Pcat july 18 2012

[City Boy]

Hey any one here taking a pcat on july 18th 2012..........

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[schmmems]

Comparing my Pearson practice test scores to today's score...

Background info: It has been 17 years since I took any math, with the exception of statistics, which I have 15 credit hours in. I have taught Biology at the college level, but have not taken Organic Chemistry. I started studying for the PCAT a month ago.

Test 1:
Verbal: 62-82
Biology: 64-84
Chemistry 65-85
RC: 25-45
QA: 52-72
Overall: 61-81

Test 2: (one week later)
Verbal; 56-76
Bio; 50-70
Chem: 48-68
RC: 75-85
QA: 62-82
Overall: 61-81

Test 3 (one week later)
VA; 80-99
Bio: 80-99
Chem: 70-90
RC: 80-99
QA: 55-75
overall: 80-99

TODAY'S PCAT (for real)
VA: 91
Bio: 97
RC: 94
QA: 55
Chem: 68
Composite: 91

 

[Romz]

I can't give you a precise range. I was very busy this summer.

I started reviewing back in the middle of May, where i completed the entire bio section. Apart from a few refreshers on the nervous system, I was confident I could retain all the info. I figured I had the necessary resources needed to do well on the exam and left QA and Chem for the last two weeks. I admit I was wrong to; Kaplan's review of organic and QA is pathetic. Very good General Chem though! Although it's too late for me, I recommend that others get an ample amount of review time daily in order to be reallly comfortable with the topics. It prevents panic from onsetting and allows you to be efficient when solving problems.

As shown by my scores for RC and VA, i did not do much review except for practice tests.

 

[Outwork505]

GJ man.

How many reading passages are there in the RC

 

[Romz]

Comparing my Pearson practice test scores to today's score...

Background info: It has been 17 years since I took any math, with the exception of statistics, which I have 15 credit hours in. I have taught Biology at the college level, but have not taken Organic Chemistry. I started studying for the PCAT a month ago.

Test 1:
Verbal: 62-82
Biology: 64-84
Chemistry 65-85
RC: 25-45
QA: 52-72
Overall: 61-81

Test 2: (one week later)
Verbal; 56-76
Bio; 50-70
Chem: 48-68
RC: 75-85
QA: 62-82
Overall: 61-81

Test 3 (one week later)
VA; 80-99
Bio: 80-99
Chem: 70-90
RC: 80-99
QA: 55-75
overall: 80-99

TODAY'S PCAT (for real)
VA: 91
Bio: 97
RC: 94
QA: 55
Chem: 68
Composite: 91

Wow! Great Bio and English! Your Composite is fantastic! I'm glad you saw such a marked improvement from the practice tests!

 

[City Boy]

what other diseases were there

 

[xKenny]

I'm taking PCAT tomorrow. Do I need to bring any papers or documents... a receipt? What else should I bring?

 

[Prepharm0425]

I think you did a fine job. I wouldn't retake if you have a good GPA (better than 3.1) but that's just MY opinion. I know if I get that composite I am NOT taking it again.. this has been too stressful!!

Thanks man, good luck on your test. You are taking it tomorrow right?

 

[Jahodac]

Alright, here's how I did:

Cliff notes, Kaplan, and McGraw Hill...took 'em all, rated me at about 60-80 per section.

Pearson Practice Test 1
Verbal Ability: 60-80
Biology: 61-81
Chemistry: 83-99+? (Glitch?)
Reading Comprehension: 5-23? (WTF!)
Quantitative Ability: 80-99
Composite: 71-91

Real PCAT
Verbal Ability: 413/70th percentile
Biology: 447/97th percentile
Chemistry: 439/93rd percentile
Reading Comprehension: 398/47th percentile
Quantitative Ability: 399/45th percentile
Composite: 419/84th percentile

So my experience was that the actual PCAT was much harder and it's impossible to simulate testing conditions. Quantitative ability was way different than practice test 1 and every question had essentially two answers with a positive/negative variant of both so educated guesses went out the window. Biochemistry must have been most experimental or I was a champion guesser because I remember getting stumped on a few. Really disappointed with my quantitative and reading comprehension scores but I will be damned if I retake it; 84th percentile is good enough for me.

