Jan 2010 PCAT

This is my third time taking the PCAT. First was in June of last year and was merely a practice run, second was in October when I jumped 20 points, and now this time. It was interesting because there were only about 8 test takers this time instead of the 40+ last time, in the same huge auditorium.

This was the first time I didn't feel like using the term "brutal" to describe the test. Maybe I am better prepared for it or maybe I am just getting use to the intensity. Don't know. This test felt better than the last and I was done in plenty of time for verbal, reading comp, and bio and ran out of time in chemistry and of course the bane of my existence, Quantitative. Writing was easy and has been ever since I determined that nearly everyone gets a 3, and that the score isn't factored into your composite.

hi everyone, I just finished my PCAT 2 hours ago. This was my second time PCAT (1st time oct 09).

I did better than october PCAT.

Verbal Ability:Analogy was pretty easy but in sentence conpletion, I felt like I was filling up bubbles on the same choices.

Biology: It was fair enough. I messed up in some gen bio 1 questions

Chemistry:Obviously ran out of time. Some conceptual questions and organic chem 2 questions were very hard.

Reading: I did much better than oct PCAT in this section. Most of the questions were straight forward. I think i did well (what can you expect more than that from an ESL student?????)

Math: My favorite sections of all the times. Finished few seconds before the end of the section... I think I should be getting at least 95%tile in maath section

Essay: One of the essays was hard

Overall: Obviously better than first time and of course waiting for results to come (five weeks may be)

verbal: pretty straighforward....saw some of the same ones from the last 2 times i took it
RC: i kind of struggles with this section as far as time...saw some of same passages from last time too
math: KILLER! ugh i just can not grasp the math section!!! :'( i had to mark C for sooo many problems..i just dont have time to add up all numbers n stuff
bio: pretty good..messed up on a easy one though and aint realize till i was on another section
chem: good but i was cuttin it close with time bc of all the organic ..hardly any math probs

overall i know i did alot better that my 49,58 the last 2 times ..we'll see in 6 weeks

The PCAT was ... interesting. I finished every section with 10-15 minutes to spare to make sure that I didn't make any bubbling faux pas. For the most part, there wasn't one section that I felt was more difficult than another and I don't feel that any additional time studying would have made any difference.

Verbal: Some of the analogies seemed like they were coming completely out of left field. I wish that I could give an example of one so my comment would make more sense, there are 2 or 3 on the top of my head where I thought ... I call SHENANIGANS! The sentence completion were pretty solid, I probably missed 2 or 3. I could get the answers narrowed down to 2, but I didn't feel comfortable with either choice.

Biology: It wasn't AT ALL as bad as I was expecting. (Thanks Dr. Collins!) I know that I missed at least 1 question, but for the most part, the questions were over the BIG picture topics, I didn't have any seemingly random questions that I completely guessed on.

Chemistry: I was surprised at the amount of Organic 2 reactions on the exam. I have taught as a TA for both General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, so I wasn't worried about this part of the exam. However, some of the General Chemistry questions were really random; While I was familiar with the concept, I didn't expect that level of detail.

Reading Comprehension: I didn't realize how much I would hate this section until I was in the middle of the third passage. LOL I'm worried about this section only because more people get a higher % correct on this section and I'm sure that I missed some questions. I spent minimal effort studying this content, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Quantitative: Mind was starting to wander on this section, I had that heinous Ke$ha song blaring over and over in my head. More ... "abstract" math questions than I expected. Again, I wish that I could explain in more detail, but on 5 questions, I was thinking ... Are you REALLY asking that question? WTF? Is this really Algebra or Stats, neither of which I've taken it for 15 years ... *grumbles*

Essay: 1 essay, I feel pretty confident about. The other essay, I honestly didn't care at all about the topic and just rambled for 25 minutes until, realizing that I needed to make a point, I just scribbled something down and made it work. This section should have been cake and I will bow my head in shame if I get a 2 or lower.

