Calculator on DAT

[hellopeople]

Hello,

I know that there is a simple calculator on the QR section of the DAT, and until a second ago thought that this was exclusivly available in the QR section. I am doing a kaplan practice test however and noticed that there is a calc. available next to the "exhibit" (perodic table) button. Does anyone who has taken the DAT since this March know if there is a calculator available for the science section (I was wondering because things like 11.2 / 273.15 * 419 kinda suck even when estimating if your in a rush).

Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DeathNote]

Hello,

I know that there is a simple calculator on the QR section of the DAT, and until a second ago thought that this was exclusivly available in the QR section. I am doing a kaplan practice test however and noticed that there is a calc. available next to the "exhibit" (perodic table) button. Does anyone who has taken the DAT since this March know if there is a calculator available for the science section (I was wondering because things like 11.2 / 273.15 * 419 kinda suck even when estimating if your in a rush).

Thanks

The calculator is only available on the QR section. All other calculations in the sciences are completely simple math or the answers are the equations and you have to pick the one that is setup correctly

Ex. A. 11.2*273.15 * 419
B. 11.2/273.15 * 419 ***********(from above)
C. 11.2*273.15 / 419

 

[hellopeople]

Ok.
That's how I originally thought the situation was.
Thanks for the input.

 

[mprs]

Some side note, unlike the Kaplan calculator, the DAT one is REALLY slow and has a 1 second delay between each action. So I suggest not relying on it unless you really have to 🙂

 

[molar3]

I wonder, do you think the DAT writers made the math section harder now? as in, they added harder numbers or questions since were allowed to use a calculator now? i really hope thats not the case bc i dont plan on using the calculator unless im totally desperate (which i hope wont happen!), but yea i hope they arent trying to challenge us even more since theyre giving us a calculator...im scared

 

[slm266]

I'd start by taking the 2009 sample ada test, just so you can see how diverse the math questions are. Don't base your QR study on one source, because I'd say 80% of the QR was stuff I was used to seeing from CDM, topscore, destroyer, kaplan, and the remaining 20% was slightly unfamiliar.
I was scoring 20-24 consistently on practice tests, and scored 19 on the actual.

 

[DeathNote]

I wonder, do you think the DAT writers made the math section harder now? as in, they added harder numbers or questions since were allowed to use a calculator now? i really hope thats not the case bc i dont plan on using the calculator unless im totally desperate (which i hope wont happen!), but yea i hope they arent trying to challenge us even more since theyre giving us a calculator...im scared

The questions weren't really harder, its just easier to answer some of the formerly hard or time consuming questions so the average score will go up which will make it harder to get 25+ scores.

 

[slm266]

The questions weren't really harder, its just easier to answer some of the formerly hard or time consuming questions so the average score will go up which will make it harder to get 25+ scores.

I could be wrong, but I don't think that QR scores are going up at all.

 

[104]

correct me if I am wrong... but aren't DAT scores a certain percentage of how well you did on that certain section/test compared to all others who have taken it. Thus, "if" the questions in QR are more "difficult" everyone will get the same amount of difficult questions and their score will depend on how well everyone did. so qr scores should remain around the same...

You catch my thought process?

 

[Pikarole]

correct me if I am wrong... but aren't DAT scores a certain percentage of how well you did on that certain section/test compared to all others who have taken it. Thus, "if" the questions in QR are more "difficult" everyone will get the same amount of difficult questions and their score will depend on how well everyone did. so qr scores should remain around the same...

You catch my thought process?

Based on what I've read, the scores and percentile rankings are computed independently. If there is a hard section and you do well but most don't, this will show in your percentile ranking only, not your score.

 

[glo1984]

All I can say about that worthless calculator is the fact that when I'd try to register a click, it would miss. Therefore causing a HUGE amount of time wasted which resulted in some answers being extremely rushed. I wish I knew the calculator would be such a gimmick.