Reading Comprehension strategies?

[Juevon]

I was wondering if anybody had any strategies to help me in the reading comprehension part of the dat, thanx

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[SirShagaLot]

get good at scanning stuff...i just read the questions and try to go back and skim the text to find the answers....for me, reading it all before the questions is a total waste of time........kaplan instructs you to read it all and make an active outline and then use that outline as a guide to find the answers to your questions...for me, this just takes up way too much time

 

[PChemGrad]

get good at scanning stuff...i just read the questions and try to go back and skim the text to find the answers....for me, reading it all before the questions is a total waste of time........kaplan instructs you to read it all and make an active outline and then use that outline as a guide to find the answers to your questions...for me, this just takes up way too much time

This is what I did and I did very well on the RC part.

 

[wigglytooth]

This is what I did and I did very well on the RC part.

my strategy was similar--i called doing the section doing a "search-a-word." just pick a key word out of the question, then skim the essay for it. after skimming for the words the first couple of times, you should be able to get a good sense of how the essay is organized so you can find the next keywords more easily.

 

[SMCohen]

If you're writing the Canadian DAT, you can bring a highlighter.

 

[SirShagaLot]

If you're writing the Canadian DAT, you can bring a highlighter.

why does everyone from canada say "writing"....and not "taking"

 

[shamrock2006]

yea I did it the stupid way....I read the passage, basically memorized what every paragraph was about...and answered the questions from memory...in retrospect it was a poor choice..but I did well enough apparently...so I guess now it doesnt matter.

 

[IamJetLi]

seriously........gut deyam, starting to annoy me yo....

why does everyone from canada say "writing"....and not "taking"

 

[SMCohen]

why does everyone from canada say "writing"....and not "taking"

Seriously?

 

[shamrock2006]

why does everyone from canada say "writing"....and not "taking"

i'm sure he doesnt mean this in negative, stereotypical way...its an honest question....i still dont know what it means to "write" the DAT. Can anyone from Canada shed some light on this? I'd really like to know.

 

[SMCohen]

You 'write' an exam, you 'take' a driver's test.

 

[ddstobe]

why does everyone from canada say "writing"....and not "taking"

That's what I've been wondering...

 

[ddstobe]

That's what I've been wondering...

I'm also wondering how many Canadians are trying to get into the U.S. dschool? It looks like we're not only competing with out-of-staters but also Canadians! How many spots do the Canadian dschool have for the Americans? I guess what I'm asking is that does input>output???

 

[SMCohen]

That's what I've been wondering...

Get over it.

I'm also wondering how many Canadians are trying to get into the U.S. dschool? It looks like we're not only competing with out-of-staters but also Canadians! How many spots do the Canadian dschool have for the Americans? I guess what I'm asking is that does input>output???

There are only 10 dental schools in Canada, one of which you probably have to speak French to get into. Other schools, such as Manitoba only leave a small number of spots for out-of-province applicants. And lastly, the University of Toronto requires you to have a GPA of around ~3.8 to receive an interview invitation. That is why so many Canadians apply to American schools.

 

[SugarNaCl]

I don't know if there is anything to this or not, but I took the DAT 2 times. First time was in 2004. I received a 17 on RC. I wasn't happy with this of course. After working in biomedical research for 4 years (particularly the last 2) and pouring through TONS of scientific journals my RC went up to 22 in 2006 and instead of running out of time, had time to spare. Some of the material that was medically related though, I actually knew without reading just bc of familiarity. I'm not really sure if that had anything to do with it. I think when you get used to reading scientific material, it makes RC a lot easier.

Fast scanning does seem to work also.

 

[pine88]

why does everyone from canada say "writing"....and not "taking"

seriously........gut deyam, starting to annoy me yo....

Yeah, how dare they not speak exactly like us Americans. We are always right after all. Silly Brits and Aussies get it wrong too. If that bugs you, don't talk to them about renting a car

I was wondering if anybody had any strategies to help me in the reading comprehension part of the dat, thanx

another Kaplan tip was to learn to use the mouse with you left-hand if you are right-handed, or vice versa. That way you can take notes as you read. I like it...still using my left hand for the mouse.

 

[masterDDS]

I thought it was ADA writing the dat, and students taking the dat.

 

[armorshell]

So if you take the DAT, do you have to give it back?

 

[1992Corolla]

So many qoutes I want to internet punch.

Canadians have been doing it wrong for years...nothing new with this lingo either. You write an essay. You take a test. Dental Admission TEST, therefore you take the DAT.

After you take it, yes, you do give it back. In return for returning the test they give you a score.

The score is usually higher if you took the test using the mouse left handed. This makes it easier for dental schools to weed out those who got lower scores because they couldn't come up with the hand skills to be ambidextrious for a day.


For all of the noobies this was all sarcastic. Refer to rule z3r0!

For the OGP (original gangsta poster):

Read the questions (I liked to read 5 at a time) then scan the crap out of that essay and find those answers.

 

[Fuji]

My strategy was different from those above. I read the essays and made a mental note of the main point of each paragraph. When I read each question, I already knew which paragraph to look for the answer.

End result? RC was my best section by 6 points.

And Canadians don't even say the name of their country properly. It's pronounced: Uh-mare-i-ka June-your.

 

[ddstobe]

I thought it was ADA writing the dat, and students taking the dat.

No you're wrong, it's more like the Canadians write the test and we all Americans take the test.

SMC: you're ok with me saying that right?!

 

[ddstobe]

I don't know if there is anything to this or not, but I took the DAT 2 times. First time was in 2004. I received a 17 on RC. I wasn't happy with this of course. After working in biomedical research for 4 years (particularly the last 2) and pouring through TONS of scientific journals my RC went up to 22 in 2006 and instead of running out of time, had time to spare. Some of the material that was medically related though, I actually knew without reading just bc of familiarity. I'm not really sure if that had anything to do with it. I think when you get used to reading scientific material, it makes RC a lot easier.

Fast scanning does seem to work also.

Interesting!!! Could you elaborate a little more? What kind of or what journals have you read the most in the past 2 years? How many hours do you usually spend on reading? American born? Thx!

 

[SugarNaCl]

Interesting!!! Could you elaborate a little more? What kind of or what journals have you read the most in the past 2 years? How many hours do you usually spend on reading? American born? Thx!

American born, yes. Well, I work in cancer research (Dept Medicine in pharmacology/therapeutics lab --translational) so I need to be familiar with the cellular mechanisms and sig. pthwys as well as drug efficacy and potency. Because I have to plan my own experiments often, I spend a LOT of time reading pubmed articles, on oncology, biochem, clinical studies etc. I think I started improving though after a couple months of reading them maybe for only 5 hours/week. I've picked up more since those days.
Upside: Improved my RC score.
Downside: I probably know some of the trad. medical field better than dentistry

 

[Jaybe]

I was wondering if anybody had any strategies to help me in the reading comprehension part of the dat, thanx

1) First Step: Read
2) Second Step: Comprehend

This two step strategy is all you need, really. Good Luck!!!