October 17th pcat just finished

[hckyplyr]

Just finished up the PCAT in Rochester, NY...This is my second time taking it, first time was in August. Am I really that big of a nerd that I'm the first to post the thread about it. I had to travel 2 hours from my house to take it since near my house was all booked, so I stayed at my sisters for the night. There was an accident IN FRONT of the house at 2:30am last night, with ambulances, sirens, firetrucks, you name it...Sooo I prolly got 1 hour of sleep, awesome. Anyways, the test felt better than the August one, maybe cause I've become acclimated to the intense pace and duration. Had a tough time getting Quantitative done on time though. Any other thoughts on the test??? Hope everyone blew it outta the park

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[Frex]

I definitely feel more confident about these scores than I did about my June scores.




Now one else from the central america?

 

[Pharmaniac]

Hey guys i also did the PCAT today. I would have to say Bio and Verbal were my best- BARELY finished math and could have done better in RC and CHEM. Essays were ok too. I will most likely (like 100%) do the Jan one. Good luck to all of u !

P.S. Hello_Everyone beat me in posting 1st from Canada- ya we both did it at York Mills

 

[hckyplyr]

not that bad. My proctors seemed confused on some of the initial procedures. Nothing bad, just a little annoying. There was a lot of conversing about what to do. When we entered the rom for the first time (they looked at our admission ticket and two forms of id), they did not have us sign the paper. After a couple mins of conversing, they came to each of us with the sheet and made us sign it. not nearly as bad as you though.

I took it at St. John Fischer, I was in A-H if that helps you. We had to be in the same room bc the two girls running the show in our room were definately confused. And we finished later than the other groups too. I just loved getting there 45 min. before arrival time and having to just wait in the lobby for like an hour before the proctors let anyone in the room...Oh yea, the proctors forgot to have us sign when we walked in, so they went around again to each of us and had us do it. Def. sounds like we were in the same room.

 

[helloeveryone]

hey guys i also did the pcat today. I would have to say bio and verbal were my best- barely finished math and could have done better in rc and chem. Essays were ok too. I will most likely (like 100%) do the jan one. Good luck to all of u !

P.s. Hello_everyone beat me in posting 1st from canada- ya we both did it at york mills

go canada go =d

 

[hckyplyr]

go canada go =d

I wish CANADIANS would stop coming across the border to our Bill's games and stealing our Thurman Thomas Statue....Bills suck anyways, stay home and save your money!

 

[Monsterdaddy]

Canadians??? You guys had an unfair advantage in the verbal section!!!

Just kidding, you probably have no idea where Wyoming is. LOL!

But damn do I feel sorry for the foreign students on that one.

 

[busyizzy]

Canadians??? You guys had an unfair advantage in the verbal section!!!

Just kidding, you probably have no idea where Wyoming is. LOL!

But damn do I feel sorry for the foreign students on that one.

Ugh tell me about it! I looked at that question and just went WTF. This isn't a geography section. I think it's really unfair to have these cultural questions .... the GREs and the SATs do a much better job of focusing their analogies on vocab words, and not random trivia Americans are likely to know.

Also... the verbal questions involving ... rhymes?? Was that a trick question or was it for real??? I have never seen analogies involving rhymes before....

Am I just the oddball out? I think I feel the opposite of most people...

I thought math and RC was super easy. Bio was okay, although I agree, there were some very peculiar things they asked, some of which I've never heard of (and me, a bio major recently graduated!) or thought was important to learn. I was mad there was not a single endocrine question as I took care to memorize every endocrine gland, their hormones and their functions. I hated chem, but chem has always been a weak spot, and verbal... well, was strange in some questions, as noted above.

