September PCAT 2013

[vic89]

A thread for people who are taking the PCAT in September

How's everyone's studying going? I realized it's only a month away... and I haven't even started studying . I just bought all three Pearson's practice tests today. I'm taking Test 2 at the moment so I know what I need to focus on the most.

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[Sydneyfe]

That is a very strong score! How much did you improve by with Dr. Collins?

Thank you
1st time I got comp21 without any review.
2nd time I got comp66 with Dr.Collins packet but I didn't finish it.
This time I reviewed all the questions from Dr.Collins and PPTs. From comp21 to comp 85, I'd say Dr.Collins is super helpful!!

 

[YoAyDri]

CONGRATS!! What did you use for study material and how long did you take to prepare for the exam? Was it similar to the pearson exams?

The main thing I studied from was a Princeton Review book. Their bio section is pretty comprehensive. I'll be honest though, my chemistry degree and lab experience really helped me answer all the chemistry and advanced bio questions. Georgia State University definitely prepared me the most I'd say. Pearson practice tests were pretty helpful too. Some of the questions are very similar. Study those well.

 

[Twist01]

I was floored by my score, no lie. I think i stood there in the room for a good 10-20 sec processing what i got before I left lol XD

Prelim score:

Verbal: 74
Biology: 99
Reading: 43
Quantitative Ability: 99
Chemistry: 99
Composite: 99

This totally makes up for my horrendous GPA (~2.7 ish, gotta pull that up). Though that Reading score is pretty disappointing, but the passages I got were ridiculous. I studied Collins only, plus some Kaplan for bio purposes. I did no Pearson practice tests (financial reasons).

But yeah, I was so surprised on what I got considering the questions that were thrown at me in the exam.

To all those writing in the next couple days, all the best! You guys will do great

 

[miarx88]

Just got out of my exam.

Verbal------58
Biology-----92
Reading----25 WTF!!!
Math--------61
Chemistry--91

Composite- 74

I studied off the collins packet and the pearson tests for a month. Im very disappointed with my reading score as I was scoring in the 70s in my pearson tests. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I did really good in chemistry and bio which are the main subjects. Are reading and verbal very important?? Should I retake??

Ill be glad to answer and questions....There were atleast 5 questions directly from collins on the bio section. There were also a few on the chemistry section.

 

[Sydneyfe]

I was floored by my score, no lie. I think i stood there in the room for a good 10-20 sec processing what i got before I left lol XD

Prelim score:

Verbal: 74
Biology: 99
Reading: 43
Quantitative Ability: 99
Chemistry: 99
Composite: 99

This totally makes up for my horrendous GPA (~2.7 ish, gotta pull that up). Though that Reading score is pretty disappointing, but the passages I got were ridiculous. I studied Collins only, plus some Kaplan for bio purposes. I did no Pearson practice tests (financial reasons).

But yeah, I was so surprised on what I got considering the questions that were thrown at me in the exam.

To all those writing in the next couple days, all the best! You guys will do great

Perfect score!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Twist01]

Perfect score!!! Congrats!!!

Thanks! I was honestly shaking pretty bad in the waiting area before going in, but luckily my nerves settled once i hunkered down.

 

[pharmdx92]

Just got out of my exam.

Verbal------58
Biology-----92
Reading----25 WTF!!!
Math--------61
Chemistry--91

Composite- 74

I studied off the collins packet and the pearson tests for a month. Im very disappointed with my reading score as I was scoring in the 70s in my pearson tests. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I did really good in chemistry and bio which are the main subjects. Are reading and verbal very important?? Should I retake??

Ill be glad to answer and questions....There were atleast 5 questions directly from collins on the bio section. There were also a few on the chemistry section.

What's your GPA? If it is above 3.0+ then a 74 will be a competitive score when you apply. Some schools will have cut-offs for the subsection so beware of that.

 

[ProspektPD]

I just did my PCAT. When I finished, I felt like I did really bad. Kaplan's biology section was almost useless for me as there was no mention of microbiology in their 2013-2014 book and like 60% of the questions were on it. When I got my scores back, I was shocked.

