How to improve your time in hole punching?

[ScarletKnight24]

I can almost always arrive at the right answer but it takes me like 1 minute or more per question.

Also I draw one big grid on my dry erase board. Should I be drawing like 15 grids? lol. I thought that would kind of confuse people.

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[ScarletKnight24]

thanks for the help SDN

 

[tayloreve]

hey pal,

i just started working hole punching too...and am also, super duper slow.

but lucky for you, at least you know how to do the grid method....the grid method just confuses me lol.

hopefully with a lot of practice we'll get faster!

 

[jwest88]

Do as many practice problems as you can. If you have Crack DAT's royal flush, do like 15 every morning. I used to be slow but now I can finish hole punching in like 5-7 minutes to give me more time for the other sections. It's hard at first but you can get really good at it(as well as cube counting). If you only have the 5 test version of CDP, just keep doing them, I don't think it's as easy to memorize the answers as for TFE and keyhole.

 

[vlaura0214]

I do the tic tac toe method. Draw 3 rows of 5 of them, and I ALWAYS go from left to right, go back to beginning of row, then left to right again. If your method is consistent, you won't get confused as easily (kinda like tallying cubes a certain way on cubecounting). If I have difficulties with one, I will write the number down next to it, to refer back to later if needed. This has worked well for me on CDP tests. I draw all of these during first 15 min of tutorial.

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[kmack]

I have never done any of the methods mentioned above mostly because I haven't heard of them. But I can get the 15 questions done in about 5 minutes and haven't missed a question in several tests by just using a type of unfold method.
I first look at where the hole is punched on the right then work my way to the left unfolding it in my mind. I make mental notes to where the hole is now where they are as they are unfolded. do this for each step. I never look at the answers until I have a mental picture of what it should look like, then I check the answers. Then if I am not 100% I reference my answer to the picture folding it back up again in my mind.
Hopefully this helps, it works for me, but these ones just may click with me.

 

[Amberena]

I can almost always arrive at the right answer but it takes me like 1 minute or more per question.

Also I draw one big grid on my dry erase board. Should I be drawing like 15 grids? lol. I thought that would kind of confuse people.

I drew 15 different grids for my test. Luckily the laminated paper the test center gave me already had graph lines on it, so drawing the grids during the tutorial wasn't very time consuming.

If you understand how to solve it using the grids, then it's totally worth it to draw them out. Focus most of your time for PAT on the categories you know you can do well in. Getting high scores in some sections of PAT can make up for low scores in other sections.

 

[tayloreve]

I do the tic tac toe method. Draw 3 rows of 5 of them, and I ALWAYS go from left to right, go back to beginning of row, then left to right again. If your method is consistent, you won't get confused as easily (kinda like tallying cubes a certain way on cubecounting). If I have difficulties with one, I will write the number down next to it, to refer back to later if needed. This has worked well for me on CDP tests. I draw all of these during first 15 min of tutorial.

Sent from my ADR6350 using SDN Mobile

Does the grid method actually help you figure out where punches are, or does it just help you keep track of them?

 

[ScarletKnight24]

Does the grid method actually help you figure out where punches are, or does it just help you keep track of them?

They help you keep track of the holes and for me it also helps me see the symmetry better.

I tried drawing 15 grids and my time improved a bit.

 

[Wiredtrix]

I also agree with Kmack, I would work from right to left and keep track in my head where the holes would be as I unfolded it. Then, once you find your answer, quickly refold it up in your head and see if you get back to what you started with on the far right. If you get to a difficult one I would maybe draw it out, but I just put my fingers up to the screen, on it is not allowed though haha.

Just find what works for you but hole punches should go quick and be something that you should get right. On my PAT pattern folding and key holes were actually was the most difficult for me. Hope that helps!
PAT: 27

 

[sacapuntas]

Once you understand the basics of hole punch, it gets very quick. Look for lines of symmetry and you can immediately exclude answers. Typically you can narrow down the answers to only 2 possible answers right away with symmetry. Once you have it narrowed down to 2 (maybe 3) look for unusual features that can distinguish. Don't waste your time drawing grids unless you really don't understand how hole punch works. You should be able to do all 15 questions in less than 5 minutes.

FWIW, I struggled with hole punch more than any other section until I understood the basics. As much crap as KBB gets for its PAT section, I believe I got my understanding of hole punch from it. From there, it almost instantly became a section I got 14 or 15 right in less than 5 minutes on CDP rather than 7 or 8 right in 10-15 minutes.

 

[vlaura0214]

Does the grid method actually help you figure out where punches are, or does it just help you keep track of them?

Sometimes they do unusual folds where you still have to mentally unfold--instead of completely relying on symmetry. I lose track of the holes sometimes and hated wasting time starting over, so the grid is more for me to keep track.

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[ScarletKnight24]

Once you understand the basics of hole punch, it gets very quick. Look for lines of symmetry and you can immediately exclude answers. Typically you can narrow down the answers to only 2 possible answers right away with symmetry. Once you have it narrowed down to 2 (maybe 3) look for unusual features that can distinguish. Don't waste your time drawing grids unless you really don't understand how hole punch works. You should be able to do all 15 questions in less than 5 minutes.

