Nope, no one has ever done well without CDP.
got a 21 with just Kaplan, TS and Achiever
i would get it. don't be cheap when it comes to studying for the DAT. i used CDP and it worked out really.
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i'm sure not everyone needs CDP to do well. I contemplated for some bit but decided not to buy it and did fine with a 19. According to the current ADEA, about 20% of schools had enrollees (2007) PAT average over 19. So unless these averages changed over the last year, getting 18, 19 is good enough for PAT. Of course getting CDP means more practice for you but more money out of your pocket.
in the grand scheme of things, the extra 70-100 bux will definitely pay off. Its definitely a good practice tool. It helped me raise my score and speed after a couple of practice tests, and then reviewing the answers to the ones i got wrong.
You have to look at your weaknesses and strengths too. You can't say that for everyone CDP will pay off. If they are very weak in the sciences, studying those will pay off.
Plus, the cubes in CDP are stupid, and the angles aren't nearly as hard in the real thing. According to countless other posts. That's 2 sections out of 6 that you aren't really being helped on.
Plus, the cubes in CDP are stupid, and the angles aren't nearly as hard in the real thing. According to countless other posts. That's 2 sections out of 6 that you aren't really being helped on.
contach, are u saying cubes + angles are harder on real DAT?
dude, i remember having to count like 13 3-sided for one question. I dont think cubes can get harder than CDP
for angles, dunno how questions can get harder/easier unless you change the angle differences to like 1 degree instead of the normal 3-5 degrees like CDP
the only harder section on DAT might be TFE and pattern folding. But then again, THIS WHOLE EASY/HARD THING IS ALL SELF-MIRRORED
dude, i remember having to count like 13 3-sided for one question. I dont think cubes can get harder than CDP
for angles, dunno how questions can get harder/easier unless you change the angle differences to like 1 degree instead of the normal 3-5 degrees like CDP
the only harder section on DAT might be TFE and pattern folding. But then again, THIS WHOLE EASY/HARD THING IS ALL SELF-MIRRORED
I didn't use CDP, but I did do the problem sets from achiever and topscore (very repetitive). I think civil engineering (statics and design) classes really helped me though.
23 pat
23 pat
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i did not use CDP either, and i got a 24. i used topscore, achiever, acethedat, and some of kaplan. it is definitely a "you either see it or don't" type of skill. but like math, the more practice, the better you'll do. if pat is your weakness , just get a hold of as many difficult problems as you can so come test day, the actual pat will be a breeze. i thought achiever was pretty hard and scored from 18-21. topscore easy from 22-25 and acethedat challenging due to impossible angles 17-20. just practice and i think you'll eventually find patterns and strategies that will make everything a lot easier for you.
This is a really subjective question...I say take a practice test and see how well you do. I studied 2 hrs total for the PAT (2 practice tests) and managed a 21 on the real thing. I did well enough on the practice tests to be confident about it.
If your practice test scores aren't what you want them to be, then you should probably consider CDP. A friend of mine got a 15 his first practice test but after CDP managed a 19 on the real thing. Good luck👍
If your practice test scores aren't what you want them to be, then you should probably consider CDP. A friend of mine got a 15 his first practice test but after CDP managed a 19 on the real thing. Good luck👍
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I have taken 7 full practice tests... kaplan, achiever, topscore, and have not scored lower than 20 on the PAT--except achiever where i got 18.
I just keep seeing posts about how great CDP is and am worried I am missing something major! Seemed like everyone was using it. But I guess its natural for people who use it to reply to those posts. Glad to see there's others who didnt use it and did fine!👍
I just keep seeing posts about how great CDP is and am worried I am missing something major! Seemed like everyone was using it. But I guess its natural for people who use it to reply to those posts. Glad to see there's others who didnt use it and did fine!👍
I tried the sheet of paper thing, and it did not work so well for me. I used the tic, tac, toe grid. I took 10 practice tests. I worked each section untimed on the first five and timed myself on the last five. I do not know what happened on the DAT. I felt really good about this section while taking the test. I was relaxed, and I thought that I was getting them all. In fact, I thought that the real test seemed easier than CDP.
I just used the Kaplan Blue Book, Barron's, and Topscore. You could try visually each structure, but I found it faster to eliminate the wrong answers. I just learned the rules and tried to apply them logically.