Verbal: 91
Biology: 79
Reading Comp.: 97
Quantitative: 91
Chemistry: 97
Composite: 96

I don't know how I got this as I felt that I ran out of time on math and chem and pretty much bombed bio. Pretty darn happy about this to be honest, especially since my GPA is a measly 2.9..

 

[miarx88]

Yea I have a 3.3. ** fingers crossed thats enough** I greatly appreciate the input, Im going to check the cut-offs.

 

[Wallace12]

Happy for you man! you totallly deserved this! i had the exact same score of 58 in verbal ( i hated va just get lucky if you know the word or not haha) and 99 in chemistry as well! Congrats and enjoy it all

Thanks, yeah verbal was majority guessing for me. haha You're applying OU right? Did you do early decision?

 

[JuT]

I think Dr. Collins QA practice exam is kinda easy... Is it comparable to the real PCAT?? Thanks for anyone that response to this!! appreciated

 

[Annie14892]

The actual PCAT is much harder than Collins QA exam.

Hope this helps!

 

[arri]

The actual PCAT is much harder than Collins QA exam.

Hope this helps!

Is it more similar to PT4?

 

[Annie14892]

Not sure about everyone else, but I felt that T4 was easy compared to the actual QA PCAT on July.



Goodluck to everyone taking the test tomorrow. I am getting really nervous

 

[arri]

Not sure about everyone else, but I felt that T4 was easy compared to the actual QA PCAT on July.



Goodluck to everyone taking the test tomorrow. I am getting really nervous

Wait, did you take the July exam, and retaking in September?

 

[JuT]

The actual PCAT is much harder than Collins QA exam.

Hope this helps!

Thanks!!

I only study QA section for just today. lol so I forsee my score on weds and I know im gonna take it again on Nov.

 

[arri]

Thanks!!

I only study QA section for just today. lol so I forsee my score on weds and I know im gonna take it again on Nov.

Don't think negatively!!!!!!!!! You got this!!! Good luck!!! Hope you kill it and come out on top as our other fellow peers have

 

[JuT]

Don't think negatively!!!!!!!!! You got this!!! Good luck!!! Hope you kill it and come out on top as our other fellow peers have

Thanksss, U do the same!!

 

[boredstephanie]

I thought I'd throw in my scores from today!
Verbal: 68
Biology: 97
Reading: 76
Quantitative Ability: 97
Chemistry: 85
Composite: 94

I'm pretty happy with this even if its not 99 percentile like some of you geniuses out there haha. Probably could've done better in chemistry if I managed my time better but oh well!

 

[arri]

I thought I'd throw in my scores from today!
Verbal: 68
Biology: 97
Reading: 76
Quantitative Ability: 97
Chemistry: 85
Composite: 94

I'm pretty happy with this even if its not 99 percentile like some of you geniuses out there haha. Probably could've done better in chemistry if I managed my time better but oh well!

Wow!! You killed it too!!! It seems like everyone did really well on today's PCAT. Good luck to everyone taking it Tuesday & Wednesday!! I hope I can do as well as all of you!!!

Any advice on how QA was? Did it relate to any of the Pearson Exams? Congrats again!! You rocked it!!

 

[boredstephanie]

Wow!! You killed it too!!! It seems like everyone did really well on today's PCAT. Good luck to everyone taking it Tuesday & Wednesday!! I hope I can do as well as all of you!!!

Any advice on how QA was? Did it relate to any of the Pearson Exams? Congrats again!! You rocked it!!

good luck on your test! =) I didn't do the pearson exams but if you're studying from Dr. Collins, the QA practice tests are similar to the real thing.

 

[Khlorine]

Holy moly, didn't see this one coming, the last 5 minutes of the quant section were the most frantic of my life! Took it on the 16th, 8am.

VA 437/94
Bio 455/99
RC 402/54
QA 426/88
Chem 526/99
Comp 449/99

Used Collins, last year's PCAT book, and the PPTs. But again, the quant section was insane.

 

[snickersrx]

Holy moly, didn't see this one coming, the last 5 minutes of the quant section were the most frantic of my life! Took it on the 16th, 8am.

