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- Thread starter nav139
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Here was my study program with Dr. Collins... got a 91 composite (I did this while taking one class in the summer with no job, so adjust your schedule accordingly)
1. Made a study schedule
-Exam date was July 18th, began studying June 1st
-Each week was dedicated towards each section of the PCAT (I did chem, then quantitative, bio, verbal, reading)
-I made room around times I knew I wouldn't study (July 4th, my birthday, etc.)
-Took AT LEAST two tests per day TIMED (tests meaning 1 chemistry section and then 1 quantitative, for example) I would do 4 or 5 at most.
-The week before the PCAT, I took one full-length practice test/day
-Followed my schedule LOOSELY... didn't want to get burned out
2. Review, Review, Review Practice Exams
-Identify any answers you "guessed" on... don't lie to yourself even if you guessed it right
-Immediately look over the incorrect answers and figure out WHY they are correct
-Once you've found your weakness, write them down... and study them frequently
3. Bought Pearson's Practice Exams Online
-Pretty expensive but worth it in my opinion
-Took these exams before my PCAT exam to get a feel for an online test experience (you'd be surprised how different it is to read off a computer than a piece of paper)
-Whats cool about these Practice Exams is that they give you a range in which you will score in the actual PCAT (pretty helpful to improve your score)
4. Tried to read whenever I could (I was expected to get a 10-25% in reading based off of Pearson, I read as much as I could to help my score.. got a 47% in reading which I was most happy about)
-Reading books before bed
-Got on yahoo and read interesting news articles
5. Stayed Healthy
-Good nights sleep
-Ate breakfast every morning
I didn't necessarily study "every day" but I did study more often than not. Looking back, I pretty much only studied during the week because that's just how I normally function academically. If you study better at night, do that. But once the PCAT is a week away, try to mimic a a full-length test experience no matter what. Limiting any unnecessary stresses such as test exhaustion will help you achieve your optimal score.
As for the Dr. Collins, read the Chemistry study guides and know the concepts and know the Biology tests and the concepts they cover. Got a 98 and 99 in those sections, respectively.
Good luck!
1. Made a study schedule
-Exam date was July 18th, began studying June 1st
-Each week was dedicated towards each section of the PCAT (I did chem, then quantitative, bio, verbal, reading)
-I made room around times I knew I wouldn't study (July 4th, my birthday, etc.)
-Took AT LEAST two tests per day TIMED (tests meaning 1 chemistry section and then 1 quantitative, for example) I would do 4 or 5 at most.
-The week before the PCAT, I took one full-length practice test/day
-Followed my schedule LOOSELY... didn't want to get burned out
2. Review, Review, Review Practice Exams
-Identify any answers you "guessed" on... don't lie to yourself even if you guessed it right
-Immediately look over the incorrect answers and figure out WHY they are correct
-Once you've found your weakness, write them down... and study them frequently
3. Bought Pearson's Practice Exams Online
-Pretty expensive but worth it in my opinion
-Took these exams before my PCAT exam to get a feel for an online test experience (you'd be surprised how different it is to read off a computer than a piece of paper)
-Whats cool about these Practice Exams is that they give you a range in which you will score in the actual PCAT (pretty helpful to improve your score)
4. Tried to read whenever I could (I was expected to get a 10-25% in reading based off of Pearson, I read as much as I could to help my score.. got a 47% in reading which I was most happy about)
-Reading books before bed
-Got on yahoo and read interesting news articles
5. Stayed Healthy
-Good nights sleep
-Ate breakfast every morning
I didn't necessarily study "every day" but I did study more often than not. Looking back, I pretty much only studied during the week because that's just how I normally function academically. If you study better at night, do that. But once the PCAT is a week away, try to mimic a a full-length test experience no matter what. Limiting any unnecessary stresses such as test exhaustion will help you achieve your optimal score.
As for the Dr. Collins, read the Chemistry study guides and know the concepts and know the Biology tests and the concepts they cover. Got a 98 and 99 in those sections, respectively.
Good luck!
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Hey nav139,
I agree with Jarkxc that the Pearson practice exams are very useful and worth the money. If I were you, I would start my taking one timed Pearson practice exam and identifying where your weakest areas are. Then study in detail the questions you got wrong. These practice tests helped me focus my studying, and as a result I ended up doing well (92% percentile) on the July 2014 PCAT.
