Took my DAT today

[RXfoodie]

Hi everyone, I took my DAT today, and am extremely disappointed in my scores.

PAT: 22
Bio: 23
GC: 21
OC: 20
RC: 23
QR: 20
AA: 21

I know that these are not bad scores, but they are no where near the scores I was hoping for/getting on practice tests. On any practice test, I never scored lower than a 27 in Organic Chemistry and was consistently scoring 30s..that is my best subject by far. I am completely confused how I could have gotten a 20 because I felt confident during the exam. I also normally score much much higher in both reading and QR.

During the QR section, I noticed at the very end that if the calculator was up on my screen, the answer choice I selected did not actually select. I am worried that I made this mistake on more than a few problems and actually left them unanswered--seeing as I didn't have time to go back and check.

I am going into my junior year of college, and currently have a 4.0 GPA. Again, I do realize that these are not bad scores, but I can't help but feel extremely disappointed in myself. If I could take the test again tomorrow, I would, because I feel like I am prepared now, but I know I can't.

I want to retake the exam because I know I can do better, but I guess I just don't know if it's worth the time and money.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had any words of advice? At this point, all I'm doing is beating myself up. I feel extremely frustrated and can't help but think that all the time I spent studying was wasted.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

Grats on finishing. I mean I know that feeling too and I retook and did much better... Your scores are more well rounded than mine tbh. (Edit: You have a 4.0. Not worth the effort to retake)

 

[Ari Rezaei]

Your scores are excellent all around! Don't let SDN skew your view of what a good score is. I attached the percentiles from the 2007 DAT (the last one that published percentiles), and you're in the top 7% of all test takers in the country according to this chart. If you ask any dental school or pre-health advisor, I'm sure the advice would be to not retake, you did very well! Relax and enjoy your life a bit congratulations!

 

[pulp_fiction]

20's across the board, 4.0, you'll have your choice of dental school. Congrats on your amazing accomplishments and go enjoy your life a bit!!!

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Hi everyone, I took my DAT today, and am extremely disappointed in my scores.

PAT: 22
Bio: 23
GC: 21
OC: 20
RC: 23
QR: 20
AA: 21

I know that these are not bad scores, but they are no where near the scores I was hoping for/getting on practice tests. On any practice test, I never scored lower than a 27 in Organic Chemistry and was consistently scoring 30s..that is my best subject by far. I am completely confused how I could have gotten a 20 because I felt confident during the exam. I also normally score much much higher in both reading and QR.

During the QR section, I noticed at the very end that if the calculator was up on my screen, the answer choice I selected did not actually select. I am worried that I made this mistake on more than a few problems and actually left them unanswered--seeing as I didn't have time to go back and check.

I am going into my junior year of college, and currently have a 4.0 GPA. Again, I do realize that these are not bad scores, but I can't help but feel extremely disappointed in myself. If I could take the test again tomorrow, I would, because I feel like I am prepared now, but I know I can't.

I want to retake the exam because I know I can do better, but I guess I just don't know if it's worth the time and money.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had any words of advice? At this point, all I'm doing is beating myself up. I feel extremely frustrated and can't help but think that all the time I spent studying was wasted.

Congratulations! Excellent scores, are you trying to get into a school that these scores will not suffice? If not I see no reason to retake the DAT. Just curious about your comment if you took the DAT again tomorrow you would be prepared? How would you feel more prepared in 24 hours? If you took the exam again you would get a completely different version of the exam..Any words of wisdom for those yet to take the DAT?

I would not retake the DAT unless absolutely necessary, I just love your scores, they are consistent and you have that 23 in reading!

Don't be hard on yourself, you should be very proud, as I have stated over and over again, no timed test can accurately predict 100 percent of the time your actual DAT score( I have seen this strategy backfire quite often).

Wishing you the best..

Nancy

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

Congratulations! Excellent scores, are you trying to get into a school that these scores will not suffice? If not I see no reason to retake the DAT. Just curious about your comment if you took the DAT again tomorrow you would be prepared? How would you feel more prepared in 24 hours? If you took the exam again you would get a completely different version of the exam..Any words of wisdom for those yet to take the DAT?

