Today's PCAT

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AsianGuy26

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Whew, I just got back from the PCAT and I can tell you that it was... interesting. I thought that the reading/verbal were harder than the last one that I took... Jan 08' actually all the sections were harder.

I probably did worst on reading/verbal, did better in biology but I don't know since half of it was like microbiology... thank god I just took that damn course, chemistry was all right skipped a few questions throughout and a few in the end but overall I probably did better than my last chem sections, quantitative I definitely did much better on.

Overall I think that I will probably get a score in the 80s... mayhaps lower than my previous score but the two sections that count more heavily when pharmacy schools look at will be higher...

Eh, thats the last PCAT I'm taking foreveeeeer. mmmm... MCATs for next year... aarrrghh

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My first time:

Writing: I think my essays were ok, nothing special. Expecting a 3/3 or 4/3

Verbal: Was fairly easy. I aced the sentence completions, but the analogies gave me a hard time, even though I knew pretty much every single word. On some of them, I couldn't come up with a working relationship between the words at all!

Biology: Surprisingly easy. Can't remember what's on it but I breezed through and had time to double check answers.

Chemistry: Also quite easy. There did seem to be a bit more ochem, but having just taken the course, I had no problems. I was pressed for time though because of all the calculations.

Reading: Holy crap. The passages themselves were easy enough to understand, but some of the questions were worded so poorly that two or three of the answer choices could have worked. I remember one question that made no sense to me at all.

QA: I don't think this was that bad. There may have been more calculus on here than usual, but most of it was pretty easy.

Composite: I'm hoping for a 90+ (unless I'm too foolishly optimistic). I took one of the free practice PCATs that Kaplan offered and got a 453 composite, which I think is 90+. That damn practice test was so hard...

FYI, I used the Kaplan book, Kaplan practice PCAT, Barron's, Cliffs (mainly for vocab practice, didn't look at chem/bio/reading), Harcourt's 2 practice exams, a Peterson's MCAT book, Schaum's Calc and A&P, and Cliffs Calc and A&P (I haven't had a serious math class in 4 years and haven't taken A&P + micro yet.)

Hope everyone did well. Time to relax! (but I start classes on Monday...)
 
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The test was not too bad, but the english parts was terrible. Reading passages were long and the answers made little sence to me.( but I am esl, so english is my biggest problem)
Chem was great - lots of Ochem and little math problems.
Bio ok - little bit of everything (genetics, micro, anotomy, few cell bio q.) Math - big disappointment, lots of statistic I was not ready for (hopefully that was experimental) and not enough calc. Long wordy problems and not enough time:( as mentioned by others.
This is my third and last time taking it, so little luck would be nice... but I guess we'll see in 7 weeks...
 
After taking the test today, I thought the Harcourt practice exams were probably a fair indicator of how my scores will turn out. Had to guess on a few chem and a few QA questions due to running out of time. Guessed on a few bio questions but had time to check over answers. Verbal was a bit harder than i expected, but reading comprehension went okay. I was really nervous about the essays but when it came time to write, it wasn't hard for me. Who knows.
I agree that 30 minutes for 48 chemistry questions is somewhat ridiculous. Unless you just finished taking ochem and gen chem, and even then....I still think 30 minutes is really pushing it.
 
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Well the exam was as

verbal -- i dont know ..but it was not that bad 6/10
biology-- i am a biology major and thought some questions are hard
chemistry-- lots of organic ...not too much math
reading..plzzzzzzzzzzzz i dont know WTF happened, many answers were very close to each other, i dont knoww
math--so some questions were easy and some were hard..5/10

i hope curve will help us ..:eek:
 
Wow, very similar situation to me. I got a 67 on my last pcat as well.

First essay was nice, verbal went smooth for me as well.
Bio, I was well prepared only had to guess on a few.
Chem, I was able to finish I believe, but I may have had to fill in the last question without reading it.

Unfortunately for me, I had a meltdown during the reading, my eyes could not focus, could not process what I was reading so well. I had to fill in 3 at the end. Hopefully I got the ones i did answer all right,


Math, I was pretty pissed, got a 5 minute warning at question 30 something. I went through and did all the ones that took a short time, had to fill in at least 5 blindly.


