What are Some of You Doing???

[drhemi70]

All,
Here recently I have noticed that there are quite a few people taking the pcat for the first time as a practice test. Now sure some schools only consider you last score, but if you were on the ad. com. and saw two applicants, one who scored 77% on thier first try and another who scored 85% on their fifth who would you want to talk to. I would want to talk to the first, they have learned the material they were supposed to and have some ability to retain that info. They also probably put some time into studying and are dedicated to getting in and becoming a pharmacist. Looking at the other person I would shake my head, and think to myself---it took them five times to figure out the material, how long will it take them when I let them into my school.
Here is my advice. Take the test when you are ready. Never, never never take the test and think to yourself "oh if I do poorly, I'll just count this as a practice test." Do you think you are going to get practice fills behind the counter at the pharmacy? If so let me know I won't be coming to your place of business. Take the test after you have completed your prereqs. Don't take bio 1+2 and chem 1+2 and think your ready for it. This test has some amount of advanced class work on it (ana+phys, calc, orgo and so on). You should not and can not expect to do well if you haven't taken these classes. Lastly, STUDY. You are trying to show a school what you know and how good of a student you are. In some instances your GPA and PCAT score is all the info a school has to base a decision on if they should grant you an interview. Good luck and I hope this info helps you out.
DR

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[DHG]

Hey now! The more ill-prepared people that take it, the better my percentile will be I think we should all get a friend with no science experience to sign up... makes our scores look better

You know I'm just joking. That was good advice, DR.

All,
Here recently I have noticed that they are quite a few people taking the pcat for the first time as a practice test. Now sure some schools only consider you last score, but if you were on the ad. com. and saw two applicants, one who scored 77% on thier first try and another who scored 85% on their fifth who would you want to talk to. I would want to talk to the first, they have learned the material they were supposed to and have some ability to retain that info. They also probably put some time into studying and are dedicated to getting in and becoming a pharmacist. Looking at the other person I would shake my head, and think to myself---it took them five times to figure out the material, how long will it take them when I let them into my school.
Here is my advice. Take the test when you are ready. Never, never never take the test and think to yourself "oh if I do poorly, I'll just count this as a practice test." Do you think you are going to get practice fills behind the counter at the pharmacy? If so let me know I won't be coming to your place of business. Take the test after you have completed your prereqs. Don't take bio 1+2 and chem 1+2 and think your ready for it. This test has some amount of advanced class work on it (ana+phys, calc, orgo and so on). You should not and can not expect to do well if you haven't taken these classes. Lastly, STUDY. You are trying to show a school what you know and how good of a student you are. In some instances your GPA and PCAT score is all the info a school has to base a decision on if they should grant you an interview. Good luck and I hope this info helps you out.
DR

 

[Brock1385]

All,
Here recently I have noticed that they are quite a few people taking the pcat for the first time as a practice test. Now sure some schools only consider you last score, but if you were on the ad. com. and saw two applicants, one who scored 77% on thier first try and another who scored 85% on their fifth who would you want to talk to. I would want to talk to the first, they have learned the material they were supposed to and have some ability to retain that info. They also probably put some time into studying and are dedicated to getting in and becoming a pharmacist. Looking at the other person I would shake my head, and think to myself---it took them five times to figure out the material, how long will it take them when I let them into my school.
Here is my advice. Take the test when you are ready. Never, never never take the test and think to yourself "oh if I do poorly, I'll just count this as a practice test." Do you think you are going to get practice fills behind the counter at the pharmacy? If so let me know I won't be coming to your place of business. Take the test after you have completed your prereqs. Don't take bio 1+2 and chem 1+2 and think your ready for it. This test has some amount of advanced class work on it (ana+phys, calc, orgo and so on). You should not and can not expect to do well if you haven't taken these classes. Lastly, STUDY. You are trying to show a school what you know and how good of a student you are. In some instances your GPA and PCAT score is all the info a school has to base a decision on if they should grant you an interview. Good luck and I hope this info helps you out.
DR

I agree with your emphasis on preparing for the PCAT but thats about it.

First of all, I would pick the one with the 85 percent pcat. I don't care how many times it took him to score in the 85th percentile, because when he applied he has an 85 while another student has a 77.

Second, I am going into my second year of pre pharmacy. I will take Organic 1 and 2, Physics 1 and 2, and Bio for majors 1 and 2(already took GEN Bio) next year. I apply next spring, so no matter how hard I try, I will be in the middle of some of these courses when PCAT is given.

