Does actual math questions have not accurate answers like destroyer?

[joonkimdds]

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If the real answer for a problem is 270, destroyer says 300.
If I do all the calculation and got 23, that is not one of the answer choices.
Instead it gives 25 and he calls it the right answer.

I don't know what's so hard about putting the right answer as the answer choice but he always tends to do that.

Are the actual dat problems like this and usually have the inaccurate answer choice as the correct answer?

 

[iwannabadentist]

i wouldn't call it an inaccurate answer - its more of a "closest approximation." if these questions are on the test, the question will usually say what is the best approximation of ... or whatever.

 

[Streetwolf]

That sounds really... dumb. Are you sure you are doing the problems correctly?

Was there any place in the middle where you might have rounded off and then continued doing calculations? Perhaps that's why your answers are off.

 

[joonkimdds]

Are you sure you are doing the problems correctly?

Yes I am sure. Even the answer explanation said my method was correct.

For example, average velocity I found was 500/19 which is 26.32. But this was not one of the answer choices. Instead, the correct answer was 25.

The explanation said 500/19 is only slightly greater than 500/20 = 25 and therefore answer is 25.

If it said 26 then I would understand that 26.32 is slightly greater than 26. I don't see the point of putting 25 as the answer instead of 26.

I understand that the difference between 25 and 26 isn't big but it still makes me wonder if my calculation was off and I don't like this confusion. If it was my high school math class, I am sure my teacher would take off points for this.

 

[miedvied]

It's worth bearing in mind you won't have a calculator on the DAT. That's the way you'll be doing it on the test, which strikes me as therefore being the way you want to practice - regardless of what your math teacher may or may not have approved of in class.

 

[brightsmiles9]

Yes, that's true. Try practicing estimating so that way you dont waste too much time getting the approximate answer when your already in the ballpark. But question is this, how far apart are the real answer choices?

 

[Streetwolf]

DAT answers *should* be exact or rounded CORRECTLY (ie if you get 26.3621309585 then it's reasonable to have either 26 or 26.4 or 26.36 as an answer choice).

I don't think you'd ever see 25 as a correct answer to that decimal above.

 

[iwannabadentist]

if the correct answer is 26.3621 and your answer choices are:
A. 35
B. 555
C. 25
D. 1
E. 92

what are you gonna pick? It doesn't matter what the "correct" answer is on these tests, because trust me, MANY of the bio gc and oc answers are debateable - its just a matter of how correct the answer is compared to the rest of the choices. Now for the same example as above, if choice E was 'None of the Above' instead of 92, then I'm not sure if you would still pick 25 or none of the above. That's a judgment call that you have to be willing to make on the spur of the moment. Usually, they won't trick you with something that close, but if you think something is fishy, you might want to check your working of the problem again.

 

[joonkimdds]

Another thing that confused me came from Kaplan.
I got 131000/134 = 977 Kalvin. I substracted 273 to get 704 celsius.
Kaplan said 131000/134 is about 1000 and we subtract 300 to get 700 celsius.
In this case, I understand. If the correct answer was 700 then I would say ok fine~ fair enough.

But the correct answer was 749 celsius and I thought this is little bit ridiculous.

 

[miedvied]

Yes, that's true. Try practicing estimating so that way you dont waste too much time getting the approximate answer when your already in the ballpark. But question is this, how far apart are the real answer choices?

They're far apart. They usually leave a lot of wiggle room for plenty of error to be introduced in rounding. The only time they go for a series without wiggle room for rounding/approximation (4.8, 4.9, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2) is when the answer reduces to a simple multiple of a value you're expected to know (i.e., square root of 3 is 1.7, so you might get an answer like 3*sqrt(3), which is 5.1).

 

[jay47]

if the correct answer is 26.3621 and your answer choices are:
A. 35
B. 555
C. 25
D. 1
E. 92

what are you gonna pick? It doesn't matter what the "correct" answer is on these tests, because trust me, MANY of the bio gc and oc answers are debateable - its just a matter of how correct the answer is compared to the rest of the choices. Now for the same example as above, if choice E was 'None of the Above' instead of 92, then I'm not sure if you would still pick 25 or none of the above. That's a judgment call that you have to be willing to make on the spur of the moment. Usually, they won't trick you with something that close, but if you think something is fishy, you might want to check your working of the problem again.

Except that they would be in ascending order. But, good example.