Dr. Collins Practice Tests vs Real PCAT?

[nm1187]

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I was curious, I've just finished the Chemistry section of my Dr. Collins review, and was wondering if anyone knew just how closely the 9 practice tests that come with the material match the difficulty levels of the actual PCAT?

I ask because Chem. was what I thought would be my most difficult section, because it's been a few years since I've had those classes. However, after spending a solid couple weeks, 3-5 hours a day, the practice tests seem a breeze. After the first three, I scored 42/50, 47/50, 49/50, in that order.

Is this a good sign that I know the material, or are the tests that Dr. Collins provides simply easier than the actually PCAT questions?

Thanks in advance!

-NM

 

[jnmnh]

I'll second this. Chem was def supposed to be my hardest section, so I started with it first. And I thought the tests would be harder, after doing the first 3. I am going to bring a timer for the rest of them and see how the time constraints affect things, but I was moving quickly (on purpose) so far.

 

[nm1187]

Dr. Collins, I believe, suggests only allowing yourself 30 min to do the questions. The first test I ALMOST ran out of time, the other two I completed with over 5 minutes to spare.

 

[chemguy79]

I thought that the tests were incredibly similar to the material on the PCAT. There are a few more Organic questions on my form of the actual exam, but they are incredibly easy alkene reactions. I did really well on his practice tests and scored in the 99th percentile, so you should be in good shape.

 

[57girl]

Opinions on Dr. Collins quant prep for the actual PCAT? Any good recs for additional quant prep to back up Collins?

 

[helloeveryone]

I would say that Dr. Collin's chem was very helpful... with that said, I believe that the Chem portion of PCAT (I did it twice) was a little harder. There were more orgo questions compared to Dr. Collin's and also the questions were lengthier (they intentionally make them seem longer to kill your time)!

Try ALL Dr. Collins tests and try to do them in less than 30 min (maybe 20-25 min) so you'll be used to answering those questions FAST on the actual PCAT.

 

[knguyen2181]

I used Dr. Collins and the PCAT Destroyer. I would also recommend the destroyer. It's a spiral bound notebook with lots of difficult questions. Some of the questions are harder than the actual PCAT questions, but it really helped me.