New DSST scoring?

jb15205 · #11 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 01:28 PM

i just looked at the dsst website and there are 2 different content guides for each exam. one for paper and one for computer and they are different. so before you take your test be sure you covered all subject areas.

knucyt · #12 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 01:29 PM

Zefrench - David at DSST said ALL exams are now paper? I spoke with him last week and he said that Principals of Finance and Money and Banking were still computerized....I've still got 5 more DANTES to go...man this really s***ks.

I have searched the net and cannot find any announcements about this change - anyone else had any luck?

Anyone got any connections wth a testing office who can questions answered?

bmills072200 · #13 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 02:46 PM

Okay, my testing center just called me and said that they checked with DSST and they said that I CAN take a computerized version of Ethics in America tomorrow evening. I still have my doubts...I'll let you guys know how it goes...

knucyt · #14 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 02:54 PM

That's good BMills - hopefully it will work out!
Sounds like the left hand does not know what the left hand is doing, let alone the right one!! Just so long as you can take it on the computer that's all the counts!

pmc2009 · #15 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 03:18 PM

This is terrible! I have 6 more Dantes to take- MIS, D&A, Civil War, Soviet Union, Business Law II and Money & Banking. It figures they would make changes now when I am so close.

zefrench · #16 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 06:00 PM

I am planning to take Management Information Systems in two weeks, I will let you know if it was paper or electronic and if it was new or old.

David did say MIS was paper along with some other exams. He did not say ALL.

Hope this helps

raf9797 · #17 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 07:17 PM

This really bad news! I just need two more Dsst's-tecnical writing and world religions and I will be done.How long did it take to receive your scores?

collegeblogger · #18 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 09:37 PM

It took exactly 14 days from the day I took the paper-based MIS exam until the day I received my score in the mail. IMO that's not too shabby.

To give everyone a decent comparison measure, I was making an average of a 61 on my Peterson's practice exams going into the exam. Typically, my exam scores on test days are VERY close to my Peterson's scores.

For MIS, on test day, I made a 461 out of 500 possible points (400 is passing). In my thinking, if anything, that means the grading scale is easier... unless I had an amazingly easy version of the test... which IS NOT the case. I wondered if I had passed the entire time. Also, all the acronyms were spelled out which I wasn't expecting since so many posters said there were a ton of acronyms that kept throwing them. Soooo, maybe the new changes aren't all bad?

knucyt · #19 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 04:26 PM

I went looking for myself re the new DSST exams (which ones are changing!) and will share what I have found so far:

If you compare all the current (5/15/08) DSST Fact Sheets (pencil and computer), the following are the ones that are new for 2008 (under paper/pencil). This implies that the electronic ones (still dated 2007) are still the same as before, and will be when they convert those new paper and pencil exams to electronic versions.

It says nothing about the new scoring. But I would not be worried about 400/500 as I was reminded today (duh!) that all the questions are weighted differently. So it does not mean you need 80% as I thought earlier because different questions have different weights - e.g., maybe one question is only worth 1/2 pt and another is worth 1 or 2pts. So the exam difficulty is probably equivalent and probably not any harder than they were before to pass. So don't worry, but do study!

I did compare the Intro to World Religions from what I did two months ago (and that is still the current fact sheet for the computer-based exam) to the new 2008 version, and there are some changes (one new topic area has been added and the percentages have been reduced on the existing ones: e.g., Confucianism has gone from 13% to 6%, which IMO is a good thing!

The main new item is :
Religious Movements – 8%
A. Before 1000 A.D.
B. After 1000 A.D.

Someone else wrote that they were told "sometime this summer" when the changeover will occur. Maybe late June-early July? In the meantime it looks like you can still do the old computer-based exam until the changeover (CHECK THIS BEFORE YOU TAKE AN EXAM) if your testing center offers those, if not you may want to plan on getting the new paper one.

IT LOOKS LIKE THE 10 DSST EXAMS AFFECTED ARE:
MATHEMATICS
Fundamentals of College Algebra; 3B
Principles of Statistics; 3B

SOCIAL SCIENCE
Drug and Alcohol Abuse; 3BU
Criminal Justice; 3B

BUSINESS
Introduction to Computing; 3B
Personal Finance; 3B
Management Information Systems; 3BU

PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Here's to Your Health; 3B

HUMANITIES
Ethics in America; 3B
Introduction to World Religions

bmills072200 · #20 (**permalink**) 05-15-2008, 10:04 PM

I was told by a proctor that the scoring system is temporary only for the beta testing and once the new version is avaliable by computer, the scores will revert back to the standard scoring system betwen 20-80. They also told me that not all testing centers are doing the beta tests. They said that they, as well as many other testing centers, are still offering the old 2007 version avaliable by computer. Anyway, I hope ths turns out to be true. I will find out soon...

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