DAT changed (bio section)?

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Fonix07

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http://www.ada.org/sections/educationAndCareers/pdfs/dat_news_2013.pdf

I took my DAT yesterday (2/20/14) and noticed a dramatic change in approach to the test (comparing to DAT destroyer, achiever, etc) for the biology section. These biology practice tests were easy for me since they were direct questions, but the real DAT test that I received, had so many conceptual questions, several questions were related to my advanced biology classes (Not mentioned in Feralis). Few lab questions/calculations, again not in Feralis. Mainly, the approach is toward conceptual/critical thinking.

I made a high grade, but was lower than what I'd expected before I took the test based on my background education. My questions is has anyone else had a similar test or had it always been like this?

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how can they possibly change the exam when they didnt even release any practice tests or questions for it? this is completely unfair and i feel like i will be studying for nothing :(

they have to clarify and release practice exams/questions for students because they changed it.
 
I had some ridiculous questions on mine. I took it last December and around 10 questions were not on any of the sources I studied from (destroyer, barrons, cliffs, feralis, campbell's quizzes).
I had to make educated guess from some of the advanced courses I took in school. I think that the questions didn't change but the difficult questions are just really that random and difficult.
 
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I heard about it before. Tests change. You may get a harder or easier version. That's why you study some materials that are tougher than others. It's hard. You never know what you'll get at the testing center.
 
I had some ridiculous questions on mine. I took it last December and around 10 questions were not on any of the sources I studied from (destroyer, barrons, cliffs, feralis, campbell's quizzes).
I had to make educated guess from some of the advanced courses I took in school. I think that the questions didn't change but the difficult questions are just really that random and difficult.
So do you mean by questions that you are not familiar of? The Hard questions
 
Those hard questions were really just too detailed even for anyone that studied their butt off to answer.
Like you would have to be some kind of expert on tundras to answer one of the questions I got.

I had to just make a guess and move on. I wouldn't worry too much about it since everyone probably has to guess on it as well.
It's better off spending time to make sure all the important core materials are memorized.
 
The biology section is hit or miss. I'm a biochem major so my exposure to general biology was limited to say the least. I studied off of several practice tests and biology books, but in the end I got random trivia-like questions (seriously, if I wasn't concerned about being flagged for divulging test information I would tell you how completely absurd it was).

As long as you do well on the other sections you should be fine.
 
Can anyone confirm that the biology section has in fact changed. I don't think anyone has taken the "new" biology section.
I contacted the ada and their response is this they don't have an approximate date when the will change the bio section
 
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Relax guys. When implementing new changes, they will first put sample questions in to the regular tests to get feedback on them. These questions are usually considered experimental and don't actually count towards your score. They've been doing the same thing with statistics questions in the math section. I've been hearing about these for a while, but I'll try to see if I can get a firm response from the ADA about how these affect scoring.
 
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Talked to the ADA today. I was told that:

1. The changes to the bio section will not be implemented this year.

2. The current critical-thinking style questions you've been hearing about on the bio section are experimental, and not counted towards your score.
 
Talked to the ADA today. I was told that:

1. The changes to the bio section will not be implemented this year.

2. The current critical-thinking style questions you've been hearing about on the bio section are experimental, and not counted towards your score.
Thank you for your research.

Im a little confused, since there are 40 bio questions how many of them are experimental? When I take the test I am striving to get all the questions I can get correct but now its unfair for us to assume and judge this question or that question counts or doesnt count. You see where Im getting at?
 
It's unlikely that there is a set number of experimental questions - from what I've read in breakdowns it seems to be anywhere from 3-10. You should treat all questions like they count though, it's the safe route.
 
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