FWIW, I struggled with hole punch more than any other section until I understood the basics. As much crap as KBB gets for its PAT section, I believe I got my understanding of hole punch from it. From there, it almost instantly became a section I got 14 or 15 right in less than 5 minutes on CDP rather than 7 or 8 right in 10-15 minutes.

How in the world are you supposed to keep track of the holes in your head when in CDP, sometimes there are 3-4 holes being punched?
Also, process of elimination in CDP is almost worthless because the answer choices are almost identical with the difference of maybe one hole.
I never use process of elimination because the grid method always gives me the right answer 95% of the time but my timing DO suck at this point. My problem is not getting the right answer, but the time it takes me to get there. I don't want to use process of elimination and guess. It takes me around 13 minutes but I never get below 13/15.

I could do the simple ones in like 20-30 seconds MAX but when they start to fold weirdly and punch 3+ holes then I have to look back at my grid and follow each holes as I unfold to the original.

 

[ushaseos]

Do the 15 grids for now, you'll know when you can do hole-punches without them. I like to think of the grids as training wheels - they sure are helpful to keep you going in the beginning, but eventually they make you much slower.

With enough practice 3-4 holes with weird folds will not be so bad...you will be able to do them mentally like Kmack said above.

 

[ScarletKnight24]

Seriously though. How many holes and folds are gonna be on the real pat?

 

[LSDP]

THE CDP PAT hole punch is ridiculous. On the real DAT i got 8 questions with 1 hole punched. but in the CDP every question is 3-8 holes punched and the folding pattern is &(^*(%(%. My first DAT i didn't not use the grid method because i can mentally unfold everything in my head but with CDP i can't do that. I would said the CDP hole punch is 10x harder than the actual real thing. If you can do the CDP in 5min you can probably do the real thing in 4min.

 

[KrimsonKitsu]

Seriously though. How many holes and folds are gonna be on the real pat?

In my experience, the real DAT was much easier on pattern folding. I had a couple of questions where the paper was literally folded in half and then had like 2 holes punched in it. I actually laughed when I saw them. Of course I stopped laughing after I saw some of the patterns, but yeah if you can handle CrackDAT's then you'll be fine. I still recommend the grid method. I drew mine out during the tutorial and filled them in as I needed. I figured I'd be nervous so it would be better just to make sure I had my safety net in place.

 

[ScarletKnight24]

In my experience, the real DAT was much easier on pattern folding. I had a couple of questions where the paper was literally folded in half and then had like 2 holes punched in it. I actually laughed when I saw them. Of course I stopped laughing after I saw some of the patterns, but yeah if you can handle CrackDAT's then you'll be fine. I still recommend the grid method. I drew mine out during the tutorial and filled them in as I needed. I figured I'd be nervous so it would be better just to make sure I had my safety net in place.

GOSH you guys make me feel so much better. I can always get 90-95% correct on CDP but my timing sucks so bad now (13 minutes ish)

 

[ScarletKnight24]

DAMN. I did 15 questoins in 7 minutes 45 seconds. WOW my best time so far after 8 hours of hole punching LMAO. 14/15 .

 

[tayloreve]

DAMN. I did 15 questoins in 7 minutes 45 seconds. WOW my best time so far after 8 hours of hole punching LMAO. 14/15 .

I'm so jealous
teach me your ways.

 

[ScarletKnight24]

I'm so jealous
teach me your ways.

Tic tac toe method!! I used to suck so bad at it too

I'm telling you you WILL get better in NO time! just practice it like crazy.

This section and the cube counting is actually the two section we horrible PAT people can get good at.

 

[sacapuntas]

How in the world are you supposed to keep track of the holes in your head when in CDP, sometimes there are 3-4 holes being punched?
Also, process of elimination in CDP is almost worthless because the answer choices are almost identical with the difference of maybe one hole.
I never use process of elimination because the grid method always gives me the right answer 95% of the time but my timing DO suck at this point. My problem is not getting the right answer, but the time it takes me to get there. I don't want to use process of elimination and guess. It takes me around 13 minutes but I never get below 13/15.

I could do the simple ones in like 20-30 seconds MAX but when they start to fold weirdly and punch 3+ holes then I have to look back at my grid and follow each holes as I unfold to the original.

I just re-did several CDP PAT tests to see if I was forgetting something and I wasn't really...

Many of the problems you can look at the first fold and know that the answer needs symmetry over that first fold. You can eliminate on average 2-3 answers just with this step that takes maybe 5 seconds.

Using the process of elimination has nothing to do with guessing, it means you rule out 2 or 3 possible answers off the bat and you don't have to look at as many options as in depth. If you want to shave your time you are going to need to adapt your style.

Additionally, on the real DAT I think I was able to do the symmetry trick to at least 13 out of 15 of the hole punch if not all of them.

 

[free99]

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