I don't know what to do with PAT

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ScarletKnight24

ScarletKnight24

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Just took another 3rd practice test and got even worse (17).
18's on the first 2.

7/15 TFE
5/15 pattern fold
15/15 hole punch
10/15 keyhole
7/15 angle
13/15 cubes.


Man this is so discouraging....🙁
 
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For pattern folding, are you folding the paper into the plane of the board? What I did (and what helped me improve) was going through each answer choice and see if I could fold it to create that answer choice. I would then just eliminate. It takes a lot of practice. I started out getting 18's and 17's. gradually I got up to a 23 on my last test and got a 22 on the real thing. Just practice and stay confident.
 
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duke2121 said:
For pattern folding, are you folding the paper into the plane of the board? What I did (and what helped me improve) was going through each answer choice and see if I could fold it to create that answer choice. I would then just eliminate. It takes a lot of practice. I started out getting 18's and 17's. gradually I got up to a 23 on my last test and got a 22 on the real thing. Just practice and stay confident.
Click to expand...



Wait.. for pattern folding you can ONLY fold the paper INTO the board???

WTH I thought you could fold it in or out of the board
 
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I'm in the same boat. My angle ranking, hole punching, and cube counting are good (90%+ correct), but I struggle so much with TFE, keyhole, and PF.....
 
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ScarletKnight24 said:
LOL around there too!. I am planning on taking it right before the fall semester.

What subjects have you finished so far? I still have to study for math, reading, bio and that annoying PAT lmao...
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well i've finished reviewing all of the material. I've started DAT/Math Destroyers and CDP and plan to go through those multiple times before I finish with Qvault.
 
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Oh jesus.
Your better at PAT than me and you scored a 17...I'll probably score a 12. I plan on taking my first CDP test tomorrow, i'll let you know how it goes. Maybe it'll make you feel a little better. lol.
 
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tayloreve said:
Oh jesus.
Your better at PAT than me and you scored a 17...I'll probably score a 12. I plan on taking my first CDP test tomorrow, i'll let you know how it goes. Maybe it'll make you feel a little better. lol.
Click to expand...


Please keep me posted LOL. But my advice is to focus on the section that you can do best on. I did TFE and pattern last.
 
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I don't know why you are so worried.You still have a few months left till the DAT. 18-18-17 are pretty good scores for the first few PAT tests. Most people start out with similar or worse scores. I am no PAT expert but patience and practice = the key to PAT! Good luck!
 
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The reason you can only fold into the screen is because if you fold away from the screen you wont see the patten. It is only painted on one side.

If you want some advice, I have a rough method I used for each section of the PAT in my breakdown. If you want more details feel free to ask.
 
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Alright Scarlett, I am back with results!


I just took CDP #1.....and I got...dun dun dun....an 18. lol.

Keyholes 13/15
TFE 9/15
Angles 14/15 🙂confused🙂
Hole Punch 6/15
Cubes 11/15
Pattern 10/15


I marked over half of the hole punching ones and just guessed on all of them at the end because I was so sick of taking this practice test. I have tried the grid method and I still can't seem to make it work for me. I still have a hard time visualizing where the holes are going to be.

Guessed on most of the patterns as well.
I feel like this is going to be such a draining section on the DAT....wears you out!!! 😴

In the middle of taking it, I was expecting a 14. So I guess I'm happy in a way...but 18 isn't bad for first try, is it?

All I gotta say is....hope the real PAT is easier 😀
 
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tayloreve said:
Alright Scarlett, I am back with results!


I just took CDP #1.....and I got...dun dun dun....an 18. lol.

Keyholes 13/15
TFE 9/15
Angles 14/15 🙂confused🙂
Hole Punch 6/15
Cubes 11/15
Pattern 10/15


I marked over half of the hole punching ones and just guessed on all of them at the end because I was so sick of taking this practice test. I have tried the grid method and I still can't seem to make it work for me. I still have a hard time visualizing where the holes are going to be.

Guessed on most of the patterns as well.
I feel like this is going to be such a draining section on the DAT....wears you out!!! 😴

In the middle of taking it, I was expecting a 14. So I guess I'm happy in a way...but 18 isn't bad for first try, is it?

All I gotta say is....hope the real PAT is easier 😀
Click to expand...


