Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology needed for the PCAT?

[longhornatheart]

Hi all,

I'm new here so please bear with me! 🙂

I received my undergraduate degree in business back in 2004 and just started my pre-pharmacy requisites this semester after deciding to change my career path. Currently I'm taking bio 1, chem 1, and physics 1. Next semester I'll be taking bio 2, chem 2, calculus, and am thinking about taking on another course. For summer session 1, I'm taking organic chem 1 and then making my first (and hopefully only) stab at the PCAT in August 2010. Is that course load sufficient to get a decent score (above 80% but preferably 90% and above)? Or should I take an anatomy course in the Spring semester and try to fit in micro before the PCAT as well? My thought about taking the August PCAT instead of waiting for October is that the latest PCAT some schools accept is the October PCAT.

Any advice, tips, and tricks would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

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[Artful Dodger]

Not really, but you'll have the edge if you do. PCAT just tests general knowledge from Chemistry and Biology.

Just grab a study guide for the PCAT (i.e. Kaplan, Dr. Collins - best one IMO) and it should be sufficient enough.

 

[delano2000]

I would definitely take them before. The Micro was helpful for me on the PCAT.

 

[longhornatheart]

Thanks for the quick response! Does anyone know if it makes a difference to Pharmacy Schools if some of the pre-reqs are done at a community college?

The Pharmacy Schools I'm applying to for sure are The University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, and Texas Southern University. Haven't decided on all of them yet. Originally I was going to apply to University of Missouri-Kansas City as well but they're changing their program from a 1-5 to a 2-4 and are not admitting anyone for the 2-4 until Fall 2012.

Delano2000 - I am having a hard time finding an equivalent course at my university to fulfill UT Austin's BIO 326M-- Intro Medical Microbiolog/Immunol pre-req. The only similar course seems to be one that's only open to students already admitted to Pharmacy School. Did you have any problems with an equivalent course?

 

[crazybob]

check with the individual schools and tell them which community college has the courses you're taking and they can tell you for sure whether or not it will work.

microbio would definitely help. anatomy and physiology helps on few questions. and also when you start pharmacy school, you will be familiar with a lot of things before going into medical physiology.

 

[jackal head]

there were definitley a couple A&P questions on the bio sections, actual more than anything it's physiology, very rarely have I seen anatomy questions and I don't think anyone has ever even reviewed anatomy for the pcat

as another poster said, I definitley wouldn't take the pcat w/o AnP

and there's a suprising amount of micro on the pcat, so when you take that class, be ready to RETAIN that info!

 

[fenixtnlfan]

Thread moved due to topic.

 

[socalpharm86]

i took physiology during the summer prior to the pcat and for sure it helped me nail a few questiosns on the pcat. i dont recall anatomy helping very much. i concurrently took microbio at the same time i took the pcat and the first handful of lecture slides i had also helped me score some points as well. keep in mind physiology can be a very conceptual course and if you take the course seriously you will be learn to answer a wide variety of physiological questions even if you've never seen before. with just a study guide you might only be memorizing one angle of a particular concept which may not be of much help.

 

[phathead]

Plus microbio is a damn cool course to take

 

[delano2000]

Thanks for the quick response! Does anyone know if it makes a difference to Pharmacy Schools if some of the pre-reqs are done at a community college?

The Pharmacy Schools I'm applying to for sure are The University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, and Texas Southern University. Haven't decided on all of them yet. Originally I was going to apply to University of Missouri-Kansas City as well but they're changing their program from a 1-5 to a 2-4 and are not admitting anyone for the 2-4 until Fall 2012.

Delano2000 - I am having a hard time finding an equivalent course at my university to fulfill UT Austin's BIO 326M-- Intro Medical Microbiolog/Immunol pre-req. The only similar course seems to be one that's only open to students already admitted to Pharmacy School. Did you have any problems with an equivalent course?

Based on the course equivalence at my college, you can take Microbio and that should suffice. You may need to take Genetics as well.

 

[longhornatheart]

I appreciate the insight from all!

After reading through everyone's response and some other threads, it sounds like the best thing for me to do given the short amount of time I have is to take Bio2, Chem2, Calc I, and Anat/Physiology (time-permitting) in spring. Orgo I during the first summer session and then spend the rest of my time reviewing additional topics for the August PCAT. Unfortunately, I would have to put off taking Micro until Fall 2010 because the pre-reqs the schools I've looked at requires (completion of bio1&2 and chem1&2). Plus Micro isn't offered at any of the universities I've looked at during the summer session. Other courses in Fall 2010 would be Orgo II, Calc II (for UT Austin) and re-take PCAT in October if necessary. Genetics I'm leaving for Spring 2011 since that level of knowledge is not going to be tested on the PCAT.

Is Orgo II or Anatomy/Physiology more beneficial for the PCAT? If I'm not taking Anat/Phys this upcoming spring then I'm thinking about taking it in fall if I retake the PCAT in October. If Orgo II isn't that helpful then I'm taking it Spring 2011!

I know this was long-winded but the Pharmacy adviser at my school didn't really seem to know much about pre-reqs at other schools or had a sense of what classes would be the best to take for the PCAT.

 

[vandy160890]

You have opted a difficult path. May I ask you why you left management field??
Now it will be very difficult for you to complete your DPharm & also appear for PCAT exams.

 

[Short Round]

snip

Are you sure you want to take Orgo I in the SUMMER? Its a lot of info for just ~4-6 weeks depending on how your school runs summer sessions...I guess it depends on what kind of student you are & your schedule and all that, but personally I wouldn't take Orgo during the summer, or any science that's paired with a lab for that matter...I took A&P 1 & 2 over 2 summer sessions last year and it was M-Th 8am-12 lecture and then 12:30-4pm lab ... rough stuff. I was pretty burnt out by the end of the 2nd session...and that's when the PCAT is.

