New DAT Format - March 2010

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Anyone who is taking the DAT the first week of March, please post your impressions of the new calculator feature, highlight feature, and answer choice strike-through feature. Does anyone know of other changes that are being made?
 
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I was scheduled to take it the 5th, but got a voicemail today saying that all ADA testing candidates scheduled for March 1 - 10 were rescheduled, so it might be a little while before you hear about the new features! I knew they were adding the calculator...but what are the other two? Highlight on RC and cross out an answer you already know is wrong? At least that's what they sound like from what you said...just a guess...
 
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Yeah they are pretty self explanatory. The newest version of Achiever has them and they are actually pretty nice. Does anyone know if there will be any other changes? Maybe some changes in the bio question trends?
 
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Avery07 said:
AADSAS stated that there would be no change in the difficulty of the math section.
Click to expand...

In fact, ive spoke to several people who actually said that the use of the calculator may be detrimental purely for the fact of timing. The timing is already tight, and people who will rely heavily on the "clickable calculator" may eat up too much time. i mean come on, who could use that thing anyway. i think it would be best to practice as though the calculator is unavailable.
 
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JBarr29 said:
In fact, ive spoke to several people who actually said that the use of the calculator may be detrimental purely for the fact of timing. The timing is already tight, and people who will rely heavily on the "clickable calculator" may eat up too much time. i mean come on, who could use that thing anyway. i think it would be best to practice as though the calculator is unavailable.
Click to expand...

It may adversely affect some students but the difficulty will still not change. This is just the same as the strikeout or highlight features.

And I have to disagree with you on that. The calculator will make quick work out of finding a ratio if you can't get it off the top of your head. There is more than enough time in the QR section to complete the whole thing.
 
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Avery07 said:
It may adversely affect some students but the difficulty will still not change. This is just the same as the strikeout or highlight features.

And I have to disagree with you on that. The calculator will make quick work out of finding a ratio if you can't get it off the top of your head. There is more than enough time in the QR section to complete the whole thing.
Click to expand...

I agree with you...I believe that there is enough time, however the kids that struggle with math and dont excel in that section usually complain its due to time constraints.
 
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^^naaah it's a pretty tough section to complete on-time...I've kinda tested it out too. Took a timed and untimed math test. Of course, untimed was a much higher score...QR is totally about managing your time efficiently. Then again, how important is the score on this section compared to the others? A majority of people study for the sciences before starting on QR...For me, my weakness in the QR section are the word problems. I need time to digest a question and solve. There's a few problems that might require the use of a calculator, but I guess I'll make the best judgment for when to use it
 
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JBarr29 said:
In fact, ive spoke to several people who actually said that the use of the calculator may be detrimental purely for the fact of timing. The timing is already tight, and people who will rely heavily on the "clickable calculator" may eat up too much time. i mean come on, who could use that thing anyway. i think it would be best to practice as though the calculator is unavailable.
Click to expand...

Meh, I think if you use it wisely it'll help you. I know I spend a TON of time on long division (who still does it after grade school?!). Or if I forget what 1/16 is in decimals, now I can check really quick.

If you're clicky clicky for every calculation, yeah you're going to be screwed.
 
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I'm guessing those that were rescheduled last week have taken the DAT already. Could any of you guys comment on the new features? If you have retaken it,was it more difficult than before? how did you feel about the calculator... did it help or did it just waste your time.
 
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WOW! I had NO idea of these changes! I am scheduled to take the DAT for the 2nd time in May. I took it last year without a prep course and had pretty decent scores except in QR. 18s and 19s across the board...except in QR...I got a 14!! :-/ Sooooo embarrassing and frustrating! I chose to retake and wait to apply for the 2011 year and am now taking the Kaplan Online course and using DAT Destroyer. Hopefully now I can get in the 20s.

I was a math tutor in college and took all the way up to Calc 3 and differential equations.... The hard part about the QR section is timing! Seriously though....if you study, you know all of the formulas to answer the word problems, but the long division and multiplication are what slow you down!

I am interested to see how the new calculator method works and if they really are keeping the questions the same difficulty level. Is it a calculator on the computer or is it one that the testing center provides?
 
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So what's the update on the calc, highlight, and strikethrough features? I take the test next week and this is the first time I'm hearing about any of this!!!
 
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calc only on the math section (on the screen), no highlight and no strikethrough features
 
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JBarr29 said:
I agree with you...I believe that there is enough time, however the kids that struggle with math and dont excel in that section usually complain its due to time constraints.
Click to expand...

Totally disagree with you on this. I've taken Calc I and II and multivariable calc, along with a 7 credit college algebra/trig class and aced them all. I got a 24 AA on the DAT but a sub-20 on the QR. Even though it was supposed to be the section that would raise my AA going in, QR was one of the hardest thing ive ever taken, not because it was impossibly difficult, but because the timing was utterly insane. I was also ill prepared for such long word problems becuase all the practice i took, achiever/topscore/destroyer were nothing like the real thing so i didnt manage my time right and spent too long on the questions than i shoud have and ran out of time with like 10 questions to go. I'm sure I knew how to do every problem if given enough time, and if given half a minute more on each problem I could have gotten a perfect score, but thats half a minute I didn't have. This section is not really even about math, its more about time management.

Its hard to do the questions fast enough when every other question is like a 7 sentence word problem. instead of just telling you to find the area of a square inside of a circle, they put it into a long word problem about construction people trying to change an observatory into a lunchroom and giving you a whole bunch of measurements most of which you dont even need.

oh, and highlight feature wouldve made a HUGE difference on the RC section.
 
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