Blown away by my PCAT score

[pharmchick21]

Hey everyone,

I am new here, just needed your perspective on my situation. So after postponing my PCAT for all this months , i had my exam today. And i am totally in shock right now after seeing my score. Alright, i know i didn't took many practice test that i should have but i studied entire dr.collins study guide, i did practice here and there and i felt pretty okay about it. I wasn't worried much since i did extremely well in my classes so i had pretty good basic understanding of concepts. But my scores say totally different story. After taking exam, i felt that there was hardly anything came from collins guide as many claimed. Many times i thought is it really PCAT..Overall, i thought my test was hard. So here is how my scores look:

VA- 379
Bio-387
RC-361
QA- 377
CHM-392
Composite - 379

My background info:

Semester away from gettting BS in biochem
One year pharm tech experience
office in pre pharm club
Hospital volunteer
GPA still in process to verify - 3.4- 3.5

I know many of you will say to retake it and i would but i am still thinking if its even worth it. The school i am applying ( Midwestern) their deadline in jan and i don't think they would wait for my another PCAT score. Another school i am applying is U of A but looking at my scores , i know i got no chance. So basically one school for me.

What do you guys think considering my school choice should i retake PCAT or stick with my score hoping they willl give me chance..

Thanks guys.

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[umar155]

you can try other school with low rating. Like arround 50-70 RATING, you can find many schools and i am sure you will get in somewhere. I have pcat tomorrow afternoon and studied from Dr. collin too and didnt do enough practice. I guess, you were more prepared than me. Now, i am scared

 

[tfayek]

what was your prcentile rank?

 

[PianistLynn]

I took the Pcat yesterday as well. I might considered myself lucky since I got a lot of Collins questions on Bio and Chem section :-/ I was totally shocked how similar my Pcat to Collins practice tests. The only thing I bombed were Quant and Verbal... My Quant section was brutal . I guessed more than half of the section so did Verbal.
In the end, because i scored very high on Bio amd Chem so my composite turned out to be ok I wonder how hard your Bio and Chem were cuz mine were seriously piece of cake. I finished those section in 15,20 mins.

 

[Mounjaro]

You'll be fine, just as long as you apply early.

 

[PianistLynn]

With Midwestern i think you might have a chance if you apply asap I applied to that school as well and from what i've heard if you have decent gpa which you have you should get considered.
And I think most of schools accept Jan Pcat as long as you contact them and let them know!! Almost the schools that I have talked to said that as long as you are ok with other parts in your applicant beside Pcat then you should have a chance
Good luck!

 

[pharmchick21]

Well the paper says my composite PR is 8. like wtf does that even mean? My PR is very law like 15,20,4,8,34,8... I am seriously thinking on retaking it ...

 

[umar155]

this means you did better than 8 % people. 92% people did better than you.

 

[pharmchick21]

this means you did better than 8 % people. 92% people did better than you.

Do you know what would be my over all percentile? its not 8 right?

 

[pharmchick21]

With Midwestern i think you might have a chance if you apply asap I applied to that school as well and from what i've heard if you have decent gpa which you have you should get considered.
And I think most of schools accept Jan Pcat as long as you contact them and let them know!! Almost the schools that I have talked to said that as long as you are ok with other parts in your applicant beside Pcat then you should have a chance
Good luck!

I sent my pharmcas already, they should be getting my last transcript any moment. Hoping it wont take long.. May be i should give midwestern call to ask about jan pcat ...

 

[mikeyy2301]

I took the pcat also and my scores are very similar to yours however my composite is 388 idk what my chances are with a 3.1 gpa


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[PianistLynn]

Well the paper says my composite PR is 8. like wtf does that even mean? My PR is very law like 15,20,4,8,34,8... I am seriously thinking on retaking it ...

Well the paper says my composite PR is 8. like wtf does that even mean? My PR is very law like 15,20,4,8,34,8... I am seriously thinking on retaking it ...

