DAT Problems with laminated sheets and dry erase marker

[digitaldentist]

peace

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[armorshell]

So basically, even though it's commonly known that those are the tools prometric gves out, even though you could have called them in advance to find out what they were giving you, and even though you could have asked them for the tools you did prepare with, but didn't, you're still blaming prometric?

You had every oppurtunity to do what you needed to and to get what you needed, and you failed to, not prometric.

 

[Nasem]

first of all, EVEN if he did ask for paper / pencil, they would have said no and given him the laminated board / marker. Thats the new "rule" (laminated + large tip marker)

I can't be one of the people to complain since I have not taken the DAT yet, but I have a feel when I do take it, I'll be pretty Pi$$ed off about the laminated / marker crap

 

[armorshell]

If you prepare for it the way the test is intended to be taken, what are you worried about? It's not like you're the only one who has to take the test with a dry erase.

 

[lgwdnbdgr]

first of all, EVEN if he did ask for paper / pencil, they would have said no and given him the laminated board / marker. Thats the new "rule" (laminated + large tip marker)

Does anyone know the reason for this new rule?

 

[armorshell]

Does anyone know the reason for this new rule?

Probably the "Paper ruler" people were using on the DAT, which is funny, because for all I could tell the thing was damn near useless.

 

[Dauber]

this a new rule? i had paper and a pencil and it was glorious.

 

[burton117]

If you prepare for it the way the test is intended to be taken, what are you worried about? It's not like you're the only one who has to take the test with a dry erase.

Didn't you take the test before they used dry erase boards? So what would you know about it?

 

[DailyDrivenTJ]

Is English your second language?

 

[Fonz]

I too was kinda shaken by the dry erase boards but I dont think it made that much of a difference. I hardly need any scratch work except for QR and even then I dont think it affected my score too much. I did ask if i could have paper and pencil but they said that the instructions for the test only allowed for the board.

 

[Fonz]

Third, I couldn't write nearly the same amount of notes, as I practiced for reading comprehension at home, following the Kaplan mapping method.
As a result, I lost a lot of time, and efficiency on the two most time constrained sections of the test. Granted there were some quantitative questions I simply drew blanks on, and maybe I could have done a bit more to prepare for the reading comprehension.

alright I'll stick in IMHO to cover myself from flaming but

OMG NOOOOOOOOO. DO NOT USE KAPLAN RC STRAT! reading comp should not be as complicated as kaplan makes it. Not even if you're ESL or a really really poor reader. I mean when I was studying for it (using the kaplan method) it was like: lightbulb! this is ridiculous and taking unnecessarily long amounts of time so I was really considering dropping that strat. I got a second opinion from a friend who already took Kaplan and the DAT to reaffirm my decision. He said honestly that the whole kaplan thing is a waste of time and the way the passage is scrollable on screen with the question right there makes it soo much easier. He was right. RC was one of the sections I spent the LEAST time studying on and because of that it was one of the sections I was most afraid of. I was sure it would be one of my downfalls. Oddly enough it was my best section by standard score - 25 and 2nd best section by percentile - 98 .

 

[DailyDrivenTJ]

so how did you do overall?

 

[Fonz]

so how did you do overall?

me? 22/22/21

 

[Sabrina0903]

alright I'll stick in IMHO to cover myself from flaming but

OMG NOOOOOOOOO. DO NOT USE KAPLAN RC STRAT! reading comp should not be as complicated as kaplan makes it. Not even if you're ESL or a really really poor reader. I mean when I was studying for it (using the kaplan method) it was like: lightbulb! this is ridiculous and taking unnecessarily long amounts of time so I was really considering dropping that strat. I got a second opinion from a friend who already took Kaplan and the DAT to reaffirm my decision. He said honestly that the whole kaplan thing is a waste of time and the way the passage is scrollable on screen with the question right there makes it soo much easier. He was right. RC was one of the sections I spent the LEAST time studying on and because of that it was one of the sections I was most afraid of. I was sure it would be one of my downfalls. Oddly enough it was my best section by standard score - 25 and 2nd best section by percentile - 98 .

Could you share your strategy for RC?

 

[Lonely Sol]

alright I'll stick in IMHO to cover myself from flaming but

OMG NOOOOOOOOO. DO NOT USE KAPLAN RC STRAT! reading comp should not be as complicated as kaplan makes it. Not even if you're ESL or a really really poor reader. I mean when I was studying for it (using the kaplan method) it was like: lightbulb! this is ridiculous and taking unnecessarily long amounts of time so I was really considering dropping that strat. I got a second opinion from a friend who already took Kaplan and the DAT to reaffirm my decision. He said honestly that the whole kaplan thing is a waste of time and the way the passage is scrollable on screen with the question right there makes it soo much easier. He was right. RC was one of the sections I spent the LEAST time studying on and because of that it was one of the sections I was most afraid of. I was sure it would be one of my downfalls. Oddly enough it was my best section by standard score - 25 and 2nd best section by percentile - 98 .

What strategy worked for you?! I am having a little hard time studying for that section, I am really good with sciences, I just need some strategy for that section. Also, how can you get better in that section? It was my lowest score, which brought my average down to 19/21/20. I have decided to take it again to bring that 17 in RC to at least 20.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Fonz]

Well I didn't have much of a strategy. As I said before when I did practice I used the kaplan method of skimming and making a outline then going back to the questions and using the outline to to find where the info in the passage. yeah very time consuming and frustrating because I would be always running out of time. All of my practice was on paper so I didn't know exactly what it would be like on the comp until the actual test (which is why I was so scared). To study I did a good amount of timed sample QR tests and I think the key to do well is to practice. Don't do the kaplan method but make note of all the different QR sample question types there are. If you already know the different types of questions they will most likely ask then you can try to make a mental note of such info as you are reading. Practice practice practice. It's not a section you study for perse so you just gotta practice.
But taking it on the computer was a lot different for me, a whole lot easier. My strategy was to read through the passage first fairly quickly but not too quickly. Make sure you are actually paying attention to what the passage is all about and info the passage is trying to convey. Focus like a laser, no day dreaming, no being scared and panicking. If you can answer some questions just by memory without having to go back through the passage again that obviously helps. But you obviously won't remember every fact and detail so most importantly make note of what order the info is in!!!!!!!! The progresssion REALLY is crucial because as kaplan will explain to you all the answers are just right there in front of you, you just need to find them (Well except for the ones where you have to infer the authors tone or something). Then just tackle the questions in order it help that compared to paper the question is right there and so is the scroll box for the passage so you can very quickly just scroll to any section that you want. You should have a pretty good idea to where the answer to the question is and don't be afraid to take some time for quick skimming to find the answer.
Basically that just what I did. The passages on the test to me seemed not very long at all compared to the ones that kaplan gave and not as complicated. Kaplan tended to have questions where you had to find specific numbers/values and just very boring readings in general. I actually found the reading on my test to be very interesting! I don't hesitate to put an educated guess down and flag the question for later review. I finished with a lot of time to spare. I actually was able to double check all of my answers at the end and I was pretty damn confident about them all. I was so shocked and confused about how easy it actually was compared to what I was expecting, maybe I just got lucky with my version. I hope this helps.

 

[DailyDrivenTJ]

me? 22/22/21

Good job Fonz.