If you have been thinking about taking a DAT course, Varsity Tutors can set you up with private DAT classes to help you reach for your professional goals. The DAT is a high-stakes exam used by the American Dental Association (ADA) to assess the academic skills of dental school applicants. It includes sections on general academics, scientific information comprehension, and perceptual ability. If you feel as though a DAT prep class could help you improve your self-confidence heading into the exam, contact us today to get the process started!
One of the first questions asked in most DAT courses is about the format and content of the exam. The test is administered at testing center nationwide, meaning that you need to sign up for a testing date and then go to a testing lab to complete your exam. If you have any questions about how this process works, your DAT course instructor will be happy to help you.
The chart below illustrates each section of the test, as well as how long you have to take it:
DAT Administration Schedule
|
Item |
Est. Duration |
|
Optional Tutorial |
15 Min |
|
Survey of Natural Sciences |
90 Min |
|
Perceptual Ability Test |
60 min |
|
Scheduled Break (optional) |
30 min |
|
Reading Comprehension Test |
60 min |
|
Quantitative Reasoning Test |
45 min |
|
Option Post Test Survey |
15 min |
|
Total Time |
5 Hours |
Five hours is a long time for one testing session, so you may wish to work on your intellectual stamina during your DAT class. Here are the content areas you'll be facing during this time:
DAT Content Areas
- Biology
- 40 questions
- Organic Chemistry
- 30 questions
- General Chemistry
- 30 questions
- Reading Comprehension
- 25 questions
- Perceptual Ability (90 questions)
- Apertures
- View recognition
- Angle discrimination
- Paper folding
- Cube counting
- 3D form development
- Reading Comprehension (50 questions)
- 3 passages on various scientific topics
- Quantitative Reasoning (40 questions)
- Math problems
- Word problems
Working through sample problems may help you identify where your areas of opportunity lie. For example, if you do considerably better on the biology questions than the general chemistry ones, your future DAT prep courses should probably focus on chemistry to improve your study efficiency.
Each of our DAT prep classes also involves one-on-one study time with a knowledgeable instructor. Should you have any questions, your instructor can provide an on-the-spot answer. Likewise, all of your work receives immediate feedback so that you can correct any mistakes while the material is still fresh in your mind.
Your instructor may also be able to tailor your DAT class to your unique needs. For instance, a visual learner might use scale models to better understand the biology of the mouth, while an auditory learner might get more out of listening to a lecture on the topic. You are also free to spend as much or as little time on each topic as you need to. Unlike many competing products, our DAT prep course offerings have no artificial time constraints or set curricula to distract you from what you need to do.