DAT harder in the fall compared to in the spring?

[Dusty830]

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Hello all,

I recently took the DAT (about a week ago) and completely bombed the QR section and dropped my score to an AA:17. I have been hearing a rumor how the DAT is harder in the fall compared to the spring. I have been told by a couple of friends who took the test this July/Aug (for the second time) and thought it was a lot harder this time around.

I am definitely taking the DAT again, and wanted to see how you all felt about the test being harder in the fall.

Should I wait for the spring?

 

[SEAirLand]

I took it last week.. I thought it was much easier than I had thought it would be.

 

[CougarDental]

I kinda doubt that this is true. I took the DAT July 1 and thought it was about the same level of difficulty as topscore and my scores were similar but most get about 2 points higher on the real thing so who knows.
One thing that many don't know is that there are no "versions" of the DAT. Each exam is unique because the questions are taken from a question bank with specific numbers of questions coming from the "hard question bank" and the "easy question bank." Obviously, when it comes down to it, the difficulty of a question, especially in biology, is fairly subjective depending on the material each tester has been exposed to.

 

[buckey]

my uncle is in the CIA and he said it is in fact harder in the fall

 

[Hope30]

my uncle is in the CIA and he said it is in fact harder in the fall

What does CIA have to do with taking DAT? 😕

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

my uncle is in the CIA and he said it is in fact harder in the fall

Well if that's the case.. no way to refute your uncle!

 

[FutureDental88]

thats the dumbest thing ive heard in my life... "harder in fall than spring"... The test has the same level of difficulty all year around. If one test consist of a lot of embryology which may happen to be your worst subject and you happen to get the test during "fall", it doesnt make fall tests harder than spring tests.

 

[SEAirLand]

He's not the first person I have heard state that the test cycles through difficulty levels.. He's just the first to ask the question.

And in my book, there are no dumb questions.

thats the dumbest thing ive heard in my life... "harder in fall than spring"... The test has the same level of difficulty all year around. If one test consist of a lot of embryology which may happen to be your worst subject and you happen to get the test during "fall", it doesnt make fall tests harder than spring tests.

 

[tayloreve]

Well.. I don't know anything about this, but based on peoples breakdowns, I've seen a whole lot of 24+'s this August! 🙂

 

[FutureDental88]

i thought that would make sense that people who take the test in august, september most probably score a little higher on average than someone who takes it in june due to studying another extra 2 months, instead of just taking it in may/june just to be an early applicant..

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

It does not matter when you take your DAT. Standardization will account for test difficulty.

 

[Riz0791]

i thought that would make sense that people who take the test in august, september most probably score a little higher on average than someone who takes it in june due to studying another extra 2 months, instead of just taking it in may/june just to be an early applicant..

This is actually makes sense.