So I have CDP, but I'm looking for some full length test practice. I was looking at achiever because it is only $60 (but might buy the 5 test one). Or do you think I should go with topscore? Or if you have any other suggestions, please let me know. THanks
Prep Material
- Thread starter mh0000
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TopScore
CDP vs Achiever's PAT
Keyhole: achiever's keyhole section is definitely more challenging. I noticed with CDP, there is an emphasis on shapes. With achiever, the emphasis is on proportions ( which I feel is harder).
TFE: The problems are similar in difficulty. The only difference is that you can't "line count" as often with achiever.
angles: same
holepunch: same
cubes: fewer cubes than cdp and no illusions
patter folding: slightly more difficult than cdp
To be honest, I feel like CDP has helped me more than Achiever. I wish I could return it T_T
Keyhole: achiever's keyhole section is definitely more challenging. I noticed with CDP, there is an emphasis on shapes. With achiever, the emphasis is on proportions ( which I feel is harder).
TFE: The problems are similar in difficulty. The only difference is that you can't "line count" as often with achiever.
angles: same
holepunch: same
cubes: fewer cubes than cdp and no illusions
patter folding: slightly more difficult than cdp
To be honest, I feel like CDP has helped me more than Achiever. I wish I could return it T_T
mh, judging by your earlier posts you seem like a sharp guy. I've been scoring high on Topscore, and couldn't help think that maybe Achiever would be more beneficial. But who knows, I have heard Topscore is a great indicator as to where your preparation is.
So, get Topscore if you want to know how you're doing. Get Achiever for extra challenge and learning.
So, get Topscore if you want to know how you're doing. Get Achiever for extra challenge and learning.
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topscore is very easy compared to destroyer and achiever, its nice but I dont feel you would learn as mucha s you can from achiever because
achiever has a hard reading, orgo and PAT section. meanwhile topscore is only good for its science and PAT, its RC and QR are a joke. so i'd rather do achiever and be overprepared in the hard concepts then waste time with topscore. I will take my last topscore exam soon but I cant say I learned much from it vs. achiever where I picked up on a lot of forgotten orgo material.
Thanks for the responses guys. I was hoping to get some more practice on PAT, and looking for a good practice resource for RC. So I think I will go with achiever. I'm always down for a challenge, and I can come to you guys for consolation after being broken by it🙂
good call. I never used achiever, but topscore is a rip off...unless they've updated it the software was literally written in the 90s...it's got that win 95/98 look to it. It's just a cash-cow either way so they have little incentive to actually update it. I had to pull some maneuvers to even get it to install on Win7 back when I had it.
Holy shi*, you were not kidding... I swear I was expecting the minimum system requirements to list "Commodore 64" or Unix...Their website alone was a turn off for me. I took a glance at their source code and that HTML style is straight up from the 90's. It seems to even predate the liberal use of tables for layout management, which itself has been antiquated for a while since the emergence of CSS.
to needzmoar: have you taken your DAT already? The way you compare the products would seem to imply that you have. Or are you just conveying what others have said?
No, I haven't taken it yet. I think I read your question wrong though. I thought you were looking for more PAT practice. I have both CDP and DAT Achiever and I was just comparing the PAT sections only. Are you picking up the 5 tests version?
I might, not sure yet. I am looking for more PAt practice too (i already have CDP). But at the same time I'm looking for full length tests, including one with a good RC section. I heard the CDR has passages most representative of the real thing, but whose questions are almost all tone based. I also heard Achiever's reading is much more difficult.
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Achiever is overkill, demoralizing and counterproductive. It's like using a Ph.D level biology textbook to study for a Bio 101 exam. It does more harm than good. It's one thing if it were one or two degrees more difficult (which would be beneficial), but it's another thing when it's 15 degrees more difficult. Waste of money and time.
