Should I retake DAT with these scores?

[jhu1]

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this is for a friend ... he only got 1 interview and did not get in ... should he retake his DAT?

PA – 23
QR – 19
RC – 15 ( English is 2nd language)
BI – 18
GC – 24
OC – 20
TS – 20
AA – 19

GPA: 3.65 from a UC School

 

[Osity]

this is for a friend ... he only got 1 interview and did not get in ... should he retake his DAT?

PA – 23
QR – 19
RC – 15 ( English is 2nd language)
BI – 18
GC – 24
OC – 20
TS – 20
AA – 19

GPA: 3.65 from a UC School

Yes, you need to retake. Everything looks great except RC. Most schools require a 17+ on each section.

 

[wizi]

this is for a friend ... he only got 1 interview and did not get in ... should he retake his DAT?

PA – 23
QR – 19
RC – 15 ( English is 2nd language)
BI – 18
GC – 24
OC – 20
TS – 20
AA – 19

GPA: 3.65 from a UC School

This scares me.

I have the same TS, AA and 14 RC. English is my 2nd language too.

I am applying this year. Did your friend call schools and asked why they rejected him?

I guess I am going to retake soon.

 

[jhu1]

Yes, you need to retake. Everything looks great except RC. Most schools require a 17+ on each section.

what if lets say he goes up by 1-2 points in RC but goes down more total points in other sections?

 

[dentalWorks]

this is for a friend ... he only got 1 interview and did not get in ... should he retake his DAT?

PA – 23
QR – 19
RC – 15 ( English is 2nd language)
BI – 18
GC – 24
OC – 20
TS – 20
AA – 19

GPA: 3.65 from a UC School

If he already applied and didn't get in... that 15 RC is a big hint for a retake.

When did your friend apply (which month), how many schools? and only 1 interview?

IMO, retake is a must. Its not like he is in risk of loosing out on a stellar DAT performance (19 AA was average matriculation 2 years ago)

 

[camshaft]

what if lets say he goes up by 1-2 points in RC but goes down more total points in other sections?

Then he'll be taking it a 3rd time.

That RC score is a huge road block, and sorry to say, but although the PA and GC scores are good, it's not as if the scores overall are particularly awe-inspiring. He's going to need to get the RC score to at least an 18 (just in my opinion), along with an AA of at least 20. But also look at it this way - if he can bring the RC up to an 18 and simply maintain the other scores, that alone would likely bring his AA up to a 20.

 

[slm266]

Retake

 

[study girl]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein


Your friend needs to retake the DAT. Obviously, what he had wasn't what the schools were looking for. He needs to change something or else he will probably get the same result. Although reading comprehension isn't a major science, the ability to read and learn is essential in dental school. I can see how that would be a major red flag. If I was him, I would improve my English reading and brush up on a couple of the other sections again.

 

[hoylematt]

Retake to increase the RC score.

Supposedly the reason why Dschools are getting harder and harder about the RC score is because they changed the 2nd part of the boards to reflect a more problem based problem style (critical thinking and what not). Whatever the changes were (and I don't know exactly what those were), they seem to punish those with terrible English and have negatively affected some schools first time pass rates.

Several schools I interviewed at specifically mentioned a good amount of their asian foreign ESL students lowering the total average first time pass rates on the 2nd part of the boards. They said it is going to take a year or 2 more of being way more strict on RC scores to weed out all those students that got through admissions with pretty high Science scores, while at the same time having pretty low RC scores.

Turns out the people that make the boards think we should be able to read English.

 

[ZFlink]

If it makes you feel better I had a buddy that applied last cycle who got a 14 on QR and got like 3 or 4 interviews and was accepted into 2 of the schools. He only had like a 19AA too.

I am not sure about RC though, from what I have seen on SDN most schools look at QR the least amount, so maybe thats why he got in.

 

[evanyou]

I am sorry to say this, but he has to retake it. the RC score can be used to determine if he can follow the fast curriculum in dental school. I am an immigrant, too and I know how that feels, but he can't just rely on uncertain hope that he might get in next year.

 

[104]

If it makes you feel better I had a buddy that applied last cycle who got a 14 on QR and got like 3 or 4 interviews and was accepted into 2 of the schools. He only had like a 19AA too.

