For those that ALREADY PASSED PCAT

[InternDoc]

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What do you think of ARCO review book in term of level of difficulty comparing to the REAL exam ?
easier, same or harder ?

In the reading section, I thought it's a joke (got 100%). The biology section was ok. Have not done chem yet. Please comments. Thank you

 

[azPharmD2B]

You might want to post this in the PCAT forum.

 

[InternDoc]

sorry for posting in the wrong forum.
But, since everyone in pre-pharm forum ALREADY PASSED THE PCAT 😀

 

[InternDoc]

and besides NO one in PCAT forum can answer b/c they have NOT take the exam yet, still preparing.

 

[tangentlink]

Do you mean already TOOK the PCAT?

I did not have the ARCO book so I am not sure how it compares, however the Kaplan book is pretty good. The level of difficulty in this book is actually harder than the PCAT IMO.

 

[InternDoc]

Do you mean already TOOK the PCAT?
yes, I just realized that there is no pass/fail in the exam. 😕

I did not have the ARCO book so I am not sure how it compares, however the Kaplan book is pretty good. The level of difficulty in this book is actually harder than the PCAT IMO.

Thank you, I will get a hold of kaplan

 

[medicalCPA]

DO NOT get the Barron's book! It's crap.

 

[islander01]

What do you think of ARCO review book in term of level of difficulty comparing to the REAL exam ?
easier, same or harder ?

In the reading section, I thought it's a joke (got 100%). The biology section was ok. Have not done chem yet. Please comments. Thank you

what is ur definition of passing? 90 %-tile or what. i dont think there is a passing score for pcat. it is all subjective.

 

[miawww]

DO NOT get the Barron's book! It's crap.

I was being extremely cheap so I used whatever PCAT book they had at the public library --- that's why I used Barron's to practice

I checked out Kaplan's book at the bookstore and it looked pretty good. I didn't buy it of course coz like I said, I was being cheap. I used old Princeton MCAT books instead. I figured the Bio/Chem/Math sections would have similar stuff...

 

[1908PharmD]

Moved to PCAT forum

 

[slick cat]

When I used Kaplan, it was lacking in organic chemistry and the math portion was useless. It also lacked in microbiology so I found other books to study those sections. I also practiced with Cliffs Test Prep 5 practice PCATs.

 

[RxINform]

When I used Kaplan, it was lacking in organic chemistry and the math portion was useless. It also lacked in microbiology so I found other books to study those sections. I also practiced with Cliffs Test Prep 5 practice PCATs.

Organic chem in the Kaplan book was most definitely lacking, luckily I had my textbook (they switched editions on me so they wouldn't take it back). I studied a few chapters, such as alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, SN1, SN2, E1,E2 are the ones i remember, the rxns on the PCAT weren't overly difficult, and the general chemistry questions were more conceptual than anything. Going into it, I thought there would be a lot more calculations. But yeah, Kaplan (2007 version) didn't have much organic, not sure about 2008 version though.

 

[slick cat]

Organic chem in the Kaplan book was most definitely lacking, luckily I had my textbook (they switched editions on me so they wouldn't take it back). I studied a few chapters, such as alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, SN1, SN2, E1,E2 are the ones i remember, the rxns on the PCAT weren't overly difficult, and the general chemistry questions were more conceptual than anything. Going into it, I thought there would be a lot more calculations. But yeah, Kaplan (2007 version) didn't have much organic, not sure about 2008 version though.

When I saw the 2008 book at B&N it was almost identical to the 2007 version minus the geometry chapter. So it's probably still lacking organic, etc.

 

[Knickerbocker]

Look into the schools in which you are interested. Some schools, like UKY, have an average PCAT of 90, so you'd benefit from having a good score there. If a school has an average in the 70s, then a "passing" score will be lower.

 

[RobertZimmerman]

The only thing any book will do is help you get the themes, feel, and timing of the test.

I went straight Barron and came out ok on the test.

Chem and Math will be the ones to worry about timing... maybe the Reading one if you aren't familiar with that style.

 

[InternDoc]

I just borrowed it from lib and give it a try today. I just finished the biology section (200 questions). Seems to be very good, some questions are very details, other are straight up memorize.
Have anyone done or heard this book. If yes, what do you think ? Please comment. Thank you