Is a 21 or 22 AA a Good DAT Score?

Yes, a 21 or 22 AA is a good DAT score. On the legacy 1-30 scale, it's meaningfully above the historical national average, it clears the bar most people use for "good" (20+) and pushes right up against "great" (22+), and it's competitive at the large majority of state dental schools. It's not top-10 territory yet, but it's a real, usable score — not a score you need to panic about.

We're saying that from the other side of this test. We both scored in the top 3% on the DAT (97th-plus percentile — one of us posted a 25 AA with a 30 in organic chemistry, the other a 27 AA with a 29 TS), and we're now dental students at the #1 dental school in the world. We got there by treating the DAT as what it is: a standardized, learnable test — not by re-learning every subject from scratch. Below is where 21-22 AA actually sits, and what closing the remaining gap looks like.

Is 21 AA a Good DAT Score?

Yes. A 21 AA (legacy scale) sits comfortably above the roughly 17-19 range most sources cite as the historical national average. It's inside the band most pre-dental advisors call "good," one point below the "great" threshold usually quoted as 22+.

Practically: a 21 AA won't disqualify you from most U.S. dental schools. Paired with a decent GPA and the rest of your application, it's a legitimate competitive position at the majority of programs — especially state schools, where most applicants apply and matriculate.

Is 22 AA Good DAT Score? (Yes — Reddit Agrees)

If you've read threads asking "is 22 AA good DAT score reddit," the answer is remarkably consistent: 22 AA is treated as the line where a score stops being merely "good" and becomes "great." That's not one thread's opinion — it lines up with the same rough thresholds advisors and pre-dental committees use.

A 22 AA gives you more room than a 21. It's above the range where schools ask "can this student handle the coursework," and it's within striking distance of scores that make top-tier committees take a second look. It's a score you can apply broadly with and expect real traction.

Where 21-22 AA Lands You, School by School

Dental schools don't publish one universal cutoff, and averages shift year to year — treat the table below as a general reference, not a guarantee, and confirm current figures against each school's own data.

Since March 2025, the DAT has reported on a 200-600 scale in 10-point increments, with roughly 400 as the national average — the old 1-30 scale and specific scores like "21" or "22" belong to the legacy scale, which is why this is almost certainly the number you're asking about. If you tested recently, use the ADA's official concordance table to convert your score, since exact conversions aren't linear across the whole range.

For the full breakdown by individual program, see our guides on DAT score requirements by dental school and, if you're specifically eyeing the most selective programs, what DAT score is needed for the top 10 schools and NYU.

Why a 21-22 AA Doesn't Mean You Need to Restart Studying

Here's what people get wrong. When "21 AA" lands lower than hoped, the instinct is to treat it as a failure and re-learn everything from page one. That wastes months.

A 21-22 AA almost never means you're weak across the board. AA is a straight average of five sections (Bio, General Chem, Organic Chem, Reading Comp, and Quant Reasoning), so one or two weak sections drag the whole number down even if everything else is sitting at 24-25. The fix isn't "study harder in general" — it's isolating exactly which section, or which concepts inside it, is costing you the points, and drilling that specifically.

How to Close the Gap From 21-22 to Top-Tier

1. Break your AA apart by section. Look at Bio, GC, OC, RC, and QR individually across your last several practice tests. The section sitting noticeably below the rest is where every extra point is hiding.
2. Diagnose misses at the concept level, not the topic level. "Weak in organic chemistry" isn't specific enough to fix. "Missing E1/E2 mechanism questions and slow on spectroscopy" is something you can drill.
3. Re-take full-length practice tests under real timing. A capped AA is often about pacing and fatigue by hour four, not just content. You need tests that mirror the real DAT's length and difficulty to find out.
4. Don't over-study sections that are already strong. If Bio and RC already sit at 24+, more Bio review has almost zero effect on your AA. That hour belongs on the section actually capping your score.
5. Track score trend, not one test. One good or bad practice test is noise. Three or four consistent practice AA's in a row is the number that predicts your actual score.

This is exactly the gap we built DATPractice to close: not a re-teach-everything product, but 40 full-length practice tests that mirror the real DAT's format and difficulty, an 11,000+ question bank with hand-written solutions for every choice, and an AI tutor that finds the specific concept behind each miss and re-teaches it — only to test-depth, never more than the exam requires.

What a 21 or 22 AA Actually Says About Your PAT and TS

AA and PAT are scored separately, so a 21-22 AA says nothing about your PAT score. Check it independently — some schools weight it heavily, and it can make or break an otherwise strong application.

Also separate AA from Total Science (TS), the average of just your 100 science questions (Bio, GC, OC). If your TS is noticeably lower or higher than your AA, that tells you whether your real gap lives in the sciences or in RC/QR. See our guide on what AA means on the DAT and how it differs from TS for the full breakdown.

Should You Retake With a 21 or 22 AA?

This comes down to your target schools, not a universal rule.

• If your target schools' published averages sit in the low-to-mid 20s and you're applying broadly, a 21-22 AA is already workable — put your remaining energy into the rest of the application instead of a retake.
• If you're targeting top-ranked or highly selective programs and your section breakdown shows one clearly fixable weak spot, a focused retake can be worth it.
• If you do retake, don't repeat the generic studying that got you here. Target the specific section that's capping you, or you'll likely land in the same range again.

For what separates 21-22 AA from the scores top programs specifically favor, see our guide on whether a 23-25 AA is competitive for top dental schools. And whatever you decide, don't grind yourself into the ground chasing three or four more points — a targeted retake plan beats a burned-out one every time. Our guide on how to avoid burnout while studying for the DAT covers how to pace it.