Hello again! Today we are going to take a departure from the world of medicine and visit the world of dentistry, as I am sure many of you have students who may also be considering dentistry as a career. As you may already know, the DAT has much of the same science as the MCAT, but it also possesses a very unique section – the Perceptual Ability Test. We have assembled some great information from our DAT Team that you can share with your Pre-Dental students about the Perceptual Ability Test.
First, an introduction to the PAT is in order. The Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) is designed to test a student’s spatial visualization skills, especially her ability to interpret two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects. These skills are useful to dentists as they construct a mental image of teeth from X-rays, deal with casts and fillings, and navigate in a patient’s mouth oftentimes using reflections from a mirror. On the PAT, students have 60 minutes to answer a total of 90 questions divided into six subsections, each consisting of 15 questions, so time and efficiency are of the essence!
Second, Kaplan has launched a new DAT program, which incorporates some innovations into teaching the PAT. The new DAT course has two 3 hour sessions dedicated to the PAT, and both of these sessions are delivered exclusively online, utilizing Kaplan’s National PAT specialists. Students taking our live courses – either online or onsite, will have the PAT session in the Classroom Anywhere environment, and all Kaplan students will have access to these sessions through our Lessons on Demand.
The first PAT lesson, PAT 1, introduces students to the strategies required for success and provides several practice questions for each subsection. Then, PAT 2 tackles more advanced questions and includes several practice questions taught in quiz formats so that students can test out their skills. These new lessons include several new questions, particularly of increased difficulty.
The new sessions are significantly more strategy-focused. During the sessions, we give students a plan of what order to tackle the subsections in so that they can get as many points as quickly and efficiently as possible and we provide pacing guidelines so that students know if they are on track to finish the section on time.
For each of the question types, we have identified key strategies that will help students with all different abilities to score higher.
In Angle Ranking, our strategy helps students eliminate answers quickly so that they don’t have to rank every individual angle and we provide techniques for distinguishing small differences in angles, which is essential for tackling the most challenging angle ranking questions on the DAT. In Hole Punching, students are able to follow a step-by-step process to predict where the holes should be in the answer based on how the paper is folded and where the punches are made. In Pattern Folding, we provide a strategy that can be used on every single question, but also show students using 3D animations how the image folds up properly.
We have also introduced a completely new way of looking at Top-Front-End questions. This subsection, which typically is especially challenging to students, can become a way for students to get ahead of the clock when they use our Event Theory strategy. In Cube Counting, students can work on their own to count the cubes using our strategy and then can check their own work before the teacher reveals the answer simply by clicking self-controlled buttons on screen. Students can also control their own experience in Keyholes, where they can view different projections of the image to help locate the correct answer. By allowing students to check their work and see things for themselves, we’re providing a unique learning experience not available anywhere else.
As you can see, it’s a very exciting time for DAT students at Kaplan. Should you or your students want to find out more information about the DAT, you can visit us at www.kaplanDAT.com or visit the ADA’s site here.
We wish you all a very happy holiday season, and look forward to seeing you in 2013!
