PAT Angles: 4 degrees apart?

[hellobruin]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

DAT veterans,

Angle ranking on CDP is killing me. I cannot, for the life of me, distinguish angles 4-5 degrees apart. I do the biggest vs. smallest angle method to eliminate answers and then the laptop method as well.

Yet, I'm scoring 8/15 on average. Someone on SDN suggested taking a protractor and drawing angles 4 degrees apart from each other to get a '"feel" for the angles. Has anyone tried that? Any alternative tips out there?

PS. Is it really worth getting the CDP with all those extra practice problems? Right now I have the 10-test version.

Thanks for the responses, folks!

 

[A10]

Ok.. take a look at two angles that are pretty close to eachother in size.. you may need to tilt your head, but look at the angle with one side of the angle as a x-axis.. the other side of the angle now is what your interested in with the x-axis angle in your line of vision. For the acute angles, decide which angle you would rather ride your bike down.. like a mountain.. the steeper the drop on the outside of the angle the larger the angle.. if you would rather ride your bike safetly down the other acute angle this is the smaller one..

For obtuse angles, do the same method but now on the inside of the angle.. the one you would rather ride down is now the larger angle of two obtuse angles..

Make it fun and try not to get frustrated.. Also, before I even looked at the answer choice I would scan over the angles and decide in my head which two were smallest or even sometimes find the smallest one on my own. Your brain works in crazy ways! Trust yourself!

It makes more sense if you have angles in front of you.. Practice makes perfect with this method..
Goodluck!

PAT- 22

 

[scsc7211]

I agree with the advice A10 gave.

A couple of things I would suggest:

-If you have the choices narrowed down to two, try the rapid glance technique (somebody else who I cannot remember coined this). Essentially just look back and forth at the two angles at a faster than normal rate. Sometimes it helps to first "reset" your vision by looking at a far wall or object, then coming back to the screen and going with your gut after a few seconds.

-It didn't take long to realize that the time I was wasting being entranced by pairs of angles differing by 4 degrees was much better spent on the paper folding and cube counting sections, according to my CDP scores. After you have narrowed it down to two angles, I suggest making a choice quickly and moving on.

 

[hellobruin]

A10 -- you are awesome! Thanks so much for the suggestion! I'm looking back at my old CDP's and the angle difference is much more clearer now. I'm definitely integrating this method now 🙂

scsc7211, thank you for your response. It's true; sometimes I go through cube counting too quickly and in an inconsistent way.

 

[A10]

There are tons of methods for angle ranking. You have most likely heard every single one.. Its all about picking the one that works best for your type of thinking. On the real dat, I personally thought the angle ranking was one of the easier sections of the PAT.. but practice with close angles and you will do fine.