For those that study for DAT in 3-4 weeks, how do you manage PAT?

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Veni vidi vicii

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I have about a solid 5 weeks until my DAT and I started this section recently and I'm having a hard time with this section. I just want at least a 19. I just want to give up every 10 minutes I spend on this section, any tips? How did you parsel this section out, how many hours a day, etc? Just need help and words of advice from those that struggled with this section too...

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Crack has the reputation of being the gold standard, and short of some kind of big n study (which doesn't exist), I don't see a reason to disbelieve it. Most who use it seem to kill PAT. It's as hard/slightly harder than the actual DAT, which was comforting to me.

I don't know what the difference is, because I didn't pay for bootcamp. You seem dissatisfied with it, though, so not sure why you're defending it unless I misread you? Sunk cost fallacy is not your friend in DAT prep.

Your original post was very broad. Anyone who has put in significant work has a specific problem section or two. If you're bad at all/almost all of them, you just need to put the work in, i.e. researching strategies on the forums (search bar - tons of threads on this)/youtube/various PAT prep sites (working smarter) as well as just running through practice mini-tests (working harder).

In short, I used kaplan bluebook strategies along with my own shorthand (you need a quick/compact way to write the cube face numbers on a page) and tested it against crack dat. I gave myself permission to skip in a couple sections if the shape was more trouble than it was worth (keyholes and shape folding), and I set a hard time limit per question depending on the section after which I'd skip (very short for angles [long time staring at angles is pointless], longer for keyholes, etc). There's a way to figure out 95% of holepunch problems in seconds, which frees up everything else (youtube it), and again, write down all the block faces before you answer the questions.
 
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Crack has the reputation of being the gold standard, and short of some kind of big n study (which doesn't exist), I don't see a reason to disbelieve it. Most who use it seem to kill PAT. It's as hard/slightly harder than the actual DAT, which was comforting to me.

I don't know what the difference is, because I didn't pay for bootcamp. You seem dissatisfied with it, though, so not sure why you're defending it unless I misread you? Sunk cost fallacy is not your friend in DAT prep.

Your original post was very broad. Anyone who has put in significant work has a specific problem section or two. If you're bad at all/almost all of them, you just need to put the work in, i.e. researching strategies on the forums (search bar - tons of threads on this)/youtube/various PAT prep sites (working smarter) as well as just running through practice mini-tests (working harder).

In short, I used kaplan bluebook strategies along with my own shorthand (you need a quick/compact way to write the cube face numbers on a page) and tested it against crack dat. I gave myself permission to skip in a couple sections if the shape was more trouble than it was worth (keyholes and shape folding), and I set a hard time limit per question depending on the section after which I'd skip (very short for angles [long time staring at angles is pointless], longer for keyholes, etc). There's a way to figure out 95% of holepunch problems in seconds, which frees up everything else (youtube it), and again, write down all the block faces before you answer the questions.
Can you share the video where you can solve 95% of hole punch in seconds? I found too many vids
 
I'm sorry - I don't remember where it is. I took the test a year ago.

I actually figured it out myself and just noticed that someone else had made a video for it.

Essentially, when you look at the number of folds and the holes, you need to start working out lines of symmetry. E.g. The first thing I look at is the second last panel, which shows what needs to be the case in the finished product in terms of symmetry.

Good luck.
 
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honestly, I took my DAT today and got AA26. PAT was 19.

I only did few problems with BC and used a generator. I really guessed a lot during the test.
 
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honestly, I took my DAT today and got AA26. PAT was 19.

I only did few problems with BC and used a generator. I really guessed a lot during the test.
You must be the same person who posted on the destroyer study group because that person got a 26 and 19 PAT.
 
Studied for a month. Started by doing generators. 15 problems per section that were most difficult for me (Angle > pattern > keyhole >TFE). Then the last week I did all of the PAT exams. I ended up getting a 20 on PAT. This was the hardest subject and my worst score but bootcamp exams definitely prepared me.
 
I also use boot camp and the first 40 minutes I get discouraged but honestly after a week of doing practice problems everyday you just visualize it and it comes to you. Especially for TFE, in the beginning I was like this is impossible but now I just see the lines and understand took about 3 days to get there tho haha.
 
Pat was one of my higher sections. Just do like 10-20 of each question type a day in boot camp. Then when two weeks left take a full Pat exam daily. I did that and the real Pat felt easy.
 
Pat was one of my higher sections. Just do like 10-20 of each question type a day in boot camp. Then when two weeks left take a full Pat exam daily. I did that and the real Pat felt easy.
I plan to take all 10 full length exams on bootcamp, that contains all the 10 PAT exams correct? Is that what you did or did you use additional PAT resources?
 
Crack has the reputation of being the gold standard, and short of some kind of big n study (which doesn't exist), I don't see a reason to disbelieve it.

unless they made big changes to their program the last couple of years, I disagree with this statement strongly. The reputation of Crack DAT PAT was that it's far too easy and not representative of the real test. Boot camp is more than enough, and in my opinion far superior to crack DAT PAT. For the PAT section, it's a matter of practice. Keep practicing every day, and look up youtube videos to gain some more insight on how others tackle this section. Cheers.
 
unless they made big changes to their program the last couple of years, I disagree with this statement strongly. The reputation of Crack DAT PAT was that it's far too easy and not representative of the real test. Boot camp is more than enough, and in my opinion far superior to crack DAT PAT. For the PAT section, it's a matter of practice. Keep practicing every day, and look up youtube videos to gain some more insight on how others tackle this section. Cheers.
Ok.
 
Do an hour when you wake up and an hour when you go to sleep. Should be enough.
 
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