Computer format question for anyone who took the PCAT

[LatePrePharm]

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These question are really nit picky but I would like to know the answer because I've never taken an official standardized test on a computer.

Does the proctor start each section of the exam for you remotely or do they just say begin and you press start button yourself?

Is there a "Review" / "Navigation" option like there is on the practice tests that lets you jump to any question you want and lets you see which ones you haven't answered?

Was the calculator function easy to use and were you able to use a number pad?

Are the passage based questions shown as passage on the left side and question on the right side like the Kaplan practice test, or is it passage and questions all on one screen that you have to scroll up and down through like on the Pearson practice test (which was really annoying).

 

[kp563]

These question are really nit picky but I would like to know the answer because I've never taken an official standardized test on a computer.

Does the proctor start each section of the exam for you remotely or do they just say begin and you press start button yourself?

Is there a "Review" / "Navigation" option like there is on the practice tests that lets you jump to any question you want and lets you see which ones you haven't answered?

Was the calculator function easy to use and were you able to use a number pad?

Are the passage based questions shown as passage on the left side and question on the right side like the Kaplan practice test, or is it passage and questions all on one screen that you have to scroll up and down through like on the Pearson practice test (which was really annoying).

You beat me to it. I had the same questions!

 

[whispered]

Not nit picky questions at all! Could make the difference between going in prepared and going in nervous, which could affect your score. I took the PCAT in July 2016 and scored a 98 composite, so hopefully my answers can help you do the same 🙂

At the center I was at, everyone arrived about 30-45 minutes before the exam time, and we had about 20 mins of paperwork, putting things in lockers, palm vein reading, rules reading, then were escorted to the computer station all one by one. Once we got there, there was a couple pages of rules on the computer, then you were allowed to start - so people did start at different times. This doesn't affect your time per section at all, as it is based on when you start the section and when you move on. You can also end sections early if you finish them, but you don't get extra time on others for doing so.

There is a review screen at the end - it shows you every question and allows you to go back to any of them. Furthermore, there is a "flag question for review" option while going through the section. This allows you to, regardless of if you answer or not, flag a question so that at the end, if you do not want to or do not have time to "review all", you can "review flagged" and it will basically start the section over but only show you the flagged questions.

The calculator was moderately easy to use - if you can use the standard windows 7 or windows 10 calculator then you should be fine. Numberpad is an option to use with the calculator, as well as clicking the keys on screen.

If I remember right, the passage and question were either on the same page left and right, or were on different pages and you had to click through. I strongly think it was the first (left/right) though as I seem to remember being able to quickly look at the passage while answering the questions.

Hopefully this helps!