What I used to study was the 2012-2013 Kaplan book and went through it front/back pretty thoroughly.

 

[Mouat]

So basically they made Bio section much harder by including random diseases and diagnosis etc, but they are weighing the students according to scores received by students from 2007-2011 when this section was somewhat easier... its not fair!

 

[lavenderbell]

Hey guys! I just finished my PCAT (5:00PM). I've been following this forum for awhile and I thought I should give back. I got a 98 percentile composite and studied with 3 Pearson practice tests, Kaplan book, Dr. Collins (2009 edition) and some Cliffs test.

Here are my scores:
VA 423/82
Bio 483/99
RC 423/88
QA 434/93
Chemistry 438/93
Composite 440/98

Compared to the Pearson's test, the reading comprehension is harder. The articles were not longer but they were more wordy and not as straight forward as the practice tests. There were less direct questions (like answers you would find by directly reading the passage) and a lot more "thinking" questions. Like what was the author's main point in this paragraph, which is the best evidence or which line shows bias. The math was just as hard as the practice tests. The biology and chem was more detailed than any of the practice tests, but they are still doable. Verbal reasoning were also the same as practice tests and Dr. Collins's practice (they were definitely easier than the Kaplan examples). The chemistry was similar to practice tests and Dr. Collins but it took a lot longer than the practice tests.

I reviewed knowledge from the Kaplan book first. Did all the practice from the Dr. Collin's (which helped me review math a lot, since I haven't touched math in 3 years). I only did the Cliff's science sections, cause I heard the other sections were useless. The biology and math were good review, but the chem had odd questions like NMR and calculations that were too hard to do w/o a periodic table or calculator.

I studied since late May, but I had a fair bit of background in biology, physiology and physical chemistry since I finished 3 years of undergad so far in Life Sciences. I didn't take math though, since I had a transfer credit, so that was the subject I mainly focused on. I studied maybe 4-5 hours for 3 days in a week.

I hope all this information help your review!

[Edit] for reference I scored 80-99% on the practice tests. I had mainly 6-7 questions wrong average per section on those tests. I scored lowest on Verbal and QA.

 

[Bianca Iannaci]

Took the test today

Verbal 95
Biology 84
Reading 91
Quant 85
Chemistry 97
Comp- 96

Honestly I was shocked when I got my prelim score...thought it was a mistake.
I found the text extremely difficult, a lot more so than the practice tests.
The biology was bad..so many things Ive never even heard of and Ive taken 3 years of science courses.
Verbal/reading were ok but harder than practice.
Quantitative was not hard just so not enough time
I started guessing questions and still ran out of time..at the end I couldnt even get to the last two questions to fill them out. Mistake on my part...WORK ON TIMING
Chemistry was fair, similar to practice tests.

Overall it was okay
Goodluck to everyone writing tomorrow!

 

[Romz]

"like NMR and calculations that were too hard to do w/o a periodic table or calculator"

I was shocked when I saw NMR on the PCAT. I learned that in orgo II

 

[Jahodac]

Hey guys! I just finished my PCAT (5:00PM). I've been following this forum for awhile and I thought I should give back. I got a 98 percentile composite and studied with 3 Pearson practice tests, Kaplan book, Cliffs (2009 edition) and some Cliffs test.

Here are my scores:
VA 423/82
Bio 483/99
RC 423/88
QA 434/93
Chemistry 438/93
Composite 440/98

Compared to the Pearson's test, the reading comprehension is harder. The articles were not longer but they were more wordy and not as straight forward as the practice tests. There were less direct questions (like answers you would find by directly reading the passage) and a lot more "thinking" questions. Like what was the author's main point in this paragraph, which is the best evidence or which line shows bias. The math was just as hard as the practice tests. The biology and chem was more detailed than any of the practice tests, but they are still doable. Verbal reasoning were also the same as practice tests and Dr. Collins's practice (they were definitely easier than the Kaplan examples). The chemistry was similar to practice tests and Cliffs but it took a lot longer than the practice tests.

I reviewed knowledge from the Kaplan book first. Did all the practice from the Dr. Collin's (which helped me review math a lot, since I haven't touched math in 3 years). I only did the Cliff's science sections, cause I heard the other sections were useless. The biology and math were good review, but the chem had odd questions like NMR and calculations that were too hard to do w/o a periodic table or calculator.

