Help! I have 39 hours until I take my DAT... haven't studied much. Took a Kaplan course last fall, and got 17's on practice tests. (Not a good test taker) Yesterday I took a practice test and got a 14.7 on the science section.. eek! I'm usually a good student (3.96 GPA) but I just procrastinated on this too much. I'm a junior, so I will have another chance this summer to retake, but this score will be sent to the dental schools and I'm afraid it will hurt my chances. Any advice for irresponsible last minute people like me??
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Help!!!
Started by nini22
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Since the DAT is offered year-round you can reschedule the test for a later date when you feel more prepared.
Since you are only a junior you have plenty of time to take the exam. Everybody knows that you should apply as soon as possible but even if you submit your AADSAS on the first available day, it will take them a month or more to send it out to schools. Realistically you should take the DAT by August (a suggestion) and have already e-submitted the application.
It takes less time for ADA to send your DAT scores to dental schools, since the scores are calculated right away.
If you do not feel ready, do not take the exam. If you can re-schedule but at this point you might want to cut your losses and cancel without a refund. The schools will see all valid DAT exams and you don't want to do poorly and then worry about trying to improve.
Take the test in a few months, maybe even after you are done with the spring semester so you can dedicate entirely to the DAT, but you CANNOT procrastinate, in the end you are only screwing yourself.
Good luck.
Since you are only a junior you have plenty of time to take the exam. Everybody knows that you should apply as soon as possible but even if you submit your AADSAS on the first available day, it will take them a month or more to send it out to schools. Realistically you should take the DAT by August (a suggestion) and have already e-submitted the application.
It takes less time for ADA to send your DAT scores to dental schools, since the scores are calculated right away.
If you do not feel ready, do not take the exam. If you can re-schedule but at this point you might want to cut your losses and cancel without a refund. The schools will see all valid DAT exams and you don't want to do poorly and then worry about trying to improve.
Take the test in a few months, maybe even after you are done with the spring semester so you can dedicate entirely to the DAT, but you CANNOT procrastinate, in the end you are only screwing yourself.
Good luck.
Just relax and do the best you can. Next time, make sure you STUDY!!!!!! Just wait and see the results before you start planning to crush anything.
If there's something that you're sketchy in, just review it. but at this point in time, there really sin't much that you can do help yuourself aside from getting a lot of sleep and maybe saying a prayer or two.
Good luck.
If there's something that you're sketchy in, just review it. but at this point in time, there really sin't much that you can do help yuourself aside from getting a lot of sleep and maybe saying a prayer or two.
Good luck.
nini22 said:
all i can say is that if you do bad then you have to kinda expect it because you've been slacking. but next time you take it just knock this score out of the water and show the dental schools that you just had a bad day.
nini22 said:
Call the sylvain learing center and reschedule if your not up to par... no sense in wasting 160 bucks..
Why don't you just reschedule your exam?
Normally you have to reschedule within 72 hours. Since you are 39 hours away you either take it and hope you do well or cut your loses as the others have stated. DAT requires some hard studying before hand. I would cut my loses, since you are willing to pay for the retake you might as well not take it and plan on taking it after you have studied for it.
KTDMD said:
Yeah, interesting to know what happened. I would have just given up the money since you're in your junior year and you have time. And even if you took it and messed up, you still have plenty of time to study for your next one. Good luck!
Thanks for your help everyone! I really appreciated all the replies and encouragement. I ended up getting a 19. I might retake again, might not. I think I could do better with more studying, but the whole process is such a pain in the ass! Thanks again to all who posted!!!
if your GPA really is a 3.96 i wouldn't even bother to take the DAT again. your grades are excellent and a 19 is above the average for many schools, and at least the average for pretty much every school. personally i would just focus on your classes and then enjoy your last year of college. studying for the DAT is NOT fun
