PAT Study Material Question?

[DMD_DREAMING]

On Barron's two practice test, I scored a 16 and 17 on the PAT Sections. When I took a Kaplan practice test, I scored a 19 on the PAT. For all of those that have already taken the DAT, is Barron's practice tests close to the real PAT on the DAT? I have heard that on the real DAT the PAT is alot harder than some practice materials and one should take about 2 points off of your practice test scores to see where you will be on the actual DAT. I just don't know exactly what practice materials others in here are referring to because I really can't afford to take off a couple points off a 16 or 17. Thanks to those that have some expertise in this subject ahead of time.

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[ASUgrad]

The PAT on the real test is hard. If you take the hard questions from kaplan and barrons, that makes up the easiest 1/3 of the test. The rest of the 2/3 is tougher, confusing to the eye, and sometimes not even graphically correct (I think some were)

cube counting: Easy just take your time and count the sides of each cube in a logical manner. I went bottom to top, left to right. Make sure you get all these points, because it really matters in the end.

Angle Ranking: I got some advice for some hard ones to tear a piece of paper and make marks, I did that on 3 that I marked to come back to and the angles where almost indistinguishable. 2 angles I was questioning had the same mark lines. Crazy! Sh**&

Key Hole Punch: Again, the hardest is the easiest on the real thing, practice oblique angles. The problem with some is that the usual projections run 45 degrees but some of these sit at 53 degrees and beyong, which distort the view. There is a reason why architects love 45, it is clear and don't distort views.

Paper Fold: Okay like the cube counting take your time because scoring here can help very much. I used the fold and count method. Fold a piece of paper, that is 2 holes, fold again and that is 3, etc... If you have the same count such as 6, then find the start point and end point and eliminate holes that just don't work

3D maker: This one is similar to kaplan but some angles are in the 50 degree range which throws the eye off. Some of the folds are straight on and some I think are graphically wrong. (art and architecture background)

Top, End, Side: These are not that bad, eliminate the ones that are really off the wall and then narrow the gap or make an educated guess.

I scored 21 on barron's, 20 Kaplan, 21 Topscore 1, 19 Topscore 2, 20 Topscore 3. Then I got a 17 on the real thing. My advice for you is to practice the more obscure types of questions. Get topscore and practice. ACETHEDAT.com some people said was quite good for PAT alone but I don't have any experience with that. I think a majority of this stuff is make an educated guess and relax because some of the schools say just get it above 15 as a minimum and your fine. A score on a paper doesn't determine how well you will do in d-school, you do Good luck

BillE

 

[eric275]

I have no experience with the Barron's PAT tests but I will share my scores from Kaplan and Topscore. My first Kaplan mid-term I scored a 17 and my scores continued to go up until the end when I hit a high score of 21 on Kaplan's practice tests. On the two Topscore practice tests I recieved a 19 and a 20. On the actual DAT I scored an 18.

 

[DMD_DREAMING]

The PAT on the real test is hard. If you take the hard questions from kaplan and barrons, that makes up the easiest 1/3 of the test. The rest of the 2/3 is tougher, confusing to the eye, and sometimes not even graphically correct (I think some were)

cube counting: Easy just take your time and count the sides of each cube in a logical manner. I went bottom to top, left to right. Make sure you get all these points, because it really matters in the end.

Angle Ranking: I got some advice for some hard ones to tear a piece of paper and make marks, I did that on 3 that I marked to come back to and the angles where almost indistinguishable. 2 angles I was questioning had the same mark lines. Crazy! Sh**&

Key Hole Punch: Again, the hardest is the easiest on the real thing, practice oblique angles. The problem with some is that the usual projections run 45 degrees but some of these sit at 53 degrees and beyong, which distort the view. There is a reason why architects love 45, it is clear and don't distort views.

Paper Fold: Okay like the cube counting take your time because scoring here can help very much. I used the fold and count method. Fold a piece of paper, that is 2 holes, fold again and that is 3, etc... If you have the same count such as 6, then find the start point and end point and eliminate holes that just don't work

3D maker: This one is similar to kaplan but some angles are in the 50 degree range which throws the eye off. Some of the folds are straight on and some I think are graphically wrong. (art and architecture background)

Top, End, Side: These are not that bad, eliminate the ones that are really off the wall and then narrow the gap or make an educated guess.

I scored 21 on barron's, 20 Kaplan, 21 Topscore 1, 19 Topscore 2, 20 Topscore 3. Then I got a 17 on the real thing. My advice for you is to practice the more obscure types of questions. Get topscore and practice. ACETHEDAT.com some people said was quite good for PAT alone but I don't have any experience with that. I think a majority of this stuff is make an educated guess and relax because some of the schools say just get it above 15 as a minimum and your fine. A score on a paper doesn't determine how well you will do in d-school, you do Good luck

BillE

So you would say that the hole punching and cube counting are not much worse than the practice tests? Also, I usually average around a 12 for angle discrimination. How much a drop do you think you had on the real DAT? Those are the only sections I am good at. Sometimes I can do keyhole. TOP/FRONT/END, I just guess.