To be honest, you should retake it its pretty low, but if the deadline of Midwestern is in Feb or later then you will be okay because most of schools will look at all the applicantions again before their deadline which means they will see your second PCAT score (hopefully much higher than 8 )
Unless they reject or deny you by email before deadline then you should not worry at all if ther deadline is beginning of Jan then you need to let them know as i said.
Practice Collins more and i think you will be okay

 

[pharmchick21]

To be honest, you should retake it its pretty low, but if the deadline of Midwestern is in Feb or later then you will be okay because most of schools will look at all the applicantions again before their deadline which means they will see your second PCAT score (hopefully much higher than 8 )
Unless they reject or deny you by email before deadline then you should not worry at all if ther deadline is beginning of Jan then you need to let them know as i said.
Practice Collins more and i think you will be okay

I called them and they said i can retake it and they will look at it since they interview until march. I didn't mention my scores though :/

 

[pharmchick21]

To be honest, you should retake it its pretty low, but if the deadline of Midwestern is in Feb or later then you will be okay because most of schools will look at all the applicantions again before their deadline which means they will see your second PCAT score (hopefully much higher than 8 )
Unless they reject or deny you by email before deadline then you should not worry at all if ther deadline is beginning of Jan then you need to let them know as i said.
Practice Collins more and i think you will be okay

Do you recommend any other practice test besides collins? And you felt that most your bio and chem questions came from collins practice tests?

 

[PianistLynn]

Do you recommend any other practice test besides collins? And you felt that most your bio and chem questions came from collins practice tests?

I study mainly with Collins practice tests. I purchased 3 Pearson practice tests a week before the actual exam and test to see where I was at. I used Kaplan (old one though 2011 ver) to support Bio since everyone claimed that Kaplan has the best source for Bio with very detail stuffs. Honestly, i didnt study much from Kaplan cuz it was just too much for me ~_~ im not a native speaker so reading a lot of formal English or Science term make me wanna faint i think Collins break it out really good with easy language to understad than Kaplan at least for me
Dont spend so much time on Reading, focus on Science parts like bio chem and quant because verbal and reading weight the lightest for overall. I got 47% and 38% for Reading and Verbal respectively but my overall composite is still above 80s due to the other 3 parts. So yeah just memorize words for Verbal when you have time or in the toilet st haha. Otherwise focus on the other three.
For the Bio and Chem questions, i was very lucky because more than half of my bio questions were similar to Collins ~_~ i was amazed for 10 mins when i took it. Chem about 50% similar but i was lucky there only one question for BioChem and 2 naming Organic and 2 calculation questions. The rest were just theory which i could done super fast to save time.
My Quant was brutal so i didnt want to mention it haha. I guessed more than half and pull a 77% no joke. My advice is do the algebraaa. Ignore graph and ridiculous derivative calc questions they might be experimental questions and you just wasted your time there since those questions do not count toward your actual score. Almost algebra questions count and doable so focus on them
Just do pratice tests from Collins at least twice for one sample test. You will pull at least an 50 for sure
Good luck!

 

[pharmchick21]

I study mainly with Collins practice tests. I purchased 3 Pearson practice tests a week before the actual exam and test to see where I was at. I used Kaplan (old one though 2011 ver) to support Bio since everyone claimed that Kaplan has the best source for Bio with very detail stuffs. Honestly, i didnt study much from Kaplan cuz it was just too much for me ~_~ im not a native speaker so reading a lot of formal English or Science term make me wanna faint i think Collins break it out really good with easy language to understad than Kaplan at least for me
Dont spend so much time on Reading, focus on Science parts like bio chem and quant because verbal and reading weight the lightest for overall. I got 47% and 38% for Reading and Verbal respectively but my overall composite is still above 80s due to the other 3 parts. So yeah just memorize words for Verbal when you have time or in the toilet st haha. Otherwise focus on the other three.
For the Bio and Chem questions, i was very lucky because more than half of my bio questions were similar to Collins ~_~ i was amazed for 10 mins when i took it. Chem about 50% similar but i was lucky there only one question for BioChem and 2 naming Organic and 2 calculation questions. The rest were just theory which i could done super fast to save time.
My Quant was brutal so i didnt want to mention it haha. I guessed more than half and pull a 77% no joke. My advice is do the algebraaa. Ignore graph and ridiculous derivative calc questions they might be experimental questions and you just wasted your time there since those questions do not count toward your actual score. Almost algebra questions count and doable so focus on them
Just do pratice tests from Collins at least twice for one sample test. You will pull at least an 50 for sure
Good luck!