 

[desmoulins45179]

I took it at St. John Fischer, I was in A-H if that helps you. We had to be in the same room bc the two girls running the show in our room were definately confused. And we finished later than the other groups too. I just loved getting there 45 min. before arrival time and having to just wait in the lobby for like an hour before the proctors let anyone in the room...Oh yea, the proctors forgot to have us sign when we walked in, so they went around again to each of us and had us do it. Def. sounds like we were in the same room.

yep we were lol
that's so great about the wait - after i drove for an hour and 45 minutes form niagara falls (b/c the ub test site was full already when i signed up)

 

[PharmOl]

Our proctors were great. Besides the fact that we had to wait for everyone who was late. And they had a paper to sign off the auditory disruptions we had during test so that the scoring committee would consider that. But we never did since everyone just stormed the hell out of there when we were done.

 

[coral407]

ok, this was my second time taking the test. The first time I did good on all the parts except chemistry and math. This time:

the good sections
chemistry: my best section. I'm taking organic now and taking organic around the same time you take the test is I think the best way to go.
reading: my other best section. Questions were pretty straight foward and one or two of the passages were repeats from ones I have seen before.

my average section
verbal: the fill in the blanks were easy. Analogies I only knew about half. But than again I was unsure of just as many on my last pcat and i got a 78.
biology: my best section last time but this time I just did not spend enough time studying because I thought I did so good on the first one I would be fine. And A LOT of the questions were repeats from the last one, did anyone else notice that? Plus I made a lot of little mistakes that once I thought about when I got home I knew the correct answer. Too many diseases and hormones etc.

the ones that I'm most worried about:
math: Again I'm worried about math. I know I definatly did better this time. But I'm not sure I did good enough. I knew about 2/3 maybe and the rest that I didn't I had no time to go and check.

As long as I did just as good or close in all the sections I did good on last time and I improved good enough on the math I will be fine. I'm praying.

 

[applefan]

This is the 2nd time I wrote it, mainly trying to improve my verbal and reading scores from August.

Verbal-I think I did worse than the August one, some were just plain weird
Bio-Got owned completely. I'm beginning to think the bio section of the PCAT has changed, there was definitely not 20% Physiology and 20% Anatomy. What's with the diseases and stuff? Microbio?
Chem-not to bad, too many orgo reactions
Reading-My most dreaded section, the passages were boring and I didn't finish. 2/6 were good, the other 4.... ouch
Quantitative-pretty good I guess

Is it just me, I saw a few questions from the August PCAT repeated on the October one, just to my luck, they are the ones I had trouble with last time, and I don't think I got them this time either.

So in the end, I no scored it Waste of my $150

 

[HristosKaran]

Well guys, it seems the general consensus was the test was pretty tough, which is good b/c we can't ALL have done poorly...maybe the curve will be slightly generous?? Since this was my first go round with the test, I think it is kind of unfair to use the same questions for tests throughout the same year. It gives repeat test takers an unfair advantage. I even saw a few of the same questions from practice tests...if you take this test 10+ times, your bound to go through them all lol

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

You can take the PCAT five times and that is it. But I agree, I saw some of the questions on the practice tests, from the June PCAT, and also from the CLEP books on Bio and Chem. Go figure.

 

[Rossikc]

Canadians??? You guys had an unfair advantage in the verbal section!!!

Just kidding, you probably have no idea where Wyoming is. LOL!

But damn do I feel sorry for the foreign students on that one.

A friend and I were wondering who else got our version of the test. We were both from Wyoming and actually laughed at that first question.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

Had that one too!

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

I am starting to think (after two PCATs) that for the Bio section the Examkrackers MCAT Bio book is in order. Any opinions?

 

[socalpharm86]

Ugh tell me about it! I looked at that question and just went WTF. This isn't a geography section. I think it's really unfair to have these cultural questions .... the GREs and the SATs do a much better job of focusing their analogies on vocab words, and not random trivia Americans are likely to know.

Wierd question, but seriously.. anyone could have narrowed it to a 50/50 since the other two choices were completely irrelevant. Nevertheless it was probably an experimental.

Also... the verbal questions involving ... rhymes?? Was that a trick question or was it for real??? I have never seen analogies involving rhymes before....

I don't know if people get different versions, but I didn't get a rhyme. The closest I got was a homophone which I would consider a legit way to test your vocab skills.

