PCAT this Saturday!!!

[fujitsux]

Okay PCAT is this saturday. I'm freaking out and i'm sure you guys are too! Tell me, which section you worry the most? Pick only one.

For me it's reading comprehension. I always tend to avoid this part because it's long, boring and incomprehensible. Tell me yours!!!!

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[akmalek]

please tell us how to study for august's pcat?
so, if you had to retake yesterday's test, how would you study different? and which materials will help you the most to improve?

For me, I wouldn't study any differently than I did this last time (see post #44). The problem is that the PCAT can potentially cover such a broad body of material for each sub-test. You simply don't know exactly what will be covered on the test... and there's a TON of material to study.

For you, just study hard under exam conditions. Take a lot of timed practice tests (Kaplan, Pearson) and learn from the solutions to the problems you have a difficult time with. If the solutions aren't helping, dust off your old text books or get the Kaplan text. Learn to manage your time (get an analog watch for test day - use it to pace yourself), learn to recognize when to estimate in math and chem, and learn to recognize when to skip a problem. Other than that, just hope that your test doesn't have a lot of the material that you're weak at. If you're unhappy with your score after you take it and you know that you truly worked your butt off... study hard again, take it again and hope for the best.

Peace.

 

[takingoverworld]

please tell us how to study for august's pcat?
so, if you had to retake yesterday's test, how would you study different? and which materials will help you the most to improve?


good luck to you all.

Kaplan is excellent preparation for chemistry, writing, and reading comprehension. It provides overkill help for the verbal section (IMO), but it proves beneficial on test day. Bio looks good in Kaplan, and I would venture to guess that it's generally a good review, but it helped very little on my exam. Math is ridiculous and I have no recommendations

 

[TheFerret]

please tell us how to study for august's pcat?
so, if you had to retake yesterday's test, how would you study different? and which materials will help you the most to improve?


good luck to you all.

I mostly used Pcat Audiolearn to review for biology and some chemistry. I also bought a practice exam off of Pearson.

I know that I will probably have to retake the exam because I'm pretty sure I botched up the quantitative section. I think this time I will focus more on genetics and math. I also plan to do more practice exams just to get accustomed to working so quickly.

 

[starobin]

hi there, did anyone used a pcat destroyer? why no comments? please share with us. thanks

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

Well, my strategy was that I would take this PCAT to get in sync with how the test ran, the time constraints, the stress level, the length of the exam, and to really see for myself the difficulty level of each subtest. Only had three weeks to study before this exam and was only planning on being prepared for the Verbal and Reading Comprehension sections, and that seems to have been the case. Here is my breakdown:

JUNE PCAT

Verbal: Native English speakers, fairly easy, with only three weeks of study I felt totally ready for this section and was able to finish it with about five minutes left. I used a SAT verbal CD flashcard and studied one letter (easy and hard words) per day. This helped a lot for me because the CD really flips through the cards at a good clip. As the word would come up I got use to saying its definition fast, helps speed up your thinking process which is a good thing for test day. Also bought about four used MAT (Miller Analogy Test) workbooks. Have read through the PCAT strategy and have done about four to five tests. Sentence completion was easy as well but since I went through it slower than I would have liked (made me feel panicky) I just bought a used 501 Sentence Completion questions books off of Amazon.

Gameplan: Will spend about 30 minutes a day either going through SAT flashcard words, doing a MAT test, or doing 15 minutes worth of sentence completion.

Reading Comprehension: Again I am speaking to native English speakers, as I can't speak for how the test would be for someone who was not a native speaker. Six passages (for some reason didn't think there would be that many) that were not as difficult as I thought they would be. I prepared by spending 15 minutes a day reading out of a scientific journal, anything abstract and requiring full concentration. Also used some GRE workbook tests for this section. Just purchased Examkrackers 101 reading comprehension passages, mainly just want the ability to read one passage a day and answer questions to get in the habit of doing this fast and concentrating hard. I finished this with about five minutes left and felt comfortable about my efforts.

Gameplan: Will work on reading comprehension passage per day and answer questions. 15 minutes a day.