Bottom line: I wanted to get at least 80th percentile composite and I feel comfortable that I did that. For those taking the exam in the next cycle, GET DR. COLLINS MATERIAL! I studied his study guide for 2 months and I'm sure that it helped out my score tremendously, more so in Biology than anything (which I wasn't expecting).

Verbal was easy as balls, almost too easy.
RC - anyone else have like 10 minutes to spare?
Bio - Could have been good, pretty good amount of educated guesses
Chem - Same as bio, barely any calculations (one of which I spent WAY too much time on and am pissed at myself for)
QA - Mother f, 5minutes was called and I had like 10+ questions to go! Was doing pretty well I think up until that point, had to make 5 blind guesses.
Essay - Wording of questions was ******ED, I felt like I could have answered it two completely different ways. Anyone else feel like this?

Overall it wasn't too bad, seems like in sections like bio and chem, there are rather straightforward questions and then just RANDOM ass questions that you kind of scratch your head about. Verbal is much easier than any Kaplan vocab. QA is tough to finish in allocated time, rationalizing answer choices was necessary for quite a few questions for me. RC - questions seemed rather straightforward, I blew through it because I knew I had to go fast, but ended up with like 5-10min to spare. Essay - meh, read above.

1st time taker...


Essays: prompts were alright
Verbal: seems like everyone thought it was okay. i felt there were a good number of weird words here and there.
Bio: OK
Chem: I skipped the questions i knew would take >5 minutes. (Honestly what were they thinking? --section is only 30 minutes!) Um, people are commenting on the orgo, but I don't remember too much-- maybe we got different forms?
RC: Similar to practice tests
Math: Easy. I was really worried about the calculus, but it was not that bad actually.

Finished everything before the allotted time, but had to rush through chem and triage easier questions at the 15 minute mark. I felt that the exam was very similar to the two practice tests. (Though I would say the chem on the practice tests was easier + faster to finish)

Also second time taker (last: Oct 09). My thoughts on it (btw I wrote it at UofT in Canada ):

VERBAL: fair enough, some sentence completions took me a bit longer and guessed on a few analogies. Overall I believe I improved

BIOLOGY: again okay, I know for a fact I got one wrong , overall it wasn't too too tough

CHEMISTRY: my worst section last time, at least I think I improved. A few weird gen. chem question and orgo I never saw before

RC: worst for me, second lowest last time, the questions were too... vague IMHO. Hope I meet cut-offs

QUANTITATIVE: didn't have to blindly guess. Yey! One of the better sections for sure.

First time test taker here.

Vocabulary-It wouldn't surprise me at all if I only got 3/5 of the analogy questions correct. As everyone else is eluding to, they were quite abstract and the bridge was not always clear. The PCAT definately tries to trick you into picking a word that is synonymous with the root especially when the bridge is not clear for the first analogy. As for the sentence completion, piece of cake. But then again, deducing word meanings in context is my forte.

Biology-I'm thrilled my Biology studies are over. I literally read that stupid Biology book probably 150 hours in the past month and I think it paid off. I won't lie, I went through after the test and counted the number of questions I knew for sure I didn't know (which was 10), however the ones I didn't know for certain I had a pretty good idea it was between one of two choices, so I'm hoping for a bio result at least in the 80's.

Chemistry-hard. Plain and simple. I am very good at organic chemistry...until you start talking about reactions. There were like 5 or 6 reactions questions, and I guessed on every one. I was extremely disappointed with the allocation of questions on this test. There were few calculation questions, lots of solubility questions and lots of organic (something the Kaplan book could NOT prepare you for).

