For those who made a 90+ on the PCAT

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iBeast

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How much/long did you study for and on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest, how difficult was it for you? Basically what I want to know is how big of an accomplishment is it to get a 90+ on the PCAT.

Edit: Doesn't seem like too many people scored in the 90+. Maybe I should have said 80+ or something.

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How much/long did you study for and on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest, how difficult was it for you? Basically what I want to know is how big of an accomplishment is it to get a 90+ on the PCAT.

99% here. I studied for 30 days, for about 60-70minutes each day. Medium/high intensity I suppose. I thought the test was hard, I had guessed that I would score in the low 80s when I walked out the door... I feel like its not so much how much you study, that its more of what type of person are you, or how well do you retain info that you learn in class or do you just memorize then forget etc...
 
99% here. I studied for 30 days, for about 60-70minutes each day. Medium/high intensity I suppose. I thought the test was hard, I had guessed that I would score in the low 80s when I walked out the door... I feel like its not so much how much you study, that its more of what type of person are you, or how well do you retain info that you learn in class or do you just memorize then forget etc...

Lol.

Is it safe to say that with a 90+ PCAT score that you will basically get to any Pharm school you want?
 
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91% here. Studied for exactly 9 days for about 6 hours each day after work. I had taken all of my pre-reqs though & basically studied Collins/Pearson PCAT tests.

Wondering if this should be in the PCAT forum though :rolleyes:

& No, I don't think any PCAT can guarantee an acceptance to every single school, entire package is pretty important.
 
91% here. Studied for exactly 9 days for about 6 hours each day after work. I had taken all of my pre-reqs though & basically studied Collins/Pearson PCAT tests.

Wondering if this should be in the PCAT forum though :rolleyes:

& No, I don't think any PCAT can guarantee an acceptance to every single school, entire package is pretty important.

I guess scoring a 90+ isn't much of an accomplishment at all.
 
I guess scoring a 90+ isn't much of an accomplishment at all.


For some it is. I didn't mean to make it sound insignificant if I did.

But I still stand behind the fact that scoring a 90+ doesn't give you a free ticket to every school.
 
For some it is. I didn't mean to make it sound insignificant if I did.

But I still stand behind the fact that scoring a 90+ doesn't give you a free ticket to every school.

same. ppl always say to me 'oh youre in'.. etc but its not like that. sure it helps; it may give a little 'sparkle' to an application package, but if you dont have something important like grades or exp. you wont get in. i think its not difficult for a committee to turn someone away with a high pcat if they dont have other things.. moreover, i dont think a high pcat can 'save' an applicant who is fundamentally lacking etc... in my opinion, a high pcat is not that significant, same with a low pcat; it doesnt appear to hurt applicants that much. I wish it was more important, that it guaranteed me acceptances etc but it wont... I think ppl stress about it way too much, but it is a big test and thats understandable i suppose...
 
95% (45 reading, 82 VA, 99 bio, 96 chem, 93 math)

Made sure to study at LEAST 4hrs/day for about a month straight during Summer. First time I took the PCAT, it was a bout a 7/10 for difficulty (60%th), and the second time I took it I had a much better foundation of science classes so I would say it was about a 3/10.
 
Oh damn I just checked the PCAT forum. I always thought that when people say their score it means that is how high they are ranked nationally...like in the 90 percentile. Lol so it just means that is their composite score...is there a way to check how you stack up amongst the nation of students taking the PCAT?
 
Oh damn I just checked the PCAT forum. I always thought that when people say their score it means that is how high they are ranked nationally...like in the 90 percentile. Lol so it just means that is their composite score...is there a way to check how you stack up amongst the nation of students taking the PCAT?

No it's a percentile rank. If you got a composite of 90 for the Oct PCAT, that means you scored better than 90% of first-time examinees who took the test between Oct 2004 and May 2007.
 
My score was a 98% composite, 99% Chem, 98% Bio.

I studied approx 1 hr/day for about 3-4 weeks before the test. I used the Kaplan book as my guide. When I felt an explanation in the kAPLAN book wasn't adequate to refresh my memory, then I pulled out an old textbook. I also consulted a Miller's analogy book to help with that portion.

