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Post your thoughts on the PCAT and how y'all did in it. Good Luck!
July 20 PCAT
- Thread starter ThugMotivation
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When did you take the test? I'm taking it Sept 26th so I want to estimate when pharmcas should receive mine. Did they mail yours out already to the schools? Or will they wait till monday?
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Well I took it on the 20th of july and it showed up on my PharmCAS application as 8/22 =) so almost a month
Im not sure I belong on this particular thread cause i took mine on the 19th but i figured close enough. I thought the practice exams were for the most part accurate representations of the actual exams. There were 2 deviations, for me, between the practice exams and the actual exam. I used the Kaplan book to study for everything and thought it did a fair job, although it did leave out some parts of calculus such as the chain rule and quotient rule. To be fair it was a 2010 book so they may have fixed this gap in knowledge. Studied about 3 hours a day, 4 days a week for about 2.5 months.
Practice Exams:
RC: 80 - 99
Verbal: 65-85
Bio: 80 - 99
Chem: 80 - 99
Quan: 80 - 99
Comp: 80 - 99
Preliminary Report:
RC: 68
Verbal: 91
Bio: 84
Chem: 98
Quan: 95
Comp: 95
I dont know how i improved in the verbal section between the practices and the exam. This was especially surprising seeing as how I thought i performed miserablely on that section.
On the reading comprehension section I found myself running low on time, something that did not happen on the 3 practice exams. found the exam passages much less attention garbing than the practice exams. Just a personal opinion.
The Math is a section that on the practice exams I expected to score in the low 80s because calculus is not my strong suit and usually i just guess on problems that I think will take too much time such as the area under the curve with X amount of rectangle problems. Exactly the same kind of questions on the practice exams. Over all a pleasant surprise.
The Bio and Chem section score i feel should have been switched. i feel as though I am much better at Biology (having attained my BS in Biology) than chemistry (a subject that i got mostly Cs on). Overall the questions were nicely represented in the practice exam. however there was one question i had an issue with that required you to remember the atomic number of a particular atom seeing as how there is no periodic table given. That question appeared early in my exam and felt as though it completely blind sided me and made me really nervous throughout the rest of the section. I was just lucky that there was a break immediately after this section which i used to recompose myself.
I didn't practice writing essay. I know this sounds like bragging but I always felt as though I am fairly good at writing essays. I remember in one online psychology class i was taking, we were required to write an essay every month. I would usually crank out the essay in about 30 minutes (same time you get on the PCAT for each essay [coincidence]). At the end of the semester, we had to take an in class final. When i went to turn in my final, the attractive TA (she ran the class, grad student) looked at the name on my scan tron, recognized the name, and turned to me and told me that she had looked forward to reading my essays every month. It was kinda awesome. (sorry for side tracking.) However, if you do not feel as though you excel at stress writing, i strongly suggest you spend time writing PCAT-like essays prior to taking the exam for no reason other than helping you with clock management skills.
Summary: I think the practice exams do help. Due to how the exams are scored, the preliminary score report's percentile and actual percentile for each section will not change. However the composite may change as the essays are factored into your composite, something which is absent on the preliminary for obvious reasons. Overal the best study technique is not to read and read and read study material but I feel as though it is to just take as many practice exams and do as many study questions as you can. Material tested changes form exam to exam, but the time you are aloted stays the same. Work on time management skill. Then after each practice exam is done, i suggest you re-read the section in your study book that talks about whatever you thought was a weak point in your exam.
Side Note: Definitely satisfied with my exam score (and very surprised quite honestly). Excited not to have to study for another standardized exam for at least 4 more years (not a fan of them). I bid anyone/everyone who is taking them in the near future and currently studying for them good luck and I hope this helped.
Practice Exams:
RC: 80 - 99
Verbal: 65-85
Bio: 80 - 99
Chem: 80 - 99
Quan: 80 - 99
Comp: 80 - 99
Preliminary Report:
RC: 68
Verbal: 91
Bio: 84
Chem: 98
Quan: 95
Comp: 95
I dont know how i improved in the verbal section between the practices and the exam. This was especially surprising seeing as how I thought i performed miserablely on that section.
On the reading comprehension section I found myself running low on time, something that did not happen on the 3 practice exams. found the exam passages much less attention garbing than the practice exams. Just a personal opinion.
The Math is a section that on the practice exams I expected to score in the low 80s because calculus is not my strong suit and usually i just guess on problems that I think will take too much time such as the area under the curve with X amount of rectangle problems. Exactly the same kind of questions on the practice exams. Over all a pleasant surprise.
The Bio and Chem section score i feel should have been switched. i feel as though I am much better at Biology (having attained my BS in Biology) than chemistry (a subject that i got mostly Cs on). Overall the questions were nicely represented in the practice exam. however there was one question i had an issue with that required you to remember the atomic number of a particular atom seeing as how there is no periodic table given. That question appeared early in my exam and felt as though it completely blind sided me and made me really nervous throughout the rest of the section. I was just lucky that there was a break immediately after this section which i used to recompose myself.
I didn't practice writing essay. I know this sounds like bragging but I always felt as though I am fairly good at writing essays. I remember in one online psychology class i was taking, we were required to write an essay every month. I would usually crank out the essay in about 30 minutes (same time you get on the PCAT for each essay [coincidence]). At the end of the semester, we had to take an in class final. When i went to turn in my final, the attractive TA (she ran the class, grad student) looked at the name on my scan tron, recognized the name, and turned to me and told me that she had looked forward to reading my essays every month. It was kinda awesome. (sorry for side tracking.) However, if you do not feel as though you excel at stress writing, i strongly suggest you spend time writing PCAT-like essays prior to taking the exam for no reason other than helping you with clock management skills.
Summary: I think the practice exams do help. Due to how the exams are scored, the preliminary score report's percentile and actual percentile for each section will not change. However the composite may change as the essays are factored into your composite, something which is absent on the preliminary for obvious reasons. Overal the best study technique is not to read and read and read study material but I feel as though it is to just take as many practice exams and do as many study questions as you can. Material tested changes form exam to exam, but the time you are aloted stays the same. Work on time management skill. Then after each practice exam is done, i suggest you re-read the section in your study book that talks about whatever you thought was a weak point in your exam.
Side Note: Definitely satisfied with my exam score (and very surprised quite honestly). Excited not to have to study for another standardized exam for at least 4 more years (not a fan of them). I bid anyone/everyone who is taking them in the near future and currently studying for them good luck and I hope this helped.
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