Reading Comprehension-aced it. If I missed more than 5 questions, I will be extremely upset. I'm expecting a score no worse than the 90th percentile. I was stressed out over the amount of time for this section, however I finished with 5 minutes left and had the chance to read over 1 or 2 questions from one of the more difficult passages. Overall, the passages were as easy or easier than the Kaplan passages. There were absolutely no science passages involving drugs or mechanisms that required rereading for complete comprehension, which made me happy

Quantitative-I am a beast at math, but this section of the test wrecked my soul. I only got 1 hour of sleep last night since I was so nervous for this test, by the time I came to this section my brain was drained. I couldn't even do simple cross multiplying problems. It took me 3 times to figure out what 5*7 was , lol. Needless to say, I bubbled in probably 10 questions in the final 3 minutes just to make the time limit which is extremely discouraging. I felt going into this section that I had a great score going, but this section dropped it considerably for me. Hopefully next time, I'll be able to go to bed and my fear of failure will be relieved.

1st time taker here also!~

Verbal:
I felt that most of the words I knew although there were some odd ones which I had to guess on. For the fill in the blanks I felt I knew most of them, hopefully I did.

RC:
I felt I was doing great on this section till the last 5 minutes were called, and I was on passage 4.. well half way through it. So I rushed through passage 4&5, and guessed mainly on passage 6.

Biology:
There were a few weird questions here and there, my brain feels fried, I can barely recall anything. Overall I got maybe 5-13 questions wrong.

Chemistry:
I think I did great on this section, and again there were a couple weird questions. Overall, I think this was my best section...

Quant:
Oh god, this section was so hard, I got destroyed. My strategy was to go though as fast as I can and do all the easy questions first, then go back and contemplate on the harder ones. Little can I say that I pretty much decorated this section with bubbling in "C's".

Essays:
Essay 1 was quite easy... Im not a good essay writer though. I heard basically everyone gets a 3 if they provide a intro, solution, alternative solutions, and a conclusion - which is what I did.

Overall:
For a 1st year student who has taken Bio/Calc/Chem/Physics (All 1st year obviously), I felt I did ALRIGHT. Not bad, not exceptional. I know that if I don't do well on this PCAT, I will definitely do well next Jan (which is when I plan to retake) since I will also have done all second year courses and 2 english courses.

I studied from the winder break to now
I used kaplan, flashcards, mcgraw hill, cliffstestprep, GRE math book, mcat audio osmosis, exam krackers

And of course I didnt cover all of it, I just read different sections thoughout my study.

First time test taker as well.

Essays: Both were pretty easy and finished with plenty of time, i think i could have elaborated more on this section seeing as i only filled one page front and back. But i think its better to be straightforward and to the point instead of just BS'ing to fill up space. Quality over quantity, or at least i hope so.

Reading Comprehension: Must say it was easier then i thought. None of the vocabulary seemed very hard or to far out there. Some of the analogies were not very clear as mentioned before. Even so, If I don't ace this portion I will be disappointed.

Chemistry: Oh my, where to begin. I really didn't think it was to hard. I felt like i had a good grasp of the material, but i must say, the time constraints were very apparent for me in this section. I felt like i knew where to begin the problem, just simply didn't have enough time. I felt like i was rushed on this section for sure. Next time i take it, I will simply go through and answer the ones I know I will get right first and look at others later. Once the proctor called for 5 minutes, I had maybe 10-15 I had not yet looked out and simply just randomly filled in answers, which i hate doing.

Biology: Hardly studied for this section, but I have taken many science courses as i'm sure many of you had, so if i didn't know the material I made an educated guess. There were a couple of stupid plant questions i had no clue on.

Math: I felt like i totally bombed this section. Again I felt hurried throughout and fumbled through conversion because of it. I'm not bad at math but i do need more than 45 seconds on each question. Must have had 10-15 questions i didn't answer and did not have the time to randomly guess. I was very disappointed to say the least. I hate randomly filling in questions. As before with the Chemistry, I will make sure to do the easy ones first next time i take the PCAT.

Overall, I think it was OK for the first time taking the PCAT. The thing that really caught me off guard were the time constraints, especially for the math and chemistry. After the test it appeared most other test takers had the same problem with these sections, so at least i was not alone.

It was my first time.

Bio: I really didn't like this part. I knew some answers, but some questions seemed very specific.

