Engineering graphics has historically been viewed as a challenging course to teach as students struggle to grasp and understand the fundamental concepts and then to master their proper application. The emergence of stable, fast, affordable 3D parametric modeling platforms such as CATIA, Pro-E, and AutoCAD while providing several pedagogical advantages, such as the interaction with a dynamic solid model, have also created a few new instructional challenges, such as clarifying the connection between the fundamental engineering graphics concepts and the overarching concepts of robust, parametric 3D solid modeling. 3D parametric modeling platforms offer students the opportunity to manipulate a completed solid model in space--enabling them to actually see views of the model not readily available in a traditional engineering drawing, helping them to build their conceptual modeling frameworks. However, simply completing 3D models does not properly develop spatial visualization skills (Hamlin et al., 2006), the theory of parametric modeling must be thoughtfully integrated into the curriculum so it scaffolded by spatial visualization theory. One of the more common assessment instruments for spatial visualization is the Mental Cutting Test, (MCT). There has been a little research on the relationship between the MCT and modeling ability/maturity, specifically the organization and order of the specification tree/model browser of 3D solid models. This paper presents the results of such a study. 219 first-year engineering students participated, and a significant relationship was found between high performance on the MCT and 3D modeling ability. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)