Am I just the oddball out? I think I feel the opposite of most people...

I thought math and RC was super easy.

Have you taken the PCAT before? I think you'll be in for a huge surprise on the RC section... as we'll all be

 

[jackal head]

I am starting to think (after two PCATs) that for the Bio section the Examkrackers MCAT Bio book is in order. Any opinions?

It's useful but you'll have to pick and choose which parts to listen to. MCAT bio seems to put more emphasis on A&P whereas PCAT bio is (for the most part) focused on general concepts.

 

[Pharmacceptance]

There was one particular question on the Bio section that had me giggling... I honestly learned about the topic maybe a month ago in my biology for cancer class (senior level course). How are freshman or sophomores honestly supposed to know this stuff?

 

[pharmRxn]

I am starting to think (after two PCATs) that for the Bio section the Examkrackers MCAT Bio book is in order. Any opinions?

i used it and it wasn't enough. you need advanced plant courses to do well and the 1200 page bio book should cover everything.

 

[Bez604]

I had that Canadian verbal question too, luckily I've played a lot of hockey in my time, so I knew that one....

 

[plastictrees]

There was one particular question on the Bio section that had me giggling... I honestly learned about the topic maybe a month ago in my biology for cancer class (senior level course). How are freshman or sophomores honestly supposed to know this stuff?

I know what question you are talking about. I learned this last year (junior year) and I have no idea how someone is supposed to know that just taking Bio 1 and 2

 

[anthony2001]

blah now i can't stop thinking about that question..are you referring to that gene or w/e that is related to cancer? what was the answer to it i learnt it somwhere in bio 1

 

[Monsterdaddy]

blah now i can't stop thinking about that question..are you referring to that gene or w/e that is related to cancer? what was the answer to it i learnt it somwhere in bio 1

Something about p58? We NEVER covered that. WTF.

 

[HristosKaran]

^^ Yea I had that question...I believed I picked - ...you couldn't know that w/o taking genetics

 

[anthony2001]

what's choice A? I cant remember what the question specifically asks

 

[busyizzy]

Have you taken the PCAT before? I think you'll be in for a huge surprise on the RC section... as we'll all be

Yes.... I took it last August. Reading was my best section then (90-something), and I did about the same, so I'm hoping for a 90-something again. Not to put down people - cuz hey, I thought chem was hard and most other people thought it was easy! just diff strengths and weaknessnes - but I really don't understand why people have such a hard time with reading. The questions are usually very straight forward, and the answers are RIGHT there - they are GIVEN to you in the passage! How could it get any easier than that. That is how I feel on reading. The only thing I can understand having a problem with is finishing on time because you are a slow reader - but if you work on reading fast and accurately, you can improve that. I finished with 15 minutes to spare, and spent 10 minutes reskimming the passages and questions and taking the last 5 minutes to go to the bathroom.

i used it and it wasn't enough. you need advanced plant courses to do well and the 1200 page bio book should cover everything.

Ugh plants....

 

[joetrisman]

^^ Yea I had that question...I believed I picked A ...you couldn't know that w/o taking genetics

I learned about that in cell molec, not genetics. I didn't know the right answer as it had been ages since I'd studied over that, but it was easy to reason out all of the answers that didn't fit if you know bio very well.

 

[delano2000]

Somewhat strong GPA? Sounds like a strong GPA to me...I'm trying to get like you lol. This semester is a big factor in my GPA.

Thanks. I still consider it somewhat good compared to where it was a semester ago.

 

[Soon2BPharmacst]

You're welcome. Mine went down last semester too and I was trying to bring it up :-( I feel like a failure sometimes. A C brought it down :-(

Thanks. I still consider it somewhat good compared to where it was a semester ago.

 

[pharm2006]

for chem section, lets say if I got 30 out of 48 questions correct do I have a chance to get 60 percentile for this section?

 

[PharmOl]

for chem section, lets say if I got 30 out of 48 questions correct do I have a chance to get 60 percentile for this section?

