can you do well on the pcat without taking the courses it covers?

[titanlord1]

so im wondering without taking first year and second year courses for the pcat can you still do well just by taking a kaplan course or a kaplan book?

what do you think? thanks.

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[Skrumpy]

so im wondering without taking first year and second year courses for the pcat can you still do well just by taking a kaplan course or a kaplan book?

what do you think? thanks.

I guess it depends on your definition of "well" and how much time/effort you are going to put into it. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.

 

[Sugoi Travis]

I guess it depends on your definition of "well" and how much time/effort you are going to put into it. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.

^ Pretty much this.

Assuming that you're starting out in college (i.e. you're an incoming first year), save yourself the time and money and wait until you've taken a majority of your science classes if you want to guarantee yourself a higher score the first time around.

 

[titanlord1]

What I'm wondering is if it's possible with a high degree of success.

 

[Skrumpy]

What I'm wondering is if it's possible with a high degree of success.

Yes. Just as it is also possible to have a high degree of success with winning the lottery. That is, if you buy 99.9999% of the ticket combinations. Not trying to be an ass with my answer, but without the underlying foundation you will likely have a rough go of it. Also I'm not sure what you consider "a high degree of success." Some people here consider anything above an average score "a high degree of success" for themselves. Are you looking at a composite in the 70's (about avg), 80's, 90's, 99%? You should be asking yourself the following:

1) Did you take Calc in HS and do well in it?
2) Do you have a good understanding of general biological principles (i.e. how a cell works, how the body functions, plants/animals, ecosystems, etc)?
3) Did you take any sort of advanced placement chemistry in HS?
4) How would you rate your reading comprehension/writing/verbal abilities?
5) Are you a quick learner?

If you answered yes and ranked yourself highly in the areas above, then you should have enough of a foundation to perform well on the PCAT. That is provided you put in a tremendous amount of time and effort required to understand the material. A Kaplan book (IMO a terrible choice BTW) or a course isn't going to teach you everything you need to know. It isn't a substitute to having the knowledge, it is a supplement to help refresh the skills lying in dormancy.

If you are exceedingly bright and put in a solid effort (multiple hours per day of studying material over a period of at least a few months) then yes I could see you hitting in the 80's and maybe even 90's. It's not that the material is that difficult, it is that there is a lot of it and not all of it is a stepwise mathematical/chemical problem where you can learn the steps and thus know how to do every similar problem thereafter. Some of it is knowledge based that no book/class can adequately prepare you for. The best those books can do is give you tactics on how to possibly work around not knowing the answer.

Best of luck.

 

[titanlord1]

I guess your ultimately right it would be better to take courses

 

[Guitarmacy]

I guess your ultimately right it would be better to take courses

While the previous posters are overall correct and their logic is sound, there are exceptions (I do agree with Skrumpy). I took the PCAT in January with the following courses under my belt: Biology I & II + Labs, Anatomy I + Lab, AP Calculus AB (High school, ten years prior), and most of a Psychology BA degree. I studied for 3 weeks to review calculus and learn everything I could about chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, and physiology. I learned the foundations of several concepts I didn't already know, but mainly focused my energy on learning only the specific types of questions that would appear on the PCAT.

I took a Pearson practice test 10 and 5 days before the real thing and was projected to score 80-99% on every section except for Chemistry (60-79%). Pretty damn accurate (it was spot on). My composite was a 94. If you've got $200 you wouldn't miss and the schools you're applying to don't look down upon taking the PCAT twice, I say go ahead and try it.

 

[titanlord1]

How did u learn\teach yourself about chemistry, micro...etc in those 3 weeks? Was it certain books or courses?

 

[Guitarmacy]

How did u learn\teach yourself about chemistry, micro...etc in those 3 weeks? Was it certain books or courses?

Khan Academy online, Kaplan books, and the internet in general. Most importantly, I used the PCAT Blueprint outline they provide on their website and made sure I understood each subject.

 

[88888888]

Dr Collins and youre set

 

[titanlord1]

dr collins is mad expensive.

 

[Skrumpy]

dr collins is mad expensive.

You can get used older editions.. for cheap. You were talking about taking a Kaplan class, which is much more expensive than Dr. Collins. I will also second Khan Academy. That guy knows what he's talking about and used him as a resource instead of my Calc 2 prof quite often back in the day.

 

[titanlord1]

You can get used older editions.. for cheap. You were talking about taking a Kaplan class, which is much more expensive than Dr. Collins. I will also second Khan Academy. That guy knows what he's talking about and used him as a resource instead of my Calc 2 prof quite often back in the day.

To get older editions of dr Collin how do I get it? Thanks.

 

[Rouelle]

I did very well on the biology section without having many of the classes it covered. It has topics from general bio, microbiology, anatomy, and physiology. I had only 1 semester of gen biology (10 years before) and microbiology (the summer before) when I took the PCAT. I spent a couple months studying an upper classman's anatomy and physiology notes before taking the test and got a 96 on the biology section.

On the other hand, I had math classes that were way beyond what was covered on the PCAT. I assumed that exposure was enough and didn't study it any more. Math was by far my lowest section score.

 

[owlegrad]

Belongs in PCAT forum

 

[htxwn]

I got an 89% composite just studying my class materials but I retook it with Dr. Collins and got a 97%. It can be done, but I think its all on how well you learn and retain information.