FOR AUGUST PCAT


Writing: First essay seemed to go better than the second one. Did not have time in weeks before test to do more than a cursory study of what it was they wanted to see. Still felt like I did a decent job with the ridiculously small amount of time to write.

Gameplan: Will come up with about fifty sample essay questions for myself. Will write them on slips of paper and pull one every other day and spend 30 minutes writing essay. On off days will review essay that I wrote for elements required.

Biology: I love biology. I can't believe how many questions were not really general bio questions and seemed to lean more towards micro and genetics. I counted one, ONE, anatomy question and maybe five physiology - WTF!!! Very depressing. Don't ask me how I did....I did not have time to prepare for this section but figured with my As in Bio and A&P that I would at least be able to do somewheat decently. Don't think that I did.

Gameplan: Will study bio, either general, A&P, micro, for two hours a day, every day from now till August PCAT.

By August PCAT I plan on being totally prepared for the Verbal, Reading Comprehension, Writing, and Biology.


OCTOBER PCAT

Chemistry: Ummmm, yeah this was painful. Have only had one semester of G.Chem and one week of G.Chem2. Not a good feeling to be looking at a whole freaking slew of questions that you have NO idea how to answer. I knew this would happen since I have not finished G.Chem and have not started O.Chem. Just did my best to fight my way through the basic questions that were scattered here and there. Then bubbled in the rest...and oh there was a lot of them.

Gameplan: After August PCAT begin studying G.Chem from beginning of book going through each chapter and working on problems and ability to do problems fast. Plan on studying about three hours a day from after August PCAT till October PCAT.

Quantitative: Just kill me now. If chemistry was painful, quant was damn near torture. I really don't even want to talk about it. LOL.

Gameplan: After August PCAT begin studying College Alg, Stats, Calc with tutor...I am no fool!!! Plan on studying about three hours a day on this.

Came this close to filling in the no score bubble and have been kicking myself ever since. Just worried about not having my Verbal, Reading Comprehension, and Writing scores boost me enough to offset my potentially sad other scores. Don't want to score below a 35 and have no idea where I will fall because of the rule that you cannot boost your score more than 50 points.

Lastly, I have really no good feeling regarding being able to boost my quant score very high no matter how much studying I do. Just too many questions, too little time.

Sorry about the novel...just had to write out my thoughts and plan of attack.

 

[starobin]

thanks. Since, I am not Native English speaker, I will be relying most on the math, logic, geometry, chemistry , may be little biology parts. All english related parts are going to be down with the worst scenario for me, I already know that. This kills me since I am not bad on sciences and math parts, specially I love geometry. But I have know idea how hard the real PCAT can be indeed. I can assume that I am strong enough in these areas, but who knows how it will be in reality. I thought to register for august to try it , then October, but decided that it will not help me. I better study as much as I can for October. I know I have only one chance in October only, January too late for most schools, but I take this chance. I hope that schools are going to look at grades also.

I have know idea how not English native people can be well on all these reading and other English related areas. I have no vocabulary necessary for the exam anyway. I have no experience in English that much to be well on this part. It is sad.

 

[Inconspicuous]

How much genetics do you have to know for the bio section? just the general concepts ?

 

[starobin]

I think it is never enough , there is always something that can appear on the exam. !!

 

[PistonFan531]

Are all of you guys who are saying that there was a lot of genetics on the exam referring to mendelian genetics or molecular genetics? Or both?

 

[OroPharmD2b]

Are all of you guys who are saying that there was a lot of genetics on the exam referring to mendelian genetics or molecular genetics? Or both?

Mendelian and how gene related disease are inherited.

 

[jkratz1]

I didn't feel super going into the test that's for sure and I didn't feel super coming out of it either. I thought chemistry was the worst but I'm a little crazy because I still haven't taken any O Chem and I gave it a shot. I saw a thread in a different forum where someone got a 7% composite. That terrifies me. I know someone has to get it but that scares me.

One thing that did make me feel better was that two of the girls taking the test with me were dressed like they were ready to go to the club and were shocked when they got there and realized it was a 4 1/2 hour test. Glad I know I probably did better than them.

Anyone else feel like it was pretty tough?

