How can I debate DAT questions?

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GoetzItDone

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Hi everyone,
This is my first time posting in this forum, and I'm very astonished to see such a helpful community of pre-dents. It's my third year at University of Florida, and I'm a microbiology major.

My question is about the DAT I took yesterday. After the test, my scores popped up on the screen, and I was very happy with my results. However, I was not happy with my PAT score because I know there were flawed questions. I did almost all of the CRACK the DAT perceptual questions, so I know what a faulty question looks like, and there were definitely 2 faulty questions in my PAT. Does anyone know if there's a way for me to debate these questions? I know that I will receive my official score in a few weeks, but I really want to be sure that they are aware of these mistakes.

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I'd say submit a letter in writing to ADEA (I doubt the ADA will directly deal with it since ADEA is its educational arm). I'd give them a call as well. They're probably going to give you some response along the lines of "if it was wrong then everybody would have gotten that question wrong, so that will be reflected in the normalized score you received." I would then argue that it gives people an unfair advantage for guessing, but in the end these institutions are probably hard headed and won't budge. You can definitely try though.
 
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Hi everyone,
This is my first time posting in this forum, and I'm very astonished to see such a helpful community of pre-dents. It's my third year at University of Florida, and I'm a microbiology major.

My question is about the DAT I took yesterday. After the test, my scores popped up on the screen, and I was very happy with my results. However, I was not happy with my PAT score because I know there were flawed questions. I did almost all of the CRACK the DAT perceptual questions, so I know what a faulty question looks like, and there were definitely 2 faulty questions in my PAT. Does anyone know if there's a way for me to debate these questions? I know that I will receive my official score in a few weeks, but I really want to be sure that they are aware of these mistakes.

You're getting huffy over 2 questions? I bet they werent unfair and simply under the stress and mental exhaustion of a 4 hr exam that it appeared as such.

PAT on the real deal was WAY harder than kaplan and Crack the DAT can through at you. Those were a joke....

But don't let this keep you up at night. Call the ADA if you'd like and if you are nice about it, MAYBE they will look at it. But doubtful your score will change any.
 
I'm not sure what "getting huffy means", I just want the score I deserve, and I did well enough that 2 more questions correct is a big difference. I think Crack the DAT and the actually DAT have questions with similar difficulties, but it's that the questions are of a slightly different style that makes the questions on the DAT more difficult.

I just read in the DAT user manual that fifteen of the 90 items on the PAT are reserved for pretesting new items. They are not included in the scoring of the test. So I'm going to assume that the faulty questions for these pretesting items and wait until I get an official score to see how "huffy" I actually ought to be.
 
I'm not sure what "getting huffy means", I just want the score I deserve, and I did well enough that 2 more questions correct is a big difference. I think Crack the DAT and the actually DAT have questions with similar difficulties, but it's that the questions are of a slightly different style that makes the questions on the DAT more difficult.

I just read in the DAT user manual that fifteen of the 90 items on the PAT are reserved for pretesting new items. They are not included in the scoring of the test. So I'm going to assume that the faulty questions for these pretesting items and wait until I get an official score to see how "huffy" I actually ought to be.

What do you mean by "until I get an official score"? You got your score before you left the testing center and that is all you will get. Even if you order your official score again, you will just get the raw score numbers (not even percentages).

If you want you can protest your score, but even if you were correct they will not just give you two more points. They will allow you to retake the ENTIRE test for free within a certain amount of time. Personally I'd say drop the issue because it isn't worth it.
 
I'm not sure what "getting huffy means", I just want the score I deserve, and I did well enough that 2 more questions correct is a big difference. I think Crack the DAT and the actually DAT have questions with similar difficulties, but it's that the questions are of a slightly different style that makes the questions on the DAT more difficult.

I just read in the DAT user manual that fifteen of the 90 items on the PAT are reserved for pretesting new items. They are not included in the scoring of the test. So I'm going to assume that the faulty questions for these pretesting items and wait until I get an official score to see how "huffy" I actually ought to be.

I see. So in fact those 2 questions are experimental, they aren't in your score anyway.

We have someone in our class just like you. No one likes him. Take your score, be proud, and start working on your personal statement.
 
What do you mean by "until I get an official score"? You got your score before you left the testing center and that is all you will get. Even if you order your official score again, you will just get the raw score numbers (not even percentages).

If you want you can protest your score, but even if you were correct they will not just give you two more points. They will allow you to retake the ENTIRE test for free within a certain amount of time. Personally I'd say drop the issue because it isn't worth it.

Relax man, you did well.
If those questions were a mistake and you got them wrong. ADA would tell you that if it was a fair question (error-proof) then who knows if you would have gotten it right.
Then they give you a chance to retake and your current score will be voided.
Take your score and walk away with it.
 
We have someone in our class just like you. No one likes him. Take your score, be proud, and start working on your personal statement.

Yours words are unnecessary. I am very disappointed that this is the kind of input I get from a forum that I had heard such good things about. Whether people like me or not will in no way stop me from reaching my goals. I am very proud of what I have done, and I am very confident that what I will do in the future will have a very strong impact on this world.

I'm not going to read any replies nor make any further posts in this thread.
 
Yours words are unnecessary. I am very disappointed that this is the kind of input I get from a forum that I had heard such good things about. Whether people like me or not will in no way stop me from reaching my goals. I am very proud of what I have done, and I am very confident that what I will do in the future will have a very strong impact on this world.

I'm not going to read any replies nor make any further posts in this thread.

You should read mine. I spent time writing it and it pertains to your case. :D
 
Yours words are unnecessary. I am very disappointed that this is the kind of input I get from a forum that I had heard such good things about. Whether people like me or not will in no way stop me from reaching my goals. I am very proud of what I have done, and I am very confident that what I will do in the future will have a very strong impact on this world.

I'm not going to read any replies nor make any further posts in this thread.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
 
Let's try to be civil here guys. Condescending tones are completely unnecessary and are counterproductive. It's one thing to state an objective fact/opinion but its another thing to put someone down because of their wanting a better grade with a justifiable reason.

Do I think a letter to ADEA or the ADA would reconcile this issue? I doubt it, but so long as you believe in your cause then feel free to do it because after all all you want is for your test to be fair....you can't blame a person for wanting that.
 
ha, I can't believe people are siding with him.

First look at this: http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/dat_estimate_score.pdf

In all likely hood, your score won't be impacted by 2 questions, and if it is, your score is already really good.

I bet you got 1 or 2 right just out of pure luck so count those in the category that you don't deserve and include that in the letter for all fairness. I took that exam, there is NO way you can say you answered those angle questions 100% with full confidence. Nor can you say with 100% confidence that those shaded figures were 100% correct. It's a long test, your mind drains, and you don't catch everything.

MOST standardized exam questions that aren't cut and dry (such as the PAT) are phased in when they are new. The first time they are shown, they are graded but not included in the score. When exams are graded, they can look at the scores and predict if a question is worded unfair. If the 24 DAT people miss the question just as often or perhaps more than the 18 DAT people, then there is need for attention to that question. The computers can see these trends and this stuff gets fixed all by itself. Statistic over many exams don't lie. It's too expensive to fix mistakes so there is emphasis on preventing them.

The chances of you actually have a faulty question are so remote that I don't know why you'd come on here begging for attention. YOU are the only one that can get ahold of the ADA and 'solve' your problem. And please tell me you wrote down the question number and details of the question, that way they can throw out your score also for cheating and removing test content from the center.

Just wait until you get in clinic and are at the mercy of a system that has no concrete grading scheme...
 
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