Hello August PCAT takers,

[chiko]

---

Members do not see this ad.

How is your preparation going? I'am so far done with the flashcards book and 3/4th of Barron's. I haven't touched Kaplan study guide. For some reason I hate studying with Kaplan book(it scares me ). Maybe I'll start in the first week of August. For these last ten days of July I'am planning to review my Chemistry and Maths textbook (hope I do it...😀). Bye.👍

 

[RNtoPharmD]

How is your preparation going? I'am so far done with the flashcards book and 3/4th of Barron's. I haven't touched Kaplan study guide. For some reason I hate studying with Kaplan book(it scares me ). Maybe I'll start in the first week of August. For these last ten days of July I'am planning to review my Chemistry and Maths textbook (hope I do it...😀). Bye.👍

I am stressed now.. Time is running out.. Working full time really took my time away from studying.. only about one month left.🙂

I am done with Kaplan study guide in Orgo/ General Chemistry and Math portion. I like chemistry portion. It is easy to understand. But...For some reasons, I still have problem with Chriality and conformation chapter in orgo chem!! I think Math portion in Kaplan in not sufficinet! It lacks precalculus. I need to spend more time with other topics of math (vector, log, function) using other study guide.


Biology/Verbal review will be my last preparations. I am listening to PCAT audio learn in the mean time. Reading and memorizing are my forte. For this reason, I think Bio/Verbal is not as agonizing for me as Chem and Math.

LOL.. I took Chemistry, Bio, Math years ago. I no longer have textbooks. Therefore, I have no choice but to use the study guides 🙂

Have to go to work now..😀 wish I can quit my job and study for PCAT.. I feel like not having enough time to study even though I sacrifice my time with family and friends.


Are your flashcards helpful? From which publisher? May be I can buy and use it? I am using Kaplan Flashcards now. They are too fundamental.

 

[chiko]

I took chemistry and Math 2 years back, so I still remember some of the concepts(..not all 😀). The flash cards book was kind of easy( publisher was REA). I don't know whether it would be useful.......because the math portion had very little calculus and I don't remember seeing any vector questions. I liked the verbal part and Biology part.
Barron's is way too easy compared to Kaplan. Honestly, I don't think any of these study guides are a true representation of the official PCAT( just my opinion..😉). I'am planning to do the practice PCAT test by Harcourt, hoping atleast that would represent the official PCAT (just hoping....).
👍Best wishes for your preparation. Bye.

 

[AZgurl]

Yup taking it in August here too.. I just began to ask for recommendation letters, kinda late but oh well..
I went through the Kaplan book once but do not really remember everything 😀 Flashcards book is too easy. I am also using Baron and Cliff's. Does anyone else know of any other books that I didnt mention?

 

[chiko]

I have 2 reference letters completed so far. I still have to get 1 from my science professor. Hope she'll send it soon. At present I am working on my personal statement. As far as other PCAT study guides, someone in this forum mentioned about an old ARCO PCAT study guide.I found one in our school library today, hope to use it too. Don't know for sure if all these preparations are going to help in the real PCAT....😀......got wait and see. Anyways 👍 Best Wishes for your preparation too. Bye.

 

[think]

hey
r u guys studying hyperbolas, elipses etc. and their graphs..and how to get the graphs...?

are there any graphs on the pcat math section?

 

[PharmHopeful3]

hey
r u guys studying hyperbolas, elipses etc. and their graphs..and how to get the graphs...?

are there any graphs on the pcat math section?

yeah, i remember there being a graph question from the last pcat...
it showed a graph and you had to identify the equation that generated it...

 

[PharmLMD]

I still have one week of exams left for summer courses then it will be non stop studying for PCAT in August! I got an 82 on the last one but the stupid 53 on the verbal ability dragged my composite down, I got an 87 on chemistry, quantitative, and reading, ANNOYING!

I am about to purchase the Cliff's book, is it worth it?

 

[chem123]

i havnt really started studying yet, i took my pcat in june and did extremely bad (less than 50), but i havnt had time to study do u guys think 1 month is enough?, i was planning 1 week for each subject???(i'm a fast learner, horrible memorizer)

 

[PharmLMD]

Last PCAT was very vector heavy too. Damn Kaplan book doesn't seem to have much on it and I haven't done vectors in ages, I need to study up on that somehow.

 

[UBCvan]

guys how much statistics would be on the august pcat?does anybod who took the june pcat remember if there was any stat (izi or hard)in there or how many if there was any?


ALSO, is the math section harder than those that are in the 5 practise cliff notes??? i dont mean the content..i mean the difficulty ..

tnx

i m taking the august and i've been studyin for 3 month now(haven taken bio gen 2,microb,organic)i ve been studyin my books, notes, cliffs, and kaplan..

