Serious help CDP

[Jake36]

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Ok so I just took my first CDP test, and I have gone through all tutorials on how to do each type of PAT question, however, I was only able to finish 60 questions, and of those 60, I got not even half right. My PAT score was a disgusting 13. Also when I looked at the text explanation, CDP just showed me the same shape for bottom back and right, so essentially the answer explanations are not even valid. I do event theory for Top Front End, "crush the can" for Keyhole, L.O.S. for hole punching.

Did anyone also have trouble going through their first CDP exams, and are there any amazing tips out there that I am not aware so I can save a lot of time?

 

[Glimmer1991]

The event theory doesn't work for TFE on the real exam. You need to be able to actually visualize those suckers.

Also, you'll get better. I did horrendously at first and wondered how people could EVER do well on that portion of the test. It got much better with practice--the PAT is truly a learned skill. Just keep truckin'!

 

[dentbound]

I agree with Glimmer. I've been a lurker on this community for a while. I was horrible when I first started. I finished all 10 CDP tests and improved on each one. I even tried the Achiever ones, which were extremely hard, but they forced me to improve. DAT Bootcamp has a free one as well or you can pay for some more. The more exposure, the better you will get. I wasn't one to have this come naturally, but I seem to be improving.

 

[hunterx2]

I recommend turning off the time limit for the first couple of tests. That way you can focus on just the questions themselves without anything else hanging over your head to distract you. Once you start to get most of them right, THEN turn the time on and work on your efficiency. Also, at the end of the test it tells you how many seconds you used per question. On my very first CDP test I used up like 64 seconds, but I trimmed it down to the 40's on the second test. The benchmark is 40 seconds even, but you should shoot for 35 so that you have time to go back at the end and double check your answers.

IMO spatial reasoning is not easily taught. I spent only a couple of days "studying" for PAT, but that's only because I have an intense background as an artist/graphic designer, so it was relatively easy for me to visualize things.

 

[Jake36]

The event theory doesn't work for TFE on the real exam. You need to be able to actually visualize those suckers.

Also, you'll get better. I did horrendously at first and wondered how people could EVER do well on that portion of the test. It got much better with practice--the PAT is truly a learned skill. Just keep truckin'!

Why won't event theory work on the exam? I've used it and it works effectively how is the exam different?

 

[mostprecious]

1. Keep trying until you finish about 5 practice sets. I improved. Maybe you will, too. You get a sense of your favorite method of doing each type of problems, which you are good/bad at.

2. If it doesn't really get better, start analyzing why and what kinds of problems you are missing. Then tackle those mostly before proceeding any further.

 

[Glimmer1991]

Is the event theory not the line-counting method? They're just able to formulate questions so it doesn't really work... I've seen this said many different times, but I never tried it on my actual test because I learned to visualize.