soap carving

[Guest Neither03]

anyone know any good sites to order soap carving equipment from?

[Guest Dent08]

www.cda-adc.ca/en/dental_.../index.asp

 

You may as well practice with the same materials you'll be using in the actual exam.

 

Other companies sell carving kits but the size and consistancy of the soap is off, and the knife is different than the one you will use in the real dat. If you are looking to save a little money you can learn the basics with one of these cheaper kits first, and then move the the CDA stuff later. Don't waste your time with a chalk kit.

[Guest tamkhan1]

another pointer; dont waste ure time on carving if youre not 100% ready for other sections. Carving should have least importance. UofT wont look at your carving score AT ALL. And other dental schools across canada, will in the near future, probably do the same. So make sure all other stuff gets priority over carving, and youll be fine

[Guest Qwigley]

And other dental schools across canada, will in the near future, probably do the same. So make sure all other stuff gets priority over carving, and youll be fine

 

I think that this may be dangerous advice. I think that you should try to perfect carving before you try to increase your Science scores much beyond 20 (unless UofT is the only school you apply to). I wouldn't plan my future based on predictions about what admission weightings will be in the future; you should look at what's going on right now.

 

For example, look at the UofS DAT admissions weighting ...

 

"DAT scores used will be the total of those earned on Reading Comprehension (50%), Perceptual Ability (25%) and Carving (25%)"

 

If you're going to prioritise sections and neglect something, I think it should be the sciences. You'll take the science stuff for your prereqs, so nothing will be completely new to you. Carving takes practice and can be learned, but you'll have to put the effort in. Some schools also have minimum carving marks and if you don't meet that minimum score then your application isn't considered any further.

[Guest tamkhan1]

that is true. but still, make sure ure very very, positive about other sections.

[Guest Braces2005]

Goodmorning,

For some ppl craving skills takes time to develop. Start ahead if you can and develop the skills gradually. It's not hard to do. Some ppl do not do well because they don't themselves enough time to practice.

Everybody's different.

Start ahead and you'll have time for everything!

 

Good luck.

[Guest Dent08]

"UofT wont look at your carving score AT ALL. And other dental schools across canada, will in the near future, probably do the same."

 

Did a gypsy look into her crystal ball and tell you thats what she saw? For all you know, dental school may put MORE emphasis on the carving in the future.

 

How hard is it to learn to carve a chunk of soap properly? Why would you ever limit the number of dental schools you can apply to because you were to lazy to learn to carve soap? The next DAT is 7 months away. You have plenty of time to learn.

 

All schools look at the DAT results differently. Do well on all sections so you can pick the schools you want to apply to rather than having to settle.

[Guest tamkhan1]

lol, ure a funny guy.

uoft wont look at carving cuz THEY TOLD ME SO!! as far as other schools are concerned, i find it hard to believe that they will put more emphasis on carving. You can practice for months and get a perfect on carving; but does this reflect your manual dexterity or your hard work?? Carving has more to do with how much time you put into it than your actual ability to carve.

howcome US schools dont have a carving section? howcome harvard, upenn, columbia, upitt, ucla (all of which are as good as, if not better, than canadian schools) dont want you to carve a piece of soap on ure dat?

[Guest Dent08]

I think thats great that you don't give a shiit about the carving.

 

I am very aware that U of T and lots of US schools don't consider the caving. Thats cool too.

 

Your advice to ignore the carving if you run out of time because U of T ignores the carving and "other dental schools across canada, will in the near future, probably do the same." is a little sketchy.

 

[Guest tamkhan1]

and i admit to that..hehe..all i said was that one shud concentrate MORE on other sections if they dont have enough time. If time is not an issue, then yeah, spend time on carving..if you practice well, you can easily pull off a 25 or over.

[Guest TheChosenOneDDS]

Tamkhan honestly from what i learned in dental school, soap carving does not reflect how well you will do in dentistry. I did @#%$ on it yet I got accepted into oral surgery specialty, and have done very well in dental school.

 

But Canada does require it, so either you can tell Canada to go f*ck itself other than U of T, which is the best school in Canada, or do what I did and what you were suggesting and apply to those nice schools in the US. As long as you got the marks and money you're in.

 

If you gave me that soap now, I bet I can carve it, do well and do it in half the time than most people taking the DAT. In fact, I actually have a friend that teaches the DAT for kaplan in my class. He gave me a couple soaps to play around with and they turned out fine, in like 10-15 minutes.

 

On the other hand i did hear something about the CDA thinking about eliminating soap carving from the DAT altogether since a study was conducted and shown that it did not correlate with performance in dental school and that there was actually a reverse correlation. But however, if there is to be a change, it won't be for a while, so my best advice is to practice it if you want to get into other canadian dental schools.

 

The only thing that soap carving might help you with, is when you do waxing in first year or wax ups of crowns for prostho..however, FYI, REAL dentists do none of that stuff. techs are made for a purpose...so honestly, u can just deal with it as it comes.

[Guest calrx]

How much time should you give yourslef to reasonably perfect your carving skills? I am applying to the U of M and need atleast a 14 to qualify for admission.

[Guest Braces2005]

Hi,

 

It's different for everyone.

 

You should try it once or twice and see where your skills are. From there you should know how much extra practice you need. It should give you enough time to find the appropriate help. Maybe from a friend or a tutor. If you're not good at carving, beware, it is not something you can develop right away. Start early.

 

Why not start in May?

[Guest TheChosenOneDDS]

here are a couple of tricks you might want to try that i actually learned in dental school for carving or drilling things in general. To have a more controlled cut, use a "fulcrum" where you have a stable fixed point of rotation. I.e. use your ring finger to support your hand while you carve with the blade (assuming you hold the blade between your thumb and index like a pen.)

 

Always make your first cut more shallow than the limit (measurements i.e. if you have a 2 mm box, instead of cutting 2 mm, cut 1 mm) this way you can have room for refining cuts. But make sure you cut it straight, one cut, this way you won't get serrated surfaces.

 

hope this helps