I am not overly happy with my performance, but I am hoping I didn't screw any sections up, and hoping that my verbal, bio,chem scores lead me to victory.

Victory= 80+ Disappointed if I get a 70, but will take it if thats the best i am capable of =(.

Also hoping that, I get surprised and get a half decent Quant score.

I think the anatomy was good for me on the bio part, and the o-chem was an ugly type but it was ok. Last time i got a 83 on chem and it had a lot of naming, this time there was prediction of reactions, markovnikov addition etc.

Yeah its like before the break i was like man im getting a 90+ then after the break i was like **** i got a 35. well maybe not that bad but not too far from it lol.
 
Lots of questions on this were repeats from the Jul 08 exam, like 2 whole reading comp sections. But I would say on the whole this was a tougher exam than that one.

Essay 1 - Pretty easy, had 10 minutes left at the end to do nothing.

Verbal - About the same as last time, I got a 95 on that, so hopefully it will be the same or greater.

Biology - I blew through the first 7 questions in less than a minute just from knowing them on sight. Wish the whole section went like that, because the last half turned into a micro\ecology exam, ugh. Hopefully an 80 or better

Chemistry - This was a friggin orgo exam. I was rusty on my reactions since I wasn't really expecting this much so I didn't study up for them. 80 or better I hope.

Essay 2 - A little trickier, what a stupid essay. Still cranked one out, whatever.

Reading Comp - A little tougher than last time, as everyone else says, you have to use a lot of discernment to get which answer is the right one.

Quant. Ability - I studied for this the most since I got a 26 on it last time. I pretty much destroyed this section, but I still had to guess on like 5 due to running out of time.

Let's hope I can get a 90 or above, because without one, my hopes for school are done.
 
I was feeling really confident before the break, even though the bio section had several questons I wasn't expecting. The quantitative was hardcore though...defintely 9+ questions i had to quickly glance at and fill in a quick answer. It was more difficult to choose what questions to skip and guess on later because I felt like I knew how to do them. grrr.
 
I just took the quantitative ability practice test for the first time and scored a 60 which was honestly better than I thought I did yesterday. I also did worse today on the practice test with a 78 on verbal. I think I did awesome on the rest of the sections though. I'm wondering how much these two sections (assuming I scored around the same yesterday) can bring down the other sections on the final composite score assuming I got 80s-90s on the rest?? Please, anybody??
 
I just took the quantitative ability practice test for the first time and scored a 60 which was honestly better than I thought I did yesterday. I also did worse today on the practice test with a 78 on verbal. I think I did awesome on the rest of the sections though. I'm wondering how much these two sections (assuming I scored around the same yesterday) can bring down the other sections on the final composite score assuming I got 80s-90s on the rest?? Please, anybody??

Well, on my last PCAT, I got:

Verbal: 95
Bio:78
Chem:79:
Reading: 92
Quant: 26

Because of the quantitative, I got an 84 composite, if that helps. I need to get a composite in the 90s to make up for my atrocious GPA though.
 
when u guys took the practice... wat did u usually get.. wat do u think a 31/48 wud be in percentile..
 
Well, on my last PCAT, I got:

Verbal: 95
Bio:78
Chem:79:
Reading: 92
Quant: 26

Because of the quantitative, I got an 84 composite, if that helps. I need to get a composite in the 90s to make up for my atrocious GPA though.

Since you got 26 on QA last time. You said you destroyed it this time, which review book or method did you used that help you ?
Thanks
 
This may be hard for you to answer but to get a 78 in Bio approximately how many Q's do need to get right?
 
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Well, on my last PCAT, I got:

Verbal: 95
Bio:78
Chem:79:
Reading: 92
Quant: 26

Because of the quantitative, I got an 84 composite, if that helps. I need to get a composite in the 90s to make up for my atrocious GPA though.