See thats why... i had 3-4 biochem question , no naming questions, also i saw many drug calculation question like they ask in pharmacy tech exam which i thought was weird. For math , there were graphing question. I thought most of math was from pre calc. My math is pretty strong with calc but i don't know why i couldnt do them. After hearing you all i feel like my test was harder than all of you. i literally did all of collins bio exam but hadly saw one question. Btw , i am using collins 2014 guide but stll its shouln't be that big deal.
Were pearson test helpful? And did you buy Kaplan book?

 

[umar155]

I just took pcat and did horrible . My composite is 382. I did solve 5,5 collin practice exams for each section and i didn't see any single question from there. I knew all the formula for math from collin, but nothing was helful to solve any question. May be, i should have studied more and do all practice exams.

 

[dimeadozenn]

I would retake it i got accepted to mwu chicago 415 overall no section lower than 410. My gpa 3.58 c and 3.55 sci....I know the rest of the accepted students thus far and their stats are similar. My advice retake asap and get a far better pcat score. No established school like mwu or any other will truly consider you for that score.

 

[PharmDoReMe]

I took the Pcat yesterday as well. I might considered myself lucky since I got a lot of Collins questions on Bio and Chem section :-/ I was totally shocked how similar my Pcat to Collins practice tests. The only thing I bombed were Quant and Verbal... My Quant section was brutal . I guessed more than half of the section so did Verbal.
In the end, because i scored very high on Bio amd Chem so my composite turned out to be ok I wonder how hard your Bio and Chem were cuz mine were seriously piece of cake. I finished those section in 15,20 mins.

I took mine today and I was really happy with the amount of bio questions I saw that were similar/identical to Dr. Collins. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to study up on the QA and Chemistry and kinda bombed those (embarrassing, since I'm a chemistry major)... Got an "okay" score, though. 72. :|||| Definitely retaking.

 

[PharmDoReMe]

Hey everyone,

I am new here, just needed your perspective on my situation. So after postponing my PCAT for all this months , i had my exam today. And i am totally in shock right now after seeing my score. Alright, i know i didn't took many practice test that i should have but i studied entire dr.collins study guide, i did practice here and there and i felt pretty okay about it. I wasn't worried much since i did extremely well in my classes so i had pretty good basic understanding of concepts. But my scores say totally different story. After taking exam, i felt that there was hardly anything came from collins guide as many claimed. Many times i thought is it really PCAT..Overall, i thought my test was hard. So here is how my scores look:

VA- 379
Bio-387
RC-361
QA- 377
CHM-392
Composite - 379

What's the percentile? I dunno how to convert those numbers to the percent rank haha. But you might want to reconsider taking it again. If you buckle down, I think you'll really improve your score!

 

[Mounjaro]

It's somewhere in the 40's or 50's if I'm correct, just re-take it. Simple as that.

 

[pharmchick21]

I would retake it i got accepted to mwu chicago 415 overall no section lower than 410. My gpa 3.58 c and 3.55 sci....I know the rest of the accepted students thus far and their stats are similar. My advice retake asap and get a far better pcat score. No established school like mwu or any other will truly consider you for that score.

Yeah , taking it in January. i really wish it was sooner than that. On totally differet note do you think i should withdraw my app based on score i got?

 

[dimeadozenn]

Yeah , taking it in January. i really wish it was sooner than that. On totally differet note do you think i should withdraw my app based on score i got?

Make a note that your retaking on pharmcas, call you top choices explain your situation and plan, go to your academic adviser as well and discuss it because its your decision to make. Some schools might put your app. on hold till they get your next test. And be ready to explain why your gpa and test score didn't correlate. That's all i got good luck and don't give up.

 

[pharmchick21]

Make a note that your retaking on pharmcas, call you top choices explain your situation and plan, go to your academic adviser as well and discuss it because its your decision to make. Some schools might put your app. on hold till they get your next test. And be ready to explain why your gpa and test score didn't correlate. That's all i got good luck and don't give up.

