Higher Scores This Year?

[RyGuy7]

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Is it just me or does it seem like everyone's score is fairly high in these forums. I mean I remember hearing that the national average for the DAT is 17. Most schools average 18-20 according to my dental school guide, but I seem to see an awful lot of really good scores here. Is this place just full of smart people? or are they just the only ones that like to showcase their scores? I hope its not because the DAT is getting easier or the applicant pool is getting smarter cause that spells bad news for me. Maybe its just because I'm new here and missed some of the lower ones.

Any thoughts?

 

[USU24]

I don't think there is a big difference either way this year. Dig deeper a lot of people didn't get great scores. But also, a lot of people report if their scores are good. Think about it, if you got a great score wouldn't you want to brag about it to people who understood that a 23 really was great even though it's out of 30?

 

[bruinpredent]

i find this post rather interesting, considering how a few months ago (and heck, even now) a lot of people were claiming that the DAT had gotten "so much harder" and that those who had taken it over the summer had taken an "easier" version of the exam.

as we can see now, that obviously isn't the case...those who were scoring low were trying to balance DAT and school together and didn't put in the sort of time needed to get 20+ on every section like most high scoring sdners.

if anything, i have a feeling that the DAT averages this year are going to be higher than last year...

 

[Nasem]

you gotta remembr.... only a very small fraction of the pre-dental community come to SDN... so the few scores you read here and there around SDN is not, in any way, a good indicator for the national average.

I think the national averages would never go up (or down).... people's IQ don't just simply go up.... simply because "more people wanna become dentists today than 10 years ago". Bottom line is (assuming same level of difficulty of DAT) National averages woun't go up (or down)

however, school's total averages MIGHT go up simply to eliminate competition, and I don't blame them, 2500-3000 applications every year is insane

 

[doc toothache]

Is it just me or does it seem like everyone's score is fairly high in these forums. I mean I remember hearing that the national average for the DAT is 17. Most schools average 18-20 according to my dental school guide, but I seem to see an awful lot of really good scores here. Is this place just full of smart people? or are they just the only ones that like to showcase their scores? I hope its not because the DAT is getting easier or the applicant pool is getting smarter cause that spells bad news for me. Maybe its just because I'm new here and missed some of the lower ones.

Any thoughts?

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http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=408166