I suppose you have no choice if you're trying to keep your schedule for the August & Oct PCAT tho. I'd say A&P stuff is more likely to be on the PCAT than Orgo II. GL !

 

[delano2000]

I appreciate the insight from all!

After reading through everyone's response and some other threads, it sounds like the best thing for me to do given the short amount of time I have is to take Bio2, Chem2, Calc I, and Anat/Physiology (time-permitting) in spring. Orgo I during the first summer session and then spend the rest of my time reviewing additional topics for the August PCAT. Unfortunately, I would have to put off taking Micro until Fall 2010 because the pre-reqs the schools I've looked at requires (completion of bio1&2 and chem1&2). Plus Micro isn't offered at any of the universities I've looked at during the summer session. Other courses in Fall 2010 would be Orgo II, Calc II (for UT Austin) and re-take PCAT in October if necessary. Genetics I'm leaving for Spring 2011 since that level of knowledge is not going to be tested on the PCAT.

Is Orgo II or Anatomy/Physiology more beneficial for the PCAT? If I'm not taking Anat/Phys this upcoming spring then I'm thinking about taking it in fall if I retake the PCAT in October. If Orgo II isn't that helpful then I'm taking it Spring 2011!

I know this was long-winded but the Pharmacy adviser at my school didn't really seem to know much about pre-reqs at other schools or had a sense of what classes would be the best to take for the PCAT.

I don't think you are required to take Calc II. I am applying at UT-Austin and don't remember seeing where they require it. You do need to throw Stats in there as well because that is a requirement.

 

[longhornatheart]

You have opted a difficult path. May I ask you why you left management field??
Now it will be very difficult for you to complete your DPharm & also appear for PCAT exams.

Yes, I've definitely opted for a difficult path and it wasn't a decision I made without a lot of thought. I've been working in health care in the electronic medical records space for the past 5 years as a consultant for a healthcare IT company and an analyst at a major health system. Without a clinical background, my opportunities in the field are fairly limited. I've primarily worked with physicians, nurses, and pharmacists and have found clinical pharmacy particularly critical care and emergency med very interesting. There are many other reasons too but I would take up way too much forum space talking about it!

The path to obtain a Pharm.D. is difficult but not impossible. One of my co-workers changed careers at age 40 to obtain a Pharm.D. and has been very happy about his decision.

Are you sure you want to take Orgo I in the SUMMER? Its a lot of info for just ~4-6 weeks depending on how your school runs summer sessions...I guess it depends on what kind of student you are & your schedule and all that, but personally I wouldn't take Orgo during the summer, or any science that's paired with a lab for that matter...I took A&P 1 & 2 over 2 summer sessions last year and it was M-Th 8am-12 lecture and then 12:30-4pm lab ... rough stuff. I was pretty burnt out by the end of the 2nd session...and that's when the PCAT is.

I suppose you have no choice if you're trying to keep your schedule for the August & Oct PCAT tho. I'd say A&P stuff is more likely to be on the PCAT than Orgo II. GL !

Orgo is definitely a difficult course to take during the summer, and I think I'd pretty much be dedicating 8 hours/day at school plus studying outside of it. I am definitely trying to keep the schedule for the August & Oct PCATs so basically have no other options. The nice thing is that I'd be done with Orgo about mid-July so would have an entire month off to study for the PCAT prior to taking it. I'm just going to have to make it work!

I don't think you are required to take Calc II. I am applying at UT-Austin and don't remember seeing where they require it. You do need to throw Stats in there as well because that is a requirement.

I didn't think I needed to take Calc II either until I looked at the course equivalency pages on the UT Austin website. Even UT requires 2 semesters of their own calculus courses (one of differential and one of integral) depending on which course you take. If you take 408C at UT (calculus for engineers basically) then it includes both. For example, here's an equivalency for UH: http://www.utexas.edu/pharmacy/students/advising/equivs/uhup.html. I haven't yet talked to an adviser at UT yet to confirm. Let me know if anything has changed and they just haven't updated their website.

 

[delano2000]

I didn't think I needed to take Calc II either until I looked at the course equivalency pages on the UT Austin website. Even UT requires 2 semesters of their own calculus courses (one of differential and one of integral) depending on which course you take. If you take 408C at UT (calculus for engineers basically) then it includes both. For example, here's an equivalency for UH: http://www.utexas.edu/pharmacy/students/advising/equivs/uhup.html. I haven't yet talked to an adviser at UT yet to confirm. Let me know if anything has changed and they just haven't updated their website.

I think what they are getting at is that you should not take a Calculus class that is for Business majors but more for Science majors (kinda sorta). If you look at the credit hours it is only 3 for Calculus. There is no way you can fit Calc I&II in 3 credit hours. I think at UT you have an option in taking a certain type of Calculus. Long story short, they just want to ensure that you are not taking business calculus. One for the science majors should suffice. You can verify with AdCom.

 

[longhornatheart]

I think what they are getting at is that you should not take a Calculus class that is for Business majors but more for Science majors (kinda sorta). If you look at the credit hours it is only 3 for Calculus. There is no way you can fit Calc I&II in 3 credit hours. I think at UT you have an option in taking a certain type of Calculus. Long story short, they just want to ensure that you are not taking business calculus. One for the science majors should suffice. You can verify with AdCom.

What's AdCom? I sent one of the UT Austin advisers an e-mail this afternoon and will see what they say about the calculus requirement.

 

[delano2000]

What's AdCom? I sent one of the UT Austin advisers an e-mail this afternoon and will see what they say about the calculus requirement.

Admissions Committee.