Chem: I think I did pretty well...

Verbal: There were some that were really weird.

Math: The easiest out of the entire test. I got 3-4 wrong.

Reading: I'm not sure what to think because I finished a bit early and didn't read any of the passages except for the first one.

Overall, I'm just hoping I won't have to take it again.

Oh chem. I was on question 24 when they called 5 minutes. And STUPIDLY I didn't use those 5 very well and left 6 without even filling in bubbles. Seriously? HOW can someone do that? I feel so so dumb.
Bio was good I thought, and I found reading comp a piece of cake. Verbal was hard, but I suck at it, so I expected that. The math was tough, but I didn't run out of time at least. Writing I thought worked out well until I went home and reflected on the subject and realized I may have no exactly answered what they were asking. At least my essay was well thought out! Even it if was on the wrong thing.
I don't think there is anyway I can get any above a 50 on Chem (if I'm LUCKY) so I'll be retaking in June.

2nd time test taker:

Wrote the test for the first time June 09. I thought the tests were roughly the same difficulty.

Essay #1- felt it went pretty well, but it's only the essay and it doesn't really matter how you do.

Verbal- I studied my ass off for this section. I did numerous vocab building exercises and it showed. Some of the analogies were confusing, but the sentence completions were pretty straight forward. Guessed on 2 questions and had it narrowed down on 6-7.

Bio- felt it went pretty well. There were a few random questions that were extremely specific but overall, think it was my best section. I'll be upset if I wasn't high 90's on this one.

Chem- organic was pretty straightforward and is one of my strongest areas. General chem had some questions that were pretty ridiculous. I guessed on about 4-5 of those.

Essay #2- confused the hell out of me. Again, I don't really care because as long as I got a 3 and 3 I'm happy.

Reading Comprehension- I hate this section, always have and always will. The read comp section on the pcat website exams were a joke compared to these ones. If I got in the 70's in this one I'll be happy. Tough and boring as hell. Wish there was more science passages as we ARE writing an exam for pharmacy...

Math- did terrible, but it is usually everyones weakest area too. Guessed on about 10 because you just don't have time to attempt every question. Hopefully most of those guesses were experimental.

Overall, I feel I did better than the last time I wrote it. Maybe it was because I have more experience or that I studied harder, but I feel I did a little better on every section. I got 67th percentile last time, so hopefully I'll be high 80's to low 90's this time.

PS-it always makes me laugh when I hear some say, "that section was easy." Are you kidding me? Unless you got every question right and you're a prodigy, don't be saying it was easy.

Essay #1- not all that bad, felt I did pretty well.

Verbal- Some of the analogies I couldn't find a relationship at all for... there were about 2 that I say this for. Otherwise, I thought I did all right on this section as well.

Bio- Probably my weakest subject as I have not finished all of my bio prerequisites... luckily, some of the material i studied was on here.

Chem- easy imo.. but I have a BS in Chemistry so most of the material was drilled in my head.

Essay #2- Did anyone have a topic that was very specific? unfortunately, I knew very little about the topic of discussion and had to really make up a lot of what I was writing, which turned out to be right (wow!) lol. I wasn't sure if I knew what the topic was but I did after all. lol.

Reading Comprehension- not bad either but did anyone else notice that some of the answers were very closely related to one-another? there were a couple that I was just wondering which would be correct because from what I was reading, both seemed correct.

Math- Didn't finish but for the 3/4th that I finished, I thought I did well. Forgot some of my calculus but otherwise, good section.

Out of the 5 multiple choice sections, I did not finish bubbling 4 of them.

In the Reading section, I left the last passage completely blank, so that is 10 blank answers.

the rest of them I probably left around 5 blanks for each.

here's my guess for the score:

Verbal - 70
Biology - 60
Chesmitry - 70
Reading - 30
Math - 70
Essay - 3

Composite score - ???

I was tempted to go back and finish bubbling the answers that I left blank, but I was afraid of bring disqualified for academic dishonesty like what happened to me once at ACT test.