I studied since late May, but I had a fair bit of background in biology, physiology and physical chemistry since I finished 3 years of undergad so far in Life Sciences. I didn't take math though, since I had a transfer credit, so that was the subject I mainly focused on. I studied maybe 4-5 hours for 3 days in a week.

I hope all this information help your review!

[Edit] for reference I scored 80-99% on the practice tests. I had mainly 6-7 questions wrong average per section on those tests. I scored lowest on Verbal and QA.

Nice Job! I agree with your assessment for the most part. I will say that the reading comprehension seemed longer than the practice exams which caught me off guard. Each passage was about 6-7 paragraphs + 8 questions as opposed to around 5 paragraphs on the Pearson test 1. I had 1 passage left and 3 minutes on the clock so I had to start guessing...then again, I did terrible on that section! Chemistry definitely had it's moments, I had an NMR thing too but since I've not taken ochem yet, I took a wild guess.

Cliff's was useless for pretty much everything; far too easy in every section, mistakes in the answer keys, and poorly worded questions. Kaplan and McGraw Hill didn't represent the actual test at all either. The Pearson tests are for sure the best way to prepare but there is nothing like testing conditions. It's like taking the practice test while walking or moving around the whole time, can't even explain the pressure.

 

[chcorn2]

I just bought the book.

I had extensive knowledge in ecology, micro, physio etc and I still found the book to include WAYY to much.

A good hint I can give is that if it's a disease or says human, MEMORIZE it.

I got asked a question on PKU today, which i totally did not expect.

Kaplan is crap for QA. I had to review all my integral functions.

Guess what, they DO test trigonometic integrals.

I've been using the book as well. I have a biology degree and have taken two biochem classes. I'm not worried when it comes to general biology questions but many on here have been talking about disease specific questions, which I don't feel comfortable with. Did you feel like the kaplan material was similar to what was seen on the test?

 

[Jahodac]

I've been using the book as well. I have a biology degree and have taken two biochem classes. I'm not worried when it comes to general biology questions but many on here have been talking about disease specific questions, which I don't feel comfortable with. Did you feel like the kaplan material was similar to what was seen on the test?

For Biology, yes. The only Biology classes I have taken in college are just General Biology 1 and 2 and I finished 97th percentile. The Kaplan book prepares you well, the rest is common sense. Obviously there are some specific things like PKU, but Kaplan covers them well. As long as you know how certain medicines work on and differentiate bacteria from viruses, you should be fine.

 

[harliprilarlar]

VA: 86
Bio: 89
RC: 87
Chem: 97
Quant: 97
Composite: 97

I mostly studied just chem/quant/bio using Dr. Collins, REA flashcards, and Kaplan (mainly for bio). I was surprised with my quant score since that was my weakest area in all of my practice tests (because i pretty much forgot all of the calc i learned in calc 1 and 2...lol). overall the test was okay (though i've pretty much taken all of my science pre-reqs except biochem and physics; the test was definitely harder than pearson's practice tests), i felt the questions were either extremely easy or just plain WTF.

for tmrw's test takers, remember to get a good night's sleep! i was so keyed up last night i couldn't sleep at all...i thought i was going to die during the test this morning and my hands were seriously shaking during reading comp @_@

 

[Nimlily]

Took the test today

Verbal 95
Biology 84
Reading 91
Quant 85
Chemistry 97
Comp- 96

Honestly I was shocked when I got my prelim score...thought it was a mistake.
I found the text extremely difficult, a lot more so than the practice tests.
The biology was bad..so many things Ive never even heard of and Ive taken 3 years of science courses.
Verbal/reading were ok but harder than practice.
Quantitative was not hard just so not enough time
I started guessing questions and still ran out of time..at the end I couldnt even get to the last two questions to fill them out. Mistake on my part...WORK ON TIMING
Chemistry was fair, similar to practice tests.

Overall it was okay
Goodluck to everyone writing tomorrow!

