How To Ace PCATS

[DC1120]

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Hi, can anyone tell me how to do well on PCATS? how do you study for them? do many of you take those prep courses or study on your own? What kind of books would you recommend me to buy and how long do you need to prepare before taking the real tests? thanks!

 

[Plion]

Hi, can anyone tell me how to do well on PCATS? how do you study for them? do many of you take those prep courses or study on your own? What kind of books would you recommend me to buy and how long do you need to prepare before taking the real tests? thanks!

Simple----Rewrite the PCAT.

 

[Plowi]

I studied for my own for about a month before the PCAT (an hour or two a day). I just read over the guides carefully and practiced doing problems like crazy. Id recommend doing practice tests, where you get them is up to you, they usually come included in study guides. Harcourt assessment also has the questions from the actual PCAT(s) available as a practice test so you can see what the questions are like, but of course they charge.


Just go to amazon and search for PCAT. Lots of books and study guides should come up. There are also sites like pcat professor that charge to use their material. It depends on how you like to study I guess.

In general for books though, the ones with positive reviews are probably the best ones to buy. I personally liked the Kaplan 2006 for bio and chem because it wasnt too pricey, but Im sure there are other good ones out there.

Goodluck!

 

[Plion]

I wouldn't recommend PCAT professor or Kaplan. Go with your College text book or review notes.

 

[Plowi]

Hi, can anyone tell me how to do well on PCATS? how do you study for them? do many of you take those prep courses or study on your own? What kind of books would you recommend me to buy and how long do you need to prepare before taking the real tests? thanks!

There are lots of topics on this if you want to scroll through the forum.

 

[DownonthePharm]

I wouldn't recommend PCAT professor or Kaplan. Go with your College text book or review notes.

I recommend the exact opposite. Too much stuff in your text to absorb. Most people have problems not with not knowing the information, but with answering all the questions in time. So my advise is to practice testing as quickly as you can (especially math) thats why I liked the PCAT professor.

 

[ndearwater]

I recommend the exact opposite. Too much stuff in your text to absorb. Most people have problems not with not knowing the information, but with answering all the questions in time. So my advise is to practice testing as quickly as you can (especially math) thats why I liked the PCAT professor.

Agreed... especially when it comes to practice tests! Practice for speed and accuracy! You'll never relearn your whole chemistry book so just concentrate on general review like you'll find in Kaplan, pcat professor, CliffsNotes, ___ for Dummies etc.

 

[Plowi]

I wouldn't recommend PCAT professor or Kaplan. Go with your College text book or review notes.

Speak for yourself. Kaplan was AWWWWESOME! 😉

 

[Plowi]

I recommend the exact opposite. Too much stuff in your text to absorb. Most people have problems not with not knowing the information, but with answering all the questions in time. So my advise is to practice testing as quickly as you can (especially math) thats why I liked the PCAT professor.

In total agreement with this point also. 👍

 

[drugdoc]

I haven't taken my basic science courses for years (OChem 3 years ago, chem 8 years ago, biology 3 years ago, and maths 8 years ago) and I did pretty well considering (72-73's in those areas). I got books from the library on chem, OChem, and bio and read them then I did Kaplan and a couple other books as a review to the reading. I plan to do similar for the June PCAT, and am hoping for an increase of at least 15 points and composite increase of at least 10 (I got an 80 composite).

I think it worked pretty well, actually. Again, considering it has been so long since I've taken the basic classes.

 

[Babylo]

I used the kaplan PCAt book and i basically memorized the biology section... I made sure i read through the whole section once every week for about a month and a half. and for the organic and gen chem i worked as many problems i could find and i paid for some old test files. The verbal and quant section... i kinda gambled on them and didnt study as much. But i was lucky in d end.

 

[mph2pharm]

I actually liked the PCAT professor program. It really gives you an opportunity to practice questions similar to the ones found on the actual PCAT. I also found the reviews for each PCAT section to also be quite helpful. In addition, I used the PCAT audio osmosis CDs and found those to be helpful, especially in the Biology section.

 

[thaliagoo]

Hey DC,

I'll give you my heads up on the PCAT. It's a test that examines what you learned in the first 2 years of college so I don't think you need to worry too much about it. It's not hard like MCAT or anything, most people do fine. I hope you hear from schools this year though!