Critical question on The DAT

Started by bishoy20
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bishoy20

bishoy20

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I am a senior biology major with a 3.86 CGPA and 3.85 SGPA. I am applying to dental schools this june. I have been shadowing for 5 month in a general dental office. I am taking the DAT for the first time on June 28th. However, I am not pretty sure if i will get good scores on the first time which leaves me the probability of retaking the DAT to push up my score. As you all know, I have to wait 90 days before retaking the exam. In my case, I won't be able to take it again before the beginning of October but I am worried that it would be late already to send the new (2nd) scores for the ADDSAS. I know it takes about a month for the ADDSAS to receive and process the scores and most dental schools use the rolling admission system. Please feel free to help and share advice,,,,,,,,thanks
 
With a GPA that good, I would think you leave yourself some breathing room on the DAT.
Just study as much as you can between then and now, and you should be able to get acceptable scores on (18+) on the test.
 
bishoy20 said:
I am a senior biology major with a 3.86 CGPA and 3.85 SGPA. I am applying to dental schools this june. I have been shadowing for 5 month in a general dental office. I am taking the DAT for the first time on June 28th. However, I am not pretty sure if i will get good scores on the first time which leaves me the probability of retaking the DAT to push up my score. As you all know, I have to wait 90 days before retaking the exam. In my case, I won't be able to take it again before the beginning of October but I am worried that it would be late already to send the new (2nd) scores for the ADDSAS. I know it takes about a month for the ADDSAS to receive and process the scores and most dental schools use the rolling admission system. Please feel free to help and share advice,,,,,,,,thanks
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Umm... Why do you sound so pessimistic? With a GPA that high, you are already competitive as-is. Assuming you get a 19AA/19TS then you are all set. 19/19 shouldn't be a hard score especially for a 3.8 student.

I don't know how your studying, but if your half-assing then yeh, I'd be worried too.
 
dentalWorks said:
Umm... Why do you sound so pessimistic? With a GPA that high, you are already competitive as-is. Assuming you get a 19AA/19TS then you are all set. 19/19 shouldn't be a hard score especially for a 3.8 student.

I don't know how your studying, but if your half-assing then yeh, I'd be worried too.
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I am actually following the 7-week schedule plan to prepare for the exam but to be honest I am falling behind a little bit on the schedule.
 
But I mean in general, is taking the DAT for the second time in the beginning of October will be too late for the schools to look at the new scores!
 
You don't want to deal with a re-take in October, do you really want to study again that much over the summer? Prepare with the month you have. Get a 19 or 20 to ensure you're competitive. You might surprise yourself and do better!
 
bishoy20 said:
I am a senior biology major with a 3.86 CGPA and 3.85 SGPA. I am applying to dental schools this june. I have been shadowing for 5 month in a general dental office. I am taking the DAT for the first time on June 28th. However, I am not pretty sure if i will get good scores on the first time which leaves me the probability of retaking the DAT to push up my score. As you all know, I have to wait 90 days before retaking the exam. In my case, I won't be able to take it again before the beginning of October but I am worried that it would be late already to send the new (2nd) scores for the ADDSAS. I know it takes about a month for the ADDSAS to receive and process the scores and most dental schools use the rolling admission system. Please feel free to help and share advice,,,,,,,,thanks
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You will do fine. Just set aside 1 week, 8hrs a day and study your butt off on top of your already made study plan. Don't plan on a retake. just nail it the first time.
 
If you start studying NOW I think you got enough time to prepare for at least a decent score.....given that you have high sGPA, it should be mostly review and wouldn't take too much to prepare so i'd just study hardcore and hit at least 19AA/19TS like DentalWorks said and you should be fine. If you need a study schedule find his 8week program
 
October is really late. You should study like crazy for a month and take it. Don't even think negative. A strong mind-set goes a long ways. Good luck!
 