I am not sure about RC though, from what I have seen on SDN most schools look at QR the least amount, so maybe thats why he got in.

Yeah I had a friend get interviews at 7 schools and acceptances to 4 with a 19AA and a 14 QR she will be starting this fall at UCSF. Dont know if this helps since it not RC

 

[terry gordy]

Just my two cents....

I don't know why RC is being stressed so much. As part of my SMP, I've taken a full load of medical school courses (which I assume aren't that much different from dental courses) with the med students and to be honest, there really isn't that much reading involved. The only time I find myself reading is to supplement lectures (ie I still don't understand after going over the lecture material).

Actual textbook reading is only "recommended." For subjects like biochemistry, physio, and pharm, I think I may have spent about 2 hours of actual reading....

Thus, I think this whole "reading" thing is a gross exaggeration, but then again everyone is different.

From my experience, at the end of the day, it's what comes out of the instructors MOUTH that is most important and crucial to doing well on the tests.

Finally, RC on the DAT is a freaking joke. The whole thing is just a mad game of search and destroy. If it were like the mcat verbal, there might be some validity to it, but as it stands, there is room for improvement.

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

To reiterate...

A SDN member (I forgot who...) said that RC is being emphasized a lot more in a certain school because the boards format changed and it became more reading intensive/comprehensive. They've always accepted a lot of asian kids with super high TS but lower RC and their board passing rate plummeted for that year so now they are placing a higher emphasis on the RC section.

Also being able to read comprehensively is a very basic skill that should've been honed within the last 20+ years of your life.

 

[wizi]

When you say that alot of Asians fail the board exam, please provide some "numbers". Don't just say so because you heard it from someone else. They got accepted to Dental schools because they are smart and have the ability to become a dentist. This thread is about helping the OP with his decision but it turns out to be "asians with low RC score fail the board exam".


"RC on the DAT is a freaking joke. The whole thing is just a mad game of search and destroy" --> Imagine this situation. You go to China and learn Chinese for 4-5 years. Do you think reading chinese is a joke after 4-5 years? Do you think you can score 90% percentile when you have to read a passage 18 paragraphs long in Chinese? My point is that everyone has diff background (economically + financially). Something that is easy for you doesnt mean its easy for someone else and vice versa.

"Read comprehensively is a very basic skill that should've been honed within the last 20+ years of your life" --> If you speak English for 20+ years, then yes.

 

[terry gordy]

When you say that alot of Asians fail the board exam, please provide some "numbers". Don't just say so because you heard it from someone else. They got accepted to Dental schools because they are smart and have the ability to become a dentist. This thread is about helping the OP with his decision but it turns out to be "asians with low RC score fail the board exam".


"RC on the DAT is a freaking joke. The whole thing is just a mad game of search and destroy" --> Imagine this situation. You go to China and learn Chinese for 4-5 years. Do you think reading chinese is a joke after 4-5 years? Do you think you can score 90% percentile when you have to read a passage 18 paragraphs long in Chinese? My point is that everyone has diff background (economically + financially). Something that is easy for you doesnt mean its easy for someone else and vice versa.

"Read comprehensively is a very basic skill that should've been honed within the last 20+ years of your life" --> If you speak English for 20+ years, then yes.

That's why I compared it to the verbal section of the mcat. My point is that the DAT RC fails as a test of one's ability with respect to reading comprehension.

Also, the asian/white RC gap is only 0.89 according to the data with whites at 19.9 and asians at 19.01. FWIW, blacks average at around 17.71, hispanics at 18.25, and american indians at 19.31. Given the numbers, I don't know why only asians are being singled out in this thread.....

I agree that it would be harder for an international students and others individuals where english is not their first language to score high on the RC. Nonetheless, could it be that asians are jus being held to higher standards? The 7% matriculation discrepency between asian and white does indicate that asians are at a disadvantage. One poster in another thread suggested this might be due to lower RC scores on teh part of asians, but I don't think a 0.81 difference is enough to account for that...

 

[dantemac]

I don't think this whole topic should be made racial. It's hard for international students to get into our schools, and it's hard for us Americans to get into foreign scores. That's the way it is for numerous reasons, the language barrier only one of them.

 

[mamt]

I think the question is..do you feel confident enough to score higher in the RC section if you were to retake it? If not, then why risk your other high scores? If so, I'd go for it.