Just got another 22 on Crack Test #7...60% angles...fml.
Anyways as to my methods for the other sections:
Keyholes: Honestly this section was soo hard for me in the beginning. I would get 7/15 correct and it would take me literally about 20 minutes to complete the section. I was thinking about this section all wrong and trying to visualize the Top, Front, and Ends of the object (like Kaplan says to do) and try to match that shape with the answers. This clearly did not work for me. I was trying to find a new method when I saw this youtube video of a guy who said to rotate the object in your mind and try to push the object through the "hole". Somehow this made more sense to me and every time I do one of these problems I rotate the object to match the shape of the answer(s) in question and try to push the object through the hole. If it doesn't fit I move on to the next answer, if it does fit I choose that answer and move on. If I can't figure out which one it fits through in a reasonable time (40 seconds) I mark it and move on. This section became much easier with practice (just like every section on the PAT). Be warned though this method is good for CRACK, but it may be much harder on the real DAT where they test proportions, so be sure that you are good at judging distances and lengths, not just shapes.
TFE: I read the thread on here titled "My Wicked Sick PAT Tutorial" It gave me a lot of the information I needed to know about how to tackle the TFE section. Read that thread and then practice some problems WITHOUT a time limit. You need to be able to get some right answers under your belt without being stressed about time before you try and do these things quickly. Once again practice and it should become much easier (when I say practice I mean I am doing these problems everyday).
Angles: No advice...
Hole Punch: I was okay at hole punch for awhile but I was not fast enough at it (half punches really made me have to stop and think for awhile-eating up precious time). Then I saw this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ud0ZX0eEFA and it increased my skills exponentially. I have not missed a hole punch question in the last 4 tests and I can now complete them in about 7-9 minutes. One thing I will stress though is this technique takes a LOT of practice to be able to use effectively. When I first started using it I thought it was a horrible method because I was getting more questions wrong and was slower than I was using my "old" method, BUT with practice (and I mean I did nothing but hole punch for three hours) I was able to refine this method and it really makes hole punch a walk in the park (plus it really helps boost your PAT score when you get 100 every time). The hardest thing about hole punch is being able to visualize the diagonal folds that they throw at you. Once you can get this down you should be fine (also this method makes it so you don't have to "think" about half punches-very helpful)
Cube Counting: Kaplan has the best techniques for how to tackle this. Practice these over and over. I used to be slow at cube counting because it took me a while to distinguish between 2, 3, 4, or 5 sided cubes, but after practicing the problems over and over you start to get the gist of what they will look like and your speed will increase a ton.
Pattern Folding: Honestly I was always better at this section from the get go then the others (I guess everyone has one section they are naturally good at) but the thread I listed earlier "My Wicked Sick PAT tutorial" has some techniques in there that helped me become better at pattern folding, so I would review those and then do what you do for every section on the PAT, practice.
Honestly the biggest thing is to make sure you can do the problems. Don't even think about time because it will only stress you out and you won't be able to think about the problems clearly. Practice everything until you feel comfortable with how to look at and tackle the problems and then start timing yourself. Also do not be discouraged if the first couple tests in which you time yourself you score poorly (I scored a 17 and an 18 on my first two timed tests-pretty demoralizing after all the hard work) eventually you will develop a knack for how to tackle the problems more efficiently and you will start to score higher, like 20+
Good luck with your studies fellow PATer's and let me know if there is any other way I can help!