Thanks! Okay, I'm really starting to freak out now. I looked at my score wrong (before my last posting) and actually only got 60% (24/40) of the math right :(! That means that I'm in the 44-64 percentile range. I also did worse on the verbal and biology than I thought and got 31/40 correct in verbal (59-79 percentile) and 32/40 correct in bio (72-92 percentile). I'm freaking out. I'm really starting to question my classes and teachers I took because (although I haven't taken calculus) I just took trig this summer and was the top person in my class of 50. I also was one of the top two in algebra. Despite this, I managed to only get 4/10 precalc questions right. What the heck happened???? Don't the algebra/trig year combo constitute precalc or am I missing something?
 
Thanks! Okay, I'm really starting to freak out now. I looked at my score wrong (before my last posting) and actually only got 60% (24/40) of the math right :(! That means that I'm in the 44-64 percentile range. I also did worse on the verbal and biology than I thought and got 31/40 correct in verbal (59-79 percentile) and 32/40 correct in bio (72-92 percentile). I'm freaking out. I'm really starting to question my classes and teachers I took because (although I haven't taken calculus) I just took trig this summer and was the top person in my class of 50. I also was one of the top two in algebra. Despite this, I managed to only get 4/10 precalc questions right. What the heck happened???? Don't the algebra/trig year combo constitute precalc or am I missing something?

where did you get 40 from ? there are 48 in each sections, unless you get a different version.
 
Sooo....how many of you are going to join me and say....I BOMBED IT! damnit!:(

continuous educated guesses for 5 hours...
 
where did you get 40 from ? there are 48 in each sections, unless you get a different version.


Only 40 of the 48 questions are graded. The remaining 8 from each section are evaluated as potential future test questions.
 
Here's the trick to the quantitative part of this exam...

The algebra that you learn in your classes is correct. However, the algebra questions that you have practiced in your classes are not in the same vein as the ones given on the PCAT. You need to get a hold of as many practice tests as you can, take the quantitative part, and then look at the solutions to the questions and continue to take the tests over and over and over, until you know how to use the right thinking to get the answer.

It's all about practice. It's a standardized test, you can beat it.
 
I just thought the Biology was alot harder then when i took it last and i also thought the math was pretty basic however i did bad on that b.c. i focused most of my time on calc.... Anyway my questions is this "are the test the same or have the same questions on them?" meaning is the august like 50 percent the same as the oct. just wondering
 
Actually I'm starting to wonder about that because on the reading... there were two passages I could've sworn that I read somewhere before...

I was wonder someone said only 40 out of 48 questions are actually used on each section to calculate your composite?

If so then I may have done well in all my sections but we will see... and yes I found the biology harder than last time even though I know more... thank god for microbiology...
 
Actually I'm starting to wonder about that because on the reading... there were two passages I could've sworn that I read somewhere before...

I was wonder someone said only 40 out of 48 questions are actually used on each section to calculate your composite?

If so then I may have done well in all my sections but we will see... and yes I found the biology harder than last time even though I know more... thank god for microbiology...

Yea i took it in jan 2006 and in June 06 and the reading passages were the same and there was also 2 or 3 bio questiosn that were the same. I think they change the test each time however the test is def like a 30-50 percent similar to previous test that year. (august similar to Oct)
 
Actually I'm starting to wonder about that because on the reading... there were two passages I could've sworn that I read somewhere before...

I was wonder someone said only 40 out of 48 questions are actually used on each section to calculate your composite?

If so then I may have done well in all my sections but we will see... and yes I found the biology harder than last time even though I know more... thank god for microbiology...
8 experimental questions per subsection and 1 of the 2 essays won't factor into your mark. Pearson uses the questions to see how well the PCAT takers respond to them and they may use them somehow in a future PCAT.
 
i just took the PCAT and i feel confused an dworried...it felt like i knew about 80-90 percent of the material but didnt pratice my time skills.i barely finished the bio, chem QA...it seems that mostly every1 did bad...will that help boost our percentile..how is the PCAT scored anyways and when is the best time to start apllygin or even sending in applcications for rolling admissions schools.....shud i wait to get my score or shud i apply now so that i get an earky sopt.......please heeellllpppp
 
i just took the PCAT and i feel confused an dworried...it felt like i knew about 80-90 percent of the material but didnt pratice my time skills.i barely finished the bio, chem QA...it seems that mostly every1 did bad...will that help boost our percentile..how is the PCAT scored anyways and when is the best time to start apllygin or even sending in applcications for rolling admissions schools.....shud i wait to get my score or shud i apply now so that i get an earky sopt.......please heeellllpppp

Feeling confused on the scoring of PCAT is quite commonplace now. You are by no means alone. No one knows exactly how the scoring is done. There have been skepticism that its scored by comparing our scores with scores of past test takers. Although this may be true, the details on its calculation (possibly a complex and convoluted process) is not known.

