Kicked out of DAT Test Room...Retake?

[Weathersby]

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WHAT DO YOU THINK MY CHANCES OF GETTING A RETAKE ARE?

I took the DAT this morning and ran into a bit of a snag. Short story=Don't write anything on the desk. I was removed, lectured, the ADA was called, and let back in just for writing two words on the desk with my dry erase marker.

Long story=I'll just paste my letter/fax that I sent to the ADA here with some of the stuff removed so as to not give anything that's on the exam. Sorry for all the [removed]s, I can't afford getting into any more trouble:

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[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]To whom it may concern:.

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]I'm writing to request that my DAT scores be voided and that my eligibility be reset. The DAT I completed this morning was administered under conditions that definitely qualify as "irregular"..

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]Although Prometric's incident report (#######) likely tells the same story, I'll give my summary of this morning's events: About forty-five minutes into the survey of natural sciences, I came to question #[Removed]. This general chemistry question was displayed incorrectly on the computer screen. The [Removed] were not present. For example, [Removed] .

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]After taking a couple precious minutes to decide that the strange format rendered the question unanswerable, I made note of the question number and the display issue, so that I could bring it to the attention of the next proctor that I saw. .

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]Since the laminated sheet of paper and dry-erase marker was in constant use (I was filling and erasing it about every two minutes), I quickly decided to write the Q# on the desk with my dry-erase marker. I reasoned that if I jotted my concern on the desk I wouldn't accidentally erase or rub off the question number that I would need to reference later when I called the ADA. .

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]When a proctor soon came into the room, I immediately got her attention (as the video will show) and pointed out to her the obvious note on my desk. It was NOT an exam answer, and it was NOT an exam question. It was only the question number and the display issue--something similar to:.

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif] "#[removed] -displayed wrong ". .

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]The proctor immediately left and came back with two others to escort me from the exam room for writing on the desk. They talked with me for several minutes and told me that it is obvious that I'm "not trying to cheat, but that they needed to follow procedure." My DAT clock was running for several minutes before they powered down the computer to pause it. .

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]I sat in the check-in office for about 10 minutes before they explained to me that my scores might have to be voided. Then they told me to go back into the exam room because my clock had already started. I raced back in and tried to finish the 40 remaining questions in essentially half the time I should have had..

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]It is evident that being interrupted and losing around 15 minutes greatly affected my scores. In the section prior to being escorted from the test (biology), I scored a 21 (92 percentile). But with little time left for finishing general chemistry and the entire organic chemistry section, these scores suffered: GC(18) ; OC(16)..

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]I regret my time-pressed decision to scribble a reference on the desk. I had and only could have had good intentions. I think the reaction of the staff was excessive given I was the person who pointed out the writing on my desk, I never brought anything into or out of the exam room, and I was the only person even taking the DAT today. .

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]My scores following the time/concentration loss are much lower than what I know I could have received. For the past three months, I've put everything I have into studying for this exam. Dentistry is my life. I'm asking that you please let me show what I am truly capable of in fair testing conditions..

[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]Thank you,.


[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]-----------------------------------------------------------.


[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]Do you guys think this letter will get me a retake? The exam was this morning and since I had an incident, they're going to review it all anyway. Seriously though, being escorted out, accused of cheating, and losing a bunch of time really throws you out of the zone. Especially so early in the exam.
.


[FONT=FreeSans, sans-serif]g'night.
.

 

[Clubby]

It probably will, but you should have come on here and said you got thrown out for doing something awesome, like eating your arm out of anger or chewing the headphones.

 

[fancymylotus]

First of all, take your name off the end of this letter. You never know what crazy adcoms or shmuck ADA-ites are reading the forums. Secondly, that blows. I swear to god these people have no fvking life and are out to screw people left and right. I hope you get your retake.

 

[thefifthbeatle]

well here is the thing...you got 2 laminated sheets of paper..front and back..there is no place to write "#55" or whatever?? i know they were in constant use..but they will just say you should have "marked" the question

 

[jigabodo]

Your situation def. warrants a lot of sympathy, and I think they should let you do a retake. However, you should also ask them if they can void the first score though.

 

[z3u2]

Secondly, that blows. I swear to god these people have no fvking life and are out to screw people left and right.

who?
the people working at the test center??

that's their job, that's what they are paid to do, and that's why u go there and take ur test so u have someone supervising u, have some respect.


Was there any clear instructions saying you are NOT allowed to write on the desk?

 

[moralbrain]

I am really sorry about what happened to you. It seems like a lot of people are having problems taking DAT. Although I was luck enough to have none of those problems, I know it really sucks when the hard work just blows up...

 

[i like dat]

who?
the people working at the test center??

that's their job, that's what they are paid to do, and that's why u go there and take ur test so u have someone supervising u, have some respect.


