Hello! My name is Megan Short, and I’m a fourth year
pre-dental mechanical engineering student at UT. In addition to TPS, I in the
Longhorn Singers, and I love to cook and run.
I recently took the DAT in January, so this blog post will share some
information about my experience.
Yes, it’s a hard test. Yes, you have to study. And yes, you
can do it!!
I studied for the DAT over winter break, which I would
recommend. It was hard going straight from studying for finals into studying
for the DAT, but I feel like the time crunch I felt (as opposed to having the
whole summer to study) motivated me to get the studying done.
So here’s some random things I didn’t know before I took the
DAT:
1.
You will never be “ready”, and that’s okay.
There is so much knowledge (especially in the biology section) that is random; I
can’t imagine ever feeling 101% ready for the test. In my opinion all you can
do is study hard and then do your best!
2.
The testing center (I took the test in Austin) was
a pleasant surprise. When you sign up for the test and read the infinitely long
list of rules enforced at the testing center to prevent sneaksters from
cheating on the test, Prometric sounds like a terrifying place. When I walked
into a nice room with a smiling, hipster man at the desk, I was definitely
surprised. All of the employees were incredibly friendly and upbeat while still
taking their jobs seriously. They definitely did their best to make a very
stressful experience as low-stress as possible.
3.
You get electronically fingerprinted! (It was
kind of fun.)
4.
There was a weird rule about jackets. They told
me I could either wear a jacket in the testing room and not remove it or not
wear one at all. Not sure why, but that was the deal.
5.
The optional 15 minutes break timer starts as
soon as you finish the second section, and the third section will begin as soon
as the 15 minutes are up, regardless of whether you’re sitting in front of the
computer or not. I probably took about 10 minutes or so because I was paranoid
that the test would start again without me.
6.
They give you two laminated sheets of paper with
graphing lines on it, and a couple of fine tip sharpies. If you use the sheets
up they will give you more.
7.
You get a printed sheet of your scores when you
leave the testing facility. Mine didn’t have national percentiles on it, just
my scaled scores.
8.
The testing room had around 20 computers in
cubicles, and they give you headphones to block sound if you need them. The
room was so quiet I didn’t use them.
9.
There’s people of all ages there taking all
different kinds of tests at the same time.
10. Being
done is the BEST feeling ever. Trust me. Get excited.