VA 437/94
Bio 455/99
RC 402/54
QA 426/88
Chem 526/99
Comp 449/99

Used Collins, last year's PCAT book, and the PPTs. But again, the quant section was insane.

Wowww congrats! I am taking it tomorrow. Really nervous!

 

[Wallace12]

Holy moly, didn't see this one coming, the last 5 minutes of the quant section were the most frantic of my life! Took it on the 16th, 8am.

VA 437/94
Bio 455/99
RC 402/54
QA 426/88
Chem 526/99
Comp 449/99

Used Collins, last year's PCAT book, and the PPTs. But again, the quant section was insane.

nice you did awesome! It's going to suck for the cycle that gets compared to this cycle's PCAT scores. (Im pretty sure thats how they score them, in comparison to a few years back...)

 

[pharmdx92]

nice you did awesome! It's going to suck for the cycle that gets compared to this cycle's PCAT scores. (Im pretty sure thats how they score them, in comparison to a few years back...)

I am pretty sure that for all the people that did extremely well this cycle that there is an equal amount who did extremely poor. SDN forums do not show equal representation of all the scores. Not a lot of people want to show off their 10s, 20s, 30s,or even 40s.

 

[Wallace12]

I am pretty sure that for all the people that did extremely well this cycle that there is an equal amount who did extremely poor. SDN forums do not show equal representation of all the scores. Not a lot of people want to show off their 10s, 20s, 30s,or even 40s.

Duhhh... Sorry I just got out of a chem exam I wasn't ready for. Haha

 

[isanders]

Thanks, yeah verbal was majority guessing for me. haha You're applying OU right? Did you do early decision?

Yeah i did early decision for OU, still waiting on when they are gonna send interviews out its been two weeks already haha.

 

[Wallace12]

Yeah i did early decision for OU, still waiting on when they are gonna send interviews out its been two weeks already haha.

It should be fairly soon, I talked with the admission director the other week and she mentioned they were completely finished by like Oct 25th ish? Like in the next week or so they'll be contacting people

 

[Malay]

Thank you
1st time I got comp21 without any review.
2nd time I got comp66 with Dr.Collins packet but I didn't finish it.
This time I reviewed all the questions from Dr.Collins and PPTs. From comp21 to comp 85, I'd say Dr.Collins is super helpful!!

ahh what a great trend! is dr collins now the 2012 version with 2013 update? If so, would you be able to sell me just the chem section and the new update? please let me know! thanks!

 

[Malay]

Holy moly, didn't see this one coming, the last 5 minutes of the quant section were the most frantic of my life! Took it on the 16th, 8am.

VA 437/94
Bio 455/99
RC 402/54
QA 426/88
Chem 526/99
Comp 449/99

Used Collins, last year's PCAT book, and the PPTs. But again, the quant section was insane.

did you use the newest dr collins with the july update as well? if so, are you willing to sell a copy of the chem section and new upate? i took my pcat today and did HORRIBLE and will need to sign up for the oct one if htere are any more seats. and i have to be on lock down for the next month or so... sigh.

 

[mabotteen]

I took it today. I was so nervous going in and felt like I only knew like 3 QA questions...then I got my score and I had to ask the guy if it was really my score report:

VA: 423/82
BIO: 440/95
RC: 436/97
QA: 438/95
CHEM: 505/99
COMP: 448/99

I can finally relax

 

[Malay]

I took it today. I was so nervous going in and felt like I only knew like 3 QA questions...then I got my score and I had to ask the guy if it was really my score report:

VA: 423/82
BIO: 440/95
RC: 436/97
QA: 438/95
CHEM: 505/99
COMP: 448/99

I can finally relax

i completely bombed todays... definitely going to sign up for the end of Oct one. did you use the newest collins and PPTs? sigh. so depressed...

 

[Annie14892]

July scores:
VA: 82
Bio: 79
RC: 21
QA: 77
Chem: 91
Comp: 78


Sept score:
VA: 23
Bio:84
RC:81
QA:95
Chem:85
Comp: 85

Having mixed feelings about VA, RC, and Chem.. Spent SOME time studying VA and no time studying RC. I don't know what happened.

