For those with high PAT scores

[rcmonkeypie]

Hello:

For those of you who did really well in the perceptual part of DAT, How did you study for it. I heard that the real perceptual test are much harder than those ones in Kaplan review book. So, what are your secrets for a good PAT score? thanks a bunch!

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[cgt3477]

Hi-

The only advise I can give you is to practice practice practice. You have a few months after enrolling with Kaplan to take advantage of their test banks. You should also take advantage of the practice DATs they have on the computers as well as those on the CD-ROM issued with their course books. I scored a 21 on the PAT (which is btw much higher than I ever scored on the practice PATs). I think what helped me most was practicing and being comfortable with taking the tests on the computer.

Good Luck.

 

[scandalouslj]

Yeha practie your ass off. The Kaplan test do not really help at all, in fact I found that some of them were actually wrong on their paper tests... Perhaps their cd might help.. I suggest practicing the scholarware cd becuase it is almost exaclty like the DAT.

 

[QSTYLE]

what is the scholarware cd? thanks

Q

 

[DesiDentist]

Originally posted by QSTYLE
what is the scholarware cd? thanks

Q

www.dentaladmissiontest.com

 

[PaiuteBill]

I want to second the comment about ScholarWare helping on the PAT. It's pretty hard and you get used to doing the PAT on the computer which has challanges that you don't have with a piece of paper or book of previous DATs, like Kaplan books. Actually, I would recommend ScholarWare, in general, once you feel like you have a good handle on how the test is set up. It is harder than the real DAT and it looks and acts like the real thing. Just don't get to down on yourself when it gives you your scores. They will probably be about 2-3 points higher on the real deal.

 

[SchwarzBWU]

I can't emphasize enough the need to practice the PAT in the computerized format. Also, I wish someone had told me before I took the test that the computer terminals at Prometrics have very poor screen resolution by today's computer standards and are not ideally suited for the graphical nature of the PAT.

I don't know if this is consistent across all test centers. I'd like to hear what others experienced. I found this to be a disadvantage when I took the test and can only hope that all of us that took the exam were at an equal disadvantage.

The problem is that many of the diagrams were heavily 'pixilated' (is that even a word?) which made the ability to distinguish fine details very difficult. I remember this being an issue in particular with the TOP-FRONT-SIDE portion of the test and especially in angle ranking where the edges of the lines are jagged making the angle harder to rank than it would be in a paper-based format.

The Kaplan computer lab is also fairly outdated and therefore their practice tests will be a good representation of the resolution you'll see in the actual exam. But if you practice at home with a high resolution monitor, just know that this is not what you'll be working with at Prometrics. I'd suggest that you contact the test center where you plan to take the DAT and see if they can provide you with the screen resolution they use at their terminals. Then you can down-tune your resolution to match when you practice at home. I wish I had done that. I think it would've helped.

Good luck!

SchwarzBWU

 

[ehop24]

pixelated is most definitely a word, and i too had issues with screen resolution. between the poor resolution and the horrible lighting, my eyes were going nuts during the PAT. to make matters worse, the refresh rate of the prometric monitor caused that nasty flickering effect.

many people will argue that you are either good at the pat, or you arent, and that there isn't much you can do about it. i partly agree. pat skills are not taught in school. it's inate. but, practice helps a ton. i have a background in drafting, and one of the first things they teach is top front end. i know that helped me.

really, it might seem like there are millions, but there are only a few general shapes. if you practice enough, you will master the details that set them apart.

and other sections, like cube counting, have tricks. every person can figure out how many cubes are painted. the hard part is going back and figuring which have 3, 5, 2 sides, etc, when you are looking at the whole stack. you always miss one. i would spend 5 minutes at the beginning of the problem going over the whole stack, cube by cube. start at the top level and work your way down. i made a list. it doesnt take long, and your focus stays on the details of the stack. then i'd just count the number of 5's, or 3's, or 2's i wrote on the paper. very quick.

it might be an obvious tip, but my method on angle ranking was to immediately rule out the 1st and 4th, which would be very obvious. then all it is analyzing 2 angles. rarely are there 3 angles that are too close. always use the scrap paper to keep track though. everytime you have to go back becuase you forgot the order, you lose valuable time.

and even though prometric is not supposed to allow it, i have friends that just traced the angles right onto the paper. it doesnt sound fair...but...oh well. i heard about it after i took my dat, and i felt a little dumb for not thinking of it. but i scarcely recall that there is some rule about not holding anything up to the monitor.

hope some of this might help...good luck

 

[rcmonkeypie]

Hi,

Thank you all for your help. The toughest parts for me are
amperture and projections. I will practice on the scholarware cd. Thanks again.