Cannot get above a 50!

[ryce4u]

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Hi everyone,
I just recieved my score for the Aug pcat and i can't belive i got a composite of 24! .. I felt this is very werid. I took it twice before and the first time i got a 28 and the second time a 26. This time i did even worst. How is that possible? The odd thing is , the first time i took the pcat, I haven't taken organic chemistry, microbiology, and biochemistry and i scored the highest. The third time I took the pcat, I had micro, both organic, biochem, both calculus and scored the lowest. I even took the Kaplan pcat course. Do you guys think there could been a mistake on my score? I still dont believe I made this score .
Thanks

 

[hmmmmm]

have you considered a career other than pharm?


doesn't seem like it coulda been an error if it happened 3 times.

but i guess someone has to get 30s in order for others to get 70s

 

[ryce4u]

have you considered a career other than pharm?


doesn't seem like it coulda been an error if it happened 3 times.

but i guess someone has to get 30s in order for others to get 70s

Yeah i have, Opt. appeals to me but you have to take the OAT which is not much different from the pcat. I badly need a 50 becuase I have a very high chance of getting in this year but the stupid pcat is stopping me. My GPA isn't that bad either. What makes me mad is my score decrease each time I took it.

 

[Ethyl Methyl]

What was your strategy when you were studying for the PCAT?

 

[pienfoo]

wow, a 26 and 28. honestly i think you got a lower school (or higher) simply becuase of chance or luck. to get a 26 or 28 you might as well go into test without knowing anything...bubble all Bs! so i think that even if you have a good gpa you obviously don't know your basic sciences, and should brush up on your subjects intensively before considering applying to pharmcy schools. As for changing fields, you can't take the DAT OAT MCAt PCAT and then apply to schools based on which test you scored the highest on. There is a little thing called EXPERIENCE which you get through internships and working in the field before you deicde to commit your career to it. Schools are not likely to accept you unless you have shown dedication to the profession along with a decent "numbers side". Of course, there are those who get in with a 4.0/ 95+s without much experience at all. anyways good luck. 👍

 

[fenixtnlfan]

I would say either apply to schools that don't require the PCAT or invest in a course on test taking skills (like Kaplan). Getting a 50 on the PCAT isn't going to get you into pharm school. The averages are a lot higher than that with a 50 being the minimum to get your application accepted. You have little to no chance of acceptance with a 50.

 

[ryce4u]

My school has this program that they are doing this year only where u take 48 hours on top of your pre-req and get a 50 on the pcat then you're pretty much accepted. I have taken Kaplan pcat class which helped very little. A 28 if a very low score considering all my background knowledge . That's what makes me so mad. I have never made anything lower than a B in any of the pre-req classes so not knowing the material is not the problem. Is there any possible way that Hardcourt could have mess my score up ?

 

[ryce4u]

What was your strategy when you were studying for the PCAT?

I took the Kaplan class, bought all the Kaplan books. I even bought the Barron book. My stragetry was reviewing the material and use practice question. I would study the material about 2 hours , 4 times a week, for 3 months. Keep in mind that I had just finish taking biochem,calculus, and micro so the material was still fresh in my mind

 

[fenixtnlfan]

Well you can get your PCAT hand scored, but it is very unlikely (as said above) that Harcourt screwed up three times. Think about using other sources to study with (ARCO, Cliff's, Schaum's, old textbooks). Kaplan is good but by no means everything you will be tested on. Do you have bad test anxiety? Do you really understand the material and remember it? Do you run out of time on the exam? Are you using good test taking strategies?

 

[ryce4u]

Well you can get your PCAT hand scored, but it is very unlikely (as said above) that Harcourt screwed up three times. Think about using other sources to study with (ARCO, Cliff's, Schaum's, old textbooks). Kaplan is good but by no means everything you will be tested on. Do you have bad test anxiety? Do you really understand the material and remember it? Do you run out of time on the exam? Are you using good test taking strategies?

I have other study sources such as REA flashcard and CLiff's . My test anxiety isn't that bad. I do understand the material. I didn't run out of time on any of the section the last time i took it. The thing that threw me off is that I walked out of the test feeling better than any of the other times I took the test. I knew my material on the test and yet i scored the lowest. THe first first I took it, I basically fill in bubbles and ironically it's my highest score.

 

[Ethyl Methyl]

Maybe you were way too confident. It seems unlikely that Harcourt would score all your 3 tests wrong. If they did, then you must be the unluckiest person in the world. By all means, ask them to manually score your test. In the meantime, I think it's time to re-evaluate what you were doing to prepare for the test and your test taking strategies. There must be something that you can do differently this time. I did well on my pcat but that does not mean that I can't think of something that I would change in terms of preparation if I were to take it again. In fact, on retrospect, I could think of at least two things that I would have done differently.

 

[think]

its kinda mean to say this but i feel better seeing your scores.
..i got very low without studying and this time with studying i got a 50% but i need to focus more on verbal reading....
try to use all resourcers possible and study for a long time..like start now and take it in june next year...i think it will work(hopefully)

 

[steveysmith54]

have u taken practice hartcourt exams? most say the questions there are not too far off from real PCAT. I am sorry to hear abt ur struggle.

 

[ryce4u]

have u taken practice hartcourt exams? most say the questions there are not too far off from real PCAT. I am sorry to hear abt ur struggle.

Yes I have. I have tried most of the prepartory tools out there with no luck..

