Taking Way Too Long On Keyholes

[Denizen]

I'm using Ari's study plan, and so far I've been practicing with all of the PAT generators, untimed, and actually enjoying it. Today his study plan required me to take the first timed PAT test (all sections) and I lost all hope pretty quickly as keyholes and TFE alone took me about thirty minutes. Needless to say, I didn't finish. I am trying to practice doing keyholes faster right now, but I still find it extremely difficult to even go below a minute per problem here.

How long do you guys aim for per question on keyholes? How do you get faster? Did it take you a long time to build up to the proper time per problem?

Is the only way to improve your time just to keep practicing? I feel like all the strategy videos pretty much just point out why each choice is wrong, and there isn't exactly a "shortcut" to doing these problems. Am I missing anything? You basically just have to mentally rotate the object into the right orientation and scan all the borders as best you can?

Also, I am probably going to get through all of the Bootcamp "extra keyhole problems" pretty soon, and if I do the problems twice I unfortunately can usually remember more or less what the answer was. What should my next resource be? Crack Dat Pat? Is there anywhere I can find an actual keyhole generator?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Likkriue]

Keyholes were hit or miss for me. I try to spend less than 15 minutes on the keyholes, (perferably 10) so I could work on the easier portions, holepunch TFE and cube counting. Master those 3 and you have a very high chance to get a good score.

Just keep practicing to the best of your abilities.

 

[FutureDDS_11]

I did the first PAT test that Ari tells you to do today as well! I am glad I have someone to empathize with because it was very discouraging to see the score haha

Keyholes were hit or miss for me. I try to spend less than 15 minutes on the keyholes, (perferably 10) so I could work on the easier portions, holepunch TFE and cube counting. Master those 3 and you have a very high chance to get a good score.

Just keep practicing to the best of your abilities.

Is there an option to skip to the question # that you want to go to on the DAT or do you have to keep clicking previous/next like bootcamp? Do you just do them from start to end or do you skips certain sections then come back?

 

[Likkriue]

I did the first PAT test that Ari tells you to do today as well! I am glad I have someone to empathize with because it was very discouraging to see the score haha


Is there an option to skip to the question # that you want to go to on the DAT or do you have to keep clicking previous/next like bootcamp? Do you just do them from start to end or do you skips certain sections then come back?

You have to keep clicking previous and next until you finish. Only until you finish the section can you start skipping around if you have extra time left.

 

[rogerpc]

My plan is to work on the key hole section last when I take the DAT

 

[Graffix]

For the 15 keyholes I would make sure that I did them under 1 minute each. If I was starting to spend too much time on one question I would make my best educated guess and move on to get the easier questions right. It will be hard at the beginning but if you stick STRICTLY to the timing you'll get better and wont overthink the problems as much.

You said that you mentally rotate the 3d objects? and scan all the boarders? There is kind of a shortcut. If you understand that the keyholes can only be 1 of 3 different orientations its much easier. All of the keyholes follow a xyz orientation (kind of like this below). From glancing at these 3 faces, you can usually eliminate 2 right off the bat and then compare the 2 remaining.

tbh, I doubt the test makers had this intention, but all questions have to be strict to some standard... but after realizing this I got much quicker and better at keyholes. TFE follow the same xyz.

 

[roy williams II]

How were you guys ( who just took the first PAT test on Aris schedule ) doing on the generators ?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[gabtse]

My plan is to work on the key hole section last when I take the DAT

Not a good idea. What if keyholes happens to be the easier section than TFE on your DAT?

 

[Neil Smoove]

Use the generator! Everyday I do a different PAT section for an hour straight and now they've become very simple. TFE is tricky though, but I'm positive the generator will help.