diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp2_backend.py b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp2_backend.py
index 51251846f7..7b7258a152 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp2_backend.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp2_backend.py
@@ -156,3 +156,15 @@ class DDP2Backend(object):
 
         # clean up memory
         torch.cuda.empty_cache()
+
+    def training_step(self, args):
+        output = self.trainer.model(*args)
+        return output
+
+    def validation_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
+
+    def test_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_backend.py b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_backend.py
index 6866a66543..70f293a577 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_backend.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_backend.py
@@ -235,6 +235,18 @@ class DDPBackend(object):
         if self.trainer.global_rank == 0 and self.trainer.distributed_backend not in ['ddp_spawn', 'ddp_cpu']:
             return results
 
+    def training_step(self, args):
+        output = self.trainer.model(*args)
+        return output
+
+    def validation_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
+
+    def test_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
+
     def _check_can_spawn_children(self):
         if self._has_spawned_children:
             raise RuntimeError(
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_spawn_backend.py b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_spawn_backend.py
index ee49540579..30c8cf44f8 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_spawn_backend.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/ddp_spawn_backend.py
@@ -162,3 +162,15 @@ class DDPSpawnBackend(object):
 
         # clean up memory
         torch.cuda.empty_cache()
+
+    def training_step(self, args):
+        output = self.trainer.model(*args)
+        return output
+
+    def validation_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
+
+    def test_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/dp_backend.py b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/dp_backend.py
index 4013b939b3..70c307cf14 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/dp_backend.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/dp_backend.py
@@ -98,10 +98,21 @@ class DataParallelBackend(object):
         return results
 
     def teardown(self):
-
         # replace the original fwd function
         self.trainer.model.forward = self.model_autocast_original_forward
 
+    def training_step(self, args):
+        output = self.trainer.model(*args)
+        return output
+
+    def validation_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
+
+    def test_step(self, args):
+        output = self.training_step(args)
+        return output
+
     def reinit_scheduler_properties(self, optimizers: list, schedulers: list):
         """
         Reinitialize optimizer.step properties added by schedulers
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/tpu_backend.py b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/tpu_backend.py
index e16d16c8c5..1522e51afe 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/tpu_backend.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/accelerators/tpu_backend.py
@@ -118,19 +118,22 @@ class TPUBackend(Accelerator):
         # persist info in spawn
         trainer.transfer_distrib_spawn_state_on_fit_end(model, mp_queue, results)
 
-    def training_step(self, batch, args):
+    def training_step(self, args):
+        batch = args[0]
         batch = self.to_device(batch)
         args[0] = batch
         output = self.trainer.model.training_step(*args)
         return output
 
-    def validation_step(self, batch, args):
+    def validation_step(self, args):
+        batch = args[0]
         batch = self.to_device(batch)
         args[0] = batch
         output = self.trainer.model.validation_step(*args)
         return output
 
-    def test_step(self, batch, args):
+    def test_step(self, args):
+        batch = args[0]
         batch = self.to_device(batch)
         args[0] = batch
         output = self.trainer.model.test_step(*args)
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/trainer/evaluation_loop.py b/pytorch_lightning/trainer/evaluation_loop.py
index a9e2d476cd..ef48f5a81b 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/trainer/evaluation_loop.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/trainer/evaluation_loop.py
@@ -655,7 +655,10 @@ class TrainerEvaluationLoopMixin(ABC):
 
         # handle DP, DDP forward
         if self.use_ddp or self.use_dp or self.use_ddp2:
-            output = model(*args)
+            if test_mode:
+                output = self.accelerator_backend.test_step(args)
+            else:
+                output = self.accelerator_backend.validation_step(args)
             return output
 
         # Horovod
@@ -675,9 +678,9 @@ class TrainerEvaluationLoopMixin(ABC):
         # TPU data  transfer
         if self.use_tpu:
             if test_mode:
-                output = self.accelerator_backend.test_step(batch, args)
+                output = self.accelerator_backend.test_step(args)
             else:
-                output = self.accelerator_backend.validation_step(batch, args)
+                output = self.accelerator_backend.validation_step(args)
             return output
 
         # CPU, TPU or gpu step
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/trainer/training_loop.py b/pytorch_lightning/trainer/training_loop.py
index 66bd46a034..cec3ff6e61 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/trainer/training_loop.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/trainer/training_loop.py
@@ -1191,7 +1191,7 @@ class TrainerTrainLoopMixin(ABC):
 
         # distributed forward
         if self.use_ddp or self.use_ddp2 or self.use_dp:
-            output = self.model(*args)
+            output = self.accelerator_backend.training_step(args)
 
         # Horovod
         elif self.use_horovod and self.on_gpu:
@@ -1214,7 +1214,7 @@ class TrainerTrainLoopMixin(ABC):
 
         # TPU support
         elif self.use_tpu:
-            output = self.accelerator_backend.training_step(batch, args)
+            output = self.accelerator_backend.training_step(args)
 
         # CPU forward
         else: