What did you read for the verbal section?

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What did the people here who did well on the verbal section of the PCAT read to help you with this section? Any websites or books you recommend?

This might not be the sort of advice you want, but reading comprehension and verbal ability are difficult to improve in any meaningful way in a short length of time. I've read daily since I was very young, took advanced English courses throughout high school and college, and continue to read for pleasure every day. These things made RC a cake walk.

I can't imagine doing well in that section without at least a few of the above qualities. If you do need to improve, start reading every single day and take some English courses at an advanced level. I imagine this would take at least a year to really show improvement that would matter.

Regardless, take comfort in the fact that reading comprehension and verbal ability are scores that seldom make or break your PCAT score, unless they are really terrible.

Originally Posted by Rx MPLS

This might not be the sort of advice you want, but reading comprehension and verbal ability are difficult to improve in any meaningful way in a short length of time. I've read daily since I was very young, took advanced English courses throughout high school and college, and continue to read for pleasure every day. These things made RC a cake walk.

I can't imagine doing well in that section without at least a few of the above qualities. If you do need to improve, start reading every single day and take some English courses at an advanced level. I imagine this would take at least a year to really show improvement that would matter.

Regardless, take comfort in the fact that reading comprehension and verbal ability are scores that seldom make or break your PCAT score, unless they are really terrible.

I took AP English class in high school and continually read through college....

However, I had no clue until I memorized them this week what the word panegyric quixotic or apocryphal meant. (As the Kaplan book seems to expect us to know) Most of the verbal section seems easy but when I see words like that I get into a panic.

Let me ask.... You knew/know what these words meant. I'm not being sarcastic whatsoever .... I'm trying to gauge how much in trouble I am.

Originally Posted by iceman132

I took AP English class in high school and continually read through college....

However, I had no clue until I memorized them this week what the word panegyric quixotic or apocryphal meant. (As the Kaplan book seems to expect us to know) Most of the verbal section seems easy but when I see words like that I get into a panic.

Let me ask.... You knew/know what these words meant. I'm not being sarcastic whatsoever .... I'm trying to gauge how much in trouble I am.

I wouldn't have known panegyric, but I definitely would have known quixotic and apocryphal.

Here's another idea for the verbal section: buy a Kindle and read books on it. It's infinitely easier to look up words you don't know using the Kindle because the dictionary is built in. Write these words and definitions down and go over your list from time to time. There are also lists of words to study for the GRE verbal section that could come in handy, but the verbal section on the PCAT really isn't as difficult as the one on the GRE.

Best of luck!

One more thought...you don't have to score in the 90s on verbal or reading comprehension. Frankly, nobody cares if you score in the 90s or not. If your native language is English however, it won't look great if you score in the 50s. If your native language is something other than English, I think you sometimes get a pass on these sections as they can be difficult for some non-native speakers due to the time constraints of the test.

Originally Posted by Rx MPLS

One more thought...you don't have to score in the 90s on verbal or reading comprehension. Frankly, nobody cares if you score in the 90s or not. If your native language is English however, it won't look great if you score in the 50s. If your native language is something other than English, I think you sometimes get a pass on these sections as they can be difficult for some non-native speakers due to the time constraints of the test.

The scoring on the PCAT confuses me a bit. You have between 200-600 points and then you are giving percentiles correct?

Do some sections matter more then others?

Thank you for the advice though. I'll continue to find new words and memorizing them

For the verbal section I recommend getting the Dr. Collins Packet, it has a lot of practice questions and it has a lot of analogies that were on previous versions of the pcat in the form of a list. Several of them showed up on the actual pcat so I would study those and it gives you a good idea of what kind of answers they are looking for, Also I studied the Kaplan 500 GRE vocab words, if you have either an android or an iphone there is an app for Kaplan GRE vocab for free with the 500 words.

Originally Posted by iceman132

The scoring on the PCAT confuses me a bit. You have between 200-600 points and then you are giving percentiles correct?

Do some sections matter more then others?