 

[jkratz1]

I am coming out of lurking to re-iterate what everyone else has said - verbal and reading were manageable, chem was fine, bio was completely random (I repeatedly asked myself how certain topics were relevant to pharmacy school), math was atrocious. I subjected myself to very intense studying with kaplan from march until the test date. I got a 443 on the kaplan final with a 468 in math, and I still struggled on the actual exam. Math had a lot of stats, bizarre graphs, logs with obscene numbers, and obscene numbers in general. Bio had very little in common with any pcat practice exam that I've ever taken. I, like many others, wanted to cry at the end of the exam. I am encouraged by the fact that others struggled in the same areas I did. Good luck to you all

I felt the exact same way! I called my boss and almost wanted to cry I think mostly due to stress but I felt like it was a disaster!

 

[andy4pharm]

Hi all,
For those who had finished the june pcat, i hope u guys did good.
I wonder, is there any trigonometry on the june pcat ? integration ?
im now studying for august one, and seeking for any tips to prepare for it ?
im pretty ok for biology and chemistry, and quantitative (except for trig cuz i heard that no trig on pcat) ???
Is there any tip to study reading comprehensive since im not an english native speaker ? and verbal as well ?
Please share your comments.
THanks

 

[miko]

Are all of you guys who are saying that there was a lot of genetics on the exam referring to mendelian genetics or molecular genetics? Or both?

I remember just one question on molecular genetics. There were more questions on mendelian and microbial genetics.

Andy - I didn't see any trig. I did study trig derivatives just in case, but didn't see it on the exam. In addition to derivatives, integrals, and all their rules (chain rule, substitution rule, implicit differentiation), also study statistics (Hardy-Weinberg, bell-shaped curve, probability), perimeter and volume equations, inequalities, and such. The math section really sucked, so don't rely completely on doing calculations. Biology was pretty much straigh forward. There were more concepts than calculations in chem. I used ExamCrackers for reading and that helped a lot, especially since I'm a slow reader. Kaplan's Gre Verbal helped a lot, as well. The words on the exam weren't difficult, but the bridges between the word pairs were a little tricky. Good luck!

 

[Jetninjin]

Kaplan is excellent preparation for chemistry, writing, and reading comprehension. It provides overkill help for the verbal section (IMO), but it proves beneficial on test day. Bio looks good in Kaplan, and I would venture to guess that it's generally a good review, but it helped very little on my exam. Math is ridiculous and I have no recommendations

I took the PCAT class from Kaplan and thought the overkill was definitely in reading (the real PCAT was sooooo easy in comparison). The real verbal on the PCAT was much harder IMO - the words were easier than on Kaplan, but some of the bridges were pretty weird and hard to figure out.

For anyone who took Kaplan: were you the only one in your test room doing the "Kaplan method" for reading comp? I looked up a few times to uncrink my neck and I was the only one in the room scribbling away at an outline - everyone else was reading pretty much with their pencils down!

 

[Dezixn]

I don't remember the biology having too much genetics... But genetics is pretty easy to me, so I tend to go through them fast. Really, I didn't think there was an unusual amount of it there.

I took the PCAT class from Kaplan and thought the overkill was definitely in reading (the real PCAT was sooooo easy in comparison). The real verbal on the PCAT was much harder IMO - the words were easier than on Kaplan, but some of the bridges were pretty weird and hard to figure out.

For anyone who took Kaplan: were you the only one in your test room doing the "Kaplan method" for reading comp? I looked up a few times to uncrink my neck and I was the only one in the room scribbling away at an outline - everyone else was reading pretty much with their pencils down!

Hah, i took Kaplan too and learned their method. During my test it looked like everyone was pretty much just reading (I was in the back, easy to see what's going on).
I thought the kaplan method was stupid. Making up a whole outline takes up way too much time IMO. What I ended up doing was just circling key words while skimming the passage, then reading the question and going back.
That's pretty much what I used to do when I was in Elementary up to middle school! I would read the question first, skim the passage and pick out answers.

I actually thought the kaplan reading was easier than the PCAT reading, some of the connections on the PCAT were pretty.