I also had the good fortune that I took it in August. Over the summer, I was tutoring General Chemistry and had just finished Organic II 4 days before the test. So, the Chemistry was all really fresh in my mind so I was able to focus elsewhere on the test.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TAKING TIME TO PRACTICE MATH WITHOUT A CALCULATOR. I SPENT SOME TIME ON THIS AND HAD NO PROBLEMS FINISHING THE CHEM OR MATH SECTIONS IN THE ALLOWED TIME. IF THEY GIVE YOU SOMETHING IN DECIMALS, CONVERT TO FRACTIONS TO DO THE MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION, THIS IS A HUGE TIMESAVER!!
 
My score was a 98% composite, 99% Chem, 98% Bio.

I studied approx 1 hr/day for about 3-4 weeks before the test. I used the Kaplan book as my guide. When I felt an explanation in the kAPLAN book wasn't adequate to refresh my memory, then I pulled out an old textbook. I also consulted a Miller's analogy book to help with that portion.

I also had the good fortune that I took it in August. Over the summer, I was tutoring General Chemistry and had just finished Organic II 4 days before the test. So, the Chemistry was all really fresh in my mind so I was able to focus elsewhere on the test.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TAKING TIME TO PRACTICE MATH WITHOUT A CALCULATOR. I SPENT SOME TIME ON THIS AND HAD NO PROBLEMS FINISHING THE CHEM OR MATH SECTIONS IN THE ALLOWED TIME. IF THEY GIVE YOU SOMETHING IN DECIMALS, CONVERT TO FRACTIONS TO DO THE MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION, THIS IS A HUGE TIMESAVER!!

Good advice! The math and chem seem to be the sections that not everybody finishes in time.

Personally, I got a 99 composite, and I put in about 10-15 hours of study time. I'm a strong test taker. A 99 doesn't guarantee you acceptance but paired with a decent GPA probably does guarantee you an interview, and it's up to you from there.
 
No it's a percentile rank. If you got a composite of 90 for the Oct PCAT, that means you scored better than 90% of first-time examinees who took the test between Oct 2004 and May 2007.

What if I'm a first-time examinee but don't take it in October? Who are they going to stack me up against?
 
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How much/long did you study for and on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest, how difficult was it for you? Basically what I want to know is how big of an accomplishment is it to get a 90+ on the PCAT.

Edit: Doesn't seem like too many people scored in the 90+. Maybe I should have said 80+ or something.

I scored 84th percentile. I did the online practice tests and took my wrong answers to my various professors and asked them to help me with them. It seemed to work out ok. I agree with the above posters that it seems most schools use the PCAT as a way of weeding people out (most score at least x), but as long as you meet the minimum I doubt they consider it very much. I doubt a 99th percentile would get in over a 75th percentile who was stronger in other areas for example.

I found the PCAT to be pathetically easier than what I was told to expect, but I guess that is good in the sense that it is better to be prepared. Several of the people I met that day were second time test takers (I took a late exam) and that made me more nervous.
 
I scored 84th percentile. I did the online practice tests and took my wrong answers to my various professors and asked them to help me with them. It seemed to work out ok. I agree with the above posters that it seems most schools use the PCAT as a way of weeding people out (most score at least x), but as long as you meet the minimum I doubt they consider it very much. I doubt a 99th percentile would get in over a 75th percentile who was stronger in other areas for example.

I found the PCAT to be pathetically easier than what I was told to expect, but I guess that is good in the sense that it is better to be prepared. Several of the people I met that day were second time test takers (I took a late exam) and that made me more nervous.

So your score was stacked up against second time test takers even thought your a first time test taker?

And the bold part...whose getting in over a 99th percentile with a decent GPA like 3.6? I would say 3.6 and 99 PCAT is shoe in no? Is community hours and extra ish of that nature is really that much of importance?
 
So your score was stacked up against second time test takers even thought your a first time test taker?

No, that is not how they rank PCAT scores. It is based on first time test takers over the past five years. So whether you have a "smart" group vs. a "dumb" group on test day won't matter.

