PAT-Hole Punch and Cube Counting Strategies?

[laocgirl]

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Hello to those that have mastered the PAT section!

I have a few questions. I would appreciate any recommendations you may have🙂

1. When doing hole-punches, I start eliminating choices. This is much easier to do on paper because you can cross them out and compare what is left, but on the computer when my eyes move away from the choices after I have eliminated a couple, and back to the diagram, I have a hard time quickly remembering which ones I have eliminated. Any suggestions?

2. Same for cube counting- I lose track of which cube I'm on while tallying. Does anyone have a methodical way of counting, like top to bottom, front to back, left to right, etc. that works BEST?

3. Also, do you first mentally fold the paper in the order given before looking at the holes punched? Or do you glance at the holes punched first, then unfold?

Thanks!

 

[bonvivant07]

hole punch- u get a white board or erasable type of film paper. so write a b c d and then cross them off to keep track


cube counting- this strategy has been taught in many books. make a list and count all the cubes and faces and tally them on the list. Then its a breeze answering all the questions.

However, if you mess up on your initial counting, you could miss more than one question. BUt if you do it properly, it will cut ur time wayyy low


I usually unfold. How do u see the holes before you unfold?

 

[ordinaryasian]

1) I agree with bonvivant07, write a b c d on your erase board and cross them out as you eliminate answers.

2) same as what bonvivant07 said, write 0-5 on your erase board, and tally the cubes up.

3) I glanced at the holes punched first, and then unfolded it in my head,
but more specifically, I would quickly draw a 4 by 4 tic tac toe, and then mark the places where the holes would land as I unfolded the paper in my mind, worked for me 100% of the time.

good luck! 😀

 

[lusity]

For keyholes, I make a 16 square table for the ones I can't visualize. I unfold the paper and mark the slots that are obvious. I don't suggest process of elimination for this section because I think that is even more time consuming. I unfold first before I look at the answers given. On the ones I can't visualize, I compare my 16sq table to the answers.

For cube counting, I start on the left and move from lower front and go up and then move back. That way, even if you lose your spot, you can count how many tallies you have and go back to the last cube you missed.

These two sections are probably one of the easiest ones on the PAT. They don't require luck unlike angle ranking. It is to your advantage to know these sections and know them well. Try CrackDatPat for more practice.

 

[ordinaryasian]

@lusity, I agree with you that hole punching and cube counting are the easiest sections, but why does angle ranking require luck? I think if you practice enough on the angles then you can eventually master them.

 

[SoulPower]

@lusity, I agree with you that hole punching and cube counting are the easiest sections, but why does angle ranking require luck? I think if you practice enough on the angles then you can eventually master them.

Angle ranking is a total crapshoot. Sometime the answer may be obvious but most of the time 2 angles are very close together degree-wise. And what makes it worse is that all possible combination are usually an answer. I.E. angle 2 is by far the largest but all answers end in 2 however the other three are close together. I was usually averaging 10-13 correct in this but it definitely takes the most luck out of the PAT sections.

 

[ordinaryasian]

Angle ranking is a total crapshoot. Sometime the answer may be obvious but most of the time 2 angles are very close together degree-wise. And what makes it worse is that all possible combination are usually an answer. I.E. angle 2 is by far the largest but all answers end in 2 however the other three are close together. I was usually averaging 10-13 correct in this but it definitely takes the most luck out of the PAT sections.

I think that angle ranking is not a total crap shoot if you practice enough until your eyes become proficient at detecting the differences in angles. Practice is key, cause the week before I took the DAT I was getting mostly 15/15 and some 14/15, but before I started practicing I was getting 9-13 correct.

But I do agree that luck plays a part cause you could end up getting all easier questions, it's just not "required" in my opinion