 

[takingoverworld]

I took the PCAT class from Kaplan and thought the overkill was definitely in reading (the real PCAT was sooooo easy in comparison). The real verbal on the PCAT was much harder IMO - the words were easier than on Kaplan, but some of the bridges were pretty weird and hard to figure out.

For anyone who took Kaplan: were you the only one in your test room doing the "Kaplan method" for reading comp? I looked up a few times to uncrink my neck and I was the only one in the room scribbling away at an outline - everyone else was reading pretty much with their pencils down!

Yeah, I noticed the same thing. I was doing the kaplan method, whereas everyone else just read without pencils in hand. I absolutely agree with what you said about difficult bridges. The words weren't as difficult as linking ideas among them. One of the problems involved three extraordinarily simple words, and I memorized the answer choices, but I still can't figure it out. Keep in mind that I scored 472 on the verbal section of the kaplan pcat final

 

[bugg]

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[akmalek]

For anyone who took Kaplan: were you the only one in your test room doing the "Kaplan method" for reading comp? I looked up a few times to uncrink my neck and I was the only one in the room scribbling away at an outline - everyone else was reading pretty much with their pencils down!

I was using Kaplan... sort of. I use a modified version of their method. I did look up briefly and also noticed that hardly anyone around me was writing anything.

Speaking of Kaplan, their RSMAC method works great for scoring right answers, but ends up being too time consuming for me if I write everything down. I learned this the hard way at the Kaplan midterm. Although most of what I answered was correct, I did not have time to finish all 6 passages. The mapping just kills too much time and ends up breaking my train of thought. I ended up having to randomly bubble all questions for the last 2 passages and did horribly on the reading comp subtest at midterms. So, I modified their method to be used without writing any lists/maps. I just read the first two sentences, scanned the rest of the paragraph to figure out what kind of info was there, made a mental note and moved on to the next paragraph. Worked like a charm for me at Kaplan's final and when I took Pearson's under timed conditions. I was easily able to finish all 6 passages each time. The actual PCAT reading comp worked out just as well for me.

 

[jjfree]

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what was on the biology subtest. I took the test on Saturday, and I can assure you that there wasn't anything "random" on the test. The biology test will be made up of 30 general biology questions, 7-9 microbiology questions, and 9-11 anatomy and physiology questions (this info. is from Pearson's).

The genetics questions make up a small percentage of the 30 general biology questions. As long as you can do a punnett square and UNDERSTAND (not just memorize) basic Mendelian concepts and the exceptions to Mendelian concepts (those that don't follow simple dominance/recessive patterns), you will be absolutely fine, b/c the genetics questions are very basic. Most of the PCAT prep books will probably be sufficient to help you study.

I felt the same way.
The biggest trouble I ran into was timing on the chem section, I don't know how, it was relatively straightforward.

 

[bugg]

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[akmalek]

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what was on the biology subtest. I took the test on Saturday, and I can assure you that there wasn't anything "random" on the test. The biology test will be made up of 30 general biology questions, 7-9 microbiology questions, and 9-11 anatomy and physiology questions (this info. is from Pearson's).

Most of the PCAT prep books will probably be sufficient to help you study.

I must respectfully disagree, but I also keep in mind that everyone is different. I'm not surprised that some people thought that the Bio section was fine (and there have been a couple or so who have said that), but I did notice that the general feeling about the Bio section from most people on here was that it was kind of out there and random. BUT, perhaps I'm wrong about that. Others would have to chime in to know that for sure. The bio section, for me, was filled with familiar and vaguely familiar topics asked about in ways that I found to be strange. I earned an A in Bio I and Human anatomy, earned a B+ in Bio II, studied for a month with Kaplan, did well on the Bio subtests of the last 2 Kaplan exams and..... I still did not feel prepared for the material on the actual PCAT. The questions DID seem pretty random and weird in a way.... at least IMO.

Although I think Kaplan is one of the best test prep companies out there, their Bio section did not at all prepare me for the sort of questions that were on Saturday's exam. I also found that most of the Bio material from Pearson's exams were much easier and recognizable as "general" than with Saturday's PCAT.

