Dr. Collins for PCAT

[Suyasha]

hello, i have been preparing for my pcat with Kaplan 2016, while my reviews are going well i wanted to look for practice materials. Turns out Dr Collins materials will cost my limbs and a kidney. I am too tight with money atm. are there any cheaper resources available? i am kind of freaking out since my exam is on 11th Feb. helppp


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[takeanother]

I also used the 3 online Pearson tests to study. It's $90 or so for all 3, but you can buy them individually. I thought they gave a good idea of what I needed to focus on. Also they are basically the same format as the real PCAT, I get pretty nervous in test situations so I found it helpful to have some familiarity with how the test looked before taking it. It also gave explanations for all the questions, which was helpful. The tests did seem to be harder than the real PCAT though so don't be discouraged if your scoring seems a bit low. I think my estimated scores on those were anywhere from 50%ile to 90%ile on composite and subscore (it gives 10-20 point ranges rather than actual scores if I remember right), on the PCAT I got a 99 composite and my lowest subscore was a 93.

OH also you can also find a lot of Dr Collins questions/answers on Quizlet, I can't vouch for the accuracy of everyone's answers but could be worth a look.

 

[early moring]

Hi, Can I ask you when you take a PCAT? I have exam on Feb and I am very nervous. Can you tell us which material you studied?

 

[takeanother]

Hi, Can I ask you when you take a PCAT? I have exam on Feb and I am very nervous. Can you tell us which material you studied?

I took it in July 2017 but am only applying to schools now because I decided to finish my bachelors before I applied. I used Dr Collins, the 3 Pearson tests that I mentioned, and a lot of old class notes/textbooks and free online materials. I thought Dr Collins was good for practicing, but the explanations were not good enough for me when I didn't already know the answer well. I basically had 2-3 weeks to study (maybe 3-4 hrs/day) so I did several Dr Collins tests per day, then after checking the answers I would review all of the topics that I got wrong or didn't understand really well. For review I used old notes/textbooks like I mentioned and free websites/videos. I can't remember all of the sites but they were mostly pretty commonly used ones-
Khan Academy- mostly for Gen Chem topics and a little math
Leah4Sci- Ochem (mainly Ochem 1 topics), I only used her free videos from youtube, she does have a subscription tutoring site too but I thought the free ones were fine.
PatrickJMT- free math tutoring website, the videos are also on youtube but I think it's easier to find specific videos or topics on the website
Suzanna Heinze (youtube)- I watched her videos for Micro and some A&P stuff, they are very slow paced though so many people may not like them
A lot of other random youtube videos and study sites for specific topics
I would also look through old posts on here to see what other people have used. I know I used a few other good youtube video sets and websites that I can't remember or find right now that were recommended by other users here.

Overall though, to be totally honest, I would say it probably doesn't matter a ton which study guide/book you use. People seem to do well using a variety of different materials. It seems like it's more a matter of figuring out what specific topics you know and what you don't, and then figuring out a way to learn/remember the stuff you don't know yet in a way that actually works for you.