Is it worth it to retake the DAT for 1-2 pts increase?

[TOMS90]

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I am going to be honest. I am NOT the brightest of students out there and I go to an average university(not trying to offend anyone that goes here and still got high DAT). I am also not very talented with test taking. I don't know if it is worth the risk to retake the dat for realistically a possible 1-2 point increase.

thanks.

 

[ekephant]

If you're intending on increasing something that's already in the 20s, I wouldn't... But if you want to increase something 18 or below, I would. I would even consider retaking a 19, depending on the scores of the other subjects.

 

[Member902507]

I'd agree with the comment above, and would also like to add that you need to score better in every section, too. No section's score can drop down, because I think that's a negative. One school's adcom member said that if you retake and only score 1 point higher, it's a waste of your time. So it'd have to be a big jump for it to be worth something.

But then again, if you're in the 20s, I wouldn't waste my time. I didn't even waste my time retaking with 19s; I was hoping to get in and if I didn't, I was asking each school what they thought I needed to better. Most of them said it was my GPA, not my DAT, that was holding me back.

Good luck to you though, with whatever you decide 🙂

 

[dentalWorks]

I am going to be honest. I am NOT the brightest of students out there and I go to an average university(not trying to offend anyone that goes here and still got high DAT). I am also not very talented with test taking. I don't know if it is worth the risk to retake the dat for realistically a possible 1-2 point increase.

thanks.

well... it depends.

If you are at 17, a 19 would look significantly better

if you are already at 20, I don't think 22 is THAT MUCH better looking. On an overall level, both are solid performances.

 

[Bobby Fischer]

If you're intending on increasing something that's already in the 20s, I wouldn't... But if you want to increase something 18 or below, I would. I would even consider retaking a 19, depending on the scores of the other subjects.

^^ This.

 

[dandanpezeshk]

I'd agree with the comment above, and would also like to add that you need to score better in every section, too. No section's score can drop down, because I think that's a negative. One school's adcom member said that if you retake and only score 1 point higher, it's a waste of your time. So it'd have to be a big jump for it to be worth something.

But then again, if you're in the 20s, I wouldn't waste my time. I didn't even waste my time retaking with 19s; I was hoping to get in and if I didn't, I was asking each school what they thought I needed to better. Most of them said it was my GPA, not my DAT, that was holding me back.

Good luck to you though, with whatever you decide 🙂

Here's my experience:

1st 2nd
Bio 20 22
GC 20 22
OC 23 18
PAT 26 24
QR 19 19
RC 16 22

Obviously I retook because of the 16 in RC and because I didn't get into a single school (probably due to my low GPA), but the second time, you'll see that everything pretty much held up and my RC jumped, but my OC took a huge hit, and I was still able to land interviews. They did however ask me about it during the interview about the drop in OC. I got in to my Top school and others.

 

[R3DEUCE]

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[TheHostess]

I'm wondering about this as well. I took the DAT yesterday and was generally happy, except for gen chem...

AA-21 (93.4)
TS-20 (85.2)
Bio-22 (95.9)
Gen Chem-18 (62.2)
OChem-20 (79.9)
RC-23 (89.8)
QR-20 (94.0)
PAT-21 (87.9)

I don't know if I could do as well in bio again...
Is an 18 really gonna hurt me?

 

[aznboi89x]

I'm wondering about this as well. I took the DAT yesterday and was generally happy, except for gen chem...

AA-21 (93.4)
TS-20 (85.2)
Bio-22 (95.9)
Gen Chem-18 (62.2)
OChem-20 (79.9)
RC-23 (89.8)
QR-20 (94.0)
PAT-21 (87.9)

I don't know if I could do as well in bio again...
Is an 18 really gonna hurt me?

nope, you are fine but be prepared to explain the low score if questioned

 

[jmh018]

.

 

[Member902507]

I'm wondering about this as well. I took the DAT yesterday and was generally happy, except for gen chem...

AA-21 (93.4)
TS-20 (85.2)
Bio-22 (95.9)
Gen Chem-18 (62.2)
OChem-20 (79.9)
RC-23 (89.8)
QR-20 (94.0)
PAT-21 (87.9)

I don't know if I could do as well in bio again...
Is an 18 really gonna hurt me?

It won't hurt you at all. Nice job on the scores, I'd say those are pretty solid.🙂

 

[toyotasupra]

You could potentially shoot yourself in the foot. I called a dental school about this and they told me they do not average the scores, but say if you had a 23 on gen chem and retook the dat and got a 17, they would take the 17 and not the 23.

So in the end it's a gamble. If you have 20+, not worth it. For me, I went from a 17 to a 19 TS/AA (but jumped 2-3 points in all sections). 😀

 

[R3DEUCE]

...

 

[toyotasupra]

Also just make sure you don't waste money applying to schools that only cater to specific states. I got quite a few rejections applying to schools on the east coast when I'm from the west.

Oh well.... live and learn. 😉

Each school is different. The ADEA Guide to Dental School lists how each school handles DAT scores. Some schools DO average them, some take your latest, others take your best. In some rare cases, they will take the best sub score from each DAT you took and put it together.


Nancy V.
UMDNJ NJDS Class of 2017
AA 20 TS 20 GPA 3.0 sGPA 2.8
"Resilience is what makes it happen!"

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