How can i make note on pharmcas, i already submitted it. It's still under verification though. I am only applying to two schools : midwestern (glendale), u of a. Thinking on not applying to U of A since they would outright reject me based on my score. I called midwestern today, they said they would wait for my january score. Though i didn't mention my score while talking to them. Do you think i should wait until midwestern receive my pharmcas and then email them explaining my plan of retaking ?? I could email them now but i don't know how that would help since they haven't even receive my file. About my score, i am still in shock i couldn't sleep last night. Like i can't even believe that's my score, my whole world has flipped. People who have wrote me recommendation have so many expectations from me, i can't just afford to get rejected

 

[pharmchick21]

It's somewhere in the 40's or 50's if I'm correct, just re-take it. Simple as that.

Thanks man, taking it in january. Hope i can save myself from getting rejected..

 

[pharmchick21]

What's the percentile? I dunno how to convert those numbers to the percent rank haha. But you might want to reconsider taking it again. If you buckle down, I think you'll really improve your score!

My percentile for each section are horrible , that calculation doesn't even make sense. I wrote somewhere in this post above. They are all ranging from 8 to 34 max..

 

[pharmchick21]

I just took pcat and did horrible . My composite is 382. I did solve 5,5 collin practice exams for each section and i didn't see any single question from there. I knew all the formula for math from collin, but nothing was helful to solve any question. May be, i should have studied more and do all practice exams.

Sorry dude, its ridiculous how we studied from collins and didn't see crap from it. Are you retaking it?

 

[PharmDoReMe]

I saw the majority of bio from Dr. Collins on PCAT! on mine at least... not sure about yours. :\

 

[pharmchick21]

I saw the majority of bio from Dr. Collins on PCAT! on mine at least... not sure about yours. :\

yeah unfortunately, i literally practiced all his bio test and i was always getting it right most of time. My bad luck i guess..

 

[PianistLynn]

See thats why... i had 3-4 biochem question , no naming questions, also i saw many drug calculation question like they ask in pharmacy tech exam which i thought was weird. For math , there were graphing question. I thought most of math was from pre calc. My math is pretty strong with calc but i don't know why i couldnt do them. After hearing you all i feel like my test was harder than all of you. i literally did all of collins bio exam but hadly saw one question. Btw , i am using collins 2014 guide but stll its shouln't be that big deal.
Were pearson test helpful? And did you buy Kaplan book?

Pearson tests are definitely helpful. They at least let you know where you are at before your actual test. Obviously it cant be 100% acurate but at least you know you are in the range of 1-20, 20-40,40-60,60-80, or above. They score your test when you submitted and would like to see your score report so its great. You can do that on every section and get the composite later on.
About Kaplan, i just study a little bit here and there and its an old version 2011. I mainly study Collins though. I was surprise you dint get any similar questions on your actual PCAT hopefully you get better luck second chance. Your Quant section sounds like mine. Tons of graphs and cals, i also hae a lot of Stats questions. About 6,7 of them.
As i said, try to study hardcore for those science sections and you will be good Verbal can take a lot of time so just study when you can or a week before test to keep your vocabulary fresh. Reading and writing? Dont even bother. Those sections are more about luck then what you actually know

 

[PharmDoReMe]

Oh, my.... The writing section.... completely kicked my butt. I was all groggy from being sick, but wow. It was a rough essay topic for me!!

 

[PianistLynn]

Hahaha same here ) I kid you not but I stared at the screen for 10 mins... My mind just went blank that moment like I couldnt think of anything to begin to write ~_~
Luckily i finished it but I doubt it will get better than a 3 lol probably 2 since i only came up with 2 reasons and i ran out of time so My essay was super short. And i made some stupid mistakes like i didnt even separate the body paragraph with my 2 solutions.... It was just ... Bad

 

[PharmDoReMe]

Hahaha same here ) I kid you not but I stared at the screen for 10 mins... My mind just went blank that moment like I couldnt think of anything to begin to write ~_~
Luckily i finished it but I doubt it will get better than a 3 lol probably 2 since i only came up with 2 reasons and i ran out of time so My essay was super short. And i made some stupid mistakes like i didnt even separate the body paragraph with my 2 solutions.... It was just ... Bad

Luckily for us, the writing score doesn't factor into our composite. But yeah, I definitely got like... a 3 at most.... maybe 3.5 cause my grammar and spelling were fine as far as I could tell. Do you think you'll retake yours? Which schools are you applying to? Feeling confident?

