diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/samplers/utils.py b/src/axolotl/utils/samplers/utils.py
index 4e41c9b44..8f400c98d 100755
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/samplers/utils.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/samplers/utils.py
@@ -5,12 +5,12 @@ import numpy as np
 
 
 def get_dataset_lengths(dataset):
-    if "length" in dataset.data.column_names:
-        lengths = np.array(dataset.data.column("length"))
-    elif "position_ids" in dataset.data.column_names:
-        position_ids = dataset.data.column("position_ids")
+    if "length" in dataset.column_names:
+        lengths = np.array(dataset["length"])
+    elif "position_ids" in dataset.column_names:
+        position_ids = dataset["position_ids"]
         lengths = np.array([x[-1] + 1 for x in position_ids])
     else:
-        input_ids = dataset.data.column("input_ids")
-        lengths = np.vectorize(len)(np.array(input_ids, dtype=object))
+        input_ids = dataset["input_ids"]
+        lengths = np.array([len(seq) for seq in input_ids])
     return lengths
diff --git a/tests/test_packed_batch_sampler.py b/tests/test_packed_batch_sampler.py
index ceff11df9..b52320e2a 100644
--- a/tests/test_packed_batch_sampler.py
+++ b/tests/test_packed_batch_sampler.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ from transformers import AutoTokenizer
 from axolotl.datasets import TokenizedPromptDataset
 from axolotl.prompt_strategies.completion import load
 from axolotl.utils.collators import V2BatchSamplerDataCollatorForSeq2Seq
+from axolotl.utils.data.utils import drop_long_seq_in_dataset
 from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
 from axolotl.utils.samplers import MultipackBatchSampler, get_dataset_lengths
 
@@ -18,11 +19,6 @@ def fixture_tokenizer():
     return tokenizer
 
 
-@pytest.fixture(name="max_seq_length")
-def fixture_max_seq_length():
-    return 4096
-
-
 class TestBatchedSamplerPacking:
     """
     Test class for packing streaming dataset sequences
@@ -37,6 +33,7 @@ class TestBatchedSamplerPacking:
             (2, 2),
         ],
     )
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("max_seq_length", [4096, 512])
     def test_packing(self, batch_size, num_workers, tokenizer, max_seq_length):
         import axolotl.monkeypatch.data.batch_dataset_fetcher  # pylint: disable=unused-import  # noqa: F401
 
@@ -62,6 +59,9 @@ class TestBatchedSamplerPacking:
             dataset,
         )
         train_dataset = concatenate_datasets([dataset_wrapper])
+
+        train_dataset = drop_long_seq_in_dataset(train_dataset, cfg)
+
         lengths = get_dataset_lengths(train_dataset)
         batch_sampler = MultipackBatchSampler(
             sampler=RandomSampler(train_dataset),
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class TestBatchedSamplerPacking:
                 batch_idxs.extend(pack)
 
         for batch in loader:
-            assert len(batch["input_ids"]) <= batch_size * max_seq_length
+            assert batch["input_ids"].numel() <= batch_size * max_seq_length
             assert batch["input_ids"].shape[1] == max_seq_length
 
         original_idxs = set(range(len(train_dataset)))