Should I cancel DAT and take it next year?

[Avacado0o]

So, I signed up for DAT and couldn't prepare as much as I feel like I should have. I know for sure it won't benefit me. Knowing that dental schools can view all scores, some average out the scores, and others consider the low scores, I'm hesitant to take the DAT now to hinder my chances of acceptance.
Some suggested to take it anyway to see where I'm standing. Others told me to bare that 400 and something dollars loss for the price of avoiding bad impression when it comes to my application.
My GPA is average and I have 2 more semesters left and can't let my chances to be lowered more.
I'm not a risk-taker but if I'm wrong and having a low score won't make a difference in dental schools' decisions of accepting me, then I really missed the chances of the real DAT experience ( in terms of self-evaluation). I can't decide. Would love to hear your advice.

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[caffeine jitters]

My advice is to take the 400 dollar loss. Use this time to further strengthen your application through GPA improvements, gaining leadership positions in clubs, volunteering, research, etc.

Only take the DAT after preparing sufficiently.

 

[MLC45]

I was pushed by others to take the DAT twice when I wasn’t ready and it was a total waste in more ways than just finically. The first 3 you can take after 90 days. After that you have to wait a year inbetween tests. Advise from someone who has taken it 4 times, wait till your ready!

 

[cystinosis]

I was pushed by others to take the DAT twice when I wasn’t ready and it was a total waste in more ways than just finically. The first 3 you can take after 90 days. After that you have to wait a year inbetween tests. Advise from someone who has taken it 4 times, wait till your ready!

You can take many prep DAT test for free on-line to see where you stand and where to improve. Dental schools look at your best DAT which is most recent and you do not get penalized for taking it twice. So if you already paid for DAT take it and you will know how to prepare for the next DAT
its to your advantage! I took it only once but if I had to retake it I would prepare differently so that experience would be really valuable to me and also would not stress so much, one girl actually was crying throughout writing DAT.

 

[weaselodeath]

So, I signed up for DAT and couldn't prepare as much as I feel like I should have. I know for sure it won't benefit me. Knowing that dental schools can view all scores, some average out the scores, and others consider the low scores, I'm hesitant to take the DAT now to hinder my chances of acceptance.
Some suggested to take it anyway to see where I'm standing. Others told me to bare that 400 and something dollars loss for the price of avoiding bad impression when it comes to my application.
My GPA is average and I have 2 more semesters left and can't let my chances to be lowered more.
I'm not a risk-taker but if I'm wrong and having a low score won't make a difference in dental schools' decisions of accepting me, then I really missed the chances of the real DAT experience ( in terms of self-evaluation). I can't decide. Would love to hear your advice.

There is absolutely no point to taking the actual DAT to 'see where you're at' instead of taking some practice tests. My advice would be to pay the $100 change fee to push it back a little if you can commit to studying in that time.

I think you already pretty much know if you're ready. You have to study for this like you're training to mentally fight Manny Pacquiao. If you can get lean and mean, build your stamina, and hone your skills then you're going to nail this thing. If you are trying to go into it after running a 5k once with your gut sticking out over your belt then you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[dentalschool123]

At my interview I was asked about my horrific 17 TS 18 AA first DAT that I knew I was not ready to take (only studied for 3 weeks) compared to my new 23 TS 22 AA... so they can definitely see the previous DAT. 100 percent don’t take it until you are ready. I agree, practice tests can tell you where you stand so go based off those.. although I did get accepted to this school so as long as you can do really well the next time maybe it doesn’t matter? Not sure this was just my experience

 

[MendiT13]

So, I signed up for DAT and couldn't prepare as much as I feel like I should have. I know for sure it won't benefit me. Knowing that dental schools can view all scores, some average out the scores, and others consider the low scores, I'm hesitant to take the DAT now to hinder my chances of acceptance.
Some suggested to take it anyway to see where I'm standing. Others told me to bare that 400 and something dollars loss for the price of avoiding bad impression when it comes to my application.
My GPA is average and I have 2 more semesters left and can't let my chances to be lowered more.
I'm not a risk-taker but if I'm wrong and having a low score won't make a difference in dental schools' decisions of accepting me, then I really missed the chances of the real DAT experience ( in terms of self-evaluation). I can't decide. Would love to hear your advice.