I recommend waiting for your scores. Your scores will determine whether you should apply this year, and what schools you should apply to. So do some research on the average and minimum PCAT requirements for each school and you'll save yourself lots of time, and money. :)
 
Just took it today as my test was canceled due to inclement weather. Chemistry was a time management exercise, as was math. Everything else was okay. We'll see what happens.
 
Just took it today as my test was canceled due to inclement weather. Chemistry was a time management exercise, as was math. Everything else was okay. We'll see what happens.

Also took it today for the 2nd time (first time was in June) Here are my scores from then:

Verbal: 89 (good enough for me)
Bio: 79 (felt like I could do better....get lucky with questions I know next time?)
Reading: 76 (I had plenty of time, I should have gone back)
Quant: 57 (Kaplan is NOT enough if youre 3+ years out of beginning math)
Chemistry: 73 (not bad, all things considering)

Comp: 80


Did a couple things differently: studied extra the functional groups in organic, studied more in depthly the kaplan math, ate well in the morning and wore a sweater.

Verbal: Same as June. Knew most of the words, only had to guess 3 or 4. Thanks to Mom and having smart friends who read a lot and use big words. :laugh:

Biology: Same as June. Harder for me because a lot of the "random" questions I werent as sure about. You need to be through Bio I and Bio II before you take the PCAT....Working in a lab helped me too....

Chemistry: Little harder than June. Couple extra calculations.

Reading Comp: So last time I had 30 minutes left over and didnt feel like going back. :laugh: So this time in between passages I readjusted my eyes, did a little stretch, then went back to it. Worked out, I think. I only had 8 minutes left and I feel like I attacked the essay better. I noticed those fools will write the first sentence of a paragraph about something then make the paragraph about something else. So if you get a question "What was paragraph 3 about" dont trust the first sentence of that paragraph! I think Kaplan pointed that out too...

Quant: So last time I felt stupid. Only finished 2/3 before 5 minutes was called. I knew the material, I just couldnt do it quickly. So this time I just hauled butt. Not sure if it was just easier or if I had changed my midset but I finished with 5 minutes to spare! :thumbup: I had circled 4 or 5 I werent sure of (had lots of verbage and symbols and stuff I didnt feel like critcally thinking about) I went back to and were able to figure out. Some I literally just took the answers and plugged and chugged to see which one worked out.

Essays: Who cares. My school doesnt count them. I wrote something in there, probably a 4 again.

Overall I feel much better about this exam. This is the best I can do. Defintely try and take the exam as SOON as possible after your prereqs. Its only natural to strat forgetting the basics and I could tell I didnt know "for sure" as in June.
 
Compared to the June 08 Test...
(In my opinion)

The essays were easier, hopefully the first essay gets graded though!

Verbal was really not that bad, about the same as June.
I memorized about 80 words or so and seen 3 or 4 on the test!
Some of the analogies were repeated from the June test.

Biology was easier than in June.
A lot of kaplan stuff was on there.

Chemistry was a slight bit harder this time around.
I ran out of time, had to blindly bubble a few. Maybe I was thinking too much lol I'm glad that there were not any over the top calculations.
Kaplan's Chem Calculation problems are outrageous compared to the Pcat.

Reading, was easier than in June. (I did practice on this section a ton)
A passage or two was repeated from the June test and hartcourt reading practice test is very similar. Kaplan was waay harder and Cliff's was too easy.

Quantitative Ability: OMG I had to blindly bubble a bunch!!
This section was waay harder than June! No practice test is even comparable lol

Overall, hopefully I improved my score.
I still need to work on Chem, Math, & Verbal.