 

[PianistLynn]

Consider as a non native speaker i think i wont retake it i spent soooo much money already for the whole pharmcas process thing and not to mention about other supplemental fees so another $210 seems pricey to me now
I did stated the fact that im still improving with my English and how i just moved to the US for 7 years in my personal statement so i hope it will help them understand my situation. I got 83% Composite so i think i wouldnt risk to take it again.
I honestly didnt think i would do this well due to the fact that i did horrible in verbal practice tests and never prepare for Reading so i just hoped to shoot for an 70+ range at my best since most of school i applied have around 50-70% PCAT average. The only top school that i applied is the University of Utah which is pretty high rank but since im living in Utah so I just go for it. Now i think i might have a chance for interview with that pcat score.
I applied to Campell , Midwestern , Regis, Xavier, Roseman and Texas Southern University beside the University of Utah. I think i should be okay

 

[PharmDoReMe]

I think you'll be okay too!! My anxiety is coming from being a first generation student (my family and I are from India) and having no knowledge of how any of this process goes or feels...... so the anxiety is high ahha but I hope that all of us that truly want to become pharmacists will surely get there.

 

[PianistLynn]

Which school that you are applying to? I think with a 72 you might have a fair chance for some average schools and good chance for private.
And yeah hopefully we will all get in of course it means we better get to love what we are going to do ^_^

 

[umar155]

Sorry dude, its ridiculous how we studied from collins and didn't see crap from it. Are you retaking it?

I will meet advisor of LIU on monday and ask him what to do, because before he said get anything above 380. I am already at that school in pre-pharm program. He told me, last student they accepted was with 3.1 gpa and 375 composite score last year. Its more than 100 years old school, but still their ranking is about 72. MY gpa is 3.4. If i had gpa around 3.7, i would not need to retake it. because one of my friend got into program with 279 and 3.8 gpa. I will definetly retake it in jan. Also, I wanted to try for high ranking schools. I think, you should call them again on monday, and explain them your situation. Ask them, what is the minimum requirement for that school.
### and i have one more question, does a good ranking school matters for job as compared to average ranking school arround 70s ?

 

[umar155]

I want to ask question from everybody. Does a good ranking school matters for job as compared to average ranking private schools around 70s ? If it does, then in what ways ?

 

[pharmchick21]

I will meet advisor of LIU on monday and ask him what to do, because before he said get anything above 380. I am already at that school in pre-pharm program. He told me, last student they accepted was with 3.1 gpa and 375 composite score last year. Its more than 100 years old school, but still their ranking is about 72. MY gpa is 3.4. If i had gpa around 3.7, i would not need to retake it. because one of my friend got into program with 279 and 3.8 gpa. I will definetly retake it in jan. Also, I wanted to try for high ranking schools. I think, you should call them again on monday, and explain them your situation. Ask them, what is the minimum requirement for that school.
### and i have one more question, does a good ranking school matters for job as compared to average ranking school arround 70s ?

ually from NY

Oh i remember LIU.. I am actually from NY. Well, you are in luck then. I called midwestern they said retake it and will wait for jan score. I didn't mention my score though but on their website they said they don't have minimum requirement for it so i dont know. The thing that they still haven't gotten my app from pharmcas so i don't know on what base i should talk to them. If they had my file and GPA right infornt of them , they would answer what should i do. I feel like without seeing my official GPA from pharmcas they wont be able to tell anything.

For your question , in this job market you should go to cheapest state school since the market is saturated. You don't want to come out with $150 K + loans. I was actually going to apply to my state school here , not sure if i should now looking at my score but i might. its cheaper than private school..

 

[pharmchick21]

I want to ask question from everybody. Does a good ranking school matters for job as compared to average ranking private schools around 70s ? If it does, then in what ways ?

Pharmacy school ranking doesn't matter.. i have been working as tech, i see my company hiring from best schools and okay schools they all get paid same.
It all boils down to how you are as worker. Of course, schools networking will play role in your job placement..