John Durian said:
October is really late. You should study like crazy for a month and take it. Don't even think negative. A strong mind-set goes a long ways. Good luck!
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I am reviewing now lol, and i am looking for a good score on my first time (21+), and Thanks for the advice lol
 
Buy topscore to help you decide if you need to reschedule. If you're happy with your topscore results you're ready.
 
How long it usually takes for the DAT scores to be processed and sent to dental schools!
 
bishoy20 said:
But I mean in general, is taking the DAT for the second time in the beginning of October will be too late for the schools to look at the new scores!
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Yes, it is. It would be a waste of money and waste of time. Just go all in on your first DAT and you will be fine.
 
bishoy20 said:
I am a senior biology major with a 3.86 CGPA and 3.85 SGPA. I am applying to dental schools this june. I have been shadowing for 5 month in a general dental office. I am taking the DAT for the first time on June 28th. However, I am not pretty sure if i will get good scores on the first time which leaves me the probability of retaking the DAT to push up my score. As you all know, I have to wait 90 days before retaking the exam. In my case, I won't be able to take it again before the beginning of October but I am worried that it would be late already to send the new (2nd) scores for the ADDSAS. I know it takes about a month for the ADDSAS to receive and process the scores and most dental schools use the rolling admission system. Please feel free to help and share advice,,,,,,,,thanks
Click to expand...

Regardless of major, it doesn't predict how well you perform on the exam. It all boils down to your DATs because in essence, it is what normalizes the GPA discrepancies across schools.
 
So would it really matter if i reschedule the exam for a week or two later because i need more time to be more prepared for the DAT
 
Study hard and make sure to do well on it the first time! I personally recommend taking LOTS of practice tests. The best one in my opinion is TopScore, but also be sure to practice with Crack DAT PAT.
 
I'm retaking mine in July. I've heard people saying that taking in July won't be as late as in, say late August, since the schools won't receive the first batch of applicants until late July. (Well, I don't know if that's true or not..would be good if anyone can verify it again.)

I don't mean to hijack the post, but along with the lines of retaking, will the retake scores spend as much time as the first time DAT scores to be sent to the schools? like 2-3 weeks for both situations no matter what?
 
indigenoustw said:
I'm retaking mine in July. I've heard people saying that taking in July won't be as late as in, say late August, since the schools won't receive the first batch of applicants until late July. (Well, I don't know if that's true or not..would be good if anyone can verify it again.)

I don't mean to hijack the post, but along with the lines of retaking, will the retake scores spend as much time as the first time DAT scores to be sent to the schools? like 2-3 weeks for both situations no matter what?
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When was the 1st time you took it and what were your scores!
 
I took it on 02/12 this year and got 18AA, 18 TS, 20 PAT.

Got a low score in bio 16, RC 17,
average in ochem 18, chem 19,
ok in QR 20.

Overall, not very competitive. So I'm retaking it and hopefully I'll score higher.

But before studying again, I'll e-submit my app this week, so I have nearly two months to prepare for it again.

But then I was just wondering what will be the time frame for which the retake score will be received by the schools....
 
bishoy20 said:
I am a senior biology major with a 3.86 CGPA and 3.85 SGPA. I am applying to dental schools this june. I have been shadowing for 5 month in a general dental office. I am taking the DAT for the first time on June 28th. However, I am not pretty sure if i will get good scores on the first time which leaves me the probability of retaking the DAT to push up my score. As you all know, I have to wait 90 days before retaking the exam. In my case, I won't be able to take it again before the beginning of October but I am worried that it would be late already to send the new (2nd) scores for the ADDSAS. I know it takes about a month for the ADDSAS to receive and process the scores and most dental schools use the rolling admission system. Please feel free to help and share advice,,,,,,,,thanks
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You have such a strong GPA you're obviously a bright person. Study really hard and you'll definitely score in the upper 70 percentiles (which is all you need to get into dental schools). If it makes you feel any better, my actual DAT AA score was 5 points higher than my practice exams that I took two weeks before. You can do A LOT of preparing in 2 weeks!
 
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