Do I retake the DAT?

[MrAHere]

Hey everyone, after studying rigorously for a month and a half I finally gained the courage to take the DAT. Although this is my first post, I've read the SDN threads occasionally throughout my studying and they've helped me a great deal. I wanted to know if you guys can help me out with my scores.

AA - 20
TS - 23
BIO - 22
CHEM - 22
ORGO - 26
PAT - 21
QR - 16
RC - 15

GPA - 3.78

I must begin by saying how embarrassed I am of my QR and RC scores. I underestimated these sections and did not study adequately for them. I was wondering if you thought I still have a chance of getting into schools with these low sections or I should really retake it. I am hopefully applying for 2013 admission so I still have time to retake it. The problem with retaking it is that I'm nervous I might do worse in the sciences. I heard that some schools have a cut off point on individual sections. Is this true? And if so, do my QR and RC scores make the cut? I'm applying to all the NY/NJ schools as well as other east coast schools such as Maryland and Nova.

For the sciences I basically only used the DAT Destroyer which I felt was excellent. I loved the fact that the Destroyer over prepared me and I felt confident going into the sciences. I also used my college text books and Wikipedia to help me brush up on any information I didn't know or felt weak in. For Bio, I read through Barron's AP Bio book and thought it was a great reviewing tool.

For perceptual ability I used Crack DAT PAT and I must say that some sections felt much harder on the actual DAT. First of all, the hole punching section threw me way off because the holes on Crack PAT were very large and well spaced as apposed to the actual DAT where the holes were smaller and I couldn't figure out where they were folding to. I literally spent over 5 minutes on one question trying to decipher where the holes were folding to. The TFE section on the actual DAT felt much harder and the pictures were not as clear as Crack PAT. Aside from those sections, Crack PAT was pretty much on par with the DAT. I was getting between 24 and 26 on the Crack PAT tests and only scored a 21 on the actual DAT.

For QR I bought the Math Destroyer and only went through half the book. I studied a total of like 3-4 days for it which can explain my low score. RC I left for the last second and took like half a practice test. I know I'm stupid for doing so, but after a month and a half of intense science studying I had no patients for studying these sections.

In conclusion, do I retake my DAT and risk scoring lower on the sciences or is my score competitive the way it is?

Thanks so much everybody for your help, I really appreciate it.

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[predent9]

I think if you have time, retake it. For the sciences, study more than what you did last time to prevent you from getting a lower score, and I bet you will get an even better score than this time. Reading is important, but QR isn't that much but focus on both since they brought down your AA. How many times did you go through Destroyer btw

 

[MrAHere]

I think if you have time, retake it. For the sciences, study more than what you did last time to prevent you from getting a lower score, and I bet you will get an even better score than this time. Reading is important, but QR isn't that much but focus on both since they brought down your AA. How many times did you go through Destroyer btw

Thanks so much for your response. My friends who took the DAT before me swore by the Destroyer, so I decided to use it as a main source. I went through it like 5-6 times and basically memorized the darn thing. Any answer or even wrong answer choice that I still didn't 100% understand in the book I just went on Wikipedia or looked it up in my textbook.

Do you think if I just apply with these scores I still have a chance of getting into different schools? Or is my RC way too low to even be looked at.

 

[hail2pitt]

Do you think if I just apply with these scores I still have a chance of getting into different schools? Or is my RC way too low to even be looked at.

I think you should call/email/look at the websites of the schools you are most interested in, they'll be able to give you a better answer in terms of how they'll judge your application if you retake and do less well on a certain section but better on another.

I know that one of the schools that I applied to said they needed a 16 or higher in each section for your application to be considered, but that doesn't apply to all schools.

 

[UltimateHombre]

It is kind of a gamble either way... a 20 AA is an awesome score that you should be proud of. However, that 15 RC is super low and may be below some cutoffs for many schools. Good luck with you decision.

 

[xtra333]

I think you should be okay with nova. but retake just to be on the safe side. I know pitt does not accept any score lower than a 16.

 

[xtra333]

Hole punching is a section of the DAT where I actually recommend achiever PAT for practice. In that section they have half holds and 1/4 folds that were very tricky, but more practice for the PAT the better.