Same here! It was definitely harder than I was expecting I thought I completely bombed it and briefly contemplated cancelling my score lol

But I was surprised with my results as well, definitely glad I didn't cancel

Verbal 87
Biology 84
Reading 99
Quant 85
Chemistry 91
Comp- 95

This is my first time taking it, so not really sure what decent scores for bio and quantitative are...mine were lower than the other sections, would it be worth retaking the test to bring those sections up?

Anyway, I bought all 3 Pearson practice tests, and this is how they compared to my test:

Verbal and Reading- I agree that these were slightly harder than the practice, but not awful...actually, I was a little disappointed with my VA score since that was consistently my highest sub-test for the practice exams

Bio- I feel like nothing I studied could have really prepared me for some of these...my test form had very, very specific questions on various bacteria, protozoa, etc. that I'd never seen in my bio textbook or anything else I read....I'd look up a list of bacteria and their characteristics and study more microbio stuff like viruses, fungi etc.

Chem- Also more difficult than the practice...was surprised with the amount of biochem and kaplan is definitely no help for orgo, glad I reviewed my old notes from orgo I and II

Quantitative - around the same level as the practice test, but had to guess on a number of them...honestly, I never got the timing down for this section so I'm just happy w/ a score in the 80's

Does anyone know how important the writing scores are? I feel like I didn't do the greatest job with those, they were not topics I knew much about

 

[evanc]

I'm not complaining about my score whatsoever - I was very pleasantly surprised considering how much studying I did/my practice test scores. I don't have my raw scores on me, but here are my percentiles:

I wasn't expecting to do well in biology. I'm just not great at it. Nevertheless, that biology section was hard. I would say that it was the hardest followed by Quantitative. The biology exam just had a lot of random questions that I don't know if I had ever even learned?

I ran out of time on Quant, and that never happens to me. I flat out guessed on 4-5 because I didn't want to leave anything blank.

I'm not sure what happened on reading...either I wasn't at good at RC as I thought, or I was having an ADD moment. Haha.

I took two of the three Pearson practice tests. I think that the Verbal, Chemistry, and Reading were right on track, Quant was slightly harder, and Biology was way different.

I think that Quant is just a toss-up...depends on how many problems they give you with graphs or that you have to work out by hand, or each individual's skills at algebra/geometry/calculus/mental math. Likewise, there's just so much possible information for Bio they could probably write 20 tests that are all drastically different.

 

[mudanhua313]

You guys all have actually really good grades comparing to mine. English is not my first language and I have been to this country for 6 years. I just took mine yesterday and my scores were terrible. I didn't have time to study at all and this was my first time taking the PCAT. I chose to have my scores and also have them sent to the schools that I planned to apply to since I think not seeing how I did was a waste of my four hours sitting there and my money. I just wonder if my low scores on my first exam really affect my chance of getting into pharmacy schools and how long do you guys study on average before the exam?Thank you.

 

[chelleonline]

Congrats to everyone who scored well. I was wondering whether there's a timer on the screen that tells you how much time you have left for that particular section?

 

[stark3]

Congrats to everyone who scored well. I was wondering whether there's a timer on the screen that tells you how much time you have left for that particular section?

Yup there is a timer on the screen. During the QA section it felt like a ticking timebomb

 

[Prepharm0425]

Congrats to everyone who scored well. I was wondering whether there's a timer on the screen that tells you how much time you have left for that particular section?

Yes there is a timer at the top right of the screen. There is also a popup that lets you know that you have 5 minutes left on a section

 

[Chem Girl]

just got my prelim score.

Verbal- 416 -74
Biology - 447 - 97
Reading Comp: 421 -86
Quant : 404-55
Chemistry 463 - 99
COmposite 430-94.

Quant was hard. Not impossible but hard.. I forgot how to integrate, take derivates and do trig functions quickly so I expected that. Even though I am pretty decent at math. Reading comp. they def stepped it up. The passages are a lot longer and the question are hater than the pearson pacts.. I hardly had time to finish. Biology and Chem were fair but in biology they were asking some weird questions. You had to know the structure of each base in a nucleotide.. wtf?
Analogies were fair..
do you guys think I should retake cause of the quant part? I am interested in applying to Creighton's distant pathway. thanks in advance!

I think you scores are very good how did you prepare for the bio and chem sections? I also took the Pcat in July and I didn't do so well as u mentioned there were biochem questions how did you prepare for that?
Thank you