I think the test observer/manager should remind me us with around 10 seconds left so we can finish the ones we haven't done.

Who agrees with me.

Third time taking the test.

Umm.....all I can hope for is that I get a good composite out of it lol.

Writing....on both sections...felt neutral on that, one of them were challenging though.

Verbal...There were a few words that threw me off, and on the sentence completion, I believe I did fairly well.

Biology...I believe I did pretty good on this one, on the ones I guessed I got right, woohoo!

Chemistry...I don't know how I felt on this, some were basic questions, others I didn't have time for and had to guess.

And lastly but not least, Math. Still had to guess, it's impossible for me to finish the whole test in that time limit....but I did the ones that I knew first and then looked at the others...my strategy...if the question was longer than one sentence, FORGET IT.

To Superzooi

You can't have a composite score above 300, it only goes up to 99.

Shimmery said:

Third time taking the test.

To Superzooi

You can't have a composite score above 300, it only goes up to 99.

Click to expand...

oops, sorry. I thought composite score = all the % combined.

First timer here

Essay #1 and #2: thought the questions were too broad, did anyone else feel that way? Seems like a lot of people were confused about the essays too. I barely finished on both essays, and I realize I didn't include a conclusion in either one. Oh mine...

Verbal: not as hard as I expected. The Kaplan book was harder than the actual exam. This is my weakest section. I hope I did ok.

Biology: definitely a lot of random questions like many of the previous posters mentioned. Some are very specific on certain topics. Barely finished on time, made several guesses.

Chemistry: I don't know how I feel about this section. Despite what people say about conceptual problems should be quick, there were several problems that I actually had to spend quite some time THINKING. Some of the questions were ridiculously LONG. I just guessed on the ones with long questions and complicated calculations.

Reading: I don't like this section. Same thing as Verbal. This section was so tedious. LOL I honestly don't understand why it's necessary to have FOUR sections (2 writing, verbal and reading) to evaluate our English ability. After all, we are going to be pharmacists. I just don't think that knowing all those hard words (that people don't typically use on a daily basis) would make us better pharmacists.

QA: This is my strongest section according to my scores on the Pearson practice exams. I scored between 80-99% on the practice exams. However, the actual exam seem to be a little harder than the practice, and the questions were LONG. After battling the reading comprehension section, my brain just didn't want to read anymore. There were a few questions that totally threw me off my wagon. Hahaha. When last 5-min was called, I still had 8 more to go. I quickly answered the simple ones and bubbled in the rest. Sigh...



I hope I did well , because I don't have any more funds to take another exam. hahhaha It's $150 for God's sake.

I went into the test thinking it would be a walk in the park. I have a PhD in Chemistry and have taught chemistry and math for the past decade, but was surprised today.

Essay#1: Interested to see if I get anything other than status quo.

Verbal: Vocab not 1/10 as difficult as GRE, but oh the games they play! May have missed one.

Biology: Quite diverse in topics covered yet still bland. This section is really blocked out of my mind, but I know I finished right at the end. No estimate of score.

Chemistry: Wow. Absolutely stunned that I was only on Q24 at the five minute mark. Really had to kick it into gear for some easy points to salvage a score.

Essay #2: If this one is graded, I don't deserve a 3 for rambling nonsense.

Reading Comp: After running out of time on Chem, I was surprised at how much time I had left at the end of this. I don't think I missed any.

Math: Again, I was really bummed at the break about Chem. All that I had read was about math being too difficult to finish. I absolutely nailed this section. I am sure that I did not miss any. And I had about ten minutes left. Very strange to me-- I guess I just had a weird day.

--------

Verbal = okay
Bio = okay
Chem = rushed the last 15 or so questions
Reading = okay
Quantitative = oh my goodness, i skipped all the questions I couldn't do, then bubbled in about 20
Essays = I really wish I practiced this more, I didn't get a conclusion on one of the essays

I'm curious how each subsection is scored based on how many questions you miss..like I see some people saying they missed 1, 2, 5 whatever but how does that translate to a subsection %?