If more than 60 percent of other examinees we are compared to got 30 out of 48, yes. Otherwise- no.

 

[Poopyli]

Why only Americans use miles, yards, pounds and oz while most of the world use km, kg?!! and how would i know 16 oz= 1 lb?! and what's funny is i just googled that in apothecary weight system...12 oz =1 lb!!

Canadianinstead of km, s??? You guys had an unfair advantage in the verbal section!!!

Just kidding, you probably have no idea where Wyoming is. LOL!

But damn do I feel sorry for the foreign students on that one.

 

[delano2000]

You're welcome. Mine went down last semester too and I was trying to bring it up :-( I feel like a failure sometimes. A C brought it down :-(

Yea I am the same way. 3 Bs brought mine down.

 

[Nupe954]

Coming to you from Orlando, took the test this past weekend and will definitely be taking it again. I am not looking forward to my quantative score. I had Kaplan and the REA notecard book to prep (which by the way didn't contain a lick of calculus in it!) I heard the Dr. Collins study guide is the way to go, anyone else concur???

 

[coral407]

Coming to you from Orlando, took the test this past weekend and will definitely be taking it again. I am not looking forward to my quantative score. I had Kaplan and the REA notecard book to prep (which by the way didn't contain a lick of calculus in it!) I heard the Dr. Collins study guide is the way to go, anyone else concur???

I took it in Orlando too

This was my second time taking it. I did WAAY better the second time around because I knew what I had to focus on. I just refreshed the sections I did good on and really focused on the bad ones. So every who took it for the first time don't freak out the second time will better.

 

[jackal head]

but this thing has me feeling sick to my stomach (literally).

tell me about it, I actually got sick right after the exam

 

[Matt105]

edited even though they'd never find me

 

[busyizzy]

edited.

 

[PharmOl]

I'm pretty sure the other option was tumor suppression. Which only was not the correct answer since p53 participates in that.

 

[PharmOl]

Which makes apoptosis the correct choice since it's not associated directly with p53. I know all this now, but for the love of god I can't remember what I put down that day...

 

[busyizzy]

edited.

 

[Matt105]

edited even though they'd never find me

 

[leolanoles]

I'm surprised that no one else has pointed out that this is not allowed. Everyone signed the back of the PCAT booklet which clearly stated that the contents of the test would not be discussed in blogs or chat rooms or elsewhere.

 

[joetrisman]

I'm surprised that no one else has pointed out that this is not allowed. Everyone signed the back of the PCAT booklet which clearly stated that the contents of the test would not be discussed in blogs or chat rooms or elsewhere.

+2. I'll speak about generalities but specific questions is forbidden. I'd advise editing out the above stuff.

 

[Farmercyst]

Sorry for removing the thread for so long. I've deleted posts that were specific to questions to the point where I knew what to study for without looking at the tests. I left the analogy ones as it seems pretty vague to me.

Please refrain from posting question-specific details because Pearson can suspend the test if they feel it's been compromised much like NABP suspended the Naplex last year which caused the delay in licensing for many pharmacists nationwide. Your adherence to this is appreciated.

 

[PharmOl]

But it is.... p53 plays a large role in apoptosis, I thought. It can initiate apoptosis, especially to prevent cancer.

You are right. That's one of the functions. But isn't a part of definition. I'm not 100% sure, of course, my guess is just as good as yours.

 

[icemanxlb]

Stop talking about the p53 question or else Pearson is going to go on here and cause our scores to undergo apoptosis!!

 

[Duc888]

Seems like a fine line concerning free speech. If I have a group of 20 or even 100 friends and we start a web forum, we can talk about whatever we want. I guess since this is an open forum, it makes it different, wondering if that is the only distinction.

 

[PharmOl]

Seems like a fine line concerning free speech. If I have a group of 20 or even 100 friends and we start a web forum, we can talk about whatever we want. I guess since this is an open forum, it makes it different, wondering if that is the only distinction.

We signed away our freedom of speech on October 17th at 8:30 am.