And the bold part...whose getting in over a 99th percentile with a decent GPA like 3.6? I would say 3.6 and 99 PCAT is shoe in no? Is community hours and extra ish of that nature is really that much of importance?

I suppose it varies by school, but I would say a high GPA is an excellent predictor for getting in. Of course a high PCAT can only help, but I would say the high GPA will go the farthest toward getting in. EC's are fine, but probably somewhat overrated. Experience is great, but plenty of people get in without it (myself included).

Different people have different paths to getting into pharmacy school, but I bet the "safest" (or surest) method is to have a high GPA. It's also kinda funny because experience is much more important than grades as far as determining postgraduate success, but pharmacy schools don't seem to be that preoccupied with making sure their students have prior experience in pharmacy. I guess that's what we have IPPE and APPE's for.
 
No, that is not how they rank PCAT scores. It is based on first time test takers over the past five years. So whether you have a "smart" group vs. a "dumb" group on test day won't matter.



I suppose it varies by school, but I would say a high GPA is an excellent predictor for getting in. Of course a high PCAT can only help, but I would say the high GPA will go the farthest toward getting in. EC's are fine, but probably somewhat overrated. Experience is great, but plenty of people get in without it (myself included).

Different people have different paths to getting into pharmacy school, but I bet the "safest" (or surest) method is to have a high GPA. It's also kinda funny because experience is much more important than grades as far as determining postgraduate success, but pharmacy schools don't seem to be that preoccupied with making sure their students have prior experience in pharmacy. I guess that's what we have IPPE and APPE's for.

Is there a place where I can view PCAT statistics over the past 5 years?

And yeah, I guess I see your point. It's different for everyone. But what would be your opinion on this scenario:

3.5 GPA with 95 PCAT vs. 3.8 GPA with 80 PCAT with everything else being the same...

Who would get the nod? My honest opinion is that they both would get in.

Basically, I just can't see someone with even a 3.4 GPA and 95 PCAT getting rejected.
 
3.5 GPA with 95 PCAT vs. 3.8 GPA with 80 PCAT with everything else being the same...

Who would get the nod? My honest opinion is that they both would get in.

Basically, I just can't see someone with even a 3.4 GPA and 95 PCAT getting rejected.


If it was down to the last seat at a particular school, I think the 95 PCAT would get the nod. The PCAT puts everyone on the same playing field. It is hard to compare GPA's from different schools.
 
If it was down to the last seat at a particular school, I think the 95 PCAT would get the nod. The PCAT puts everyone on the same playing field. It is hard to compare GPA's from different schools.

That's how I see it.
 
Is there a place where I can view PCAT statistics over the past 5 years?

And yeah, I guess I see your point. It's different for everyone. But what would be your opinion on this scenario:

3.5 GPA with 95 PCAT vs. 3.8 GPA with 80 PCAT with everything else being the same...

Who would get the nod? My honest opinion is that they both would get in.

Basically, I just can't see someone with even a 3.4 GPA and 95 PCAT getting rejected.

I don't know of any such website. I don't know what the advantage of such a website would be. What kind of statistics would you want to see? Just do the best you can, of course.

I am not on an admission committee so I won't pretend to know how those two exact apps would fall, but I will say my impression from interviews, etc. is that most admissions people just do not consider the PCAT all that important. It is simply a requirement that the school has that you do at least this good. After that it seemed like GPA, EC's and experience came more into play.

I know it's hard to think this way when you are applying, but committees try to look at the total package, not just a rank of highest to lowest PCAT scores. Having said that I do think GPA has the single biggest effect all things considered.
 
I got a 99 and I'm not even sure I'd get an interview at some schools. I graduated in the early 90s but didn't apply myself that much. I ended up retaking my prereqs at a CC because my classes were too old and got As on everything. But factoring in my old GPA with the retakes, I think I ended up around a 3.1. Depending on how much a school factors in past performance or discounts grades from CCs, I could see some schools passing on me just because of my GPA. I guess I'll never know. I applied to just one school and it didn't even see my PCAT scores so I don't know how much the high score would have helped.
 
