During DAT Taking Notes

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When I do the Crack Reading and Crack PAT I use my notebook to:
1) take short important notes for each reading section, usually about 1 page per reading
2) for the PAT use 1 page for hole punching and cube counting combined.

Will I be able to do that during the DAT as well?

My friend took it and he said for each section you get 2 boards and the markers they give you can only be erased when using "water" (he used spit) and you get one board and if you need a second for a particular section you have to raise your hand and wait until the person comes up and answers your question. (that would take FOREVER and can cost you 1-2 minutes and it will mess your concentration up.

So what am I supposed to do when I am used to taking as many notes as i want to help me get my answers easier?

For me, and as far as I remember, we only had 2 dry erase "laminated papers" (I wrote all the equations and reference things on one board before the test started, during the tutorial I think). They didn't require any liquid to erase, but I imagine if the materials got old and crappy enough, erasing well might become an issue. You certainly won't be able to bring in a notebook, even if it's blank, unless things have changed!

Originally Posted by exes

When I do the Crack Reading and Crack PAT I use my notebook to:
1) take short important notes for each reading section, usually about 1 page per reading
2) for the PAT use 1 page for hole punching and cube counting combined.

Will I be able to do that during the DAT as well?

My friend took it and he said for each section you get 2 boards and the markers they give you can only be erased when using "water" (he used spit) and you get one board and if you need a second for a particular section you have to raise your hand and wait until the person comes up and answers your question. (that would take FOREVER and can cost you 1-2 minutes and it will mess your concentration up.

So what am I supposed to do when I am used to taking as many notes as i want to help me get my answers easier?

I took my DAT on December, 2011, so I am hoping I can be of help here unless prometric have made some drastic changes between now and my test date.

For my test, I got 2 sheets of laminated paper (with grids on them, similar to the graph paper), and two wet-erase black markers (fine tip) at the beginning of the test.

Now lets think about the structure of the test itself. There is an optional 15 minute tutorial, like the poster ahead of me said, that you can use to make makes grids and tables for the PAT section. As you already know, there will be a SNS section after the tutorial where you will most likely need to write down some stuff for the gc and oc parts. You most likely won't run out of room for SNS+PAT unless you write really big.
Then you get a 15 minute break. This was the time when I got out of the testing room and exchanged my sheets with two new sheets. When I got back into the testing room, I began writing some math formulas on the front of first laminated sheet(back side is empty and can be used for anything your heart desires), and wrote the #s 1-20 on the second sheet to set me up for RC part. For my test, I didn't even end up writing a lot of key words for my RC, and still had plenty of room left after I finished QR.

If you do fill up the 2 sheets of laminated paper (i.e. Filling up all of back and front of 1st laminated paper, and back and front sides of the 2nd laminated paper) in the middle of the test (i.e. anytime during SNS+PAT or RC+QR), yes you will have to have to raise you hand and wait for the prometric employee to come and exchange one of the used up sheets with a clean/new one, which definitely would take some time.

P.S. If you take lots of notes, and still score high on the RC... great! But be aware that will leave you with one side of one laminated paper, which might not be enough to do the whole QR section.

P.S.S. I think what you friend said was very confusing so I tried to make it as clear as possible... so I apologize for the lengthy answer.

Originally Posted by dymm

I took my DAT on December, 2011, so I am hoping I can be of help here unless prometric have made some drastic changes between now and my test date.

For my test, I got 2 sheets of laminated paper (with grids on them, similar to the graph paper), and two wet-erase black markers (fine tip) at the beginning of the test.

Now lets think about the structure of the test itself. There is an optional 15 minute tutorial, like the poster ahead of me said, that you can use to make makes grids and tables for the PAT section. As you already know, there will be a SNS section after the tutorial where you will most likely need to write down some stuff for the gc and oc parts. You most likely won't run out of room unless you write really big.
Then you get a 15 minute break. This was the time when I got out of the testing room and exchanged my sheets with two new sheets. (please also note the time it takes to check out of the test room/area by giving fingerprint, and check back into it if you decide to go to bathroom, eat snack, etc...). When I got back into the testing room, I began writing some math formulas on the front of first laminated sheet, and wrote the #s 1-20 on the second sheet to set me up for RC part. For my test, I didn't even end up writing a lot of key words for my RC, and still had plenty of room left after I finished QR.

If you do fill up the 2 sheets of laminated paper in the middle of the test (i.e. anytime during SNS+PAT or RC+QR), yes you will have to have to raise you hand and wait for the prometric employee to come and exchange one of the used up sheets with a clean/new one, which definitely would take some time.

P.S. If you take lots of notes, and still score high on the RC... great! But be aware that will leave you with one side of one laminated paper, which might not be enough to do the whole QR section.

P.S.S. I think what you friend said was very confusing so I tried to make it as clear as possible... so I apologize for the lengthy answer.

So you get 2 boards for each section. there is a total of 2 sections meaning you get 4 boards total? yet, you only get 1 board to start out with and if needed you can get an additional one for each section. AM I CORRECT? hope I understood it.

Additionally, is the board just one sided or can you write on both? I am having a hard time to imagine how exactly the board looks like. it would be of great help to see how it actually looks

thank you guys already

Originally Posted by exes

So you get 2 boards for each section. there is a total of 2 sections meaning you get 4 boards total? yet, you only get 1 board to start out with and if needed you can get an additional one for each section. AM I CORRECT? hope I understood it.

Additionally, is the board just one sided or can you write on both? I am having a hard time to imagine how exactly the board looks like. it would be of great help to see how it actually looks

thank you guys already

This made me smile. We are having some serious communication problems here. Please re-read my edited post.
I sincerely wish you luck on the RC.

Originally Posted by exes

So you get 2 boards for each section. there is a total of 2 sections meaning you get 4 boards total? yet, you only get 1 board to start out with and if needed you can get an additional one for each section. AM I CORRECT? hope I understood it.

Additionally, is the board just one sided or can you write on both? I am having a hard time to imagine how exactly the board looks like. it would be of great help to see how it actually looks

thank you guys already

As others stated, you get 2 pieces of laminated graph paper with 2 fine tip markers. You can writ e on the front and back of each piece of laminated paper for a total of 4 pages.

From what I remember you can't have more than 2 sheets. If you use one up and need a new sheet, ask to trade in one of your used sheets for a new one. This will cost some time so be weary and practice accordingly.

Originally Posted by dymm

This made me smile. We are having some serious communication problems here. Please re-read my edited post.
I sincerely wish you luck on the RC.

no I understood what you meant. No more questions. you get 2 sheets if you want one more you can exchange it but it will time. when you take a break you can get new sheets