Was there any clear instructions saying you are NOT allowed to write on the desk?

Since when did the test prompters become so official? I hope Thompson didn't give them a badge! I know there job is to make sure that we don't cheat, however, I am pretty sure that it doesn't say, "ruin the test takers life" in there job description. If it was clear to them that he wasn’t cheating they should have just told him to stop writing on the desk and be done with it. I hope that you are allowed a retake; I would hate to be in that situation.

 

[drteeth]

That's crazy - I sincerely hope you are granted a retake. Maybe they wouldnt be having these problems if they didnt insist that we use that stupid dry erase boards in the first place!

 

[Montserrat]

Ouch ... Your offense seems pretty benign to me, and I hope you get an opportunity to retake the exam.

 

[thefifthbeatle]

I do feel bad that he was considered a cheater for an offense that isnt cheating...but...the test is on computer and you can scroll through questions again!!! If he couldnt answer #55 he just goes through the entire test, reviews incomplete/marked and saves the controversial one til the end!!!!!! not write on a desk...he did a very silly thing...not cheating, just silly

 

[drteeth]

I do feel bad that he was considered a cheater for an offense that isnt cheating...but...the test is on computer and you can scroll through questions again!!! If he couldnt answer #55 he just goes through the entire test, reviews incomplete/marked and saves the controversial one til the end!!!!!! not write on a desk...he did a very silly thing...not cheating, just silly

His question was in the GC section. You cant go back to the natural sciences section when youre done with the exam (i.e., after the QR). What he did was not all that silly actually.

 

[Weathersby]

who?
the people working at the test center??

that's their job, that's what they are paid to do, and that's why u go there and take ur test so u have someone supervising u, have some respect.


Was there any clear instructions saying you are NOT allowed to write on the desk?

Nope. Not online or in anything I was given. I understand how it could cause problems, though. But you should also consider that I was the only person taking the DAT yesterday.

 

[thefifthbeatle]

His question was in the GC section. You cant go back to the natural sciences section when youre done with the exam (i.e., after the QR). What he did was not all that silly actually.

He could have told them during the PAT--------BREAK----------RC

 

[thefifthbeatle]

His question was in the GC section. You cant go back to the natural sciences section when youre done with the exam (i.e., after the QR). What he did was not all that silly actually.

He told them during the SNS portion, not after the test.......it is silly writing stuff on a desk..cheaters do that, and they assumed he was.

 

[Weathersby]

He told them during the SNS portion, not after the test.......it is silly writing stuff on a desk..cheaters do that, and they assumed he was.

It figures that the most vocally unhelpful poster happens to be the only person who didn't read the original post.

The ONLY person who assumed I was cheating is you, beatle. I was told in person and it is written in the incident report that no cheating took place and that prometric does not believe I had any ill-intentions.

Yes, I told them during the SNS. I'm not sure how it was when you took the exam, but there are no proctors in the room as you take it. They are down the hall somewhere and you are watched with video cameras. The proctors stop in about every hour. At the time of the chemistry question, I had not seen a proctor yet and had no idea when or if I would ever see one.

He could have told them during the PAT--------BREAK----------RC

That was my intention. But, if you're saying I could have gone to my actual marked SNS questions during PAT, break, or RC, then you're wrong.
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[z3u2]

Since when did the test prompters become so official? I hope Thompson didn't give them a badge! I know there job is to make sure that we don't cheat, however, I am pretty sure that it doesn't say, "ruin the test takers life" in there job description. If it was clear to them that he wasn’t cheating they should have just told him to stop writing on the desk and be done with it.

Official or not, saying "I swear to god these people have no fvking life " is a naive and childish action.

and seriously, if this sole incident can ruin ur entire life, you probably don't have what it takes to be successful.

 

[z3u2]

Nope. Not online or in anything I was given. I understand how it could cause problems, though. But you should also consider that I was the only person taking the DAT yesterday.

FYI, it has been posted by other members not long ago that when they encountered an error during the exam, they called ada up later and was offered a choice of "void and retake".

but, if you can understand why writing on the desk would cause problems in the first place, u shouldn't put urself in a "suspicious" position even if u know you aren't cheating.

It's like going grocery shopping, oops, my basket is full, i'll just put this bag of chocolate in my pocket for now

 

[bruinpredent]

😴

no offense, but weren't we taught in grade school not to write on desks?

since i'm not entirely sure what to make of all this, i'll leave it at that

 

[ingemar]

WTF, you guys were given dry-erase markers and laminated sheets for your exams? All I got was a pair of goofy air-traffic controller headphones and that's it. Serves me right, I guess, for taking the American DAT in a Canadian test center, EH?

 

[i like dat]

 

[dfordat]

When I was taking my DAT, there was surely a question in the General Chemistry section that didn't seem to be in the correct format. I was unaware of the fact that one could complaint for it, though.