How many times should I take PCAT?

[SDgirl858]

Hi all,
I just wanted to know how many times should a person take the PCAT? I heard 4 times looks OK on your applications. Do they take the higher score or do they average out all the scores to get one score?

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[docss26]

Hi all,
I just wanted to know how many times should a person take the PCAT? I heard 4 times looks OK on your applications. Do they take the higher score or do they average out all the scores to get one score?

You can take it as many times as you want. You only submit your best score to the pharmacy school you choose to apply to. I had a friend take his PCAT 4 times and applied with his last score and got in.

Id say take it as many times as you can until you realize pharmacy may not be for you. lol

 

[Wow Strong Armz]

I took it twice, First time I did horrible, second time I took the Kaplan online course, I still have the practice exams with answers and explanation. I did notice on the second time alot of the questions were repeated from the first exam. I think 4 of the readings were exactly the same.

 

[fhx06]

I decided to take it as often as I needed in order to break into the 90th percentile.

 

[luckyphooey]

Ideally, once, saves you time and money. I don't think you should take it more than 3 times.

I'm lucky to only have to take it once, it was agonizing the first time; I couldn't imagine preparing for it the second time

 

[ddcali]

.

 

[fenixtnlfan]

The pharm schools get sent all of your scores. Usually they take the highest score, but schools have different policies on it so it really depends on where you apply.

 

[diastole]

I don't imagine most people would take the exam this many times anyway. But, this appears to be new limitations imposed by Pearson "to enhance the validity and security of the PCAT exam".

I bet this is in place for the test prep companies. I used to be an SAT tutor and they had us take the exam over and over to see how the questions changed or spot new trends. If Pearson is using test questions over and over, the test prep company could gain a real advantage by sending in "spies" to memorize the questions.

 

[SHC1984]

1 or 2 times max.

 

[luckyphooey]

I can't imagine anyone having to take it more than 5 times.

 

[thephoenician88]

no more than 3, a friend took it 6 times, ridiculous.

 

[DRxUGS]

The score they use depends on the school. For my school (NDSU), they take the most recent score.

 

[MAXHARDC]

I bet this is in place for the test prep companies. I used to be an SAT tutor and they had us take the exam over and over to see how the questions changed or spot new trends. If Pearson is using test questions over and over, the test prep company could gain a real advantage by sending in "spies" to memorize the questions.

Right, remember a few years ago students had some camera equipment during the MCAT that took a snapshot of the questions? They never got caught in the actual exam room, it was the bragging, and online postings that actually did them in.

Max