Writing the DAT

[Poppy]

I hope to write the November DAT and do well enough to get in Sept 2010. I was wondering, do most people write the DAT more that once in order to get a high enough score to quality for admission?

[CharlieSixx]

I hope to write the November DAT and do well enough to get in Sept 2010. I was wondering, do most people write the DAT more that once in order to get a high enough score to quality for admission?

 

I guess it all depends on how well you do the first time... If you get good enough scores you can apply and hope to get in right away. Unfortunately at some schools your scores are only vaild for a certain period of time. For example, at UWO, DAT scores are vaild only for 2 years and then you have to rewrite.

In my experience I wrote the DAT twice, once in second year and I got decent scores so I applied to UWO in second and third year with them, but I didn't get in. Then for 4th year I had to rewrite in order to apply again.

 

I would say that a lot of people have to rewrite again to get better scores, but if you prepare well enough you may only have to do them once.

[Poppy]

What part of the dat do most people in general find to be the most difficult out of the RC, carving, and PAT? Also, in terms of raw score is the kaplan conversion table a reliable estimate of standardized scores?

 

thanks

[Synlar]

Carving I thought I did good but ended up with 13 lol... however, UWO and UofT don't look at it, so it doesn't matter. You're under time constraint for all the sections, but I'd say RC is the hardest section. PAT's really fun (as long as you know what you're doing lol).

As for the Kaplan conversion table, well the scores vary year to year, but I don't think by much... so it's an alright gauge, but that's about it. I mean you can understand how one question can make a large difference, or make no difference, depending on what 'level' you're at. Just know your material well enough and study hard, and you won't have to do it again (I did it once and got 100 percentiles in some sections).

[smilee]

What part of the dat do most people in general find to be the most difficult out of the RC, carving, and PAT?

 

It varies so much between people, it is hard to generalize. For me, I found that RC to be really easy, I didn't even need to practice it. Whereas carving was harder, I carved a ton of soaps, and PAT was somewhere in between the two.

 

Once you start doing practice tests, you'll likely find that certain sections come easier to you than others.

[Poppy]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

What is the most efficient way of improving speed for RC? Just scanning for answers, without reading the passages first?? I am really slow at reading and retain little, so the more I cut down on reading, the better lol.

 

Also, does anyone believe that the Feb DAT is easier to get a higher score than the Nov DAT since people are less prepared so the standardizing would not be as tough to beat?

[iamgosu]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

What is the most efficient way of improving speed for RC? Just scanning for answers, without reading the passages first?? I am really slow at reading and retain little, so the more I cut down on reading, the better lol.

 

Also, does anyone believe that the Feb DAT is easier to get a higher score than the Nov DAT since people are less prepared so the standardizing would not be as tough to beat?

 

uh...i like reading over the full article first, making notes of the key topic of each paragraph, then going over the questions and the articles.

I'm a fast reader though I think, so this may not work for you.

 

I thought PAT was the most difficult (tricky angle discrimination is a bastard)

[Contach]

Actually, it was found that generally those who rewrite the DAT don't do aswell as those who wrote the DAT for the first time and did well:

 

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=400209

 

The author of the thread and the statistics he presents makes it seem like retaking the DAT is worthless b/c you will get a worse score than your first time, but that is not the case since their is selection bias, in that, those who rewrite the DAT are a different population (less prepared, don't have as good of a background, aren't willing to put in the effort, or whatever plausible reason you want) than those who don't rewrite.

[appointmentsetting]

hello......all

In general, try to stay with Writers for String data, but be aware that some file classes will not flush on close unless one places a close(); in the code as it is possible for the JVM to exit without writing all the data.