Again, respectfully, IMHO.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

I would say that the Bio questions reminded me mostly of random bits of information that were on the periphery of the main information that I learned. So, my course of action while reviewing Bio for August's PCAT is to not skim over those strange little tidbits/facts that seem a little too out there to be important. More work for sure but I think that will help me out if the Bio section is written similarly. Which of course, I don't know if it will be so...

I would also agree that there is no Bio section out there right now that is comparable though. Which bites. Kaplan is not like it at all now. I assume that it use to comparable. Baron's, Kaplan, Pearson sample tests, nothing. and then

 

[Kash521]

I took the PCAT on saturday as well, and although I am finding it difficult to recall specific questions, I found it to be surprisingly manageable. Although I ran out of time on the quant section like most people, it was especially maddening because quant is easily my best subject! The verbal was a breeze and I wouldnt be surprised if I got a 99 percentile for verbal. The first writing prompt was fairly simple; the second was absolutely ridiculous, I spent the first few minutes making sure I addressed the proper problem. Bio, was easier than I thought, because it is easily my weakest subject. Chem was pretty straight forward, although I was pressed for time, only just finished. Reading comp was along the same lines as verbal, but I probably missed a few more on this section.

CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THE SCORES COME IN!

 

[bugg]

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[Dezixn]

I know it's probably just too hard too admit...you guys just didn't study hard enough for the biology. If you did the Pearsons tests, and you actually understood (and not just memorized) the answers, you should be fine. At least I'm willing to admit that I didn't know (and understand) the chemistry part enough to get a wonderful score. My best advice...grow up and take some responsibility! Pearson's didn't make this test harder than previous tests, and I'm sure the August test will be just as difficult.

Well clearly a majority of us feel that way, so there is some truth to it. I doubt anyone who comes to a forum about the PCAT could be called "lazy" either.
None of us pushed the blame on anything else, we were just saying some, not all of the questions seemed random.

 

[akmalek]

Well clearly a majority of us feel that way, so there is some truth to it. I doubt anyone who comes to a forum about the PCAT could be called "lazy" either.
None of us pushed the blame on anything else, we were just saying some, not all of the questions seemed random.

Agreed! I studied my butt off for the Bio section because I knew that was my weakness. I've always gotten decent grades in bio, but I've also always had to work extra hard to get those results. Bio just never came as natural to me as the other sciences... but I DID study.

Bugg... , and I say this with respect, if bio comes that naturally to you that you think the PCAT bio subtest was fine... GREAT! I'm really glad there are people out there like you... we need good biologists! BUT please remember that everyone is different. Whether you agree or not... several people on this and other threads now, have made the same comment that some of the bio material was random and asked in unexpected ways. If you thought the the bio was fine... be grateful that you are just that good at bio. Please don't assume or IMPLY that some of us are lazy and/or didn't study hard enough (same thing, IMO). It is rude and disrespectful. I studied HARD for a month and your comment was a slap in the face. In fact, I study hard for everything. I'm a 31-year-old student who pays his own way and knows the value of giving it my all. I have a 3.80 science and cummulative GPA. Don't tell me I just didn't study bio hard enough. Don't even imply it! I'm a chem major who has earned an A in every single chem class I've ever taken. Obviously, I have somewhat of a knack for chemistry. You don't hear me telling the people who thought that the chem subtest was hard that they were just memorizing answers and didn't study chem hard enough! Geez! Some of us were just trying to get a feel for what MOST people thought of the various sections. You thought bio was fine... okay. Just say that you thought it was fine and leave it at that. There was no benefit in you telling everyone that you think they just didn't study hard enough. It was a rude. Bugg, you've obviously missed the point entirely. You may not have said that we were lazy... but you certainly IMPLIED it by telling us to be responsible and that we didn't study hard enough.

My 2 cents.

'Nuff said.

 

[bugg]

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[bugg]

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[bugg]

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[milwrift]

The thing about the bio was that alot of the questions were very detailed. The only reason I knew them was because I looked at my class notes in addition to review books. You wouldn't know the answers if you just studied the kaplan book by itself.

