“The testing program is designed to measure general academic ability, comprehension of scientific information, and perceptual ability. While all dental schools require examinees to participate in the Dental Admission Testing Program, test results are only one factor considered in evaluating the admission potential of a examinee.”
-American Dental Association (ADA)
Description
of the
DAT Test:
The Session
“The examinee will have a total of 4 hours and 15 minutes to complete the four tests in the DAT battery. A 15-minute break is optional after competing the second test in the battery.” - ADA
Note: They will fingerprint and photograph you when you enter.
The DAT battery includes:
Survey of Natural Sciences90 Minutes
Perceptual Ability Test60 Minutes
Break (Optional)15 Minutes
Reading Comprehension Test 60 Minutes
Quantitative Reasoning Test45 Minutes
Apply online for the DAT:
https://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/online/index.asp
Scoring
• The DAT scored on a sliding scale
It is normalized for 17 as the national average, or 50th percentile. Making a score of 29/30 to be the 99th+ percentile. What that means is that the score you get reflects how well or how poorly everyone else did on the particular test set you took. Additionally, the 65th percentile for Reading Comprehension receives a score of 20, whereas on the PAT, in order to get a 20 one has to score around the 95th percentile.
There are somewhere around three versions of the DAT being used at any particular time, and each are kept for a set time span of around a couple months. Theoretically, you could get the same test that one of your friends recently took, but don’t count on it.