Thank you for the advice though. I'll continue to find new words and memorizing them

Yes, you are given a raw score as well as a percentile. I think the percentiles matter more than the raw score as they allow for comparisons between test takers on different days.

I'm fairly certain the science and math portions matter more than the verbal and reading comprehension sections. I've heard if you get a 2 or lower on the written portions, schools will take a pretty hard look at your application, also.

As far as the advice of studying Dr Collins, I found the actual practice exams for the PCAT that are put out by Pearson much more reflective of the actual test than Dr Collins (whose packet was a huge waste of money in my opinion...). Learn the words, not the analogies...because the analogy could change, but the meaning of the word will not.

Originally Posted by Rx MPLS

Yes, you are given a raw score as well as a percentile. I think the percentiles matter more than the raw score as they allow for comparisons between test takers on different days.

I'm fairly certain the science and math portions matter more than the verbal and reading comprehension sections. I've heard if you get a 2 or lower on the written portions, schools will take a pretty hard look at your application, also.

As far as the advice of studying Dr Collins, I found the actual practice exams for the PCAT that are put out by Pearson much more reflective of the actual test than Dr Collins (whose packet was a huge waste of money in my opinion...). Learn the words, not the analogies...because the analogy could change, but the meaning of the word will not.

Hmm, you're the first anti-Dr.Collins that I've found on this board so far. I'll be sure to get the Pearson tests though.

Originally Posted by iceman132

Hmm, you're the first anti-Dr.Collins that I've found on this board so far. I'll be sure to get the Pearson tests though.

Probably because most people are too embarrassed to admit they overpaid for subpar material (cognitive dissonance, you know?). Anyway...enough of that. The Pearson tests are definitely the best.

Originally Posted by Rx MPLS

Probably because most people are too embarrassed to admit they overpaid for subpar material (cognitive dissonance, you know?). Anyway...enough of that. The Pearson tests are definitely the best.

But wouldn't these tests be useful for only about 2-3 weeks?

I mean, there are only 3 full length practice tests.... You spend a day doing the test and 2-3 days going over it..... (About 12 days worth of material.)

Doesn't seem like a lot of material to go over.

Originally Posted by iceman132

But wouldn't these tests be useful for only about 2-3 weeks?

I mean, there are only 3 full length practice tests.... You spend a day doing the test and 2-3 days going over it..... (About 12 days worth of material.)

Doesn't seem like a lot of material to go over.

I didn't find I needed a lot of material. What the Pearson tests offer is a quick way to find your weak spots. You can then use this to reference your textbooks as needed, or just do what I did and go over the explanations for each problem. The Pearson examples hit all the emphasized material; you're wasting time if you study things that won't be emphasized on the test.

If you are a strong student and have taken the classes recently, you shouldn't need much time for PCAT study.

Originally Posted by iceman132

What did the people here who did well on the verbal section of the PCAT read to help you with this section? Any websites or books you recommend?

Try the New World Reader, 2nd edition. (brown cover) You can pick it up on amazon for next to nothing. I used this for english 102 and noticed that there are a million vocab words within it that I also saw in the PCAT study books. It will also improve your reading comprehension.

I just studied the GRE words and used an old MAT book from the school library to practice. Helped a lot.

I agree with the above poster about dr. Collins... His tests are too easy. Some people swear by it, but it's like studying a college algebra book preparing for a calculus tests. Plus, Collins material today is the same as if it was 5 years ago... That guy is making a fortune selling used copies that can most likely be found by googling anyways.

To the OP's question, I would suggest studying root words. On the PCAT, there were definitely questions I didn't know, but I could make guesses as to the right & wrong answers based on a general idea of what the words meant due to word roots. If I had to improve my verbal section in a hurry, roots are where I'd spend my time.

As a simple, non-scientific example, if I know what "ology" and "ist" mean, and I know that a zoo is a place you go to see animals, I can guess that a "zoologist" is someone whose profession ("ist") is the study of ("ology") animals (zoo). (Forgive me for any flaws in my example, it's the best I can come up with off the top of my head. )