So let's break this down... I have 3 chances to take the pcat before I apply. Once last saturday, a second time on Oct 22 2005, and the third on Jan 21, 2005. So I haven't been exposed to all that I need for the PCAT, but having taken it this Saturday, I know what to expect in the last two encounters that I will have with the PCAT. What would really be stupid is to think that I will not score well on the PCAT and stay away only having one shot at making a good score. I dont care if you read the kaplan book or whatever, there is no way to be aware of every aspect of the pcat until you have actually taken it. I mean come on... You are comparing taking the PCAT everytime it is offered to having "practice fills" behind the counter at the pharmacy. A pre pharmacy student needs to be concerned with how they are going to overcome the competition and get accepted into pharmacy school not possible miss fills in the future of their pharmacy careers.

Lets face it, not everyone is able to take the PCAT once and make a great score. It would be ignorant to stay unexposed to the PCAT and only have one shot at a good score just to avoid having the pharmacy school seeing your old PCAT attempts.

 

[kristakoch]

I agree with the OP....I highly doubt the schools look very favorably at taking the test 2-3 times to get a higher score. I raelly, really believe that 1 time with a decent score looks MUCH better that soem one who took it 3 times and then got a 95% or such. Trust me, it's just liek the MCAT or LSAT, take it 2 at most, and that's it!! Taking it 3 times will show you cannot take tests very well, and how are you going to do at the NAPLEX, etc. THere, no practice time at all.

 

[drhemi70]

Brock,
Look I am not saying you should only take the test once and get a great score. What I am saying is that you should never go into this test or any other part of your life unprepared. If the PCAT were run like the MCAT you would only have so many chances to take it(I think 3-4 times) would you want to waste one on just seeing what the test is like. Second question, why would you spend a hundred dollars to see what the test is like? There are quite a few places you can go to see what it is like(Take harcourts online test for 15 bucks, take a practice test out of Kaplan 45 bucks for the book).

Let me ask you some questions. First how did the chem section go? Without having orgo what did you think of those questions? I am glad that you got to see the test. But, what part of orgo do you need to study for. Do you know, do you need to study reactions, reaction orders, naming. The point I am trying to get across here is that if you had some idea of the things taught in orgo even the first semester, it would give you a base that you could use to focus your studing on.

Most everyone agrees that studing for this is important, granted there are a few who can just do this sort of thing without any prep. I am not one of them. So if you have three chances for taking the test then why not prep to the best of your ability. If you don't have the time to take the classes before the test then buy the kaplan book and go through it a couple of times. At least you will have some exposure to the classes that you have not taken yet. Most of the posts I have been reading though are from people who have not taken the classes and don't prep for that section. They are willing to accept what ever score they get and just count it as practice. Why would you do this when there is time to prep and get ready for one of the three biggest tests in you life(the other two being the SAT/ACT and the Naplex).
DR

 

[drhemi70]

Brock,
I took the test last Oct. I have two degrees biochem and biomed. I studied my butt off for three months and worked on it for 2-3 hours a day. I took the practice tests in 3 different books as I was preparing (Kaplan, Barrons, and some other crappy one). I took the Harcourt practice test two weeks before the real test just to see if there were any areas I should work harder on. Found out that there would be more advance calc than I had taken. Went and talked to a high school calc teacher to figure out how to do those problems. Then took the test. 92% on the first try. No practice test, and no sending out crappy score to schools I was trying to get into. I worked hard and I got in.

So for a closer, I guess it is possible to over prep for a test and do well on it the first time you see it. You just have to want to get out of your current situation bad enough. Interesting when you have that kind of motivation how hard you will work to make your dreams come true.
DR

 

[twester]

I took the PCAT last weekend. If I don't do "well", I plan to take it again. I had no idea what to expect on that test. I was very nervous about it. If I can take it again and dramatically improve my score, I'll do it. I don't care what an adcom thinks about that. (Since the test costs $100+, I won't take it more than twice.)

In fact, if my score is at least 82 - I won't take it again. Standardized tests are only valid to a point. I have so much more going for me than my ability to vomit the contents of my brain onto a scantron.

Oh, I feel so much better now. Thanks for this opportunity to vent.

Troy

 

[DownonthePharm]

At over $100 a pop, plus travel and hotel, etc. There was is no way I planned on taking one just for practice. So yes I studied my butt off for several months ahead of time and probably over prepared. But I consider it time saved because now I can get on with my life. I was surprised at the number of people who were saying they hadnt studied at all. Sorry, but that just boggles me. I work full time and take classes at night and still made the time. But my GPA isnt the greatest, so doing well on this test was a priority to me.