I actually just purchased CDP a few days ago and did my first practice test this morning... I think it was a lot different thank Kaplan's PAT. Keyoles, TFE and Pattern Folding weren't too different but the angles and hole punching were much harder. The cube counting wasn't necessarily harder but Kaplan never asks you for a cube appearing more than 5 times and CDP asked for up to 9, so you just have to be really careful when you do your initial count. Overall I'm glad I purchased it to get a different perspective on they way they might ask questions!
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1. I'm a woman, and 2. If you don't have anything productive to say there is no reason to say it. The forum is not here for you to put down other people for their questions. Studying for a big exam is a stressful time for everyone, and everyone is going to have a lot of questions. No one puts down your questions, so maybe you should show some courtesy in the forums.
The type of answer I was looking for was exactly the kind of answer that everyone ELSE gave me---those who did not use it... how they did... and what they DID use for practice.
THANKS for the effort though.
Thanks to people who posted their other study methods and CDP advice/experience.
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I didn't use CDP and i got a 20 first time and 25 2nd time. I took the kaplan course a few years ago which helped with the basics. Then i just practiced using the cd that kaplan gives you which has some PAT practice on it (though they are a little on the easy side, but it helps with basics). And I used topscore pro(the angles i think were a bit more difficult on the read DAT, maybe). the hardest part for me was the pattern folding. For these i just cut out the shapes on paper and folded them up. Also, I don't know how much this will help, but I try to look at the parts of the pattern at only a few pieces a time (instead of trying to form the whole object in my head). For example, if the answer has an object with one shaded section, I compare all the shaded sections on the pattern with how they would line up with the other different sections. I hope that's not too confusing, maybe I can only see it in my head. lol
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I use the same method as you... it works great now that I got it down. Do you know if the shape ones are on the real DAT , or are those meant for prac? what I mean is... do they only have the pattern folding.... not just shape folding? i wasn't sure if the shapes are just to help you get an idea of how to do it... they seems much simpler than folding some of those patterns.
If anyone is having trouble, for pattern folding, it helps to eliminate answer choices instead of spending time figuring the image out and then doing it... im guessing everyone has figured it out already-- but for those of you who haven't. fold the image to match what is shown in the answer choice--- and don't forget to fold INTO the page (big mistake when I first started takin the test!) or you will likely pick a wrong answer choice.
Anyone have any tips for TFE? Besides line counting. Sometimes it seems impossible to visualize the image they are giving you. (especially in achiever). I can visualize 85 -90%, but some just don't make a picture in your head. Any tricks? Seems as though the only trick is simply seeing it...
The hole punching, angles and cubes seem like a piece of cake compared to the other two.
are u referring to the patterns that fold into the weird crazy objects? as in NOT just cubes and triangles and pyramids (and other usual geometric shapes with shading)? if that's what you're talking about then yes, those are on the real dAT too haha.
good point about folding INTO the page(screen). when i first started, i always folded out of the page and that messed me up a lot.
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no i mean,
i thought the shapes were just for practice. but are those easy ones on the real DAT?
like the ones that have just white as the sides.. no designs? just trying to figure out if i should expect some of those easy ones?
all the prac exams have had some of the plain ones... are those just for practice... not a real DAT thing?
also, in the dice---- is it important to note which way the dots are facing?? like the 3 could be diagonal or straight across.....
I don't know why but folding dice type shapes mess me up becasue you have to fold one of the sides under and over and down and i jsut stare at it like....😕.....
anyone have a good way of knowing how the turn the image based on how you flip it under and over?
i thought the shapes were just for practice. but are those easy ones on the real DAT?
like the ones that have just white as the sides.. no designs? just trying to figure out if i should expect some of those easy ones?
all the prac exams have had some of the plain ones... are those just for practice... not a real DAT thing?
also, in the dice---- is it important to note which way the dots are facing?? like the 3 could be diagonal or straight across.....
I don't know why but folding dice type shapes mess me up becasue you have to fold one of the sides under and over and down and i jsut stare at it like....😕.....
anyone have a good way of knowing how the turn the image based on how you flip it under and over?
i think i know what you're talking about....and i think they're on the real dat.
and yeah its important which way the dots on the dice are facing. the dice ones are really tough. i think it made it a little for me if i drew the correct 3d cube/dice on paper (whatever view you need) to compare to the answers. the really hard ones are the patterns that fold into a cube with only 2 sides adjacent to each other that have 2 dots each, and they are placed diagonally.....if that makes sense...kind of hard to describe...just keep practicing! im sure you'll get it
