Retirement of the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) and PCAT forum

[BC_89]

Retirement of the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT)

The following announcement was placed around the time of the 2022 Midyear ASHP Conference:

"On behalf of AACP and Pearson, we regret to announce that the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) and PCAT Practice Tests will be retired in 2024 due to current market conditions and the decline in the use of the PCAT. The final PCAT testing cycle will be offered during the 2023–2024 (next) admissions cycle on the following dates:

• July 6, 2023
• October 16–27, 2023
• January 3–9, 2024

Applicants in the 2022–2023 (current) admissions cycle will be unaffected. Applicants who take the PCAT during the 2023–2024 (next) cycle will have fewer testing date options; however, the testing and reporting process through Pearson will remain the same. No PCAT testing dates will be offered during the 2024–2025 admissions cycle or beyond. All test-takers may continue to request Official Transcripts and Personal Score Reports through the Pearson website until February 2026. Related announcements for students will be posted in a few days on the Pearson, PharmCAS, and AACP websites.

Both organizations are grateful for the long-standing and successful partnership. AACP first established the PCAT Advisory Committee to work with The Psychological Corporation (now Pearson) to develop a norm-referenced standardized test in 1973. The PCAT was first administered for admissions purposes in 1974. Important changes to the test content and structure were implemented over time to better meet the evolving needs of the Academy and included the addition of an essay, changes to the test blueprint, and transition to computer-based testing. Current and past members of the PCAT Advisory Committee were instrumental in advocating for these changes. We greatly appreciate their outstanding leadership, dedication, and insights over the years.

If you have additional questions, please contact PCAT Customer Relations at [email protected] or AACP staff at [email protected]."

Lee Vermeulen
Executive Vice President and CEO
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
703-739-2330
[email protected]

Clay Richey
Vice President, Global Portfolio Management and Delivery
Pearson Clinical Assessment
210-339-5353
[email protected]


I would say the bigger facet of its retirement is the trend also being driven by the decreasing student applicant pool we are now starting to see in real time (along with the aforementioned market condition of schools no longer requiring the admission test - a trend that has kept growing year after year).

One interesting study for the trend can be found here:

Trends in Pharmacy College Admission Test Requirements and Utilization Across Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy​

Reference:
Hall JL, Corelli RL, DeHart R, Haney J, Lebovitz L, Philbrick AM, Ross LJ, Sierra C, Jungnickel P. Trends in Pharmacy College Admission Test Requirements and Utilization Across Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy. Am J Pharm Educ. 2021 Mar;85(3):8179. doi: 10.5688/ajpe8179. Epub 2020 Dec 4. PMID: 34283767; PMCID: PMC8006487.

To that we say: "Farwell PCAT & Dr. Collins study material...farewell"

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[Dred Pirate]

I am a little torn on this- I am a great standardized test taker (scored in 99 percentile for PCAT and ACT/SAT) - but I also realize standardized tests are not the best way to predict future performance. Example in point- my brother was a total slacker, scored in 95th percentile for ACT, barely graduated college, my sister, scored barely above average and graduated with honors.

But I do think the biggest reason around the PCAT going away is because schools are struggling to find qualified applicants (and in some case even unqualified applicants) so they don't want to admit they scores of their students are so bad, they just eliminate the test requirement.

 

[RXDOC1986]

I am a little torn on this- I am a great standardized test taker (scored in 99 percentile for PCAT and ACT/SAT) - but I also realize standardized tests are not the best way to predict future performance. Example in point- my brother was a total slacker, scored in 95th percentile for ACT, barely graduated college, my sister, scored barely above average and graduated with honors.

But I do think the biggest reason around the PCAT going away is because schools are struggling to find qualified applicants (and in some case even unqualified applicants) so they don't want to admit they scores of their students are so bad, they just eliminate the test requirement.

Tru Dat! I got through pharmacy school due to my talent of being extremely good at guessing multiple choice answers. You can't teach that.
And yes, it's going away, not due to all the inequities with standardized tests, but because pharmacy schools are businesses first, and need the customers/suckers to stay in business.

 

[Dred Pirate]

Tru Dat! I got through pharmacy school due to my talent of being extremely good at guessing multiple choice answers. You can't teach that.
And yes, it's going away, not due to all the inequities with standardized tests, but because pharmacy schools are businesses first, and need the customers/suckers to stay in business.

no school wants to admit that their average PCAT score is in the 25% percentile, and because schools need to lower standards to get seats filled, may schools will fall into this category

 

[WildWing]

As you may know, the final administration of the PCAT exam was held in January 2024. Given that this exam is no longer going to be used in Pharmacy school admissions, we have closed this forum to new posts. You may discuss Pharmacy school admissions concerns in the Pre-Pharmacy forum.