Perceptual Ability and General Question

[RU1992]

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Hey Everyone. I'm taking the DAT on July 3rd and am struggling to prepare for the perceptual ability section. I have the Kaplan material but I just can't get the hang of it, especially the Keyholes, Top/Front/End, and Pattern Folding. Anyone have any advice or comments? I really don't have time to get a new book and prepare, but just overall advice would really help. Especially those sections... Also, being a pessimist, do schools' cutoffs even include your score on the Perceptual Ability, or is it just for the sciences? Thanks again

 

[ddsnothingless]

I hate to be generic in my answer to that but thats how it is. Practice and patience my friend. Cdp will help you train your eye and mind, and help you develop your own little shortcuts for angle ranking, pattern folding, and tfe. I'll have someone else chime in on the cutoffs for pat cause I'm not good with the stats. But some schools truly value that score.

 

[RU1992]

I'll try to do my best. Thanks again!

 

[dentalprodigy]

Hey Everyone. I'm taking the DAT on July 3rd and am struggling to prepare for the perceptual ability section. I have the Kaplan material but I just can't get the hang of it, especially the Keyholes, Top/Front/End, and Pattern Folding. Anyone have any advice or comments? I really don't have time to get a new book and prepare, but just overall advice would really help. Especially those sections... Also, being a pessimist, do schools' cutoffs even include your score on the Perceptual Ability, or is it just for the sciences? Thanks again

What you are going through is normal. In the beginning PAT can seem like learning a completely different language. Also, reading this forum and responses about people saying stuff like "yea..holepunching was easy/ or cube counting was the easiest section" can be discouraging. As poster above said, you need to keep practicing.

In the beginning, the goal is not soo much about how many questions you get correct but to know exactly WHY you got a question wrong (and obviously the reasoning/throught process to get the correct answer).

If you haven't already bought Crack Dat Pat, go ahead and do that. Its expensive but it does a good job of replicating test day conditions + difficulty.

Search on this forum for PAT tutorials...there are abundant threads on different tips that people used to get better at PAT.

Another plug for CDP is that you can review your answers and CDP will graphically show you how a pattern UNfolds to help you better imagine the answer choices.

Again... know WHY you got each question wrong at this point. Then when you are closer 2 test date..put emphasis on getting questions correct.

 

[RU1992]

I'll do all I can. Thanks again!

 

[RU1992]

But back to my original question, do you guys know what the general cutoff is for the schools? Especially on the perceptual ability...

 

[qkchen]

But back to my original question, do you guys know what the general cutoff is for the schools? Especially on the perceptual ability...

The PAT cutoff will vary from school to school since some do not put as much emphasis on it while others like UOP are really adamant about high PAT scores.

 

[jimmy714]

I agree with what everyone else says - practice, practice, practice!
Set time aside for it, and also practice it during study breaks or inbetween study sessions. I personally thought it was kind of a fun, refreshing break.

Also, Crack DAT PAT is indispensable. Buy it.