I would not retake the DAT unless absolutely necessary, I just love your scores, they are consistent and you have that 23 in reading!

Don't be hard on yourself, you should be very proud, as I have stated over and over again, no timed test can accurately predict 100 percent of the time your actual DAT score.

Wishing you the best..

Nancy

I can't help but agree with the timed test statement. Was my downfall for my first DAT in all honesty. Yes they are great for timing and give you a general sense of where you are but they won't predict your performance anywhere close to perfectly. I only had one good practice test score this second time around compared to two the first time but I did much better because I had studied for longer and covered more material. Uh, also I actually got some sleep and wasn't anywhere near as scared. Perhaps that's what you'd be able to work on haha

 

[OnlyIfICouldTurnBackTime]

20's across the board, 4.0, you'll have your choice of dental school. Congrats on your amazing accomplishments and go enjoy your life a bit!!!

^ I'd say worry not unless your GPA falls below 3.5+, which seems unlikely for you.

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

^ I'd say worry not unless your GPA falls below 3.5+, which seems unlikely for you.

Asker has a 4.0 haha. I unfortunately have a 3.4 ;(

 

[tabitha6269]

Excellent scores! Go relax and enjoy before the semester begins again. You are golden. No worries.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[klownzo]

You have great scores. Only on SDN are people frustrated with a 21 AA and no score below a 20. What you see here is not representative of the application pool! Enjoy getting multiple interviews!

 

[RXfoodie]

Congratulations! Excellent scores, are you trying to get into a school that these scores will not suffice? If not I see no reason to retake the DAT. Just curious about your comment if you took the DAT again tomorrow you would be prepared? How would you feel more prepared in 24 hours? If you took the exam again you would get a completely different version of the exam..Any words of wisdom for those yet to take the DAT?

I would not retake the DAT unless absolutely necessary, I just love your scores, they are consistent and you have that 23 in reading!

Don't be hard on yourself, you should be very proud, as I have stated over and over again, no timed test can accurately predict 100 percent of the time your actual DAT score( I have seen this strategy backfire quite often).

Wishing you the best..

Nancy

Thank you so much for commenting, as reading these comments are making me feel a little better. I said I would like to take it again tomorrow because I KNOW that I can perform much better than a 20 on organic chemistry and a 23 on reading... I honestly don't know what went wrong today.

I also know that I could have performed better in QR. I knew how to solve all but one question, and thought I had answered all questions until I realized that when the calculator was still on the screen, my answer choices were not being saved. So, I guess my advice to others would be to make sure the calculator (or periodic table for that matter) is no longer on the screen when you are clicking on your answer, because it will initially show as blackened in, but if the calculator is on the screen, it does not stay clicked. So at the very end of QR when I was reviewing my answers, I realized that any question that I had used the calculator on had not saved the answer, and I did not have enough time to re-answer every question that this happened on.

I know I have good scores, but I guess I just was hoping for something higher. It's very frustrating to have spent 3 months studying (exclusively) and not performing as well as you believe you could.

Again though, thank you for commenting, and I can say that DAT Destroyer was an immensely useful resource for me, so thanks for that!

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

Thank you so much for commenting, as reading these comments are making me feel a little better. I said I would like to take it again tomorrow because I KNOW that I can perform much better than a 20 on organic chemistry and a 23 on reading... I honestly don't know what went wrong today.

I also know that I could have performed better in QR. I knew how to solve all but one question, and thought I had answered all questions until I realized that when the calculator was still on the screen, my answer choices were not being saved. So, I guess my advice to others would be to make sure the calculator (or periodic table for that matter) is no longer on the screen when you are clicking on your answer, because it will initially show as blackened in, but if the calculator is on the screen, it does not stay clicked. So at the very end of QR when I was reviewing my answers, I realized that any question that I had used the calculator on had not saved the answer, and I did not have enough time to re-answer every question that this happened on.

I know I have good scores, but I guess I just was hoping for something higher. It's very frustrating to have spent 3 months studying (exclusively) and not performing as well as you believe you could.