If you're having trouble with the QA section, I highly suggest running through and answering all of the easy questions first. Skip any long word problems and save them for last. On my first Pearson practice test, I tried doing every question in order and ran out of time with 10 questions left. This put me in the 10-20% percentile range for that section. On the next practice test, I ran through and did all of the easy questions first, and this landed me in the 80-99% range. On the actual PCAT, I ended up with a 72% for QA. This was my lowest score, but it was a dramatic improvement from where I would have been without using the practice tests and going through and doing the easy questions first.
I agree with Jarkxc that the Pearson practice exams are very useful and worth the money. If I were you, I would start my taking one timed Pearson practice exam and identifying where your weakest areas are. Then study in detail the questions you got wrong. These practice tests helped me focus my studying, and as a result I ended up doing well (92% percentile) on the July 2014 PCAT.
If you're having trouble with the QA section, I highly suggest running through and answering all of the easy questions first. Skip any long word problems and save them for last. On my first Pearson practice test, I tried doing every question in order and ran out of time with 10 questions left. This put me in the 10-20% percentile range for that section. On the next practice test, I ran through and did all of the easy questions first, and this landed me in the 80-99% range. On the actual PCAT, I ended up with a 72% for QA. This was my lowest score, but it was a dramatic improvement from where I would have been without using the practice tests and going through and doing the easy questions first.
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I mainly studied off a Kaplan book and did pretty solid.
The "unique" approaches I took outside of that entail:
- I googled the heck out of "PCAT bio questions" and got on any site that seemed remotely related. I did that my last week and that helped tremendously (97%). Some websites would have only 5 questions while some had hundreds...all of them were helpful...and some of the same exact questions were on my July 18th test.
- I used the MCAT 101 Verbal Passages book by ExamKrackers and tried to do about 10-15 passages a week. Totally helped me in reading comp (98%)
-Verbal - yeah, I have no advice
-Quant - basically one of my toughest sections due to time and did not have a ton of material to study off of. I Youtubed a bunch of "GRE Math Shortcuts" and even some PCAT Quant problems after going over the basics in my Kaplan book during my last week of studying. I went over the pearson practice PCATs several times. It was the little things I did the last week that helped me increase my speed a lot.
Hope this helps. Gluck
The "unique" approaches I took outside of that entail:
- I googled the heck out of "PCAT bio questions" and got on any site that seemed remotely related. I did that my last week and that helped tremendously (97%). Some websites would have only 5 questions while some had hundreds...all of them were helpful...and some of the same exact questions were on my July 18th test.
- I used the MCAT 101 Verbal Passages book by ExamKrackers and tried to do about 10-15 passages a week. Totally helped me in reading comp (98%)
-Verbal - yeah, I have no advice
-Quant - basically one of my toughest sections due to time and did not have a ton of material to study off of. I Youtubed a bunch of "GRE Math Shortcuts" and even some PCAT Quant problems after going over the basics in my Kaplan book during my last week of studying. I went over the pearson practice PCATs several times. It was the little things I did the last week that helped me increase my speed a lot.
Hope this helps. Gluck
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Wow your score for reading is amazing! Have you always been a avid reader?
Do you mind sharing the websites you used for studying for the Bio subtest?
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I did do a lot of reading growing up, which I think helped me with my pace. But in terms of actually deciphering through the passages and answering the questions - the Examkrackers MCAT 101 Verbal passages helped tremendously, considering they're typically tougher than the PCAT passages. It familiarizes you with the trends and skills of choosing the right answer
Bio Links - These should help:
http://www.studyguidezone.com/pcat_biology.htm
http://www.testprepreview.com/modules/biology1.htm
http://www.pcatprofessor.com/Sample/Biology/
http://www.cram.com/flashcards/bio-pcat-practice-836422
http://www.practicequiz.com/PCAT-Review-Questions---Pharmacy-College ** very helpful
http://www.coursesaver.com/quiz.php?pagename=DAT **fav link
http://www.studybarn.com/TheExam/PCAT-Biology/
http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/112537-PCAT-Biology-Sample-Questions
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The link you labeled "very helpful" has very specific biology questions regarding anatomy that I've never seen in Dr.Collins. Would you say those questions are similar to what's on the PCAT?
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Yeah...when I first looked at those questions...they seemed a little irrelevant....but 2 of the same exact questions showed up on my July 18th PCAT.
