PREPARING TO APPLY:

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DATS

The Dental School Application Timeline, Part 1

Cornell Pre-Dental SocietyOctober 28, 2010 Lindsey Atiyeh

THE BASICS

DENTAL ADMISSION TEST (DAT):What is it?

An exam taken by ALL students who are planning to apply to dental

school. It is:

280 Questions

Entirely Multiple Choice (ALL are A-E)

Computerized

Exam Fee: $285 (non-refundable)

Fee includes sending score reports to any schools listed on your

DAT application, regardless of the number of schools. However, to

send an official score report to additional institutions after you

have submitted your DAT application, a $25 fee will be incurred

per school.

DENTAL ADMISSION TEST (DAT):

Maximum Score: 30

National Average: 17

Usually, Cornell students aim for a 19 or above.

NOTE: You must wait 90 days before retaking the exam.

The best advice is to PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

STEP 1: READ THE DAT GUIDE

Info about eligibility requirements, rules of conduct, test regulations, testing procedures, testing checklist, and FAQs

The 2010 DAT Guide can be found HERE, or you can access it at www.ada.org

STEP 2: OBTAIN A DENTPIN AND APPLY TO TAKE THE TEST

You must have a DENTPIN (DENTal Personal Identifier Number) in order to proceed with your application to test your score report request your application to a dental program or application

service

STEP 3: SCHEDULE A TIME TO TAKE THE TEST

Must apply to take the test with the ADA and receive your eligibility letter before scheduling your testing appointment with Prometric.

Tests are administered year-round at Prometric Test Centers, so you may take the test almost any day of the year.

IMPORTANT!To make sure you get your first choice of date, time, and location, you should schedule at least 60 days before the desired test date.

You can change your test date up to two days before your scheduled exam date for a fee ($25).

TAKING THE DAT

BREAKDOWNThe exam takes 4 hours and 15

minutes (or 5 hours including the tutorial, break, and survey):

SECTION TIMETutorial 15 minutes

Natural Sciences 90 minutes

Perceptual Ability Test (PAT)

60 minutes

Break 15 minutes

Reading Comprehension Test

60 minutes

Quantitative Reasoning Test

45 minutes

Survey 15 minutes

NATURAL SCIENCESTime: 90 minutes

Format: 100 multiple-choice questions from 3 science areas

Time per question: 54 seconds

Biology 40 questions General Chemistry 30 questions Organic Chemistry 30 questions

PERCEPTUAL ABILITY TEST (PAT)Time: 60 minutesFormat: 90 multiple-choice questions divided

into 6 parts (15 questions in each area)Time per question: 40 seconds

Apertures (aka. Keyholes) View Recognition (aka. Top-Front-End, Orthographic

Projections) Angle Ranking Paper Folding Cube Counting 3D Form Development (aka. Pattern Folding)

READING COMPREHENSIONTime: 60 minutes

Format: 50 multiple-choice questions:3 passages with about 16-17 questions each

Time per question: 1 minute and 12 seconds

Passages tend to be scientific and technical

“Tone” questions do appear!

QUANTITATIVE REASONING

Time: 45 minutes

Format: 40 multiple-choice questions

Time per question: 1 minute and 8 seconds

Fractions, decimals, and percentages Algebra Word Problems Geometry Trigonometry

Effective March 2010: Calculator available on screen!

IMPORTANT!There is NO penalty for wrong answers!

NEVER EVER leave any question blank!

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

NOTE:

The sample questions that were discussed during the meeting can all be found online. Please go to “Resources” on our website to find additional sample problems, helpful websites, and DAT supplies.

AFTER THE TEST

You will receive an unofficial score report right after you finish the test! You will not be sent any other score report.

The official scores are sent to the dental schools you requested on your DAT application.

STUDY RESOURCES DAT DESTROYER!!

http://www.orgoman.com/datdestroyer.html

Kaplan Crack the DAT PAT TopScore

3 practice tests DAT Achiever

3 practice tests Barrons and Cliffs

have a lot of mistakes Cliffs AP Biology

Great review for the Biology section

Campell’s biology textbook (for reference)

Pay for practice exams from ADA, website has one free practice exam.

WHEN TO TAKE THE DATS The DAT exam should be taken after completing

General Chemistry, Biology, Organic Chemistry, and college level math courses. Taking upper level biology courses (eg. Microbioly,

Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics) will give you an added advantage for the Biology portion.

For students who are not planning on taking a gap year, common times to test are:Summer after Sophomore Year – IF all required

courses have been completed and you feel comfortable with all material

Summer after Junior Year – the earlier the better, as it can be hard to get a test date as the summer progresses.

Winter Break of Junior Year

WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE EXAM DAY

Dress in layers! The room may be warm or cool and you would want to be comfortable.

Ear plugs are available to keep out the noise from other test-takers.

Lockers with locks provided for your belongings. You are not allowed to have anything in your pockets.

You are NOT allowed to bring: calculators, paper, iPods, cell phones, bags, highlighters, food, beverages (including water), or watches.

PERSONAL STUDY TIPS The level of difficulty of the exam for the

science portion is most comparable to Kaplan and Topscore.

The digital quality of the exam is comparable to Topscore, and the PAT portion is most comparable to CRACK DAT PAT.

DAT Destroyer is a great resource but is generally much more difficult for the science portions.

Practice the math questions out of the Destroyer and time yourself! 45 minutes to complete 40 questions is not a lot of time.

REFERENCES

http://www.aboutdentalschools.com/dental/images/DAT_test.jpg

http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/index.asp

http://www.orgoman.com/datdestroyer.html

http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_test_sampleitems.pdf

http://www.kaptest.com/Dental/Dental-Home/DN_home.html