Disappointed because this time Chem was SO much harder.. 2 calculation problems and the rest were conceptual problems that I never even seen in Collin's packet before...

I also thought I'd do better in bio, but it was pretty much the same.

Sad.

 

[doctortp]

Sighs I took mine today, wish I had better news

VA: 38 (don't know what happened)
BIO: 76
QA: 77
CHEM: 68
RC: 20
COMP: 60

sighs I don't know what happen on my VA and RC..the last time I took it I received 70+ on both sections. I studied Dr.Collins, but 2 weeks before this week I got really sick and couldn't study as much as I would have liked it. I only got maybe 5-10 questions that were either vebatim or slightly similar from the practice test. I guess I was just one of the unlucky few. I'm retaking in Oct, I know I'll do better than. Good luck everyone else and thanks for the support!

 

[Malay]

i thought the chem was super difficult today too! nothing nooooooothing like what collins and PPTs had completely bombed todays and will sign up for the oct one.

 

[doctortp]

completely agree, i had 15 calculation problems not even kidding some people didn't even get any!!

 

[mabotteen]

i completely bombed todays... definitely going to sign up for the end of Oct one. did you use the newest collins and PPTs? sigh. so depressed...

I only used the pearson practice tests and whatever I remembered from undergrad.

 

[pharmdx92]

Sighs I took mine today, wish I had better news

VA: 38 (don't know what happened)
BIO: 76
QA: 77
CHEM: 68
RC: 20
COMP: 60

sighs I don't know what happen on my VA and RC..the last time I took it I received 70+ on both sections. I studied Dr.Collins, but 2 weeks before this week I got really sick and couldn't study as much as I would have liked it. I only got maybe 5-10 questions that were either vebatim or slightly similar from the practice test. I guess I was just one of the unlucky few. I'm retaking in Oct, I know I'll do better than. Good luck everyone else and thanks for the support!

If you keep going with Dr. Collins, I am sure you will get 90+. One of my friends went from a 79 to a 99 after her retake. Good luck!

 

[Malay]

can anyone give me a daily breakdown of how they studied with collins and ppt? maybe im just not going at it right. I saw an old post from 2010. but boy, have things changed!

would appreciate any help! i really wanna be more prepared for the next one i sign up for! thanks!

 

[snickersrx]

Good luck to everyone who is taking the PCAT tomorrow!

 

[Twist01]

can anyone give me a daily breakdown of how they studied with collins and ppt? maybe im just not going at it right. I saw an old post from 2010. but boy, have things changed!

would appreciate any help! i really wanna be more prepared for the next one i sign up for! thanks!

I didn't use the PPTs, just Collins, still scored a 99 comp. How I did it was i studied the package for general chem and orgo chem for about a day and did the example questions in there. ALL of them. After that, I worked through the MC tests one by one, and whatever i got wrong, I'd go back after i finished a test and make sure i understood where/how i went wrong. Afterwards, I'd plow through a second test and repeat the same process until i had finished.

Also, I did the tests in the Collins with no calculator to somewhat simulate how I would expect it to be in the real deal. I personally found it helpful to mimic those conditions.

If you happen to have any old notes from chem courses you've taken in university/college, i suggest you dig those out, if only for a refresher. It does help a bit to get you reacclimated to the material, esp. if you haven't gone through it in a while.

Hopefully this helps a bit!

 

[Annie14892]

I didn't use the PPTs, just Collins, still scored a 99 comp. How I did it was i studied the package for general chem and orgo chem for about a day and did the example questions in there. ALL of them. After that, I worked through the MC tests one by one, and whatever i got wrong, I'd go back after i finished a test and make sure i understood where/how i went wrong. Afterwards, I'd plow through a second test and repeat the same process until i had finished.

Also, I did the tests in the Collins with no calculator to somewhat simulate how I would expect it to be in the real deal. I personally found it helpful to mimic those conditions.

If you happen to have any old notes from chem courses you've taken in university/college, i suggest you dig those out, if only for a refresher. It does help a bit to get you reacclimated to the material, esp. if you haven't gone through it in a while.

