DAT Keyholes

The first of the six Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) sections when taking the Dental Admission Test (DAT exam) is called the Keyholes . In this article we will introduce you to the section and teach you how to go about solving the keyholes game. You will be dealing with different spatial skills tests that you need to pass in order to get a good score. Luckily for you, we’ve got a few tips for you in this introduction to DAT keyholes.

What you’re about to read is meant only as an introduction to the Keyhole questions. To skip through the guide and go directly to solving practice questions you can find great material by clicking the link below the article.

Introduction to PAT Keyholes.

If you pay attention to the image below, you’ll notice that for a 3D object there are five outlines being shown. These outlines represent the keyholes of the exercise. You’ll need to imagine how the object looks from all directions and the pick an option that shows an opening through which the object can pass directly if at the correct side.

PAT Keyholes Rules.

There are several rules that you’ll need to follow for the keyholes questions while solving the practice or the real exam. Let’s begin with them as follows:

1. You can turn or twist the object however you like before passing it through the keyhole. Incidentally, the object may even be inserted through the opening side not shown.
   
2. Once you begin to insert the object through the keyhole, then it cannot be twisted or turned anymore.
   
3. Everything that you see in the problem is drawn at scale. This means that it's technically possible for a side to have to correct shape but be too large or too small for the keyhole.
   
4. You will not find any irregularities in the figures. You do need to be aware of the symmetry of the figure. It's very likely that if the figure seems symmetrical, the hidden side is the same as the shown side.
   
5. Every single problem of this section has one and only one correct answer This is pretty much the same for all other problems in the PAT.

Recommended Study Schedule for PAT Keyhole.

To best be equipped for the keyhole section it is advised that you do at least 10-15 questions everyday before taking the exam. We usually recommend a minimum of 1 month to prepare for the entire DAT exam and incorporating 10-20 minutes of keyhole seems like a small price to pay to crush this section. So, everyday try to do 15 questions which will get you to 450 over the course of a month, allowing you to remember the techniques and practice them before the exam.

Next.

Remember that this has only been an introduction to the part of the PAT that deals with keyholes. You can get much more help for this and other sections of the Perceptual Ability test from PATCrusher Keyhole Generator and by taking practice exams. There’s definitely a lot more to this than just an example. So, feel free to check out other examples and strategies to ace the DAT keyholes in your PAT.