cDAT Nov. VS Feb.

[Soltan]

Hi, is it true that dental schools compare your DAT score to everyone else who wrote the same exam? I'm specifically looking at UWO

If so, which one do people tend to score higher on? I've heard the Feb one because most people just write the Nov one to get a feel for the exam and then actually study for the one in February. What do you guys think?

[PimentRouge]

2 hours ago, Soltan said:

Hi, is it true that dental schools compare your DAT score to everyone else who wrote the same exam? I'm specifically looking at UWO

Where did you hear that?

Stats can be found here: https://datcrusher.ca/statistics/

[lemon_tree]

Some people speculate that the February dat is “easier” because some schools in Canada only accept the November one for application cycles. Since you are scaled among the test takers, some smarter people would not be taking the feb one... 

 I personally think it doesn’t really matter, I feel like most people just prepare for the second one better haha

[Ms. Chip Skylark]

This is from the DAT Bootcamp website:

"The standard score is designed to make the tests fair for everyone. There are multiple versions of the DAT being administered simultaneously; the standard score enables admission committees to compare the DAT scores of students taking different versions of the test. This means that if you get an easier version of the DAT, missing more questions would hurt you more than if you took a difficult version of the DAT. In the end, you’ll score the same regardless of what version of the test you take.

DAT Grading Scale

A lot of students are floored once they realize how heavily scaled the DAT is across sections. For example, on the 2007 DAT exam, missing five questions in the organic chemistry section (out of 30 total questions) results in a standard score of 20. Missing five questions in the general chemistry section (out of 30 total questions) results in a standard score of 19. The DAT is not graded linearly.

As you can see, there is very little room for error on the DAT. The difference between a 22 AA and a 26 AA is often just a few questions. Therefore, it’s important that you dedicate studying time to every section of the DAT. Continued practice is the best strategy to recognize your weaknesses and prepare you for test day."

////

The way they mark a question is that you get compared to students who have previously written the test with that one specific question on it and how many students got that question right in the past and depending on if you got it right or not, you'll get a score based on that. So if it was an easy question (easy because most people in the past got it right when they took the test) and you got it wrong, you'll have a large drop in your mark and if you get it right you'll have a small increase. If the question is hard (because most people in the past got it wrong) and you get it wrong too, you'll have a small decrease in mark and if you get it right, you'll have a high increase. They do the same with every question. I don't think there is a specific Q-bank for November and February tests and instead, just one big one they pull from so the test questions will overlap from both months past tests and you'll be marked against students who have had the same question as you regardless of what month they've written. IMO the month you write doesn't matter, it all comes down to how much you studied for it 

[Soltan]

47 minutes ago, Ms. Chip Skylark said:

This is from the DAT Bootcamp website:

"The standard score is designed to make the tests fair for everyone. There are multiple versions of the DAT being administered simultaneously; the standard score enables admission committees to compare the DAT scores of students taking different versions of the test. This means that if you get an easier version of the DAT, missing more questions would hurt you more than if you took a difficult version of the DAT. In the end, you’ll score the same regardless of what version of the test you take.

DAT Grading Scale

A lot of students are floored once they realize how heavily scaled the DAT is across sections. For example, on the 2007 DAT exam, missing five questions in the organic chemistry section (out of 30 total questions) results in a standard score of 20. Missing five questions in the general chemistry section (out of 30 total questions) results in a standard score of 19. The DAT is not graded linearly.

As you can see, there is very little room for error on the DAT. The difference between a 22 AA and a 26 AA is often just a few questions. Therefore, it’s important that you dedicate studying time to every section of the DAT. Continued practice is the best strategy to recognize your weaknesses and prepare you for test day."

////

The way they mark a question is that you get compared to students who have previously written the test with that one specific question on it and how many students got that question right in the past and depending on if you got it right or not, you'll get a score based on that. So if it was an easy question (easy because most people in the past got it right when they took the test) and you got it wrong, you'll have a large drop in your mark and if you get it right you'll have a small increase. If the question is hard (because most people in the past got it wrong) and you get it wrong too, you'll have a small decrease in mark and if you get it right, you'll have a high increase. They do the same with every question. I don't think there is a specific Q-bank for November and February tests and instead, just one big one they pull from so the test questions will overlap from both months past tests and you'll be marked against students who have had the same question as you regardless of what month they've written. IMO the month you write doesn't matter, it all comes down to how much you studied for it 

Thank you very much

[Starburst]

On 8/13/2018 at 10:13 AM, Ms. Chip Skylark said:

This is from the DAT Bootcamp website:

"The standard score is designed to make the tests fair for everyone. There are multiple versions of the DAT being administered simultaneously; the standard score enables admission committees to compare the DAT scores of students taking different versions of the test. This means that if you get an easier version of the DAT, missing more questions would hurt you more than if you took a difficult version of the DAT. In the end, you’ll score the same regardless of what version of the test you take.

DAT Grading Scale

A lot of students are floored once they realize how heavily scaled the DAT is across sections. For example, on the 2007 DAT exam, missing five questions in the organic chemistry section (out of 30 total questions) results in a standard score of 20. Missing five questions in the general chemistry section (out of 30 total questions) results in a standard score of 19. The DAT is not graded linearly.

As you can see, there is very little room for error on the DAT. The difference between a 22 AA and a 26 AA is often just a few questions. Therefore, it’s important that you dedicate studying time to every section of the DAT. Continued practice is the best strategy to recognize your weaknesses and prepare you for test day."

////

The way they mark a question is that you get compared to students who have previously written the test with that one specific question on it and how many students got that question right in the past and depending on if you got it right or not, you'll get a score based on that. So if it was an easy question (easy because most people in the past got it right when they took the test) and you got it wrong, you'll have a large drop in your mark and if you get it right you'll have a small increase. If the question is hard (because most people in the past got it wrong) and you get it wrong too, you'll have a small decrease in mark and if you get it right, you'll have a high increase. They do the same with every question. I don't think there is a specific Q-bank for November and February tests and instead, just one big one they pull from so the test questions will overlap from both months past tests and you'll be marked against students who have had the same question as you regardless of what month they've written. IMO the month you write doesn't matter, it all comes down to how much you studied for it 

This is NOT true. DATbootcamp is for the American DAT, don't believe everything bootcamp says because most of it does NOT apply to the Canadian DAT. 

The Canadian DAT is offered twice a year and everyone in the entire country writes the SAME version on each of those dates. They grade your performance based on how everyone did on that specific date, not historical performance like on the American DAT. This is evident because on certain versions of the Canadian DAT, a maximum score of 24 or 25 might be given in a certain section for the entire country. You can see all the statistics on DATCrusher's site as PimentRouge pointed out.