The thing with GPA is that you really never know how "strong" the applicant is without looking at the full transcript. Someone could have a 3.8 GPA and have it littered with W's while someone with a 3.4 GPA has none. Of course there's extenuating circumstances for the W's but I do know of people who withdraw last minute because they know they can't make that A and they don't want to ruin their 4.0. Does that 4.0 mean anything at that point? IMO, not really. Just means you don't mind wasting money and time to protect that holy 4.0.

Also, without looking at the transcript, you would never know what classes earned what grades. GPA just gives you a cumulative score for ALL classes. I would assume that the Adcoms care if the person got A's in Orgo vs the person who got C's in Orgo but A's in basket weaving to make that GPA look higher. & then of course there's course load as well, the list just goes on and on.

Also, I do think that the PCAT matters... but I don't think that the Adcoms will care about a difference between a 80 and a 90. Besides, I'm sure they do look at subscores and the composite sometimes gives a very skewed number as well. But is there a difference between a 60 and a 90? I would think there is.

Even still, while 3.4/95 looks great, you never know what that 3.4 means exactly. I would agree that you'd probably get into most places but it still doesn't give you some golden ticket to every single school.
 
Personally, I think you're over-analyzing the numbers.

Each school considers different things. Some schools are very numbers-based, whereas some are more holistic in their criteria.

My PCAT was in the 70s, 3.46 GPA, but I have a **** ton of extra curricular work and I am a pharmacy technician. So I tried to make up for my lower numbers with experience and being well-rounded.

So get the highest GPA you can, work hard, and pharmacy school will see that.

As for the PCAT, to me it felt a lot like an AP test. Purely based on your knowledge of material. So I would suggest you take it right after you finish your chemistry and biology pre-reqs. The math you can do on your own time; course not necessarily needed. The main thing to worry about is time. Practice under timed conditions!!! I took the PCAT over a year after my pre-reqs were finished (I'm a senior now) and it was difficult to go back after taking so many other courses in between. Hence my lower score.
 
I would assume that when GPA (i.e., academic performance) is considered, it would include a thorough evaluation of the transcript, like SparkLy noted.

There's a valid argument for the 3.8/80 as well and that is the significance of long-term inclusive performance over a few sittings of an exam that have classes/books that teach to the test and generally reflects the performance of someone learning the material a second time (first being the actual college course).

GPAs are suppose to be standardized by PharmCAS. Presumably, it won't be that hard to obtain GPA/rank statistics from each school or even use notions of relative competitiveness of the applicants' respective schools.
 
Personally, I think you're over-analyzing the numbers.

Each school considers different things. Some schools are very numbers-based, whereas some are more holistic in their criteria.

My PCAT was in the 70s, 3.46 GPA, but I have a **** ton of extra curricular work and I am a pharmacy technician. So I tried to make up for my lower numbers with experience and being well-rounded.

So get the highest GPA you can, work hard, and pharmacy school will see that.

As for the PCAT, to me it felt a lot like an AP test. Purely based on your knowledge of material. So I would suggest you take it right after you finish your chemistry and biology pre-reqs. The math you can do on your own time; course not necessarily needed. The main thing to worry about is time. Practice under timed conditions!!! I took the PCAT over a year after my pre-reqs were finished (I'm a senior now) and it was difficult to go back after taking so many other courses in between. Hence my lower score.

Thanks a lot of sharing your numbers. Be sure to update your UF application status whenever you get an update from them...I think can I get get a pretty good gauge from that.
 
Is that where you go? Or because UF is a good school? I turned in my supplemental just a few weeks ago, so I probably won't hear from them for a while unfortunately.
 
I got a 92 on the PCAT, and I honestly thing it was the thing that helped me score an interview on the first day of my top choice school. My GPA is average for their admit (3.6), and I have a decent amount of ECs and volunteer experiences (not a lot of pharm experience though, which I think is why the high PCAT was so important to me).

When the average admitted student has a 70-80 PCAT, a 90+ will definitely throw up a flag in your favor as long as the rest of your app is at least average or above, IMO. But like others have said, a 90+ PCAT can't save a super low GPA or completely lack of ECs. It can, however, boost you from third or fourth rounds of interviews to first or second round.
 
