Whats your best approximation of DAT score -> MCAT score?

[mitrieD]

I know they are both very different exams. But as someone who is switching from DAT to MCAT I'm just curious how the scores would approximately translate. What would a 20 on the DAT translate to on the MCAT (not my official DAT score). Has anyone here taken both exams?

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[HCHopeful]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/anyone-take-mcat-dat-want-to-hear-results.59250/

That discusses it a bit.

 

[mitrieD]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/anyone-take-mcat-dat-want-to-hear-results.59250/

That discusses it a bit.

So based on that thread it seems that a 20 on DAT is probably a 23-25 MCAT.

 

[HCHopeful]

So based on that thread it seems that a 20 on DAT is probably a 23-25 MCAT.

I really have no clue! I would come to the conclusion that it's a bit different for each person. I've never given any look to the DAT, but from that thread it seems that it's a lot of just knowing certain facts or memorizing. The MCAT requires you to know everything but also be able to integrate it into critical thinking scenarios.

All I know is that the MCAT is a beast, and I am glad to be done with it.

 

[rachel993]

I don't think you can make any comparison, as the MCAT covers both more and different material than the DAT.

 

[lurking892]

Anecdotally I have a friend who switched from pre-med to pre-dental after his MCAT score was deemed "too low" (all I know is that it was a 33 or lower). He got 99th percentile on the DAT.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Look up the percentiles for each test.

This does not take difficulty/individual accounts into consideration, but it will give you a good approximation.

 

[dextertrip]

Look up the percentiles for each test.

This does not take difficulty/individual accounts into consideration, but it will give you a good approximation.

You can't just take percentiles because the population taking the MCAT and the population taking the DAT are different. The average matriculating medical student has a GPA of 3.77 and dental student is 3.5. The same trend is true for applicants. This means that more "competitive" students are taking the MCAT. It's not possible to compare them but one possible way would be to find correlation trends with gpa and scores( but this can be severely flawed as well). But basically, I have friends that scored in the 78th percentile in the MCAT then score in the 99.9 percentile in the DAT. It won't always be that drastic but it's a trend I've seen often. My anectdotal experiences could all just be flukes but it seems to follow the reasoning I stated at the beginning

 

[NeuResurgens]

This is truly not a comparison I'd attempt to make. There is no section based on abstract 3D shape manipulation on the MCAT, but there is physics, both unlike the DAT. You can't translate them because the same person taking both could get 90th percentile on one and 50th percentile on the other.

 

[einsteinm]

This is an interesting thread. I feel like opening up a DAT book and taking a practice exam.

 

[Theafoni]

Anecdotally I have a friend who switched from pre-med to pre-dental after his MCAT score was deemed "too low" (all I know is that it was a 33 or lower). He got 99th percentile on the DAT.

Dentist it is!

This is an interesting thread. I feel like opening up a DAT book and taking a practice exam.

Too much time on your hands?