Dental Admissions Test (DAT) Breakdown in 2025
- thepredentalguide
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Every year, the dental school admissions process is becoming an increasingly competitive venture. For any pre-dental student, your didactic record (GPA and DAT) will be some key players in showing your academic readiness to manage a heavy biomedical course load in dental school.
Previously we have reviewed recommended DAT study resources. Today, we will be providing an comprehensive breakdown into the DAT and answer the most common questions in preparation for the exam. For more information on the DAT, refer to ADA's 2024 official DAT guidlines.
Why is the DAT so important in the dental school application?
Because it is a standardized academic metric, the DAT is incredibly telling to a student's ability to succeed in dental school. The DAT is a wonderful opportunity for students with strong GPA's to continue to shine academically in showing their strength in managing the rigor of biomedical sciences, math, and reading at a graduate level.
If you are getting ready to apply to dental school and find that your GPA is a weak point, the DAT is the integral "second chance" in which you can show that the C in o chem, physics, or bio was a learning moment in your undergraduate career. It is the second time you can show your competence. Often times, a competitive DAT score paired with an upward trend GPA can overcome an initial lower GPA.
What is the DAT?
The DAT is the standardized test requirement for any student seeking admissions into a US Dental program. According to the ADA, the DAT is" accepted by 66 dental schools in the U.S. and 10 in Canada." It is designed to provide dental education programs with a means to assess applicants’ potential for success.
What is the test format?
4.5 hours in length
4 total sections (280 questions)
Survey of Natural Sciences (100 questions) broken down into 3 individual scores
Biology
General Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Perceptual Ability (90 questions)
Reading Comprehension (50 questions)
Quantitative Reasoning (40 questions)
How do I sign up for the DAT?
Sign up for an ADA DENTPIN.
This ADA DENTPIN number will follow you for your whole career. Consider it your "identifier number" in the dental profession. You'll refer to it when you later challenge your INDBE and licensing exams.
Fee waivers are offered on a first come first serve basis with applications opening annually on July 1st (covers 50% of fee)
Make sure to follow criteria of:
first time attempting DAT exam
US Citizen
Received financial aid from college/ has demonstrated financial hardship
The exam is offered year-round and administered In a local prometric testing center across US and Canada.
What happens if I need to retake my exam?
Ideally, you prepare to challenge the exam one time. Some common reasons to retake the exam are:
initial exam score expired by date of applying to dental school
unsatisfied with score
You must wait 60 days in between each exam attempt.
You can retake the exam up to 3 times in one dental school attempt. Beyond the third attempt, you must show evidence in your DAT sign up attempt that you've applied to dental school.
When do you receive your DAT score?
Prior to March 1st, 2025, all students challenging the DAT received an unofficial score report just moments after completing the exam. However, due to the new scoring changes, same day test results are no longer given. This is because the exam must be analyzed further to generate scores. This means that some questions could be control or test questions, etc. that can impact overall scoring.
TLDR: Follow the steps in this blog post to familiarize yourself with the DAT and refer to our other DAT blog posts to ensure you are studying to ace it the first time around. The DAT is a financial, laborious, and emotionally taxing experience. But trust me, when you earn that score you've worked months to achieve, there is no better feeling.
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