Good Luck Guys
....The 6 weeks of waiting begins now! lol

Are u sure since I remember receiving 2 writing scores last year which is I think the first time they made the change from 1 subscore to 2 writing subscores!

As for Kaplan, they get their questions from MCAT so, some say, it is good to overprepare with MCAT questions than underprepare for PCAT.. :idea:
 
Yes, Only one of the two essays is graded. (either the first 30 min section of the test or the first section after returning from 10-15 minute break)

The two scores measure the following two skills:

Problem Solving Ability

and

Convention of Language (grammer, vocabulary, punctuation, etc..)


The average for both scores for everyone (Mean) is usually a little below 3.0 (around 2.8 to 2.9) but these scores might have increased; depending on everyone's performance.

hope that clears up the two writing score confusion. :)
 
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Yes, Only one of the two essays is graded. (either the first 30 min section of the test or the first section after returning from 10-15 minute break)

The two scores measure the following two skills:

Problem Solving Ability

and

Convention of Language (grammer, vocabulary, punctuation, etc..)


The average for both scores usually fall a little below 3.0 (around 2.8 to 2.9) but these scores might have increased; depending on everyone's performance.

hope that clears up the two writing score confusion. :)

Are u sure since I remember receiving two writing subscores last year? :confused:
 
Our scores won't arrive in our mail boxes till at least Sept. 22nd and possibly not till Oct 1st??

Anyone already signed up the Oct. PCAT?

I signed up early this time so I don't have to drive 2 hours on the morning of the test. I don't think I'll see my Aug. PCAT scores until after the cancellation deadline for Oct PCAT. This means Pearson takes my money regardless if I take the Oct PCAT. ahhh...I seriously don't wanna take this test again. I'm so anxious to see what my score is.

*sigh* ok I'm done venting.
 
Yeah I hate that we may get the scores after the cancellation period for the Oct. test. I was planning on taking the Oct test if I did bad but I don't want to pay unless I know I need to take it again. I guess I may just wait until January...if schools accepts Jan. scores!
 
Our scores won't arrive in our mail boxes till at least Sept. 22nd and possibly not till Oct 1st??

Anyone already signed up the Oct. PCAT?

I signed up early this time so I don't have to drive 2 hours on the morning of the test. I don't think I'll see my Aug. PCAT scores until after the cancellation deadline for Oct PCAT. This means Pearson takes my money regardless if I take the Oct PCAT. ahhh...I seriously don't wanna take this test again. I'm so anxious to see what my score is.

*sigh* ok I'm done venting.

I feel the exact same way. It's so stressful :(.
 
I've looked at some of the posts on this site and have read different things. Some posts say the PCAT scores come in four weeks and others say six. Can we start watching for our scores from the August PCAT this saturday?? (Can you tell I'm NERVOUS??) :scared:
 
I've looked at some of the posts on this site and have read different things. Some posts say the PCAT scores come in four weeks and others say six. Can we start watching for our scores from the August PCAT this saturday?? (Can you tell I'm NERVOUS??) :scared:

After taking the PCAT exam, we were all told that our scores would arrive in 4 to 6 weeks.

According to SDN thread on "June 2008 PCAT scores,"

June PCAT test day: June 21st 2008 (Saturday)

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=547763

test takers from Texas received their scores first in 34 days on July 25th 2008 (Friday), and the majority received it in 35 days; on July 26th, 2008 (Saturday)

That is approximately a 5 weeks wait.



August PCAT test day: Aug. 23rd, 2008 (Saturday)

If Pearson mails our scores in 5 weeks like it done for the June PCAT scores, then we'll get our AUG PCAT scores on Sept 26th (Friday), Sept 27th (Satuday), and at the lastest on monday, Sept 29th.


If we get our results on Friday/Saturday, we'll have the whole weekend to think about what we got.

I have a feeling my weekend is going to be either really good or really depressing if I have to take this exam again.

good luck everyone :)
 
After taking the PCAT exam, we were all told that our scores would arrive in 4 to 6 weeks.

