PCAT Study Materials

[dinozk]

I am studying for the PCAT for the next 3-4 months. I have the 2018 Dr. Collins study guide and the 2018 Kaplan book. I plan on buying the Pearson practice tests later too. Do you think this is enough study material for the test? If so, how should I divide the material? From my research, Ive heard that Collins is good for Chemistry and Quant. Reasoning while Kaplan is better for Biology.
Thank you!

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[lalaland33]

Yes that should be enough. And yes, Collins is good for chemistry.
Start would with reading a section or two of Bio daily and doing one or two of any of the practice exams from Collins. Go over every answer to make sure you understand it. Don't take the practice exams until a few weeks before the exam (I had 2 exams from Kaplan and I took one a week leading up to the exam).

 

[ssnn.g]

I am studying for the PCAT for the next 3-4 months. I have the 2018 Dr. Collins study guide and the 2018 Kaplan book. I plan on buying the Pearson practice tests later too. Do you think this is enough study material for the test? If so, how should I divide the material? From my research, Ive heard that Collins is good for Chemistry and Quant. Reasoning while Kaplan is better for Biology.
Thank you!

Hi,
Could you let me know where did you buy Dr. Collins 2018? I have been looking for it for a while. Thank you.

 

[dizpnoyownzyoo]

That should be sufficient, especially if you’ve taken the relevant prerequisite courses in college.

Kaplan practice tests are harder, but still good practice. Definitely do the Pearson tests under timed conditions as they’re pretty close to the real PCAT. Assess what subjects you’re weak in from each practice exam.


Dividing the material is up to you and will depend on how much time you can dedicate per day. I think 3-4 months is enough time to go through the material twice. What I found helpful was creating my own sort of concise “cheat sheet” notes from my studies, similar to what the Kaplan book provides.

 

[FarmD_d]

I already have Kaplan 2016-2017, does anyone suggest buying the new one based on the changes for 2018-2019? From PCAT website, it seemed that they haven't changed anything quantitively, they mostly did some adjustments on how much of each section will be passage-based questions. But in one of the threads here, I read that they added word problems. Any comments on that?

 

[DagS132]

If anyone wants more study materials, especially if you havn't studied or practiced chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry; I suggest using Chadsvideos.com. Its all free material and very good review.

lol, wth. Why was that website changed to a ytmnd gif?
Anyway, my original link was to chadsvideos. Just look it up on google

 

[Mao263]

I am studying for the PCAT for the next 3-4 months. I have the 2018 Dr. Collins study guide and the 2018 Kaplan book. I plan on buying the Pearson practice tests later too. Do you think this is enough study material for the test? If so, how should I divide the material? From my research, Ive heard that Collins is good for Chemistry and Quant. Reasoning while Kaplan is better for Biology.
Thank you!

These 3 sources is enough. The key is a PRACTICE, Practice, practice. At least 3 times go over all practice test.
Be careful with the advice to split Collins and Kaplan between subjects. Use both for all. Kaplan lack good microbiology overview and it doesn’t even mention popular bacteria names. Collins has a good practice test for chem and math, but doesn’t have good explanations for math and I found many mistakes in answers when I was studying updates. Chemistry excellent in Collins. I liked statistics in Kaplan. And so on. Use both, don’t neglect both.
The only thing I didn’t like and didn’t help me much is Kaplan practice tests. I wouldn’t waste time on it.
Kaplan book has a great colored summary tables, use them, read the strategy of pcat.
Once you finish Collins practice tests twice, purchase couple Pearson tests. If you can afford, buy all 3.
You want to prepare once and spend money once, instead of being cheap and pay for pcat to retake again.

 

[FarmD_d]

I have taken first year biology courses and second year physiology courses but we did not cover a lot of the topics on Kaplan's biology section, such as endocrine/digestive/reproductive system, nor genetics, microorganism.... How would you recommend me teaching myself these topics? I am fine with chemistry, math and biochemistry, but I have no clue about 70% of the bio materials.

 

[DagS132]

I have taken first year biology courses and second year physiology courses but we did not cover a lot of the topics on Kaplan's biology section, such as endocrine/digestive/reproductive system, nor genetics, microorganism.... How would you recommend me teaching myself these topics? I am fine with chemistry, math and biochemistry, but I have no clue about 70% of the bio materials.

You took physiology and didn't go over endocrine/digestive/reproductive systems? Thats strange. I don't know what to tell you to prepare for that, I am studying my notes from physiology for those exact subjects.
As for just basic biology, I guess you could buy cliffsnotes AP biology book. It covers a good amount of basic bio but you will need to find sources for micro and physiology/anatomy elsewhere.

 

[FarmD_d]

You took physiology and didn't go over endocrine/digestive/reproductive systems? Thats strange. I don't know what to tell you to prepare for that, I am studying my notes from physiology for those exact subjects.
As for just basic biology, I guess you could buy cliffsnotes AP biology book. It covers a good amount of basic bio but you will need to find sources for micro and physiology/anatomy elsewhere.

Thanks DagS132. Yeah, we covered the rest of the systems in great details though. I looked more into the basic bio sections and I have learnt those, but I should look into more resources for micro and physiology/anatomy as you said. Any online crash courses you know for PCAT bio section?

 

[DagS132]

Thanks DagS132. Yeah, we covered the rest of the systems in great details though. I looked more into the basic bio sections and I have learnt those, but I should look into more resources for micro and physiology/anatomy as you said. Any online crash courses you know for PCAT bio section?

Look up coursesaver. Im not sure how updated it is but there is a PCAT prep section. It will cost money but it might have what you are looking for.

 

[FarmD_d]

Look up coursesaver. Im not sure how updated it is but there is a PCAT prep section. It will cost money but it might have what you are looking for.

I liked the website very much! Thanks a lot. Videos are the best to learn quickly.