 

[pharmchick21]

Consider as a non native speaker i think i wont retake it i spent soooo much money already for the whole pharmcas process thing and not to mention about other supplemental fees so another $210 seems pricey to me now
I did stated the fact that im still improving with my English and how i just moved to the US for 7 years in my personal statement so i hope it will help them understand my situation. I got 83% Composite so i think i wouldnt risk to take it again.
I honestly didnt think i would do this well due to the fact that i did horrible in verbal practice tests and never prepare for Reading so i just hoped to shoot for an 70+ range at my best since most of school i applied have around 50-70% PCAT average. The only top school that i applied is the University of Utah which is pretty high rank but since im living in Utah so I just go for it. Now i think i might have a chance for interview with that pcat score.
I applied to Campell , Midwestern , Regis, Xavier, Roseman and Texas Southern University beside the University of Utah. I think i should be okay

I heard Utah school is easy to get in from friends.. Are you actually willing to move out of state? It must be expensive to apply to this many schools :/

 

[PharmDoReMe]

I want to ask question from everybody. Does a good ranking school matters for job as compared to average ranking private schools around 70s ? If it does, then in what ways ?

I don't think so. My cousin went to a brand new pharmacy school (opened the year she applied) with abysmal PCAT scores and a crappy GPA and she's currently working at the Cleveland clinic, so I think she did well. It boils down to how you apply yourself once you're at the school, I'd say.

 

[PianistLynn]

I heard Utah school is easy to get in from friends.. Are you actually willing to move out of state? It must be expensive to apply to this many schools :/

We have two pharmacy schools here. The easy one that people mention is probably Roseman since its private. The University of Utah wont even look at your application if your PCAT is not higher than 80s OR Gpa Is not above 3.4. You have to get one of the two to get consider. After that it depends on you whether they like you enough to interview. My friend has 3,7 GPA Science and 3.5 GPA average with pcat 67 and from Utah but he didnt get accepted. Also i've heard they reject someone 3 times who has 3.9 Gpa and more than 1000+ volunteer hours but she sucks at interview . So yeah definitely not easy to get into the University of Utah unless you impress them enough or they like you.
Roseman is another story. You have high pcat then you get in even with low GPA or the other way around. As long as our Pcat is more than 55.
About my Pharmcas thing, yes its definitely expensive to apply to that many shool but if you dont want to wait another year you have to take the risk by applying broadly it increases our chance to get in somewhere unless you willing to wait another year or know for sure you would do great on pcat and apply to just couple schools. Since i wasnt that confident so thats why i applied to a lot of schools

 

[pharmchick21]

We have two pharmacy schools here. The easy one that people mention is probably Roseman since its private. The University of Utah wont even look at your application if your PCAT is not higher than 80s OR Gpa Is not above 3.4. You have to get one of the two to get consider. After that it depends on you whether they like you enough to interview. My friend has 3,7 GPA Science and 3.5 GPA average with pcat 67 and from Utah but he didnt get accepted. Also i've heard they reject someone 3 times who has 3.9 Gpa and more than 1000+ volunteer hours but she sucks at interview . So yeah definitely not easy to get into the University of Utah unless you impress them enough or they like you.
Roseman is another story. You have high pcat then you get in even with low GPA or the other way around. As long as our Pcat is more than 55.
About my Pharmcas thing, yes its definitely expensive to apply to that many shool but if you dont want to wait another year you have to take the risk by applying broadly it increases our chance to get in somewhere unless you willing to wait another year or know for sure you would do great on pcat and apply to just couple schools. Since i wasnt that confident so thats why i applied to a lot of schools

That make sense, well i had friend who got accepted to U of Utah, not so sure about his PCAT score but i know he had some 3.4 or 3.5 ish GPA. And yeah i know roseman i met admission dean of that school , she came to my club to talk about school. I heard in that school they have pass/ fail system and if you fail you stay back, means more $$$$ for them. True about applying to many school , it does increase your chances. For me, i don't want to move out of my state. I moved a lot as undergraduate. I love my state and wants to stay home even though i get rejected lol i will get in next time for sure hahah And to be honest looking at pharmacy job market right now i don't know how much its worth for me to move out of state..

