New DAT?

[Shredded Ape]

Straight off ADA's Website....
http://www.ada.org/dat.aspx/

Testing Services Are Not Available!

In an effort to improve the services we provide, the Department of Testing Services (DTS) is moving to a new software system. In December of 2012, communities of interest were informed that testing services would be interrupted during this transition, which was anticipated to take place in early 2013. This service interruption was scheduled to take place from March 14 through April 3, 2013 and is now in process. The total processing time for fulfilling requests could be up to seven weeks. Please download notice of unavailable services for additional information.

Yes im a loser checking this out on a Saturday night...
Any1 Know whats going on?

http://www.ada.org/sections/educationAndCareers/pdfs/dat_notice_closure.pdf
Seems to me that there is no testing during these three weeks?

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[patricklin27]

wait.. im taking the dat next week.. so i wont be able to get my scores right away???

 

[Myssey]

I actually had a fairly heated discussed with testing services regarding this issue. They are shut down from the middle of March until the end of the first week of April (approx.) What that means exactly is....1) if you make application to take the DAT during this time your application will not approved until they are back online. So, do not pay the $385 and apply to take it now b/c you will not get the approval email (which you must have before scheduling your test with Prometric) until after they are back online. 2) If you have already applied, paid, and received your approval email then you can go ahead and take it and YES the computer will still generate your unofficial scores, however, they will not be processing official scores (that schools will receive) until the software transition is complete. I actually take my DAT in 2 weeks so I had to rush and apply and pay quickly to ensure that I got my email before they shut down. She also told me that there would be a backlog of apps to process immediately after they come back online so there will be a delay in getting approval emails immediately following the 're-open" date.

My issue with their timing is this......why in all things that is good and holy would they NOT shut down in January since that's well after the December 1st notification date and the deadline for students that applied for last cycle had already passed well before that! If they are going to be shut down for a month, it would make much more sense to shut down Jan/Feb since.......we are beginning the new cycle rush!! Do they NOT know that a ton of students take their DAT in March/April to allow sufficient time to retake (just in case, of course)?? I was completely dumbfounded! What's worse is that they act like we are complete idiots for even questioning how their shut down is going to affect us.

Anyway....I hope this answers your question. Sorry about my rant but I was just as shocked as you guys with their timing.

 

[Myssey]

Sorry.....one other thing. This closure is due to new software within Testing Services. It is NOT actually a new or changed DAT. It is new software for them in the offices to process our scores and whatever else it is that they process there. LOL

 

[patricklin27]

I still dont get it. How exactly is this goong to affect us for people that are taking dat at this time? Whats the difference between unofficial and official score?

 

[Shredded Ape]

Okay so all in all. One cannot apply to take the DAT during these few weeks. Thats the only thing that matters to us all... If you already have a set date you are good to go. As for me, who hasnt paid for it yet, im screwed bc I wanted to take it before April and was going to apply yesterday... o well

 

[EpicDentist]

But there isnt a new DAT--they are just updating their systems right?

 

[Shredded Ape]

But there isnt a new DAT--they are just updating their systems right?

Ya Like someone else posted the centers are updating their software for scores and applications. Not the Actual DAT.

 

[johblip]

I was planning on taking the DAT way before the April 3rd mark, does this mean that I have to postpone it all to after the 3rd? So, I'm going to have to wait until the 4th to register and confirm, can I register to take the exam the very next day on the 5th? If not, how early can I register to take the exam after I pay? I have a feeling this is going to force me to study an extra month past when I'm ready for the exam....

 

[Shredded Ape]

I was planning on taking the DAT way before the April 3rd mark, does this mean that I have to postpone it all to after the 3rd? So, I'm going to have to wait until the 4th to register and confirm, can I register to take the exam the very next day on the 5th? If not, how early can I register to take the exam after I pay? I have a feeling this is going to force me to study an extra month past when I'm ready for the exam....

You cannot apply to take the DAT until around the 3rd (its not even confirmed that they will take applications on the 3rd)... and when you submit your application it would take longer than 24 hours to verify and give you an eligibility code to register for a test date. So I believe its going to be around the 7th or 8th that you can actually take your DAT.

 

[Dotoday]

Thanks for the info. Exactly what was wrong with the previous software? Does anyone know? Is this "inconvenience" really necessary?

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[IsaacYankem]

What if you're testing in the time of the outage, but want to reschedule to later? Anyone know how that works?

 

[Myssey]