Like would missing 5 questions get you around an 70% or something like that? Just trying to gauge how I might do..

ieatkimbap said:

I'm curious how each subsection is scored based on how many questions you miss..like I see some people saying they missed 1, 2, 5 whatever but how does that translate to a subsection %?

Like would missing 5 questions get you around an 70% or something like that? Just trying to gauge how I might do..

Click to expand...

i think nobody knows what percentile it translates,
but these ppl's rough guess may come from pearson practice test
-------------------------------------------------------------------

ive been hearing from a lot of ppl that Jan PCAT is usually the hardest
but it turns out that it is the same difficulty as the past.

Essays- confusing topic! wasnt it? essay could take any direction for such topic

VA- sentence completion was difficult but analogy was okay. tip is to read a lot of newspaper to improve sentence completion!

Bio- very similar to 09 Aug one.

Chem- more similar to 09 Nov one. more emphasis on inorganic than organic. 1st semester of organic chem in university should be sufficient

RC - same difficulty as usual..always short on time;

** tip is to read the 1st paragraph and go to questions. As you read the question, put a mark beside each paragraph what you should be looking for.

Math- easier this time; more emphasis on calculus and stats than previous ones

is it just me or did the math section get a major upgrade. T-test questions, improper integrals and substitution by integration all for 45s per question is way too much

nsu757 said:

math: KILLER! ugh i just can not grasp the math section!!! :'( i had to mark C for sooo many problems..i just dont have time to add up all numbers n stuff

Click to expand...

Ahh, I just read this:

"If the results of a test show unusual similarities in test item responses by examinees who took the PCAT at the same Test Center, or if an examinee’s responses to test items show that an unusually large proportion of responses are all the same answer option (for example, an unreasonable preponderance of “A” choices), the examinee’s scores may be cancelled."

I so agree with you..honestly, it doesnt make sense. and this time the reading comp was so vague...nuthin close to what a pharmacist even does.

BuBbLiEbOo said:

First timer here

Essay #1 and #2: thought the questions were too broad, did anyone else feel that way? Seems like a lot of people were confused about the essays too. I barely finished on both essays, and I realize I didn't include a conclusion in either one. Oh mine...

Verbal: not as hard as I expected. The Kaplan book was harder than the actual exam. This is my weakest section. I hope I did ok.

Biology: definitely a lot of random questions like many of the previous posters mentioned. Some are very specific on certain topics. Barely finished on time, made several guesses.

Chemistry: I don't know how I feel about this section. Despite what people say about conceptual problems should be quick, there were several problems that I actually had to spend quite some time THINKING. Some of the questions were ridiculously LONG. I just guessed on the ones with long questions and complicated calculations.

Reading: I don't like this section. Same thing as Verbal. This section was so tedious. LOL I honestly don't understand why it's necessary to have FOUR sections (2 writing, verbal and reading) to evaluate our English ability. After all, we are going to be pharmacists. I just don't think that knowing all those hard words (that people don't typically use on a daily basis) would make us better pharmacists.

QA: This is my strongest section according to my scores on the Pearson practice exams. I scored between 80-99% on the practice exams. However, the actual exam seem to be a little harder than the practice, and the questions were LONG. After battling the reading comprehension section, my brain just didn't want to read anymore. There were a few questions that totally threw me off my wagon. Hahaha. When last 5-min was called, I still had 8 more to go. I quickly answered the simple ones and bubbled in the rest. Sigh...



I hope I did well , because I don't have any more funds to take another exam. hahhaha It's $150 for God's sake.

Click to expand...

I wonder if we all had the same test? Anyone want to confirm with me if you had the same one as me?

Essay: Removed by Moderator

Math: Last question had to do with area of schools A,B,C

Analogy: Don't remember too much, one question you had to find an analogy satellite: xxxxxx

Chem: Long drawn on question about heating lead.