 

[pharmchick21]

Pearson tests are definitely helpful. They at least let you know where you are at before your actual test. Obviously it cant be 100% acurate but at least you know you are in the range of 1-20, 20-40,40-60,60-80, or above. They score your test when you submitted and would like to see your score report so its great. You can do that on every section and get the composite later on.
About Kaplan, i just study a little bit here and there and its an old version 2011. I mainly study Collins though. I was surprise you dint get any similar questions on your actual PCAT hopefully you get better luck second chance. Your Quant section sounds like mine. Tons of graphs and cals, i also hae a lot of Stats questions. About 6,7 of them.
As i said, try to study hardcore for those science sections and you will be good Verbal can take a lot of time so just study when you can or a week before test to keep your vocabulary fresh. Reading and writing? Dont even bother. Those sections are more about luck then what you actually know

Question about PCAT , does those questions with paragraphs count or are they experimental??????? I saw them in bio and chem, i thought they were time consuming

 

[PharmDoReMe]

I've heard the passages are experimental until 2016, then who knows what's going to happen with them.

 

[dimeadozenn]

There's an are in pharmcas where it says planning future tests under the test section....and be ready to explain your score.

 

[LittlecatRX]

Hi,

My first post... I took my Pcat on Nov. 5th. Here is my score:
Subject PR
VA 7
Bio 40
RC 7
QA 98
Chem 97
Comp. 64
I used Dr. Collins but actually, I spent only 13 days before the test to study for 3 science subjects since I did not have enough time to study. English is not my 1st language. I am taking 12 units now and a mother of two kids so it seems too heavy with me. I intended to cancel my Pcat test but I did not... I haven't finished my BS (major biochem) yet. I took Microbiology but I got a D and plan to retake it next semester. I haven't taken Human Anatomy & Physiology yet. My GPA is ~3.5 now. Do you guys think I have a chance to get into any pharmacy school? I plan to apply to Roseman and Midwerstern AZ. I am so worry about my VA and RC %tile (and bio too) on my PCAT score. I know that 13 days is not enough for preparing a test like Pcat. Should I still apply and let the school know that I plan to retake Pcat on Jan? Thanks for any input...

 

[PianistLynn]

Question about PCAT , does those questions with paragraphs count or are they experimental??????? I saw them in bio and chem, i thought they were time consuming

i can't guarantee you 100% but I doubt those questions are counted toward our actual score. I ALWAYS skip them and do those graphs or passages the last. It is sure time consuming and I feel like I better off finish short questions first. Because to be able to answers those questions you have to read the whole thing not just the questions and find the key word or something. My advice is to skip them until you finish the rest of other questions
To me Bio passages weren't too bad but Quant and Chem is very time consuming if you don't know for sure how to solve the problem in the beginning.

 

[PianistLynn]

Hi,

My first post... I took my Pcat on Nov. 5th. Here is my score:
Subject PR
VA 7
Bio 40
RC 7
QA 98
Chem 97
Comp. 64
I used Dr. Collins but actually, I spent only 13 days before the test to study for 3 science subjects since I did not have enough time to study. English is not my 1st language. I am taking 12 units now and a mother of two kids so it seems too heavy with me. I intended to cancel my Pcat test but I did not... I haven't finished my BS (major biochem) yet. I took Microbiology but I got a D and plan to retake it next semester. I haven't taken Human Anatomy & Physiology yet. My GPA is ~3.5 now. Do you guys think I have a chance to get into any pharmacy school? I plan to apply to Roseman and Midwerstern AZ. I am so worry about my VA and RC %tile (and bio too) on my PCAT score. I know that 13 days is not enough for preparing a test like Pcat. Should I still apply and let the school know that I plan to retake Pcat on Jan? Thanks for any input...

Your Chem and Math are very good, I wish your Bio was a bit better so I would say you will have a chance with private schools. But your Bio is under 50 along with Verbal and Reading so I feel like you should retake it I think you still can apply and contact the schools that you apply and ask how they think about your situation because your Science sections are pretty good. It is a small chance honestly but why not try since your GPA is pretty decent ( above average for most pharm schools ) . Not to try to burst your bubble, but most of school require Anatomy and Physiology classes so I think you need to take them asap. Hope it helps.