Pcat Math

[CYNTO]

Can someone that had done pretty well (80+) in the math section kindly explain the secret/stratigies on doing well on this perticular section to me pls....!

rightnow, am seriously thinking of putting away my pride and taking a semister of college algebia, pre-calculus & cal 2 since I had a B in my cal 1, which i know i quite didn't learn much from.

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[NateAZSD]

I think the key for the math section is speed. The material is very basic, but the amount of time given is what makes this section difficult. I can't remember seeing more than 1-2 integrals on the exam, and probably no more than 5-7 calculus based problems in general. I would study by timing yourself on practice exams, and learn how to recognize the problems that will take a long to solve. On the exam I skipped the problems that I knew would take up a great deal of time and came back to them after I answered all the easier ones first.

 

[CYNTO]

I think the key for the math section is speed. The material is very basic, but the amount of time given is what makes this section difficult. I can't remember seeing more than 1-2 integrals on the exam, and probably no more than 5-7 calculus based problems in general. I would study by timing yourself on practice exams, and learn how to recognize the problems that will take a long to solve. On the exam I skipped the problems that I knew would take up a great deal of time and came back to them after I answered all the easier ones first.

Thank you.

 

[AngelaCL]

I think the key for the math section is speed. The material is very basic, but the amount of time given is what makes this section difficult. I can't remember seeing more than 1-2 integrals on the exam, and probably no more than 5-7 calculus based problems in general. I would study by timing yourself on practice exams, and learn how to recognize the problems that will take a long to solve. On the exam I skipped the problems that I knew would take up a great deal of time and came back to them after I answered all the easier ones first.

Very much agreed. Also, learn how to make logical guesses. I skipped any problem that looked like it would take time to solve, got through all the easy ones, then went back and made logical guesses. I really didn't review much for math, but I have a strong background and I could figure out what answer makes the most sense - for example, that thing in calculus where you create intervals and find the area under the curve? Clearly, I don't even remember what it's called, let alone how to do it - but I just imagined a big triangle shape, figured out the area, and picked the closest answer. Sometimes there's no way to guess - finding the derivative when you don't remember how, for example - but lots of the problems can be at least narrowed down to 3 choices.

Practice lots and make sure you are timing yourself. Understand big concepts like logs, the graphs of mx^2, mx +b, and other simple graphs, mean median mode, half lifes, and other pretty basic algebra stuff. Get really good at taking care of the easy questions fast and get good at estimating. And when in doubt, guess C!

 

[RNtoPharmD]

I did bad on math(as well as other sections) 62%. so frustrating that there are not good practice/review book for math at all. Math sections has been updated for a year now but "no" study guide on the market give a good review on it. I just blindly purchased a peterson's AP calculus book. Reading it right now... I can't read the whole book.. but I will go through "limit","function" all "deverative rules", "logarithm" and "trig"... I know for most people, this is easy. Unfortunately, I have no background of math at all in high school (out-of-country), which is "pre-calculus", the majority of questions on the test.

 

[Cacoethes]

To anyone that has taken the PCAT, I just found two SAT book lying around in my closet. Will the SAT's math do justice to some of the math section on the pcat? Obviously there's no calc or stats on the SAT, but would anyone consider its algebra similar? Thanks.

 

[RNtoPharmD]

To anyone that has taken the PCAT, I just found two SAT book lying around in my closet. Will the SAT's math do justice to some of the math section on the pcat? Obviously there's no calc or stats on the SAT, but would anyone consider its algebra similar? Thanks.

Humm.. yes there're quite a number of questions on basic algebra (like factoring polynomial, basic math). but skip geometry. It will not be on the test. If you want to pay, you can take Harcourt PCAT practice test. The basic math questions are similar to those. However, I think it is a bit more difficult on the actual test.

But I think at least 50-60% are pre-calculus/calculus. Concentrate on the "topics" on PCAT. That's what I'm doing.

As far I remember, the topics are.

1. Limit (Theory of continuity, how to find the limit)
2. Logarithm function
3. Trigonometry (eg. identify the sin cos graph)
4.function & derivative of fucntion. like f(x),g(x). how to calculate (fog). f(g) I saw lots of questions on functions and I have no idea what they ask for. .. if f`(x) = ?? and g'(x) then.. what is f(g) something like this. sorry I am not good at math.
5. Basic statistics. (definition of range, standard deviation,mode, mean etc.)
6. Basic probability question.

Calculus (just a few percentage on the exam. review if you have time)
1. Different methods of differentiation. (chain rule, product rule etc.)
2. Integral (must be able to find area under curve).
3. Miminum & Maximum of the graph.
4. derivative of natural log and exponential log
I don't know if listing the topic will violate the copyright PCAT. Please let me know so I will delete it. I think I should be ok because I'm not writing down the actual questions.

 

[omnione]

To anyone that has taken the PCAT, I just found two SAT book lying around in my closet. Will the SAT's math do justice to some of the math section on the pcat? Obviously there's no calc or stats on the SAT, but would anyone consider its algebra similar? Thanks.

Yes, but how old are the books? The older SATs had math comparison problems that wouldn't be of much use despite your skills being tested. In my opinion, the PCAT algebra is slightly more involved.

 

[OKgirl]

I took HS trig, do you think I need to take college trig to do good on the PCAT or in calc?

 

[rXcmoney]

You'll need trig for calc as you will be dealing with sine and cosine quite a bit. Especially if you're going to take calc 2 and deal with polar coordinates. As far as math on the PCAT - Skip questions you don't know immediately and try to finish the test. Come back if you have time and try to make a decent guess. That's what I did at least Good luck

 

[AngelaCL]

I took HS trig, do you think I need to take college trig to do good on the PCAT or in calc?

I never took college trig and I did well. I took trig in 2000-2001 and calculus in 2003-2004 and didn't review very much at all before the August and October 07 PCATs and did well.