NICE! lol..

I guess through practice we are gonna get better!

What strategy do you use for TFE? I still find it super freakin hard to visualize the object and interpreting the dashed and solid lines. I feel like for this section I can only use 1 method(line counting OR visualize) LOL. They should really extend the time for this section.

and DAMNN your angle ranking and keyhole score is crazyhhh LOL.

Did you buy the royal flush version for CDP? have you ever done the competition mode (non-practice test)?
You should practice the hole punch there first.
 
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ScarletKnight24 said:
NICE! lol..

I guess through practice we are gonna get better!

What strategy do you use for TFE? I still find it super freakin hard to visualize the object and interpreting the dashed and solid lines. I feel like for this section I can only use 1 method(line counting OR visualize) LOL. They should really extend the time for this section.

and DAMNN your angle ranking and keyhole score is crazyhhh LOL.

Did you buy the royal flush version for CDP? have you ever done the competition mode (non-practice test)?
You should practice the hole punch there first.
Click to expand...



For TFE, I don't really have a strategy. I don't do line counting, I try my best to visualize it in my head. I still have a lot of practicing to do here!

I came up with my own little thing for angles..and I guess it's actually working! lol

I have the royal flush...and I guess I need to start with the hole punching...I just hate it soooooooooo much
 
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tayloreve said:
For TFE, I don't really have a strategy. I don't do line counting, I try my best to visualize it in my head. I still have a lot of practicing to do here!

I came up with my own little thing for angles..and I guess it's actually working! lol

I have the royal flush...and I guess I need to start with the hole punching...I just hate it soooooooooo much
Click to expand...

For angles, do you use the strategy of like finding the biggest or smallest angle first, etc or like imagining a person standing there ? LMAO. I read some of these on SDN.
 
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Msmouth said:
Are you using CDP? If so, did you watch all of the tutorials before diving in?
Click to expand...


Yes I have the royal flush edition. I only watched the tutorial for hole punching and cubes. Maybe I should go back and watch them but I thought those tutorials were useless.
 
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ScarletKnight24 said:
For angles, do you use the strategy of like finding the biggest or smallest angle first, etc or like imagining a person standing there ? LMAO. I read some of these on SDN.
Click to expand...

Lol I haven't read about the one with the person yet!! That is interesting.


I picture the "angles" as ramps, and I place a ball at the top of the ramp..and which ever ball rolls faster is going to be the larger angle. The slower the ball rolls, the smaller the angle. It usually helps telling two angles that are very close apart.

It seems to be working for me! =D
 
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tayloreve said:
Lol I haven't read about the one with the person yet!! That is interesting.


I picture the "angles" as ramps, and I place a ball at the top of the ramp..and which ever ball rolls faster is going to be the larger angle. The slower the ball rolls, the smaller the angle. It usually helps telling two angles that are very close apart.

It seems to be working for me! =D
Click to expand...

Wait you actually physically put a "ball" on the screen? :laugh:
 
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ScarletKnight24 said:
Yes I have the royal flush edition. I only watched the tutorial for hole punching and cubes. Maybe I should go back and watch them but I thought those tutorials were useless.
Click to expand...

The pattern folding tutorial tells you that you fold into the screen......would have saved you a little time and trouble if you ask me.
 
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The thing that scares me with PAT is that a lot of people say the DAT is harder. CDP is already pretty difficult for me. I've seen breakdowns of people saying they got 24s on CDP, and then got something like a 20 on the real thing. Here is my first practice test in CDP...

Keyhole 11/15
TFE 13/15 (no idea how this happened, I suck hard at TFE)
Angles 15/15
Hole Punch 12/15
Cubes 15/15
Pattern Folding 11/15

Overall - 21

I was super psyched, it seemed like I got lucky. And that might have been the case, because I got a 19 on test 2. We'll see how the other tests go. I'm praying to get at least a 20 on the actual PAT.

Also, I have no doubt in my mind that patterns and TFE are the most brutal sections. I really need to figure out how to improve on these things. TFEs just look like a bunch of lines. And I take about 70 seconds to do each one. Patterns can be either really easy or impossible. For example, I'm better at the ones that have no shading. I just look for the biggest side and what its shape is, and can usually pick it out with a few seconds. The complex shapes with shading are just torture!
 
