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Exam guide

The DAT, explained

What does the DAT look like?

Start DAT practice See the 6 sections 3,023 questions · free · no account

DAT at a glance

Dental Admission Test, for dental school applicants.

280items across four tests
5 h 15total administration
100science items
90perceptual ability items

The DAT is four tests in one sitting of about five and a quarter hours. The Survey of the Natural Sciences is a single 100-item test covering biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry together, and it is where most preparation goes. The Perceptual Ability Test is unlike anything else in admissions testing: spatial puzzles with no science in them at all.

The 6 sections

What each one asks of you, and how much practice QuizNucleus has for it.

Biology

Part of the 100-item Survey of the Natural Sciences: cells, genetics, systems, diversity and ecology.

2,452 to practicePractice

General Chemistry

Also inside the science survey: stoichiometry, bonding, equilibrium, acids and bases, thermochemistry.

208 to practicePractice

Organic Chemistry

The rest of the science survey: mechanisms, stereochemistry, functional groups and synthesis.

202 to practicePractice

Reading Comprehension

Dense scientific passages, read cold. The questions reward finding detail quickly, not prior knowledge. 50 questions.

91 to practicePractice

Quantitative Reasoning

Algebra, probability, geometry and applied word problems. 40 questions.

70 to practicePractice

Perceptual Ability

Apertures, view recognition, angle discrimination, paper folding, cube counting and 3D form development. 90 questions.

Coming soon

Two questions from the bank

Both formats, as they appear in practice. QuizNucleus accepts an answer typed in your own words.

Fill in the blank

During neuronal depolarization, opening voltage-gated sodium channels causes Na⁺ to move ______ the neuron down its electrochemical gradient.

Show answer

Answer: into

During neuronal depolarization, opening voltage-gated sodium channels causes Na⁺ to move into the neuron down its electrochemical gradient. Na⁺ has both a concentration gradient and an electrical gradient favoring entry into a resting neuron, so opening voltage-gated Na⁺ channels rapidly depolarizes the membrane.

Multiple choice

In myopia, where does light from a distant object come into focus?

  1. At the optic disc
  2. In front of the retina
  3. Behind the retina
  4. Exactly on the fovea
Show answer

Answer: B. In front of the retina

In myopia the eye shape changes, usually by elongation, so the focal point moves forward. Light from a distant object converges in front of the retina and has spread out again by the time it reaches the photoreceptors, producing blurred distance vision. A concave (diverging) lens corrects it by moving the focal point back onto the retina.

Practice all 3,023 DAT questions

How to study for it

  • Treat the science survey as one test.Biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry share a single clock, so practice moving between them.
  • Organic chemistry rewards mechanisms.Recognizing why a reaction goes beats memorizing what it gives, since the questions vary the substrate.
  • Perceptual ability is trainable.It looks like a talent test and behaves like a skill: the people who improve are the ones who drill it.
  • Work your misses.Come back to the questions you got wrong rather than replaying what you already know.

Studying something else?

The same bank covers the HESI A2, MCAT, DAT and OAT, and every topic can be practised on its own.

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