New DAT

[college123please]

Hi, does anyone know anything about the new DAT and which materials to get for it?

My friend told me when he took the DAT about 2 weeks ago almost all his biology questions were application based and he scored 4-5 points lower on the actual than his practice tests because of this. Also, he told me that the QR section changed to almost all word problems that were "5 or more lines longer." (he scored 5 points lower than his practice tests as a result)

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[ekam]

That's scary. OMG

 

[ThunderSplash]

Don't let that fool you. Every test is different and the abundance of people on SDN saying that it didn't change drastically and that practice tests (depending on which ones, like BC, Qvault, Crackdat, etc) were pretty representative of the real thing lead me to believe that your friend either got really unlucky or is trying to make himself feel better about his lower scores. I hate to be like that but this is the first time I've heard of something like this. There are posts almost daily of breakdowns and none of them say anything about huge application based biology or huge word problems in QR. I'm not calling your friend a liar, I just find it improbable and don't think you should get worked up about it. Again, every DAT is different.

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Hi, does anyone know anything about the new DAT and which materials to get for it?

My friend told me when he took the DAT about 2 weeks ago almost all his biology questions were application based and he scored 4-5 points lower on the actual than his practice tests because of this. Also, he told me that the QR section changed to almost all word problems that were "5 or more lines longer." (he scored 5 points lower than his practice tests as a result)

This is scaring me and I don't know how to prepare for it...

There is not a new DAT and if what you wrote was true the SDN board will be blazing with comments . I work with students in my classroom that have been taking the test all summer, including several in recent weeks and they have all scored high. Many on SDN have also posted scores in the last few days with no such claims being made. The DAT is a very challenging test, with many varied versions and I find that sometimes students underestimate the difficulty thus fail to prepare adequately.

Just my 2 cents..

Nancy

 

[Typical Average Student]

What practice exams has he been doing? They may be outdated...

 

[The Dentanator]

There is a massive bank of questions and each version of the test is different some slightly harder and some slightly easier so it depends on which version. For the math, I don't think I have ever heard from anyone of long winded word problems like that. I know DAT BC and other prep materials make the QR section harder because its the best way to prep for the real QR. The actually QR I found to be much easier, I scored a 19 after scoring generally 16-17 on most practices and I also did not study the QR for the last week as I focused mostly on the sciences. He may taken an easier practice test like the 2007 which is a joke of a test if you ask me. The 2009 ADA is the best indicator but it also doesn't ensure your going to get the same scores. I wouldn't worry about your friend though, just focus on your own goals and be confident.