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NDPitch said:
The thing that scares me with PAT is that a lot of people say the DAT is harder. CDP is already pretty difficult for me. I've seen breakdowns of people saying they got 24s on CDP, and then got something like a 20 on the real thing. Here is my first practice test in CDP...

Keyhole 11/15
TFE 13/15 (no idea how this happened, I suck hard at TFE)
Angles 15/15
Hole Punch 12/15
Cubes 15/15
Pattern Folding 11/15

Overall - 21

I was super psyched, it seemed like I got lucky. And that might have been the case, because I got a 19 on test 2. We'll see how the other tests go. I'm praying to get at least a 20 on the actual PAT.

Also, I have no doubt in my mind that patterns and TFE are the most brutal sections. I really need to figure out how to improve on these things. TFEs just look like a bunch of lines. And I take about 70 seconds to do each one. Patterns can be either really easy or impossible. For example, I'm better at the ones that have no shading. I just look for the biggest side and what its shape is, and can usually pick it out with a few seconds. The complex shapes with shading are just torture!
Click to expand...

Give yourself a break! You're off to a really good start! I did really well on my first and second test but the 3rd test was harder and my score dropped. I am still going over an hour with my time but I want to build up my speed. I was horrible at TFE in the beginning but now that's one of my best sections. I'm even pretty good at angle ranking. My worst section is hole punch! When they fold the paper a certain way I'm lost. I heard the real test is much easier with hole punch.
 
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I just finished CDP test 1 for the first time and I'm freaking out because I scored 15 overall! I wasn't able to get through the entire test because I timed out half way through cube counting, so 17 questions were left unanswered. I guessed on a lot of hole punching and cube counting because I started freaking out about the time. Any suggestions on how i can improve on time. My exam is in a month and I need to improve FAST!!!:scared: Please help!!!
 
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ib51623 said:
I just finished CDP test 1 for the first time and I'm freaking out because I scored 15 overall! I wasn't able to get through the entire test because I timed out half way through cube counting, so 17 questions were left unanswered. I guessed on a lot of hole punching and cube counting because I started freaking out about the time. Any suggestions on how i can improve on time. My exam is in a month and I need to improve FAST!!!:scared: Please help!!!
Click to expand...

Hey brother, I totally feel your pain. I haven't been that strict on time yet...both practice tests I took so far I've gone over by about 10 minutes. I told myself I wasn't going to be too strict on time yet until I got a better grip on things. You have to learn how to do it right first before you can get faster at it, in my opinion.

The first practice test I did I got 6/15 on hole punch....I guessed on all 15. Lol. I had no idea how to do those suckers. But I sat down the other night and forced myself to learn it. I practiced some of the 2500 hole punch questions on CDP like Scarlett recommended, and finally understood. So when I took a test today, hole punching was actually my strongest section (14/15). It just takes PRACTICE. I know its cliche, but its true. Right now my suckiest section is cubes, so I guess tonight I'll practice those.

Keep practicing and don't try and psyche yourself out on time yet. The more you get use to doing the PAT, the quicker you will get. Just keep going, don't give up, and keep on taking those practice tests!!!!! You can doooo it!


PS....have you tried using the grid method for hole punching and some of the other techniques discussed on SDN? Those techniques have really helped me!
 
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The best method for hole punch is indeed the grid method. Draw out 15 grids.

Also practice it often. I took 2 days off from pat and my timing got slower lol.
 
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ib51623 said:
How does the grid method work?
Click to expand...

Edit: seems this forum forbidden other websites...

Basically you draw 3 lines straight and 3 lines across. Now you have formed 16 grids. Put an "X" in the grid that the hole is punched and keep putting in X as you unfold the paper.
 
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Thanks guys!! Im now gonna go spend some quality time with Mr. PAT...will post my progress in a few days
 
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I think we should all post our progress on this thread....

I just took CDP # 4, got 18 : (

I messed up on hole punch and 1 of the cube forms was very confusing to me.
 
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ghk2PbxRIU&list=UUafU75F7G0001id_v6PoNGQ&index=1&feature=plcp[/youtube]

I owe this guy my 22 PAT.
 
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Msmouth said:
I think we should all post our progress on this thread....

