PAT Timing Strategy

[ForUs_J&S]

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Hi everyone,

I am taking my exam in about a month and need some advice on time management for the PAT. I've been using the BC generators here and there and I scored a 19 and a 20 on Test 1 and Test 2 in BC.

However, for both, I always end up guessing an entire section because I run out of time.

I start off with hole punching, cube counting, and pattern folding since those are the easiest for me. Then I go onto keyholes. For the first test, I did angles before TFE and ended up guessing 12 or so questions for TFE. For the second test, it was the other way around.

How do you guys go about this?

Edit; For the actual exam, do they give an unlimited amount of grid paper?

 

[acesofseven]

During the actual exam, you will be given 2 laminated grid sheet with 2 non-erasable pens which you can exchange during for new ones after the break after the PAT and before Rc. Personally, I would suggest taking a few more BC tests and seeing what sections you're doing best at with their breakdowns. After, I would hone them until you miss maybe 1-2 at most for those sections. Don't neglect practicing the other questions. For the actual test, I'd just skip to the sections I was best at (in my case I went to hole punching). For me, they were cube counting>hole punching>pattern folding>tfe~angle ranking>keyhole. I didn't mind running out of time/guessing my way through my worst section since if prob get it wrong anyways. Hope this helps.

 

[ForUs_J&S]

acesofseven, thanks for the advice.

When you say "you can exchange during for new ones after the PAT and before RC", do you mean you get 2 pieces of paper (front and back)? for all of GC, OC, BIO, and PAT then you get another 2 sheets for RC and QR?

 

[acesofseven]

Yes and yes.

 

[dentist_dude]

Yes and yes.

so basically you get 4 pages for the sciences and the PAT and then 4 pages for the QR and RC? Also is it a regular size sheet like A4 or is it larger?
thank you!

 

[qkrdpsk]

I have a random question.. is it just me or did anyone else get erasable pens? Lol. Mine were like expo markers. Erased really well

 

[qkrdpsk]

Hi everyone,

I am taking my exam in about a month and need some advice on time management for the PAT. I've been using the BC generators here and there and I scored a 19 and a 20 on Test 1 and Test 2 in BC.

However, for both, I always end up guessing an entire section because I run out of time.

I start off with hole punching, cube counting, and pattern folding since those are the easiest for me. Then I go onto keyholes. For the first test, I did angles before TFE and ended up guessing 12 or so questions for TFE. For the second test, it was the other way around.

How do you guys go about this?

Edit; For the actual exam, do they give an unlimited amount of grid paper?

And to answer your question, this is what I personally did & ended up w/a pretty good PAT score. Maybe it will help! 🙂

For me, hole punching & cube counting were the easiest so I made sure I mastered these sections, answering every single question correctly (& of course, w/speed!) when doing practice questions/exams. Your strongest sections will be your EASYYY points so you want to make sure you don't lose any of these points on the actual exam!

On the actual exam, I skipped straight to hole punching, sped through it, followed by cube counting. I was able to get through these sections quickly which gave me enough time to go through the entire PAT & still have time left to go over some of the sections I wasn't so confident about. I also made sure to spend no more than ~30 seconds on a question. If I found myself spending a little too much time on a question, I guessed, marked it, & moved on.

The key is to not spend so much time on one question. Guess, guess, guess instead if you can't answer it quickly/easily. This way, you'll have some time @ the end to go back & review your weakest/worst sections.. But if you don't have much time left, at least you'll have all the questions answered, whether it was a guess or not. 🙂

 

[ForUs_J&S]

And to answer your question, this is what I personally did & ended up w/a pretty good PAT score. Maybe it will help! 🙂

For me, hole punching & cube counting were the easiest so I made sure I mastered these sections, answering every single question correctly (& of course, w/speed!) when doing practice questions/exams. Your strongest sections will be your EASYYY points so you want to make sure you don't lose any of these points on the actual exam!

On the actual exam, I skipped straight to hole punching, sped through it, followed by cube counting. I was able to get through these sections quickly which gave me enough time to go through the entire PAT & still have time left to go over some of the sections I wasn't so confident about. I also made sure to spend no more than ~30 seconds on a question. If I found myself spending a little too much time on a question, I guessed, marked it, & moved on.

The key is to not spend so much time on one question. Guess, guess, guess instead if you can't answer it quickly/easily. This way, you'll have some time @ the end to go back & review your weakest/worst sections.. But if you don't have much time left, at least you'll have all the questions answered, whether it was a guess or not. 🙂

I've taken 3 tests so far - 19,20,19 - so I'm starting to see a pattern. Keyhole is consistently atrocious and timing will hopefully improve with practice.

On another note, I'm doing Destroyer for the first time and I'm planning to jot the answers and notes in the book. However, I understand most people do the Destroyer 2-3 times. Is it not recommended to put answers in the first time and just review them for the 2nd and 3rd runs?

 

[GAdawg94]

Hi everyone,

I am taking my exam in about a month and need some advice on time management for the PAT. I've been using the BC generators here and there and I scored a 19 and a 20 on Test 1 and Test 2 in BC.

However, for both, I always end up guessing an entire section because I run out of time.

I start off with hole punching, cube counting, and pattern folding since those are the easiest for me. Then I go onto keyholes. For the first test, I did angles before TFE and ended up guessing 12 or so questions for TFE. For the second test, it was the other way around.

How do you guys go about this?

Edit; For the actual exam, do they give an unlimited amount of grid paper?

No, they give you 2 sheets you can write on them front and back. You get up an exchange them when they are full so write small. And yes this does cut into your test time when you get up for the exchange

 

[qkrdpsk]

I've taken 3 tests so far - 19,20,19 - so I'm starting to see a pattern. Keyhole is consistently atrocious and timing will hopefully improve with practice.

On another note, I'm doing Destroyer for the first time and I'm planning to jot the answers and notes in the book. However, I understand most people do the Destroyer 2-3 times. Is it not recommended to put answers in the first time and just review them for the 2nd and 3rd runs?

For me, pattern folding was the hardest. I liked keyholes 🙂

Those are good & consistent practice scores. I scored a 20 on Test 1. On the real thing, I got a 22 so I would say you're on the right track & doing well. I thought the real thing was easier than the stuff I saw on practice exams & questions.

As for the Destroyer, I personally didn't go through the entire thing.. Which is bad. DON'T be like me, lololol. However, I did get through the entire GC & QR sections. For GC, I wrote my answers & notes in the book the first time going through it, but I wouldn't recommend doing that because when I went through it the second time, I was able to see my answers and notes so that just killed the whole purpose of even going through it again. If I could do things differently, I would go through the Destroyer, jotting down my answers & notes in a separate notebook, review them, making sure I understand whatever I got wrong, then go through the Destroyer a second time. A third time would be even better!