best way to study PAT?

[scamac01]

Hi All,

I took the DAT some time ago and I'm going to retake it in a few months. My problem though is with the PAT--on practice tests I couldnt score higher than a 16 and when I finally took the real thing I only scored a 13. I did take a Kaplan course and did all their materials but Im wondering if anyone has any suggestions for studying these PAT questions? Im finding that just practicing them like the other types of questions is not getting me anywhere!
Thanks,
scamac01

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[HBomb]

Here are some suggestions for practicing the PAT. These are alternative approaches that may help you over a few months of practice:

1. For keyhole, don't just practice identifying the correct answer. Try drawing the top, front, right projection for every object. That way you get more practice out of one problem.

2. For Top, Front, End, see if you can prove or eliminate answer choices multiple ways. That is, see if you can reach the same conclusion based on eliminating answer choices in different way.

3. Hole punch. Try taking an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and tear 2.5'' off the long end, making a square. Then fold the paper, creating all the variations of folds that are possible for hole punch. Then as you practice, actually repeat the folds on the paper you've made, do the hole punch in your head, and unfold the paper. You might be able to see the hole punches a lot better. You should be able to repeat this exercise on the actual DAT. Just prep your paper during the computer tutorial. (Read the rules for taking the DAT on adea.org. This method should not be a violation of any test taking rule.).

4. Cube counting. If you're having trouble, bust out you Lego set. Actually a Duplo set works better. Construct the object with Lego's, and start counting. This sounds funny, but if you're having trouble with this section, this might help. At the minimum, it will help you identify which types of cubes you're likely to count incorrectly.

5. Pattern folding. Use PowerPoint and actually create the objects that you're having trouble visualizing. Then cut it out and try the fold. I'm certain, over the long haul, you'll be able to visualize pattern folds a lot better.

Good luck.

 

[JesseBrad3]

practice, practice, practice! When studying, don't look ahead at the answer and try to figure out why thats the way it is... instead keep doing them on your own and gradually you'll get better.

 

[stephlynn]

Cube Counting:
1)Make a chart 1-6
2) Make tallies for how many cubes fall into each column. (I made a point to count from the top down so not to miss any cubes)
3) Count tallies and number of cubes to make sure the same (if have time)
4) now you can answer the questions VERY fast

Make sure to notice when the questions move onto another set of cubes... might be easy to gt caught up....

I'm sure you have already heard this tip anyways.... but maybe someone else hasn't?

 

[JavadiCavity]

I went to my university library and did a search in the computer for orthographic drawings, projections, and angle discrimnation. I found that the library had a ton of books with lots of drawings that I could learn from and use as practice problems.