CANADIAN DENTAL APTITUDE TEST
The DAT is a standardized test created by the Canadian Dental Association to examine the abilities of aspiring future dentistry students. This test is required for admission to dental schools. Testing takes place twice a year, in February and in November. The DAT consists of 4 sections: Survey of Natural Sciences, Manual Dexterity, Reading Comprehension, and Perceptual Ability.
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SURVEY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
Duration: 60 minutes
The survey of natural sciences consists of 70 multiple-choice questions, of which 40 are biology questions and 30 are chemistry questions.
MANUAL DEXTERITY
Duration: 30 minutes
This portion of the exam is optional as most schools such as the University of Manitoba do not require it for application. In this section of the exam, you will be given a cylindrical bar of soap, knife and blade, a flexible ruler, and a marker. With these tools, you will be required to carve a given pattern out of the bar of soap.
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READING COMPREHENSION
Duration: 50 minutes
This section of the exam consists of reading three passages and answering 50 multiple choice questions about the passages.
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PERCEPTUAL ABILTY
Duration:Â 60 minutes
This section of the exam is designed to test your ability to make judgements based on what you see. Your spatial visualization skills, including your ability to interpret two-dimensional  representations of three-dimensional objects will be tested with six different components: Key Holes, Top-Front-End Views, Angle Discrimination, Cube Counting, and Pattern Folding.