Again though, thank you for commenting, and I can say that DAT Destroyer was an immensely useful resource for me, so thanks for that!

3 months you are quite dedicated! Sucks that happened to you on QR. Hey I feel the same way; I basically know how to do everything but still find a way to screw that up. Unbelievable isn't it.... Sometimes the pressure gets to us. You're golden though I know you'll get into dental school

 

[roy williams II]

I understand exactly where you are coming from and am worried about the exact same thing. It just doesn't seem fair when you have done so well on the practice exams and then your DAT score doesn't represent that, or the fact that you worked your butt off! This is especially true when you see SOO many people who scored the same as they did on practice tests or even better. It's frustrating! You almost want to go to dental schools and say buuuuut I made these scores on all my practice tests.

Lucky for you, you don't need a retake! Your practice test scores are extremely high. I can only imagine the disappointment for someone who was consistently making 23s on practice and then ended up with a 15 or 16.

 

[JLT223]

Hi everyone, I took my DAT today, and am extremely disappointed in my scores.

PAT: 22
Bio: 23
GC: 21
OC: 20
RC: 23
QR: 20
AA: 21

I know that these are not bad scores, but they are no where near the scores I was hoping for/getting on practice tests. On any practice test, I never scored lower than a 27 in Organic Chemistry and was consistently scoring 30s..that is my best subject by far. I am completely confused how I could have gotten a 20 because I felt confident during the exam. I also normally score much much higher in both reading and QR.

During the QR section, I noticed at the very end that if the calculator was up on my screen, the answer choice I selected did not actually select. I am worried that I made this mistake on more than a few problems and actually left them unanswered--seeing as I didn't have time to go back and check.

I am going into my junior year of college, and currently have a 4.0 GPA. Again, I do realize that these are not bad scores, but I can't help but feel extremely disappointed in myself. If I could take the test again tomorrow, I would, because I feel like I am prepared now, but I know I can't.

I want to retake the exam because I know I can do better, but I guess I just don't know if it's worth the time and money.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had any words of advice? At this point, all I'm doing is beating myself up. I feel extremely frustrated and can't help but think that all the time I spent studying was wasted.

You need to realize you scored in the 90th+ percentile. If that's "wasted time" then I don't know what to tell you. You have a 4.0. It seriously doesn't matter at this point if you scored a 21 or 23.

 

[asdf99]

I haven't written yet, but those look like amazing scores haha. The only time I have seen people retake a 21 AA is if they received a low PAT score and are applying to Canadian schools (canadian's love the PAT...). But you killed the PAT too haha!

Truth be told, I do not think you should rewrite, but it is completely understandable to be disappointed with the discrepancy between practice/real scores.

 

[roy williams II]

Hi everyone, I took my DAT today, and am extremely disappointed in my scores.

PAT: 22
Bio: 23
GC: 21
OC: 20
RC: 23
QR: 20
AA: 21

I know that these are not bad scores, but they are no where near the scores I was hoping for/getting on practice tests. On any practice test, I never scored lower than a 27 in Organic Chemistry and was consistently scoring 30s..that is my best subject by far. I am completely confused how I could have gotten a 20 because I felt confident during the exam. I also normally score much much higher in both reading and QR.

During the QR section, I noticed at the very end that if the calculator was up on my screen, the answer choice I selected did not actually select. I am worried that I made this mistake on more than a few problems and actually left them unanswered--seeing as I didn't have time to go back and check.

I am going into my junior year of college, and currently have a 4.0 GPA. Again, I do realize that these are not bad scores, but I can't help but feel extremely disappointed in myself. If I could take the test again tomorrow, I would, because I feel like I am prepared now, but I know I can't.

I want to retake the exam because I know I can do better, but I guess I just don't know if it's worth the time and money.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had any words of advice? At this point, all I'm doing is beating myself up. I feel extremely frustrated and can't help but think that all the time I spent studying was wasted.

I forgot to ask, why do you think the scores were so drastically different? Were you not expecting that content or what happened?