Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Thoughts On The November 2016 Dat Exam


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 131
  • Created
  • Last Reply

So I called the CDA office in Ottawa last week, out of curiosity and eagerness to know when the scores will be released. I spoke with I believe one of the admin assistants there, so I'm not sure if they had the full up to date info. However, I was told we can expect the scores to come anytime after December 15th (I know, still a week away) :(. Again, not sure if by some chance they'll come sooner, but that is what I was told.

 

Also figured I might as well comment on how I thought about the exam:

 

SNS: a lot of random detailed questions, but I felt that Cliffs AP bio really did the trick for me. I was skimming through the weird taxonomy sections the night before and some of this definitely came in clutch. Also your share of repro that seems to pop up. Overall though thought this section was alright, and Chem speaking for myself was very very fair.

 

PAT: I prepped with DAT boot camp the most heavily, the CDA manual, and tried a free test from DAT crusher (a new company). DAT crusher by far was the most challenging, but I would say almost too unrealistically challenging. DAT boot camp was right behind Crusher in difficulty, and then the manual the most straight forward. Overall, the real thing felt the exact same in difficulty as the CDA manual for me. I know the exam varies for different people and from year to year too, but yeah no weird keyholes or really really weird questions. The angles were somewhat tricky, but overall I thought very fair and if you do a few practice tests on bootcamp to get the hang of it (and if you have a knack for spatial stuff) you should be good. We'll see what the scores say about how I felt though!

 

RCT: good grief. Disaster. I thought this section was very tricky. Yes the passages were science based, but had a lot of nuances. I prepped with DAT ready books and IQ pub, and both were fairly alright, but a bit easier than what I felt we were given. Seems to be a common thing here though that RCT was challenging for a few others this year, so hopefully a forgiving curve!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I called the CDA office in Ottawa last week, out of curiosity and eagerness to know when the scores will be released. I spoke with I believe one of the admin assistants there, so I'm not sure if they had the full up to date info. However, I was told we can expect the scores to come anytime after December 15th (I know, still a week away) :(. Again, not sure if by some chance they'll come sooner, but that is what I was told.

 

RCT: good grief. Disaster. I thought this section was very tricky. Yes the passages were science based, but had a lot of nuances. I prepped with DAT ready books and IQ pub, and both were fairly alright, but a bit easier than what I felt we were given. Seems to be a common thing here though that RCT was challenging for a few others this year, so hopefully a forgiving curve!

 

I guess I can stop refreshing my Gmail like a mad man, lol. I agree about the RCT, this is completely a theory but I think they made this section much harder compared to the feb exam (which I also took) in order to get a more spread out bellcurve. I've heard alot about how the bell curve is sometimes "rigged" meaning that everyone scores in a very narrow range (18-20) because the questions are toooo easy and everyone for the most part does about the same, but I think they may have overcorrect this time and made it a lot more challenging...again this is just a theory based on anecdotal evidence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone know if we can change the email they send the scores too? I just realized someone else has access to the email they're sending it to and I don't want them looking at my scores before I do. 

 

(of course I consent to them having access to my email, they're very close family). 

 

Just wondering.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...