Bio: Diagram of an electrophoresis

RC: Paragraph about NASA and one about government funded research

I don't see anything wrong with saying this because it doesn't really say anything about test questions, but if you know more or just want to flame I guess go ahead and let me know/flame me.

1st time taker,

the questions were not very hard but the time was the MAIN prob for me. I literally rushed and in math section i remember filling in bubbles in the last few sec without even reading the question. Lol.

Bio was best for me and i think it was the only part where i didnt run out of time.
Verbal analogies were bit tough but i didnt find sentence completions very hard
im just waiting for results and keeping my fingers cross

I dont remember any questions you mentioned except for reading comprehension
maybe every one had differ questions and that is why there are different test forms

CK8652 said:

I wonder if we all had the same test? Anyone want to confirm with me if you had the same one as me?

Essay: Removed by moderator

Math: Last question had to do with area of schools A,B,C

Analogy: Don't remember too much, one question you had to find an analogy satellite: xxxxxx

Chem: Long drawn on question about heating lead.

Bio: Diagram of an electrophoresis

RC: Paragraph about NASA and one about government funded research

I don't see anything wrong with saying this because it doesn't really say anything about test questions, but if you know more or just want to flame I guess go ahead and let me know/flame me.

Click to expand...

I don't think i am revealing specific information about the exam but i think i had your exam form 26D or something.

Verbal: I thought some analogies were extremely hard and i remember a couple one was about oxymoron something and the satellite you are talking about.

Essay: WTF why were the questions so vague. Removed by moderator

Biology: My favorite sections, i knew almost everything and the one i didnt know i made some very good educated guesses.

Chem: I thought i was doing pretty good until i was at question 37 when the 5 min warning was given. I had to guess 8 questions at least.

Reading Comprehension: This was right after the second essay and i lost it after the confusion i had with the inability to understand what was being asked on the essay so i had to do my best but than i finished earlier than i excepted so i went back to the first two passages and re read them when i was calmer.

Math: I did most of the of the questions but there were at least like 10-12 i had to guess. (And i had the one about campuses you were talking about.

Overall i know that if i studied more (not 3 weeks as i did) i would be able to ace this exam. June here i come................

Hi all. This was also my first time taking the PCAT.

Topics for the essays I were famaliar with, so not much problem gathering my thoughts there.
Verbals was good. Sentence completions as well. (Dr. Collins prep helped allot.) Finished with ample time.
Bio was also good. (Dr. Collin prep helped allot there too.) Finished with ample time.
Reading Compre was also good. (Dr. Collins prep helped there as well). Finished with 5 mins left.
Chemistry was tough. Grad last yr with a BS Chemistry and the last time I saw detailed org questions was in 08'. Lots of organic. 10 min time was called at question #28. Bubbled the rest, and went searchng through for the easier questions to correct my random answers. Was expecting more calculation questions. Totaly my fault.

Math was also rough. Lots of calc. 10 min time was called at question # 26.

I could see why this is a test someone would like to do once. It was taxing. Felt good (and hungry) after the first half. But the Chem and Math sections I found were tough. Left the testing area with a stiff back and even hungrier lol. I'm goning prepare from now for the Math and Chem incase I have to redo the Pcat. The most important tip I can give, and it has been reiterated here by others, is do LOTS of 'pcat type' questions and work on your timing. Dr. Collins material will definetly help. The $35 Kaplan book will only help in practising for the Reading Comprehension IMO.

I appreciate everyone's trying to remain non-specific about test questions. In the future, please refrain from mentioning the essay prompts or topics. The PCAT has a privacy statement we each signed stating:

Candidates cannot disclose--in whole or in part--any exam questions or answers to anyone during or after the exam, whether orally, in writing, in any internet "chat rooms or blogs", or otherwise.