Hopefully this helps a bit!

I think it also depends on whether you get lucky or not. Took it today and had only 2 calculation problems, and the majority of it was conceptual orgo 1 + 2 material. Pretty sure I saw a large chunk of organic 2 stuff on there, because there were reactions with names of molecules I've never heard of before.

 

[Twist01]

I think it also depends on whether you get lucky or not. Took it today and had only 2 calculation problems, and the majority of it was conceptual orgo 1 + 2 material. Pretty sure I saw a large chunk of organic 2 stuff on there, because there were reactions with names of molecules I've never heard of before.

That is also true. Mine had quite a few calculations, that I definitely remember, plus there was a lot more biochemistry than i expected it to be, which caught me off guard. Luckily I knew the answers so that wasn't too much of an issue

But yeah, all you need is to study hard, and a little bit of luck.

 

[isanders]

It should be fairly soon, I talked with the admission director the other week and she mentioned they were completely finished by like Oct 25th ish? Like in the next week or so they'll be contacting people

I think I read that october 15th is the date at OU in which if you applied early decision you will know whether you got accepted or not. So I guess our interview will have to be a little bit earlier than that probably early October I bet. Are you doing early decision program too?

 

[Klueril]

hey all took the test on the 3rd....just wondering how long the test takes to get mailed to pharmcas...anyone know??

 

[arri]

hey all took the test on the 3rd....just wondering how long the test takes to get mailed to pharmcas...anyone know??

I THINK 3-5 weeks? I believe once official scores are out, the school should receive the pcat scores

 

[cuddlefish78]

It is supposed to be up to 5 weeks after the end of the testing window. Unfortunately, those of us who took it the 3rd share a window with those taking it this week. It COULD still be another 5 weeks. I am hoping sooner.

 

[arri]

It is supposed to be up to 5 weeks after the end of the testing window. Unfortunately, those of us who took it the 3rd share a window with those taking it this week. It COULD still be another 5 weeks. I am hoping sooner.

Well, when I took it in July the scores came out pretty quick, it was only about 3 weeks for the official score report to come out.

 

[nyc76]

Ok I know I'm a little late but I needed a day to catch up on sleep.

Anyway I took it on Monday and I thought I bombed it!! I was so upset I just grabbed the prelim score the woman gave me, I said thank you, grabbed my stuff and got the hell out. I didn't even look at it cuz in my mind it was in the 50's. So, like a band aid, I decided to rip it off and just look and here is what I saw:

Verbal: 82
Biology: 89
Reading: 68
QA: 61
Chemistry: 85
Composite: 84

I almost freaked when I saw that. I couldn't believe it and in a way I still don't. Not exactly 99, which I think you have to be a genius to get, but for me its good enough. I just didn't want to embarrass myself with a 50 something score like I got in PPT4. I'm just hoping there wasn't some computer glitch that multiplied it all by 2 lol

Chemistry was very lacking in calculations for me. I had maybe a handful. No more then 5. The rest were conceptual questions or reaction questions.

QA didn't have a lot of calculus but I still ran out of time there. Unreal how fast time goes by in that section. I had to randomly guess on about 5-10 at the end.

Reading wasn't as hard or boring to read as the PPT's but its still tricky. My strategy all long was read the whole thing first then do the questions. Well after the first question I saw it took me 10 minutes to do so I changed up strategies midstream cuz otherwise I'd run out of time. I went with reading the question first then looking for the answer in the passage. A LOT of the questions for me referred you to specific paragraphs. So this worked in at least finishing it on time. I had 5 min spare at the end. Still didn't do great but at least I didn't have to guess.

Other than that I'm so relieved. I just want to get the official cuz in mind my I still can't believe it cuz I felt like I failed that thing.

 

[Wallace12]

I think I read that october 15th is the date at OU in which if you applied early decision you will know whether you got accepted or not. So I guess our interview will have to be a little bit earlier than that probably early October I bet. Are you doing early decision program too?

Nope, I wish I did better in July and finished my app in time or I would have... Haha