Qusetion regarding Carving

[sinsaman88]

Hey guys I am glad I found this forum just today

I got a couple of questions. I am planning to take DAT @ coming NOV, and have no idea how they mark our carving soap.

Can anyone tell me how accurate, or how neat the soap has to be to get high score?

I couldn't find any tutor or help from anyone.

[Dinan]

Hey

 

Generally speaking, your score is relative as I understand to the pool of students that carve the soaps (much like the rest of the portions of the DAT are). This is what I was told in the Kaplan course.

 

Basically your marked on the accurateness of the shape (whether firstly, it is the same carved shape) since any other difference in shape awards you a zero straight up. 90 degree cut saddles, and smoothness of planes are and measurement to the 1 mm deviations are key to scoring well.

 

ONE THING I will mention (since I havent ordered soaps from them for about a year) is can anyone tell me what kind of soap the CDA sends you now since they used to send the green soaps and I imagine they are still the same. The reason I ask this is because the soaps you carve during test day are pink and I believe was a totally different consistency. Its a big problem when you practice with the previous green soaps since you become familiar with the consistencies and then go to the pink soaps which in my opinion are waxy.

 

All that being said... I wrote the DAT 3 times.... first time I scored 23 and I thought that was an accurate marking since that was a good carve for me. Second shot I thought my carving was pretty good too and got 16 (had no idea why) Third time, I thought it was the worse I ever carved ( I may have dropped the soap t was sooo jagged) and I scored a 20.... so at the end of the day its all relative.

 

The last thing I will point out is this. I don't know which schools you are deciding to apply to since only a handful look at carving. If you are in Ontario and apply to toronto and UWO, you could scored zero and it wouldnt matter.... however, if you are trying to apply out of province and are from ontario, the seats are limited making competition fierce that regardless whether you score 25.... unless your other components of your app are great, then it may be tricky to get in. So, if you are hedging getting in Ontario schools, don't waste your time on practicing carving so much and focus your studying on the other component of the DAT.

 

Just for comparison, my friend got into U of T this year with a 5 in carving (first time he carved he said)

 

Good luck

[sinsaman88]

thx Dinan. Great help

it is just hard to imagine without actually seeing score of 30 carved soap the criteria for the best result. But i guess its just all different since its compared to other ppl who writes it. !

 

Hey

 

Generally speaking, your score is relative as I understand to the pool of students that carve the soaps (much like the rest of the portions of the DAT are). This is what I was told in the Kaplan course.

 

Basically your marked on the accurateness of the shape (whether firstly, it is the same carved shape) since any other difference in shape awards you a zero straight up. 90 degree cut saddles, and smoothness of planes are and measurement to the 1 mm deviations are key to scoring well.

 

ONE THING I will mention (since I havent ordered soaps from them for about a year) is can anyone tell me what kind of soap the CDA sends you now since they used to send the green soaps and I imagine they are still the same. The reason I ask this is because the soaps you carve during test day are pink and I believe was a totally different consistency. Its a big problem when you practice with the previous green soaps since you become familiar with the consistencies and then go to the pink soaps which in my opinion are waxy.

 

All that being said... I wrote the DAT 3 times.... first time I scored 23 and I thought that was an accurate marking since that was a good carve for me. Second shot I thought my carving was pretty good too and got 16 (had no idea why) Third time, I thought it was the worse I ever carved ( I may have dropped the soap t was sooo jagged) and I scored a 20.... so at the end of the day its all relative.

 

The last thing I will point out is this. I don't know which schools you are deciding to apply to since only a handful look at carving. If you are in Ontario and apply to toronto and UWO, you could scored zero and it wouldnt matter.... however, if you are trying to apply out of province and are from ontario, the seats are limited making competition fierce that regardless whether you score 25.... unless your other components of your app are great, then it may be tricky to get in. So, if you are hedging getting in Ontario schools, don't waste your time on practicing carving so much and focus your studying on the other component of the DAT.

 

Just for comparison, my friend got into U of T this year with a 5 in carving (first time he carved he said)

 

Good luck

[Dinan]

Let's put it this way... Im gonna bet there are a few people who basically carve exactly what the sample carving pictures illustrate. I've actually, on practice situations at home carved pretty near perfect however that changes alot when you are in test situation mode.

 

Just assume that people who are scoring high 20's are carving pretty close to perfect..... certainly I think during the Nov writing session there are more writers during that time and hence more people that could potentially score better in the carving.

 

This is how I see how the writing sessions work for others who want to know. It seems to me that Nov is more challenging since there is more people writing to get their scores in time for Dec deadlines... those that write in Feb are either ones that did not do as well from Nov, or ones that are in not as much of a rush to write (therefore possibly not as prepared but that is just a generalization).

 

Thus, if you want to maximize your score.... I personally would say to write in Feb.

[mazaag]

I believe they have carving sessions at the University of Alberta. There are some seminars around..you just have to look! I received training from a UoA graduate who was involved in those carving seminars so he was very helpful. Basically he gave me tips..but along the way i found my own techniques to get the soap carved as its supposed to be. Like Dinan said..it should be near perfect..actually the CDA manual tells you what they look for..smoothness, flatness, accuracy..etc.

Goodluck!

[sinsaman88]

thx for the replys

it helped me focus on carving again. After all, I guess we all share same uncertainity if it is ur first trial. And its perfectly ok because it is your first shot as long as you do your best.

[pdot]

Also Sinsaman88, remember to stay positive. I did absolutely miserable on my carving and ppl told me not to even apply, then got in first try. So no matter what the outcome, remember anything is possible with admissions and all that

[sinsaman88]

Thx pdot for your advice.

I will just think my first trial ad an experience if i do bad on it. Or if i am lucky enough or tried hard enough who knows how satisfying the result would be.