Yet another Chem question

[Trunks9807]

For those who have taken the PCAT, does the chemistry section focus mainly on concepts or problem solving?

I have Barron's, Kaplan's, and Cliffnote's practice test and they all seem to be different when it comes to the chemistry section. Cliffnote seems to focus a lot on concepts, while Kaplan and Barron has a lot of problem solving.

I was wondering which format is more similiar to the actual PCAT.

Thanks!

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[fenderbiz]

There is a mixture of both, but there are definitely more concepts. ie: name this molecule, is this polar/nonpolar, what's the conjugate acid/base, etc.

 

[diastole]

I actually skipped all the calculation questions unless they were super easy and went back to them after I finished the whole exam. I don't think I had that many to go back to so it definitely favored concepts.

 

[jjfree]

I was wondering the same thing. I did fine on the Kaplan practice test, but not so well on the chem portion of the McGraw Hill book's practice test. It was basically all problems, and problems that were very time consuming without a calculator. I finished the Kaplan Chem section 8 minutes early, but went 30 minutes over on the McGraw Hill one. Is Kaplan's Chem section notoriously easy?

 

[bugg]

.

 

[diastole]

The calculations on the actual PCAT are generally pretty easy. For example, if you have a gas law equation, the answer usually involves doubling or halving some quantity like the pressure. If you plug the actual numbers into the equation and it is taking forever, you are probably missing the easy trick.

 

[miko]

If you plug the actual numbers into the equation and it is taking forever, you are probably missing the easy trick.

Great tip, thanks!!