 

[takingoverworld]

I know it's probably just too hard too admit...you guys just didn't study hard enough for the biology. If you did the Pearsons tests, and you actually understood (and not just memorized) the answers, you should be fine. At least I'm willing to admit that I didn't know (and understand) the chemistry part enough to get a wonderful score. My best advice...grow up and take some responsibility! Pearson's didn't make this test harder than previous tests, and I'm sure the August test will be just as difficult.

Bugg, I don't deny that there is some degree of veracity to your argument. Yes, those of us who struggled in bio on the pcat could have studied harder and potentially have had a better foundation with which to obtain a good score. However, I assure you that I studied very hard for biology with the kaplan study materials, and it proved largely insufficient on the exam. Kaplan pcat books do not stress microbiology or several other concepts that showed up on the real exam. Many of the topics on the exam that kaplan did cover were given perhaps one sentence or a parenthetical statement within the kaplan text. This could be my fault in that I invested too much faith in kaplan, and certainly if I had memorized those tidbits of information I would have fared better on the exam. You alluded to the idea that pearsons exams were largely indicative of the problems seen on the june pcat; is this the case? I never purchased the exams (I figured the 1400 bucks kaplan got from me would suffice), but if you say that they are good study material, maybe they would be a good investment in the event that my scores fail to satisfy me.

Are you a bio major? What other material(s) did you use to prepare for the exam? I am wondering how that section came easily to you when it was such a headache to many of us others.

 

[miko]

Are you a bio major? What other material(s) did you use to prepare for the exam? I am wondering how that section came easily to you when it was such a headache to many of us others.

I studied using the Kaplan book and some class notes and I didn't feel that it adequately covered the questions covered on the Bio portion of the exam. I felt that the Bio section came easy to me only because I drew from the knowledge I got from my upper division classes. Even though the Bio section was easy for me, I totally and completely agree that it was random and weird, and perhaps difficult for many.

 

[bugg]

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[PistonFan531]

So you guys don't think that the Dr. Collins bio exams will prepare you well for the bio section on the PCAT?

 

[bugg]

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[andy4pharm]

I remember just one question on molecular genetics. There were more questions on mendelian and microbial genetics.

Andy - I didn't see any trig. I did study trig derivatives just in case, but didn't see it on the exam. In addition to derivatives, integrals, and all their rules (chain rule, substitution rule, implicit differentiation), also study statistics (Hardy-Weinberg, bell-shaped curve, probability), perimeter and volume equations, inequalities, and such. The math section really sucked, so don't rely completely on doing calculations. Biology was pretty much straigh forward. There were more concepts than calculations in chem. I used ExamCrackers for reading and that helped a lot, especially since I'm a slow reader. Kaplan's Gre Verbal helped a lot, as well. The words on the exam weren't difficult, but the bridges between the word pairs were a little tricky. Good luck!

Thank you miko,
I definitely will be prepared your suggestions.
Good luck with your results

 

[andy4pharm]

Here is the schedule that I was unable to post earlier.​

Hi bugg,
i downloaded the file but couldnt see such a thing.

 

[andy4pharm]

Here is the schedule that I was unable to post earlier.​

Hi bugg,
i downloaded the file but couldnt see such a thing.

 

[bugg]

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[angeladav]

Just wanted to wish you good luck.

 

[andy4pharm]

Sorry about the file size. That's the largest that SDN allows. I can actually see it on my computer, so maybe you could try looking at it on a friend's computer. The text is small, but it corresponds to sections in the McGraw-Hill PCAT book.

thanks

 

[PistonFan531]

So you guys don't think that the Dr. Collins bio practice exams and study guide will prepare you well for the bio section on the PCAT? I am using this along with Barron's, Cliff Notes, Pearson, Kaplan, and potentially McGraw-Hill sometime soon. Do you guys think that this is enough for me to do well on bio?

 

[UH Pharm]

I have the McGraw Hill book and I think that has a very good and concise section on the biology. I also have the collin's packet but I think its to brief, but I do like the practice test for the biology section. I hope the actual pcat questions are on the same diffuculty as collins. I think you should be fine, you have more than enough things to study for the biology section.