Thanks!

nm

I am not pointing at anyone here, but i hope you guys do know that two tests have been rescheduled for 30th Jan, and by posting comments related to the questions, you are actually giving those who havent written the exam yet a chance to perform better than us. Its not fair to any one of us who have really put in efforts to take this exam. So my humble request, please stop commenting on the questions, perhaps you all can discuss how did the exam go rather than discussing which question was bad, and how you shud have solved it.

Thanks.

nihkhan said:

I am not pointing at anyone here, but i hope you guys do know that two tests have been rescheduled for 30th Jan, and by posting comments related to the questions, you are actually giving those who havent written the exam yet a chance to perform better than us. Its not fair to any one of us who have really put in efforts to take this exam. So my humble request, please stop commenting on the questions, perhaps you all can discuss how did the exam go rather than discussing which question was bad, and how you shud have solved it.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I don't think we're scored against each other; we're scored against the "norm group" which is all the first time examines who took the test between October 2004 and May 2007.. So technically we're skewing the test for future test takers. (If there is any skewing going on at all)

nihkhan said:

I am not pointing at anyone here, but i hope you guys do know that two tests have been rescheduled for 30th Jan, and by posting comments related to the questions, you are actually giving those who havent written the exam yet a chance to perform better than us. Its not fair to any one of us who have really put in efforts to take this exam. So my humble request, please stop commenting on the questions, perhaps you all can discuss how did the exam go rather than discussing which question was bad, and how you shud have solved it.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

If someone was smart enough to 'learn' from our extremely vague comments, we'd probably get outscored by them anyways. He could always find the same or worse by searching old posts.

Oh, and the previous guy is right, Aug, Oct, Jan test takers all get scored against scores from people like 3-5years ago, so you have nothing to worry about.

If you're looking for something to complain about, complain about Dr. Collins test prep!

I felt a lot better this time around. I wish I did not have to wait so long. But I hope this score is worth waiting for...

CK8652 said:

If someone was smart enough to 'learn' from our extremely vague comments, we'd probably get outscored by them anyways. He could always find the same or worse by searching old posts.

Oh, and the previous guy is right, Aug, Oct, Jan test takers all get scored against scores from people like 3-5years ago, so you have nothing to worry about.

If you're looking for something to complain about, complain about Dr. Collins test prep!

Click to expand...

I agree with the last part lol

Complain about Dr. Collins test prep? I thought that it was pretty helpful, especially on the Biology part. The only section where I felt that it fell short was the Reading Comprehension part and there are tons of other sources to use for that.

chemguy79 said:

Complain about Dr. Collins test prep? I thought that it was pretty helpful, especially on the Biology part. The only section where I felt that it fell short was the Reading Comprehension part and there are tons of other sources to use for that.

Click to expand...

I was being sarcastic

I don't know why, but as time goes by, the questions that I didn't know the answers to keep coming up in my mind and sometimes, when I check, the answers are wrong... If you don't get any questions wrong in one section, will the score for that section be 600 and 99%?

I think you can still score in the 99th percentile with getting a few wrong, cuz it's basically a ranking.

as time goes by, i'm really glad i took the pcat this January. anyone else feel this way? It would suck to study in the spring/summer and take it then, or study for it while preparing apps.

Ionou,

As Hobbes wrote, since the exams are scored as a percentile, it's all relative to how other people do/have done on the exam. I've thought about some of the questions that I missed; However, what's done is done and I think that you could potentially miss a question or two and still get in the 90th percentile.

CK8652 said:

Oh, and the previous guy is right, Aug, Oct, Jan test takers all get scored against scores from people like 3-5years ago, so you have nothing to worry about.

Click to expand...

while this is true, it's not the only dynamic in play. if, for example, the october test was particularly hard, the schools may notice that there are fewer high scores, meaning there will be less, say, 90+ scores in their main applicant pool to compete against and a top score will stand out more.

eek! I cannot wait for the scores! I am not going to pay but wait for the mail. I feel like this should be my best score. I was very calm and collected - not like last time. I am going to predict and say I did atleast 3 points better for composite!