I got a 92 on the PCAT, and I honestly thing it was the thing that helped me score an interview on the first day of my top choice school. My GPA is average for their admit (3.6), and I have a decent amount of ECs and volunteer experiences (not a lot of pharm experience though, which I think is why the high PCAT was so important to me).

When the average admitted student has a 70-80 PCAT, a 90+ will definitely throw up a flag in your favor as long as the rest of your app is at least average or above, IMO. But like others have said, a 90+ PCAT can't save a super low GPA or completely lack of ECs. It can, however, boost you from third or fourth rounds of interviews to first or second round.

Lol damn. I have no EC's whatsoever. I have similar stats to yours (3.7 Overall GPA/3.7 Science GPA), haven't taken PCAT yet though.
 
Is that where you go? Or because UF is a good school? I turned in my supplemental just a few weeks ago, so I probably won't hear from them for a while unfortunately.

I go to UCF. But yeah, UF is the school I am looking into the most with Nova second on my list.
 
I'll echo the statements that a high PCAT probably plays a factor in the initial review of your application and possibly helps to receive interviews, but if you don't have other things to support those numbers (GPA, Pharmacy Experience, EC Experience, strong LORs, Personal Statement) nothing is guaranteed. And your ability to have all those things come through in an interview is extremely important, because some schools and some individual interviewers place a great amount of importance on that area.
 
Well whatevs.

I got the GPA and I'll focus on the PCAT. The rest is for only if I was weak in my GPA or PCAT.
 
I would assume that when GPA (i.e., academic performance) is considered, it would include a thorough evaluation of the transcript, like SparkLy noted.

There's a valid argument for the 3.8/80 as well and that is the significance of long-term inclusive performance over a few sittings of an exam that have classes/books that teach to the test and generally reflects the performance of someone learning the material a second time (first being the actual college course).

GPAs are suppose to be standardized by PharmCAS. Presumably, it won't be that hard to obtain GPA/rank statistics from each school or even use notions of relative competitiveness of the applicants' respective schools.

I got in to 4 schools with a 2.94 GPA and a 94 PCAT.

Relied on my PCAT and my hella extensive resume lol
 
If it was down to the last seat at a particular school, I think the 95 PCAT would get the nod. The PCAT puts everyone on the same playing field. It is hard to compare GPA's from different schools.

It's not all numbers. In those cases, the interview would be the deciding factor. I think at most schools, once you have the interview, your stats are good enough, and whether you get in or not is based on how the interview went.
 
It's not all numbers. In those cases, the interview would be the deciding factor. I think at most schools, once you have the interview, your stats are good enough, and whether you get in or not is based on how the interview went.

I didn't say it was all about the numbers. I answered somebodies question. If it came down to tough decisions by the admissions committee between 2 good candidates, I believe the person with the higher PCAT would get the nod. Of course interview performance would make a difference if one person differentiated themselves over another candidate.

I would think ranking students based on interview performance can be a challenge for the schools. Most school's have multiple interviewers, interviewing many students over the course of several days. No matter how objective a school tries to define their interview criteria, there is still alot of subjectivity in the process.
 
Not trying to sound disheartening, but you should probably try to get some pharmacy experience and extracurricular activities on your resume if you're looking into UF and Nova. (I'm from Florida so I'm kind of familiar with those schools).

I say this because apparently Nova is really big on pharmacy experience (I didn't apply there, but I use to go there for post-grad business classes) and I have friends in the program. Also, not sure if you applied to UF yet, but the supplemental application contains about 10 mini-essay questions that revolve around extracurricular activity, pharm experience, volunteer work, etc.

UF also does not interview many people (they go off your paper application mostly to determine if they want to accept you and then interview as a "formality" apparently). I didn't interview at UF either, but I was granted one last year and ended up going with the school that first accepted me because I loved it up here. I'm sure I probably barely got the interview at UF though and I had a 93 on the PCAT (I had something like a 3.6 in my prereqs which is mainly what they say UF looks at) and an alright/decent list of ECs, but nothing mind blowing.