 

[oink2655]

i practically fall asleep with all my pcat study materials now. i've gone thru the kaplan, barron, arco, rea, cliff books already. I'm just working on the problems right now and learning calculus on the way. For the verbal section I have been just studying at the gym memorizing definitions as I am working out.

20 more days..

 

[dcz]

I really havnt done anything. Its pretty sad. Today is the first day I did anything remotely productive. I read the Kaplan Chemistry portion. I only did that because chemistry is the only thing I can actually stand. I should be focusing on the verbal section, as that was my lowest on my last time.

I plan on reading my Kaplan book from cover to cover. Then I plan on going through my calculus notes and brushing up on my ochem!

 

[RNtoPharmD]

20 more days..

"9" more days for me, excluding the days that I will be working

I hope they will have low patient cencus and cancel me!!

I feel so unprepared... I prepared nothing for reading and writing part.

I don't know what to study for Math section either. As I posted earlier, precal / calculus sections are new in recent PCAT and many study guides doesn't seem to adapt to this new version of PCAT.

 

[PharmLMD]

"9" more days for me, excluding the days that I will be working

I hope they will have low patient cencus and cancel me!!

I feel so unprepared... I prepared nothing for reading and writing part.

I don't know what to study for Math section either. As I posted earlier, precal / calculus sections are new in recent PCAT and many study guides doesn't seem to adapt to this new version of PCAT.

What really sucks is they aren't saying "solve this integral" they are saying, solve using integration by parts or something like that. Sucks when they give a particular method because it forces you to learn every method that you haven't done in YEARS. Damn vector stuff sucks too, what the hell do vectors have to do with pharmacy, we aren't physicists!

 

[rush1210]

Just a lil advice to y'all from a June taker:
For bio, brush up on your symbiotic relationships, that showed up more than I expected.
Pay attention to the news and current events for the writing section.
I don't remember much from the chem section but I know I had problems with branched structural formulas and nomenclature.
For math, the whole vector mania is no secret by now. I guess the days of simple arithmetic and algebra are over.
Hope this is helpful to someone.

 

[chiko]

Thanks rush1210 for your advice. I'll surely pay attention to all those information that you mentioned.

 

[sASU]

I know this may sound dumb, but what exactly do you all mean by vectors? I havent taken calc in forever, so can somebody please give me an example of a vector. Thanks in advance.

 

[aaimess]

yeah, what do you guys mean by vectors? is it true that there are no more geometry problems and more stat and probability?

 

[fifteen1]

Yes, there are no more geometry problems and more stat and probability(according to Harcourt :check. website). 🙂

*The vector knowledge required is basic: addition, substraction and scalar multiplication of vectors.

Based on my experience from the June 2007 PCAT.

===>>> There were a few Stat/Prob questions, However, there were many Calculus questions: i)differentiation / integration(the usuals) ii) Limits/Continuity(couple questions), iii) Mean value Theorem(1 question).
.....

 

[Nellynel1]

I only studied the kaplan book does anyone know if its good enough because the O-chem section looks like it sucks? I hope so if not I'll be taking it again in October.

 

[rush1210]

you definitely need more than the kaplan book especially for o-chem. I used exam krackers for that section.

 

[Loren8443]

The Princeton Review MCAT book is also good for O-chem. Plus it has a small section on microbiology, which Kaplan's PCAT book is also lacking.

 

[TotallyAnnoying]

So far I feel pretty good, but I planned on taking this August exam as a warm up for October.

My main stress is these recommendation letters, although I start organic book tomorrow, and I'm sure the stress will re-focus.

😱

 

[JohnKimx83]

Thanks for all the info.

How close was the actual test (June) to the Math practice exam given at the end of the Kaplan book?

The Quantitative was the least of my worries, but I really have to brush up on a lot of calculus.

 

[firstgeneration]

Yes, there are no more geometry problems and more stat and probability(according to Harcourt :check. website). 🙂

*The vector knowledge required is basic: addition, substraction and scalar multiplication of vectors.

Based on my experience from the June 2007 PCAT.

===>>> There were a few Stat/Prob questions, However, there were many Calculus questions: i)differentiation / integration(the usuals) ii) Limits/Continuity(couple questions), iii) Mean value Theorem(1 question).
.....

Any suggestions on learning Vectors easier....even with adding ande subtracting vectors seems like it is a long process....also like someone stated before the Kaplan book is not covering a lot about vectors...I am also nervous about...any suggestions about other topics...like the bio, chemistry and o-chem...what should I really focus on and not...there is no much...seems like I am going CRAZY..so please help....although I probably am repetitive...sorry...suggestions..

 

[meowmeow]

wow seems like a lot of people are using similar study materials! has anyone else tried www.pcatprofessor.com? i am using that right now and i believe it is helping a lot, along with a latin/greek word root book.