How do you study for the PCAT in a Month?

[TennisBoy78]

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I am scheduled for the June 2006 PCAT, but will not focus on it until all of my Spring classes are completed (will be finished after May 9th). At this point, I will be done with all of my pre-reqs for Pharmacy School (applying for 2007).

Since I took the PCAT once before, I kind of know what kind of questions will be asked. The first time, I didn't do too well, but I didn't study much either.

I have heard many rave reviews about the Kaplan book, but it is HUGE and most of it is fluff (Questions might ask "What is an element" which will NOT be asked on the PCAT) Not all of the Kaplan book is useless because many people like it. My point though is that you would have to read through too much of elementary stuff to get to more difficult questions.

If you used the Kaplan book, was it necessary to go through the whole book or did you study it in a particular way? Also, if you used another method, how did you go about studying?

Lastly, it has been a long time since I've done calculus. To what extent should I study the subject. I found function problems on the PCAT and a lot of questions with graphs (at least I can remember). To what level calculus is this and particularly, what type of problems dealing with calculus does the PCAT test?

Thank you for your advice!

 

[aya01]

If you've already taken the PCAT once before, you should have a general idea as to what your main weaknesses were. Focus on those areas when you use the Kaplan book, and that should help boost your score 👍

A general understanding of calculus (calc I) should be sufficient to complete the problems on the PCAT, so brush up on derivatives, etc. I'm not sure if the new Kaplan includes a section for calculus or not, but if it doesn't, I would suggest going out to find a calculus review book since you haven't had calculus in awhile.

Good luck!

 

[UTCPharm]

The Kaplan book was basically the only thing I used to prepare for the PCAT. I found the Biology and Chem sections to be pretty helpful, although they went into way too much detail in the Chem section. The practice tests were way too difficult, but I looked over them anyways, I just didn't worry too much if I didn't know all their questions. As far as the other sections, I barely used them. I had an older copy of the Kaplan book which didn't include calculus in the quant section, so I'm not sure how helpful it would be in an updated book.

 

[huzeifa52]

I used the kaplan book only and I think it was great help...i dont think there is any book out there that goes into that much detail about each section on the PCAT....i looked at the new 2006-2007 PCAT book and i did see a calculus portion...I think that should be sufficient for calculus....since you have already taken the test im sure you are aware of the importance of time management while doing the test...if you still want to work on that i suggest you do a couple of practice tests under timed conditions...I used the PCAT professor for that...it helped...practice alot of PCAT style questions...Good luck

 

[Fatpharm]

Do the practice test from Harcourt to give you an idea of what you are weak on. The test gives you a general idea of where you would place among test takers. You should take good notes on the type of questions because they are similar to the real PCAT and because they do not let you keep a copy of your test.

 

[RxRob]

Read my response in the PCAT PREP thread above this one. It should be helpful.

 

[DuocSi2010]

The Kaplan book was basically the only thing I used to prepare for the PCAT. I found the Biology and Chem sections to be pretty helpful, although they went into way too much detail in the Chem section. The practice tests were way too difficult, but I looked over them anyways, I just didn't worry too much if I didn't know all their questions. As far as the other sections, I barely used them. I had an older copy of the Kaplan book which didn't include calculus in the quant section, so I'm not sure how helpful it would be in an updated book.

I compared the newest edition of Kaplan and the one I had just a year before and there no difference in most of the sections. In fact, the diagnostic test was identical. Of course in the newest edition there is a section that review Calculus and sentence completions.

Overall, however, I do feel the book is too dense, lots of unnecessary stuff and you have to know what to cut out and what to focus on; otherwise you'll overwhelm yourself. I also found some mistakes in the Kaplan book...some wrong labeling...and some spelling errors but it's not a big deal. So I have little respect for the book. I had to rely more on books I used for class, especially human physiology book and chemistry. Their reading comprehension and verbal sections are good, eventhough I used the GRE to practice.

The last time I took the PCAT was in January 2006. I've also took the PCAT in October 2005 and I noticed a HUGE difference in the Jan 2006. The math section had a LOT more calculus. They're really trying to get rid of the simple pre-algebra and algebra questions. There were lots of trig. Same goes for the chemistry section. I usually do really well in chem but I found out I ran out of time for that section.

 

[Outcastrx]

I compared the newest edition of Kaplan and the one I had just a year before and there no difference in most of the sections. In fact, the diagnostic test was identical. Of course in the newest edition there is a section that review Calculus and sentence completions.

Overall, however, I do feel the book is too dense, lots of unnecessary stuff and you have to know what to cut out and what to focus on; otherwise you'll overwhelm yourself. I also found some mistakes in the Kaplan book...some wrong labeling...and some spelling errors but it's not a big deal. So I have little respect for the book. I had to rely more on books I used for class, especially human physiology book and chemistry. Their reading comprehension and verbal sections are good, eventhough I used the GRE to practice.

The last time I took the PCAT was in January 2006. I've also took the PCAT in October 2005 and I noticed a HUGE difference in the Jan 2006. The math section had a LOT more calculus. They're really trying to get rid of the simple pre-algebra and algebra questions. There were lots of trig. Same goes for the chemistry section. I usually do really well in chem but I found out I ran out of time for that section.

I agree the GRE has really good stuff on verbal section 👍 ...and I can write or put together a better book than kaplan 👎

 

[jregan]

I keep seeing gre what is it?

 

[Rxbound]

Graduate Record Exam, I believe. Necessary evil to attend grad school.

 

[bigalaz1]

I agree with a lot of what has been posted here. I have the new Kaplan book and also the old one. The most benefit I get out of the book is the Bio and Chem reviews, although some of the detail is a little much. Still, it gives me a good idea of the basics that I need to know, although the organic section fails pretty bad. I DEFINITELY agree with the previous poster that there was a lot of trig on the January PCAT, so I'm assuming that falls under their "precalculus" part of the math section. I found the chem section to be 50/50 as far as inorganic to organic also, at least in my opinion, so there's a lot of first semester ochem on there.

Seeing as how I took the test already, I'm just focusing on my weak points and studying old notes from previous classes, along with looking at a lot of PCAT type questions. The practice tests on the harcourt site are very good also.

 

[MK185]

June will be my first time taking the pcat...so really dunno where i stand. I've been taking some practice exams from kaplan and baron's review books. Would the percentile be somewhat close to our percentage ...for example, if u get 80% on those practice exams..would u be somewhere around the 70th-80th percentile? Or there'd be a big difference...depending on the others' score?
Also, gen chem..is there a big portion of calculation on thermochemistry..chemical kinetic..and such? Cuz the questions in kaplan have a lot of those...but baron's and others... calculation problems are mainly stoichiometry and stuffs....