I just took CDP # 4, got 18 : (

I messed up on hole punch and 1 of the cube forms was very confusing to me.
Click to expand...

Sounds good! Took #2 yesterday, got a 20. Hoping it doesn't go down on the next test lol.

Stacker said:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ghk2PbxRIU&list=UUafU75F7G0001id_v6PoNGQ&index=1&feature=plcp[/youtube]

I owe this guy my 22 PAT.
Click to expand...

I've seen his videos before, but when I try and watch them now they aren't full length? Are they full length on the predds website?
 
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Don't worry about it. I scored a 16 on my first CDP test but after I did more and more practice tests I started scoring about 20-25 consistently. A strategy I liked for TFE was just basically using process of elimination. First, I would always look at the dimensions of the structure and see which of the answers don't match up. Sometimes you'll automatically be able to tell which is the answer just based on that but if you can't you'll at least eliminate one or two of the choices. After eliminating the ones that don't match up, I look at a single key feature on one of the given views and see which answer also has it. By that point, you'll usually either be able to solve the question or you'll end up with 2 possible answer choices. Between these 2 answer choices, I look at what feature makes them different and see if one of the given views has it. I'm not sure if this is the FASTEST way to solve TFE problems but I think you can at least use it as a backup if you have no idea what the structure is supposed to look like
 
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tayloreve said:
Sounds good! Took #2 yesterday, got a 20. Hoping it doesn't go down on the next test lol.



I've seen his videos before, but when I try and watch them now they aren't full length? Are they full length on the predds website?
Click to expand...

My method for angle ranking was eye-balling rapidly between angle apexes and using process of elimination.
The tic-tac-toe method is a sure fire method for doing well in the hole punching.
Everything else seemed to improve with practice.
 
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CPAT test 5: got a 21 in 1 hour 2 minutes. I just got faster, yay! Angle ranking killed me! The hole punch on this section was much easier than the last 2.
 
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I just took CDP #2 and still very disappointing results. I really thought I had done much better during the test, but i guess it was all in my head!!! ugh. Here are my first and second test breakdown, I took the 3 days apart. Any advice/recommendations will be greatly appreciated (be nice🙂):

Test#1 Test#2
keyholes 9/15 10/15
TFE 13/15 7/15
Angles 7/15 7/15
HP 8/15 5/15
CC 6/15 8/15
PF 0/15 8/15

Score 15. 28.3% for Both.

Test#1 I ran out of time in the middle of cube counting but Test#2 I was able to finish right with no extra time. For Test#2 I tried the grid method for hole punching but I guess I need more practice with it because my score went down. I really though I had done much better!!smh
 
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I would recommend going through the 1st few tests untimed so you can kind of get a hang for what your doing.. Start understanding why answers are what they are and take your time to understand folds and such. Then go back and do those tests over again timed and then start doing the rest all timed..

and I see some people having problems with Cube Counting..? What are yalls strategies for doing this section? I just write down the side of every cube then answer the 3 problems assigned to those cubes.. It takes about 30 seconds-60 seconds to count the cubes then 5 seconds a piece to answer them which gets you done with that section relatively fast.
 
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Cubes and angles are too hard on CDP. TFE and Keyhole are too easy on CDP, but a good place to learn them since they are probably the hardest PAT questions. Pattern folding = INTO the paper. Hole punching = practice.

Just go through the 10 CDP tests and as many others as you can. I did 10 CDP, 3 TopScore, 7 Achiever, and a ton of paper versions. As you do more practice tests and you automatically start to do well. Go through the first few untimed to get develop your technique, then work on timing when you finally start to feel you got this!
 
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Dgeorg6 said:
I would recommend going through the 1st few tests untimed so you can kind of get a hang for what your doing.. Start understanding why answers are what they are and take your time to understand folds and such. Then go back and do those tests over again timed and then start doing the rest all timed..

and I see some people having problems with Cube Counting..? What are yalls strategies for doing this section? I just write down the side of every cube then answer the 3 problems assigned to those cubes.. It takes about 30 seconds-60 seconds to count the cubes then 5 seconds a piece to answer them which gets you done with that section relatively fast.
Click to expand...



Idk what it was with CC, but it was my weakest section. It's sooo simple and straightforward, I think my problem is that I forget which cubes I've already counted and I might re-count or miss a cube. I try and go fast and I think I lose my spot in the cube figure. Lol.