I'm just saying this to be safe... only because it's probably very important to you that you get into one of these top choice schools of yours and they can be really unpredictable with who they accept (by this I mean that grades and PCAT are not always a great indicator of what the admissions committee is looking for). Sure if you have close to a 4.0 and a 90+ PCAT then it's probably not a huge issue if you don't have experience or EC's, but if you start getting down into the mid-lower 3.0's then there are going to be many many more applicants with similar stats and lenghty resumes who are competing for spots.

Also about the PCAT. I took it over the summer of 2008 and I just read the Kaplan book once and put it away. I took about a month to read it because I would read small sections at a time, maybe like every other day. The PCAT is more about knowing the material from your pre-req classes I think. If you're at UCF I'm assuming that you're working on a bachelor's degree and everything, so you should be okay if you feel like you're retained a lot of the biology/chemistry related material over time (it helps to take upper level sciences to reinforce the basic info though).

Just my opinion.
 
I feel like its not so much how much you study, that its more of what type of person are you, or how well do you retain info that you learn in class or do you just memorize then forget etc...

Hmmm, I tend to memorize then forget. Is that bad?

Well it really depends on the class, but in general id say I forget quite a bit of info. after the semester is over
 
Hmmm, I tend to memorize then forget. Is that bad?

Well it really depends on the class, but in general id say I forget quite a bit of info. after the semester is over

Honestly, I would work on your retention. I studied for the PCAT hardcore for a little over a week (finals from spring quarter were a week before, eek!), but still did very well because I retained the majority of the information that I learned in all my pre-reqs. If you just forget the info, why pay the money to take the class in the first place? You're ripping yourself off.
 
Honestly, I would work on your retention. I studied for the PCAT hardcore for a little over a week (finals from spring quarter were a week before, eek!), but still did very well because I retained the majority of the information that I learned in all my pre-reqs. If you just forget the info, why pay the money to take the class in the first place? You're ripping yourself off.

I don't think anyone chooses to forget the info they need to know for the PCAT. :laugh:
 
I got a 99%. (86 Verbal, 88 Bio, 97 Reading, 99 Math and 99 Chem)

I studied for about 2-3 hours for two weeks. I'm generally not a strong test taker (my GPA's pretty mediocre). I practically did no studying for verbal or reading besides doing two practice tests.

For all other sections, I used the Kaplan book. I wouldn't say it's too helpful for those people who have months to study, but it's definitely a good "general concept" kind of thing if you're in a time crunch. My advice for math is to have a really good grasp of your estimation skills. There may be problems that require simple but tedious calculations, so being able to estimate is a big deal (ie assuming 11 is about 10). I still didn't finish all the problems (about two or three questions left), but the good thing is you don't get points marked off for wrong answers like the SAT.

For chem, I don't remember too much. Maybe someone else can help you with that.
 
I got a composite percentile of 97. Studied for about 3-4 days prior to the test, I took the practice tests in the Kaplan book, then mark my mistakes and figure out how to do them correctly. Then I took the 2 official practice exams and did the same thing.
 
I got a composite percentile of 97. Studied for about 3-4 days prior to the test, I took the practice tests in the Kaplan book, then mark my mistakes and figure out how to do them correctly. Then I took the 2 official practice exams and did the same thing.

Yeah I studied for like 12-17 minutes driving to the test the morning of and scored a 99. My gpa is 4.0. What are my chances? I'm really worried. :scared:
 
Not trying to sound disheartening, but you should probably try to get some pharmacy experience and extracurricular activities on your resume if you're looking into UF and Nova. (I'm from Florida so I'm kind of familiar with those schools).

I say this because apparently Nova is really big on pharmacy experience (I didn't apply there, but I use to go there for post-grad business classes) and I have friends in the program. Also, not sure if you applied to UF yet, but the supplemental application contains about 10 mini-essay questions that revolve around extracurricular activity, pharm experience, volunteer work, etc.

UF also does not interview many people (they go off your paper application mostly to determine if they want to accept you and then interview as a "formality" apparently). I didn't interview at UF either, but I was granted one last year and ended up going with the school that first accepted me because I loved it up here. I'm sure I probably barely got the interview at UF though and I had a 93 on the PCAT (I had something like a 3.6 in my prereqs which is mainly what they say UF looks at) and an alright/decent list of ECs, but nothing mind blowing.