According to SDN thread on "June 2008 PCAT scores,"

June PCAT test day: June 21st 2008 (Saturday)

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=547763

test takers from Texas received their scores first in 34 days on July 25th 2008 (Friday), and the majority received it in 35 days; on July 26th, 2008 (Saturday)

That is approximately a 5 weeks wait.



August PCAT test day: Aug. 23rd, 2008 (Saturday)

If Pearson mails our scores in 5 weeks like it done for the June PCAT scores, then we'll get our AUG PCAT scores on Sept 26th (Friday), Sept 27th (Satuday), and at the lastest on monday, Sept 29th.


If we get our results on Friday/Saturday, we'll have the whole weekend to think about what we got.

I have a feeling my weekend is going to be either really good or really depressing if I have to take this exam again.

good luck everyone :)

My heart rate will go up just waiting for the scores. I think waiting for it is making me more nervous than i was before the test.
 
My heart rate will go up just waiting for the scores. I think waiting for it is making me more nervous than i was before the test.

I didn't even think about the timing of getting the scores back... I have an interview at VCU on the 27th. I am unsure if this is going to be a blessing or a curse for my interview :scared:
 
I recommend waiting for your scores. Your scores will determine whether you should apply this year, and what schools you should apply to. So do some research on the average and minimum PCAT requirements for each school and you'll save yourself lots of time, and money. :)
So do most of you recommend waiting to send out my PharmCAS applications to schools until I get my PCAT score? Because if I bombed badly, that will be the score they see and most likely reject me flat-out. But if I wait for Oct. results, or even next year I could have a better chance and save more than a grand.
 
i have a feeling that with the hurricane situation, we are gonna be receiving our scores later than usual this time.

im sick of waiting
 
i have a feeling that with the hurricane situation, we are gonna be receiving our scores later than usual this time.

im sick of waiting

Doubt it. Those affected by the hurricane delay (me included) represent a very small proportion of takers. I doubt they finished scoring those who took it on-time before our tests arrived at their grading centers a week later. I also asked if we get our scores the same time as the rest of the takers - answer is yes.
 
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Speaking of funny PCAT experiences, today a lady tried to go back and pencil in an answer once the end time was called. The proctor stopped her hand from making a mark and yelled "Don't make me void your scores" and took her booklet up. Got to follow directions!

They were having band practice outside, so it was loud for half of the test. And the clock was broken...and I was one of the smart ones to bring a stopwatch :D


Man, I'm glad I don't have to take this test again! :) Our funny story was having the fire alarm tripped in the middle of the verbal section and standing outside in the cold for an hour waiting for them to clear the building. The proctors told us we might have to void this test and sign up again to take it later, from the start. It was the second to last section! That got a lot of us scared. I was taking the test on no sleep thanks to an anxiety-filled night so I just wanted it to END.

For what it's worth the quantitative seemed out of left field for us, too. Thankfully I did well overall and got accepted on my first round of applications! :oops:

There was also a girl who messed up bubbling a column and had her answers off by one--the proctor wouldn't let her change it after time expired. I told her (during break) to go back and fix it if she finished another section early. Thinking back, perhaps I shouldn't have said that!

Good luck to all of you!!
 
i have a feeling that with the hurricane situation, we are gonna be receiving our scores later than usual this time.

im sick of waiting

Doubt it. Those affected by the hurricane delay (me included) represent a very small proportion of takers. I doubt they finished scoring those who took it on-time before our tests arrived at their grading centers a week later. I also asked if we get our scores the same time as the rest of the takers - answer is yes.

I concur... Hartcourt is located in San Antonio which didn't receive a drop of rain from the hurricane (its so hard not to spell it hurricaine - those who know what it is will laugh).

Further proof - 2 Houstonians are reporting that they received their scores today. I'm a little suprised I didn't receive mine. I live in central Texas, so I should have received mine the day after they mailed it. Oh well, I guess I'll get mine tomorrow.

:luck: to all!
 
I concur... Hartcourt is located in San Antonio which didn't receive a drop of rain from the hurricane (its so hard not to spell it hurricaine - those who know what it is will laugh).



:laugh: Yup, I know exactly what you mean!!!
 
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