You may know this already, but you can reschule it. There is a 6 month window to take it. Have you taken any practice tests? DAT Bootcamp has 1 practice test you can take for free, the. You have to pay to get access to everything.

 

[Avacado0o]

At my interview I was asked about my horrific 17 TS 18 AA first DAT that I knew I was not ready to take (only studied for 3 weeks) compared to my new 23 TS 22 AA... so they can definitely see the previous DAT. 100 percent don’t take it until you are ready. I agree, practice tests can tell you where you stand so go based off those.. although I did get accepted to this school so as long as you can do really well the next time maybe it doesn’t matter? Not sure this was just my experience

I'm actually uncertain of how to handle it if they asked why I messed up my first try because the honest answer is that i didn't do enough research to know how to approach it. My strategy wasn't strong enough and I got stuck halfway. That's a weakness an average student like me is uncertain of admitting in addition to why my grades aren't a 4.0 and such and such because it's my fault and It can ruin my image for them by being unprepared

What did you say when they asked you this?

 

[weaselodeath]

I'm actually uncertain of how to handle it if they asked why I messed up my first try because the honest answer is that i didn't do enough research to know how to approach it. My strategy wasn't strong enough and I got stuck halfway. That's a weakness an average student like me is uncertain of admitting in addition to why my grades aren't a 4.0 and such and such because it's my fault and It can ruin my image for them by being unprepared

What did you say when they asked you this?

I know I'm not the guy you asked about this, but I think my 2 cents has value so I'm going to hit you with it.

Failure is a big part of life, and it is every successful person's greatest teacher. Losers fail their way into learned helplessness. Winners fail their way to success. There is absolutely no shame in telling an admissions committee about an incorrect strategy leading to failure as long as the second half of that story is you taking the lessons you learned from that failure and turning them into a viable strategy the next time. Turning something around is a strong narrative that can point to your resilience, maturity, and humility if you let it. Honestly it's probably a lot better than having a 4.0 and nothing to talk about.

 

[Ant951]

You can or you can't. It's a preference. If you do extremely bad this time around, you will need to be confident that you will do better the next time. As the other previous posts have said, you can take various practice tests than having to take the real one just to see how it is. If it's possible pay the 100 and push it back and just spend more time studying.

 

[dentalschool123]

I'm actually uncertain of how to handle it if they asked why I messed up my first try because the honest answer is that i didn't do enough research to know how to approach it. My strategy wasn't strong enough and I got stuck halfway. That's a weakness an average student like me is uncertain of admitting in addition to why my grades aren't a 4.0 and such and such because it's my fault and It can ruin my image for them by being unprepared

What did you say when they asked you this?

I also had a low gpa but never got asked about it, as for the DAT I explained it in a specific way, instead of saying like I was unprepared blah blah I took the things I learned from that time and what I changed for the second time. I said as I was studying for the first test I realized that I was changing my answers after my initial answer was put down and 99% of the time I would change it to the wrong one. This helped me realize that I needed to be more confident in myself and my knowledge from my science courses to do well. After this realization I stopped changing answers and ended up doing so much better. I also said this applied to my schoolwork when taking tests as well because I had a dramatic upward trend after getting my first degree. So try to explain the things you learned rather than just “ I was unprepared and didn’t have good strategies”. explain what strategies you know now that are good

 

[californiway21]

I would reschedule it. You’ll never feel fully prepared for the exam, but there needs to be a certain level of comfort going into the exam. I would hate to have to explain ad coms why I did bad on the DAT first time around.