I'm just saying this to be safe... only because it's probably very important to you that you get into one of these top choice schools of yours and they can be really unpredictable with who they accept (by this I mean that grades and PCAT are not always a great indicator of what the admissions committee is looking for). Sure if you have close to a 4.0 and a 90+ PCAT then it's probably not a huge issue if you don't have experience or EC's, but if you start getting down into the mid-lower 3.0's then there are going to be many many more applicants with similar stats and lenghty resumes who are competing for spots.

Also about the PCAT. I took it over the summer of 2008 and I just read the Kaplan book once and put it away. I took about a month to read it because I would read small sections at a time, maybe like every other day. The PCAT is more about knowing the material from your pre-req classes I think. If you're at UCF I'm assuming that you're working on a bachelor's degree and everything, so you should be okay if you feel like you're retained a lot of the biology/chemistry related material over time (it helps to take upper level sciences to reinforce the basic info though).

Just my opinion.

Thanks for this informative post.

Don't know why you would have a problem getting in.
 
99th percentile here. All told, I probably studied 25 hours over the course of 3 weeks.

Frankly, I can't understand why any adcom would give GPA priority over PCAT score. Schools are so different in the way that they approach grade inflation (hello 5.0?) that GPA really isn't a reliable indicator of a student's ability. It always makes my eyebrows go V-shaped whenever I see someone with a 4.0 and a mediocre PCAT score. Isn't a 4.0 supposed to be ridiculously rare?
 
99th percentile here. All told, I probably studied 25 hours over the course of 3 weeks.

Frankly, I can't understand why any adcom would give GPA priority over PCAT score. Schools are so different in the way that they approach grade inflation (hello 5.0?) that GPA really isn't a reliable indicator of a student's ability. It always makes my eyebrows go V-shaped whenever I see someone with a 4.0 and a mediocre PCAT score. Isn't a 4.0 supposed to be ridiculously rare?

dude seriously.. i dunno what to make of the ppl with like sub 3.0s with 95+ on the pcat, but id pick them over someone with a 4.0 and a 60. To me the pcat indicates if you retain information and actually care about it/can actually use it after youve finished a class.
 
99th percentile here. All told, I probably studied 25 hours over the course of 3 weeks.

Frankly, I can't understand why any adcom would give GPA priority over PCAT score. Schools are so different in the way that they approach grade inflation (hello 5.0?) that GPA really isn't a reliable indicator of a student's ability. It always makes my eyebrows go V-shaped whenever I see someone with a 4.0 and a mediocre PCAT score. Isn't a 4.0 supposed to be ridiculously rare?

I went to a very prestigious private HS and I thought it would be wicked tough, but it was quite the opposite. Every other person had a 4.0. The school just liked to brag how many of their students got into top universities. Then I got my ass kicked going to a state public school for college. I've heard of some really easy private colleges too when it comes to grade inflation. If I was an adcom I would look at pcat scores very closely. Yes it can be a rediculous test, but everyone is taking it so it's the only thing you can do to compare applicants.
 
Hi iBeast. I scored a 97% composite on the PCAT, but still thought it was pretty hard. On a scale of 1-10, I would probably rank it a 9 overall in difficulty. My GPA wasn't that high, so I think my PCAT definitely helped me get into some schools. I studied for about 1.5 months. Good luck!
 
dude seriously.. i dunno what to make of the ppl with like sub 3.0s with 95+ on the pcat, but id pick them over someone with a 4.0 and a 60. To me the pcat indicates if you retain information and actually care about it/can actually use it after youve finished a class.

I agree in theory, but in practise some people are just better test takers than others. High PCAT doesn't mean you know more than another candidate, it just means you tested well. This is especially true giving how much of the test is verbal and reading comprehension. I mean you can't really "fake" your way through the chemistry section, but a big part of the PCAT doesn't even correlate to the knowledge you gain in pre-pharmacy and IMO doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
 
High PCAT doesn't mean you know more than another candidate, it just means you tested well.

Does this not apply to GPA as well? Should ad coms not even consider gpa/pcat for admissions? I don't think it matters how much you know unless you can prove it with grades which are usually the result of testing.
 
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