pretty confident in my math ability. However, during the test, I was caught up in one problem and ran out of time, leaving me to guess for the last 10 questions. I now have the experience and know to skip questions like that and come back to them later. Assuming my performance would be at least the same in the sciences, should I retake the DAT, just so I can score higher on the QR, thereby raising my AA score?
Also, I heard that some dental schools average the test scores for each attempt. So wouldn't I have to get a TS/AA of 27 just to raise my TS/AA to 24, from a score of 21? TS/AA of 27....... sounds daunting....... should I give it a shot?
The schools I've contacted said that a 20 AA/ 20 TS would be a competitive score, but what does that really mean? From this source (http://www.haverford.edu/deans/prehealth/documents/dentalschool_scores.pdf) you can see the DAT scores of accepted students. They range anywhere from as low as 14 to as high as 29. The average of accepted students would lie somewhere around 19 or 20 for most schools. Wouldn't a score of 21 AA/TS just be slightly above average? How can an average score be competitive?
I know that I underperformed on the DAT test in basically every section, but QR, which was my worst section, greatly lowered my AA score. The schools I am interested in and have contacted said they only looked at AA score.
I've previously scored a 800 on the math section of the SATs, so I'm pretty confident in my math ability. However, during the test, I was caught up in one problem and ran out of time, leaving me to guess for the last 10 questions. I now have the experience and know to skip questions like that and come back to them later. Assuming my performance would be at least the same in the sciences, should I retake the DAT, just so I can score higher on the QR, thereby raising my AA score?
Also, I heard that some dental schools average the test scores for each attempt. So wouldn't I have to get a TS/AA of 27 just to raise my TS/AA to 24, from a score of 21? TS/AA of 27....... sounds daunting....... should I give it a shot?
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