PAT score

[dentalWorks]

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Hello folks, I'm trying to underestand what is a reasonable score on this section, cause I see A LOT of sdners normally scoring 20s and higher and I'm starting to feel that this is "the norm"... But when I look at predents.com, I see that some of the top ranking dental schools in the nation (example harvard) has an average of 20.
Reason I'm asking is because I kinda suck at this section, I bought CDP (10 exam version) and I've done the first 4 so far, I've gotten 17, 18, 18, and back to 17 🙁

Come test day, I'm expecting to maybe get an 18 on this section, is that gonna be a problem?

 

[dentistry001]

Just keep practicing...I went up from a 17 to a 21 on my final CDP test! Goodluck :]

 

[Snowy19]

Judging from other posts, it seems that CDP is a little harder than the real exam. If you want to get some extra help, the Barron's book has some useful tactics for the PAT. You'll definitely get better if you keep practicing with the CDP too.

Also, keep in mind that the posts on SDN will probably be a little biased. They only represent a portion of all the people taking the exam and applying to dental school. People are more likely to post their scores if they got good scores.

That being said, definitely keep practicing and shoot for a higher score. Just know that the high scores you're seeing in the forums are not representative of everyone.

 

[slm266]

Did you guys always incorporate speed in your PAT practice, or did you first get down accuracy and then work on speed and timing?

 

[Snowy19]

Both, you have to get the basics of a skill down first before you speed up. I do timed tests these days but I still have to do slow practice every now and then or I start getting sloppy. What really boosted my score was practicing making my own TFE diagrams for 3D objects that I built from different block shapes. After that, the speed came a lot more naturally.

 

[UCB05]

Did you guys always incorporate speed in your PAT practice, or did you first get down accuracy and then work on speed and timing?

Speed and accuracy aren't the only two considerations. Take into account in which section your time is best spent. For example, while I was practicing my angles were my worst section no matter how much time I spent on them, Keyholes and Folding were difficult but accurate, and TFEs were very time-consuming and mostly accurate. No matter how much time i spent staring at angles, my accuracy changed very little, and that extra time was better invested in Keyhole and TFEs. If I had lots of time at the end I would go back to the TFEs, and once satisfied with my answers I would put in any remaining time on angles.

Point is, consider the time investment - correct answer return relation. It wont help for you to speed through a section and get half of them wrong, and it's just as detrimental to take all your time getting the first half right and missing the last half.

 

[americanpierg]

Hello folks, I'm trying to underestand what is a reasonable score on this section, cause I see A LOT of sdners normally scoring 20s and higher and I'm starting to feel that this is "the norm"... But when I look at predents.com, I see that some of the top ranking dental schools in the nation (example harvard) has an average of 20.
Reason I'm asking is because I kinda suck at this section, I bought CDP (10 exam version) and I've done the first 4 so far, I've gotten 17, 18, 18, and back to 17 🙁

Come test day, I'm expecting to maybe get an 18 on this section, is that gonna be a problem?

I bought CDP last year and started off with 18s too. After a week, I was getting 25s. When I started doing practice exams with topscore and achiever, i never got lower than a 22 on those. Easiest section that you should not get any wrong in - TFE, Cube, Hole Punch. Keyhole are hard when you have to judge size as well as shape. Angles are random, you'll usually get 1-4 wrong just from them being impossible. Folding is the hardest, but if you have enough time you'll get them all right.

Just practice, its very easy.

 

[americanpierg]

Did you guys always incorporate speed in your PAT practice, or did you first get down accuracy and then work on speed and timing?

You have to do enough 1 hour exams that you know how much time you should spend on each section.

I did enough that I realize I had to devote 10 minutes for each section (15 questions). Im always a couple minutes behind after TFE, but I always end up making that time back up during Hole Punch, Angle, and Cube Counting so by the time I get to pattern folding, I have around 15-20 minutes left, which I need becuase that was by far my slowest section.