General PCAT Study Questisons

[H2Pitt]

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Hey all hope studying for July's PCAT exam is going well! I just had a general question for those who are studying/studied for the PCATs. I have Dr. Collins PCAT Prep self-study guide, now when I study I usually time myself in order to see how I would do if I were timed. So I'm asking you guys, do you guys time yourselves when doing the tests or do you do without a time restriction and go through the practice test to grasp the concepts? Thanks in advance for your thoughts, contributions, and advice.

 

[rshah816]

For the first few practice tests in each section, I didn't time myself. After those, I timed myself on each one just to increase my speed and accuracy. It's important to grasp the concepts, yes, but it is also important to make sure you can solve problems quickly so you don't run out of time on the pcat and have to leave questions unanswered.

 

[moneyman244]

At this point, you're best off timing yourself. However, if you don't understand the concepts, I would try to read the answer explanation and then figure out why/how the certain answer was correct.

 

[jarab012]

I've timed myself from when I started studying. At the end I would go back and make test corrections going back to solve each thing I got wrong.

 

[H2Pitt]

Another question regarding this prep, what would the scores on Dr. Collins' Prep practice tests correlate on the real PCAT exam? I know there's no real number you guys can give me, I'm just trying to see where I fall.

 

[Minokim2512]

It depends on the section but I've been getting >=33/48 on the science/maths portion of his tests and that seems to fall in the 80-99 range on my practice scores

 

[H2Pitt]

And are you really studying for the verbal and reading comprehension sections or just going to wing it the day of the exam?

 

[Minokim2512]

I'm weak at RC but I do try improving by doing a passage daily. I don't spend too much time since other subtests are more important yet I don't want to tank it either.
For VA, I studied this list of >700 GRE words which helps with some sentence completion, esp with eliminating wrong answers. I don't wing them, just work less hard so I can focus on other stuff.

 

[twinoneseven]

well done,At the end I would go back and make test corrections going back to solve each thing I got wrong.thanks

 

[Mimrose]

My first practice test when I timed myself, I realized I needed to work on the pacing for my Chemistry and Math sections. I think timing is very helpful cause it tells you if you need to be better at keeping track of time or not...For me, I've always tended to hate skipping questions and moving on, but I feel that it's the best strategy for math. Better to get all the 'easy' questions done than get stuck 10 problems from the end on a hard one and miss out on a few other easily solved questions!