Is the DAT a good evaluator?

[Grbled]

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Does anyone feel as though the DAT has become a bit monotonous? I’m sure this happens in other fields, and I know the DAT is an even evaluator of applicants, but I feel the evolving “staples” of study materials like DAT boot camp and destroyer automatically get someone a highly competitive score. To me, the test has become a “who can cram information for a month or two and regurgitate it on a computer screen”.

Also, I scored fine so it’s not a pity rant or anything of the sort. Just looking for opinions.

 

[Iroh]

Personally I think the DAT is useless, minus some of the physiology stuff.

PAT is a measure of how much time you can put in to looking at similar shapes over and over again to find out patterns to quickly "guess" the answer properly. Ask anyone who scored well on the PAT to repeat the PAT again after a few weeks, or months after not "practicing" and their scores will plummet.

QR is useless in the grand scheme.

RC is useful, but I walked in without preparing and got a 21. If you can read, you can read. Not to mention, the passages are "relevant" and "interesting" topics related to science and perhaps even dentistry. If you want to be a dental student, clearly you have the "dedication" and "interest" to read these passages without being distracted.

Sciences for the most part are somewhat relevant. But I'd say things like whether Reptiles came before amphibians is absolutely useless information that has no relevance in dentistry or really any medical setting.

Physiology sure, microbio sure, but knowing about the different biomes and what kind of egg platypi lay? No.


DAT to me is just the SAT all over again. It's nice to know these 2000 vocab words, but chances are you're either going to forget 96% of them or just plain never use that information again.

Also before anyone says I'm just saying these things because I'm salty and couldn't handle retaining all this info, I did well on my DAT. I just tend to see things in terms of "usefulness" and as someone that's been working in the dental field for quite a few years, and have talked to numerous dentists about both dental school and the DAT, the test itself is just a means of showing how much you can process and retain in a short amount of time. It's accurate to gauge how studious someone is, or can be, but it's by no means relevant in terms of content.

Also I'd like to throw one last bit out there. Seeing how someone can go from a 20 -> 18 (example) just because they didn't know the exact year that Dino's went extinct, or which prehistoric era dino's lived in seems kind of "unfair" to me. But I guess that's just the way the world works.

 

[BatedPenguin]

I still think it is more relevant than GPA.

 

[setdoc7]

Interestingly, It appears that the RC component is the best predictor for success in D school. I think a personality profile should be added to the admissions procedure...lots of info there,

 

[Bigjt1420]

You have to have a standardized test when it comes to applying to dental school. If not, you'd have kids going to a easy college getting 3.9's getting in over kids who went to a top 10 university with a 3.3. Much harder to do well at the latter. The DAT is the equalizer -- everyone has to take it, it's (basically) similar in difficulty, etc.

 

[serendipity30]

I think it's a fair game for everyone. We all know that it is possible to get a good GPA if you have an access to old tests.

Also gives an idea of how hard/easy your schools were.

 

[doc toothache]

2012 How US DS Rank DAT/GPA/Other Selection Criteria

 

[DigitalDental]

I think that the DAT is more a measure of effort than ability. Does being able to differentiate between the circulatory systems of roundworms / flatworms / nematodes make me any better suited to become a dentist? No. But the fact that I spent hours studying up on stuff like that to score highly on biology means that I want to be a dentist pretty darn bad.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile

 

[Hydra92]

Yes, there will always be a place for standardized scores. It's hard to compare GPA because it will vary with the applicant's school, majors, backgrounds, etc. Some universities curve to a C; some curve to an A. And some undergrad majors are harder than others. The DAT is one way to measure an applicant's competitiveness on a more even playing field if that makes sense.

 

[DigitalDental]

Besides the philosophical debate, there is a real mathematical relationship between DAT scores and GPA in dental school.

If you scroll down to page 18 of this document you'll see that most dental schools report a significant correlation between DAT scores and 1st year dental school GPA. (This is legit data, straight from the ADA.)

 

[serendipity30]

Besides the philosophical debate, there is a real mathematical relationship between DAT scores and GPA in dental school.

If you scroll down to page 18 of this document you'll see that most dental schools report a significant correlation between DAT scores and 1st year dental school GPA. (This is legit data, straight from the ADA.)

nice find!

 

[darude]

You need to have a standardized exam for dental school. While I agree that the sections on their own don't represent who will make a great dentist at the end of the day, combined they do give a decent profile for comparing applicants. GPA's can vary based off of which school you attend, and dental schools know this. I've seen practice tests from other schools for classes like Orgo 2 and they are way easier or more difficult from the ones I took (which weren't easy to begin with) depending on where they came from (I looked at MIT's, that was rough).

 

[SweetMelonPreDent]

PAT is a measure of how much time you can put in to looking at similar shapes over and over again to find out patterns to quickly "guess" the answer properly. Ask anyone who scored well on the PAT to repeat the PAT again after a few weeks, or months after not "practicing" and their scores will plummet.

This is absolutely not true. PAT is probably the most reasonable subject on the DAT to test. If someone gets a 16-18 on practice tests they wont get 21+ regardless of the attempts.

 

[wengerout]

To me, the test has become a “who can cram information for a month or two and regurgitate it on a computer screen”.

Welcome to Dental School.

 

[Kouneko]

Besides the philosophical debate, there is a real mathematical relationship between DAT scores and GPA in dental school.

If you scroll down to page 18 of this document you'll see that most dental schools report a significant correlation between DAT scores and 1st year dental school GPA. (This is legit data, straight from the ADA.)

Wait... ADA finally updated it! Nice find.

 

[Kouneko]

This one has even more data: https://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/dat_validity_study.pdf?la=en

It's interesting because on page 19, it shows that RC has the lowest correlation (even less than QR) on how a student performs in dental school. Will dental schools start taking QR scores more seriously than RC because of this?

 

[Bingwen]

This one has even more data: https://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/dat_validity_study.pdf?la=en

It's interesting because on page 19, it shows that RC has the lowest correlation (even less than QR) on how a student performs in dental school. Will dental schools start taking QR scores more seriously than RC because of this?

From what I have heard the correlation with RC is less grades and more to board scores. Though it will be interesting to see if that continues with the new board format.

 

[Faux]

I don't think half the classes are even necessary to get into dental school. Then again it separates the ones who really want it and the ones that think they do, unfortunately.


I still think the DAT was far harder than anything I had in dental school, and I'm entering my 4th year.