Pushing back DAT not a good idea?

[UFRalo]

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Hi all,

I am scheduled to take the DAT on July 7th, however I am seriously thinking I will bomb certain sections (i.e. gen chem) if I take it then. I have been studying pretty well for PAT, RC, QR, and Bio. I think those sections will be fine for me. However, I am going thru destroyer and getting owned in Gen chem. It's been about 4 years since i even touched the stuff so I am not doing so well at remembering things. Also, I am having some trouble with Ochem, but not nearly as much as with gen chem. I have watched chad's videos, but that was a few months ago and I havent been able to commit as much time to studying as I thought I would be able to.

I would just push it back to the middle of July or something, but I am going to be gone for 10 days in the middle of the month. Do you think pushing it back to early august would be a bad idea?

 

[lemoncurry]

Schools won't, in most cases, consider your app for anything until it is complete, which includes your DAT scores. It is in your best interest to take it as soon as possible. This way, if you do bomb a section, you can take it again before the application cycle is through.

 

[IdahoDoc]

When it comes to pushing the DAT back you have a ton of things to consider. The two biggest are... 1.The later you take the DAT the higher your scores have to be to be competive. 2. You really don't want to take the DAT before you are ready because there is nothing more frustrating than having 90 days to kick yourself for taking it before you were ready and having to retake even later in the cycle requireing even higher scores.

So it comes down to how ready you feel you can be at each possible test day. But do keep in mind that a 19AA in July is just as good if not better than a 21 in October.

 

[DQLEUCD]

If you are not ready then do not take the DAT's. If you do great on all the sections and bad on one, guess what you have to retake the DAT's and there is a window that you will have to wait before taking it again which will push your application further back. So if you are doing poorly in g. chem. take a week and review the material and then take the test.

 

[TamHLe]

what about a 16AA in july compared to a 19AA in august?

 

[dmitriyivanov]

what about a 16AA in july compared to a 19AA in august?

Great point, I pushed mine for an extra month (sep 28th) and it worked just fine....

 

[DQLEUCD]

Yea, 16AA means automatic retake, no brainer there, just take the test when you are ready. Also look in the DAT section of SDN on tips on how to study. and the last week before the test, just take a lot of tests until your brain hurts. Also stop any other extracurricular activities that week like work or volunteering so you can focus on just DAT's.