Dry Erase Boards is right!!
I just retook the DAT today and was suprised with a dry erase board (wait, I take that back it was more like a laminated piece of 8 1/2 by 11 yellow paper). I definitely would have practiced on dry erase boards if I had known ahead of time. Heck, I tossed my calculator for all math problems over a year ago to force myself to practice solving problems without a calculator as I was so dependant on it.
I don't think the dry erase board hurt my score, but it definitely stinks when you solve a chemistry problem, write out the whole equation - all your work, mark the test question, and then come back to review it later. You have to erase what you wrote when you do the next question, so you can't review your work when you have time at the end. Reviewing answers doesn't do any good when you can't see how you solved it and what mistakes you may have made on your scratch paper.. oh well...
Also, the tip of the dry erase marker is much larger than the tip of a pencil, so I was doing some problems that spilled over onto two sheets of paper. Writing out my equations and unit circle for math during the 15 minute break, it was really hard to write them all on just one sheet. That was kind of annoying..
As if that wasn't bad enough, they gave me two markers. Now, that in itself wasn't bad but during the PAT section (no marker needed), I left the cap off of one of the markers. By the time I got back to the marker after 60+ minutes - it had dried out! If I had left the cap off of both markers or if the other one had been dry, I would be scrambling to get more markers with the clock running!!! Fortunately, the other marker came through for the rest of the test. These are unnecessary technical things to be thinking about during the DAT!! I should just be taking the test! Anyway...
In my opinion, this will make it harder to pace yourself to finish in optimal time if you have to re-review each problem, erase it, and move on the next one...
Does anybody know the argument the ADA or Prometric used to incorporate dry erase boards into the DAT? It doesn't make sense to me. The only thing I can think of is that it takes the proctor out of the equation for providing scrap paper when yours fills up and you raise your hand. This way you can't blame them if they take forever to bring you new scrap paper when you need to be solving problems. Also, it would be more difficult to write down actual test problems and bring them out of the testing center with you, but they didn't let you keep the scrap paper anyway..
just my .02!