I use the same method as you do...writing the total # of sides on a piece of paper, then tally them back up. Works well....as long as I count the right # of sides 😳
 
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tayloreve said:
Idk what it was with CC, but it was my weakest section. It's sooo simple and straightforward, I think my problem is that I forget which cubes I've already counted and I might re-count or miss a cube. I try and go fast and I think I lose my spot in the cube figure. Lol.


I use the same method as you do...writing the total # of sides on a piece of paper, then tally them back up. Works well....as long as I count the right # of sides 😳
Click to expand...

I'm good with cube counting until I get the optical illusion looking set up.
If there's not too many cubes I just count them as each question turns up....if there's a lot I then use the tally method.
 
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welllll im back -___-

I took an actual timed test and didn't give myself any extra time to see how I'd do. For test #3 I made a 17. I had to guess on a lot at the end bc the clock was about to run out. UGHHHHH. I don't know how I'm going to finish on time for the real test. I feel like I'm working at a decent pace..but I guess I'm not.

I got 14/15 on keyholes and I spent 10 minutes on that section...I had about 30 minutes left when I got to hole punching and still ran out of time.

Time is my biggest issue, and I don't know how to improve it. I don't feel like you can rush sections like TFE bc it takes time to visualize what's going on with the object.

I guess I'll just keep practicing -_-. I'm so jealous of everyone who gets 23-24 on all these CDP tests! I don't know how you guys always finish in time....bleh🙁
 
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I never set a time limit on CDP (yet) but I went on the analyzing scores and found out that I need to start improving my time.
CDP1- 18 ( 9 mins. over)
CDP2- 20 (22.5 mins. over)
CDP3- 20 (16.5 mins. over)

Practice=speed? Hopefully!!
 
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jaymin8 said:
I never set a time limit on CDP (yet) but I went on the analyzing scores and found out that I need to start improving my time.
CDP1- 18 ( 9 mins. over)
CDP2- 20 (22.5 mins. over)
CDP3- 20 (16.5 mins. over)

Practice=speed? Hopefully!!
Click to expand...

PAT would be SOOOOOO much easier if you had even like 70 minutes to finish it. And then theres so many people saying the actual DAT PAT is harder :-( my 17 on a timed CDP will probably translate into a 15 on the real one..... lol.....not being able to count cubes better not keep me from being able to get accepted into dental school :scared:
 
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tayloreve said:
PAT would be SOOOOOO much easier if you had even like 70 minutes to finish it. And then theres so many people saying the actual DAT PAT is harder :-( my 17 on a timed CDP will probably translate into a 15 on the real one..... lol.....not being able to count cubes better not keep me from being able to get accepted into dental school :scared:
Click to expand...

I hate when I get anything lower than 15/15 on that section (which happens to me on every test😡😡
Can you navigate on the REAL DAT exam (without clicking one by one), if so I might do TFE last as that drains most of my time (along with pattern folding).
 
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I took the 1st 4 tests untimed and probably took about 90 minutes per test to do them..

1st test - 22
2nd test - 19
3rd test - 17 (accidently forgot to take timer off and it ended before i even started Cube Counting lol)
4th Test - 20

Doing these 1st helped me like.. understand everything and figure out how to answer problems and learn ways the paper folds and such..

I went back and redid them all timed and got..

1st test - 24
2nd test - 21
3rd test - 20
4th test - 22

I just did the 5th test timed this morning and got a 23 with about 6 minutes to spare. This method worked for me! lol

oh and what methods is everyone using for each section?? I'm starting to have a hard time with angles.. the 1st test I got 15\15, 2nd test 13\15 but since then I have started to only get 60%-80% on these 🙁

My methods..

Keyhole - none just visualize

TFE - none just visualize

Angles - none just kind of look at them.. (need a strategy that works!! lol)

Hole Punches - skip this section til the end then draw squares with dotted lines and make holes

Cube Counting - quickly write the number of sides for each block separately then tally them up to answer questions

Pattern Folding - again I just visualize..

I pretty much get perfect scores on Keyholes, Cube Counting, and Pattern Folding everytime (usually 15\15 - 13\15)

Usually miss a few on TFE and a few on Angles 🙁
 
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