 

[PrePharmacyDude]

Become a nurse professor. Make $80,000 a year, which is equivalent to what a Pharmacist is making. Some nursing directors at hospitals make over $140,000 and those Nursing Anesthesiology Assistants make over $225k a year. I think $225,000 a year is a lot of mucho.

 

[WhiteSnows]

Become a nurse professor. Make $80,000 a year, which is equivalent to what a Pharmacist is making. Some nursing directors at hospitals make over $140,000 and those Nursing Anesthesiology Assistants make over $225k a year. I think $225,000 a year is a lot of mucho.

I do not think what you said is right. Maybe it depends on what state do u live in. But i hope what you said is right, so we have less people going to Pharmacy, less competitive

 

[steveysmith54]

I do not think what you said is right. Maybe it depends on what state do u live in. But i hope what you said is right, so we have less people going to Pharmacy, less competitive

i don't think half of the doctors make that much.

 

[Qalb]

I think you have a learning disorder or testing anxiety. You should go get yourself checked out. Don't stop the pursuit of pharmacy because of your PCATs, have some confidence. Everyone is different and not everyone can perform well on a standardized test. I know you need to do well to get in but if pharmacy is what you want, find out what went wrong. Please don't settle, you might regret it.

 

[omnione]

I think you have a learning disorder or testing anxiety. You should go get yourself checked out. Don't stop the pursuit of pharmacy because of your PCATs, have some confidence. Everyone is different and not everyone can perform well on a standardized test. I know you need to do well to get in but if pharmacy is what you want, find out what went wrong. Please don't settle, you might regret it.

I'm guessing the latter because I doubt the OP would have done so well in school as mentioned earlier if he/she had a learning disorder.😉

To the OP,

Standardized test anxiety/compatibility may be a reason, and I suppose the main way to rectify that is to practice being in a similar testing environment. A quiet classroom while practicing with just the testing materials can help.

The only other possibility that stands out is that you didn't retain much from your courses and/or your courses were too general. You can answer that possibility based on the difficulty level of the PCAT correlated with your coursework.

I suggest that you shift your applications toward more non-PCAT schools if Fall 2008 admission is ideal for you.

 

[WhiteSnows]

have u taken practice hartcourt exams? most say the questions there are not too far off from real PCAT. I am sorry to hear abt ur struggle.

Practice hartcourt exam is suck. It is wasted of the money. Did not help anything. I took it i thought it would help, but it did not.

 

[binghamkid]

Yes I have. I have tried most of the prepartory tools out there with no luck..

How many questions are you missing per section on average when you take a practice test? You really shouldn't be missing more than 5 or 6 questions per section, especially if you are aiming for 80% or higher. When you attempt an exam like the PCAT, you have to approach it with the mentality that you WANT THE BEST SCORE possible. Saying you 'just want a 50' won't cut it. If you say you want that 99, and that pushes you to try hard and work hard and you end up with a 75, then hey at least that'll still give you a chance somewhere. If you purposely only try as much as you need to try to get a 50...well you don't have the right mentality for pharmacy school then. Because I'll tell you...you'll fail right out of the first year curriculum with that kind of mentality.

Also, you are mistaken if you think the PCAT is an exam about knowledge. It's not. You have to learn to APPLY that knowledge. The PCAT is designed to see how you can process critical thinking in a time-constrained environment. Also, if you are that serious about the PCAT, you shouldn't just be studying 2 hours 4 times a week for a few months. If you've taken it three times and still haven't gotten that score up, think for yourself what you need to do. Maybe 2 hours 4 times a week is enough for some people, but if it's not working for you, you might need to increase it to 6 hours a day, 6 times a week for 6 months. Of course, this is all contingent on the fact that you are doing practice problems nonstop and figuring out what you get wrong.

From my perspective, I don't believe the PCAT is hard at all knowledge-wise. I do believe it is challenging in terms of thinking. Most people are not accustomed to thinking that quickly. It is a SKILL that you have to acquire through hours and hours of practice. You must not underestimate the test. You may think you know the material, but so does every other person who is taking the exam and intends to score an 80% or higher. However, I know it is possible to score a top score if you try hard. I did it (and if i can do it, then for sure you can do it).

 

[JamesL1585]

Ryce:

I admire the fact that you would come on here and explain what is a weakness to these groups, unfortunately Ive read all the comments and haven't seen much constructive criticism. The people on here are not who u need to be talking to with their 75 PCAT scores, they will only belittle u and discourage you. If you really want to get into Pharmacy school u can. Apply to schools with no PCAT, and at your home school, go talk to your advisors, or members of the committee and explain your case to them, see what they suggest (They might say you will still get an interview, in which case you still have a chance.) But just hang in there, don't be discouraged, and ifyou dont do better but still want to pursue pharmacy, go for it, don't let it stand in your way. Also, next summer, use that to your advantage to study very hard for PCAT.

 

[ucftanaka08]

Ryce:

If you really want to get into Pharmacy school u can. Apply to schools with no PCAT, and at your home school, go talk to your advisors, or members of the committee and explain your case to them, see what they suggest (They might say you will still get an interview, in which case you still have a chance.) But just hang in there, don't be discouraged, and ifyou dont do better but still want to pursue pharmacy, go for it, don't let it stand in your way. Also, next summer, use that to your advantage to study very hard for PCAT.

Great advice! : )