How to get started?

[zzll]

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Hi all.
I'm currently a graduate student. I plan to take the PCAT in Oct so I don't have much time left. I ordered a Kaplan book and it didn't arrive yet. What can I do first?

I'm an international student so writing is a big concern. Is the assay part very important?

BTW, how many institutions do you guys plan to apply? I don't know where to ask this kind of questions. If it is not welcome here, please tell me and redirect me to the proper sub-forum.

Thanks a lot. Lin

 

[Phlame217]

Im at a 2+4 institution and the only other school around is a 3+4 but i'll be applying to both anyways since its free.

If I were you, I'd do as much reading and studying of latin roots as possible. Read anything from magazines to novels and look up words you dont know. Latin roots will help you decipher more difficult words. And doing both will help improve your reading speed at the same time.

 

[nehe87]

If you have any old textbooks, you can start looking at those. That's what I did while I waited for my Kaplan book. 🙂
And don't worry, you have almost three whole months to study (11 weeks). Good luck!🙂

 

[zzll]

Im at a 2+4 institution and the only other school around is a 3+4 but i'll be applying to both anyways since its free.

If I were you, I'd do as much reading and studying of latin roots as possible. Read anything from magazines to novels and look up words you dont know. Latin roots will help you decipher more difficult words. And doing both will help improve your reading speed at the same time.

What does 2+4/3+4 mean? Thanks.

 

[zzll]

If you have any old textbooks, you can start looking at those. That's what I did while I waited for my Kaplan book. 🙂
And don't worry, you have almost three whole months to study (11 weeks). Good luck!🙂

Thanks a lot. But I don't know how deep I will be tested. Is it close the GRE?

Well, 11 weeks won't be too long for me. Those application steps are scary. 😡

 

[Phlame217]

there are such things as 0+6, 2+4, 3+4 institutions which stands for years of undergraduate works and then graduate work. As i said im a 2+4 student and im in my 2nd year of undergrad and i am taking the October PCAT and possibly the january to get into the 4 year graduate Pharm.D.

 

[zzll]

there are such things as 0+6, 2+4, 3+4 institutions which stands for years of undergraduate works and then graduate work. As i said im a 2+4 student and im in my 2nd year of undergrad and i am taking the October PCAT and possibly the january to get into the 4 year graduate Pharm.D.

Thanks a lot! good luck!

 

[eelo]

Thanks a lot! good luck!

A very basic writing technique is the five-paragraph plan:

First paragraph- state your thesis and bring up three reasons to defend your stance.

Second, third, and fourth paragraphs- expound on your reasons, one reason per paragraph.

Fifth paragraph- wrap it all up, briefly restate your thesis in a way that your reasons defended it, and close.

I realize this seems pretty simple, and you may be uncomfortable with it because you're not too confident in your writing skills. From my perspective, your writing skills are fine, from what you've shown so far (although you did use 'assay' instead of 'essay,' but that's not a real big concern). English is hard, and it's truly, truly difficult to learn as a second language.

I recommend using the above technique to summarize articles in newspapers or magazines (start ot with simple ones), and then move into professional journals. Ask someone to go over them with you, proofing them for grammar and syntax errors. As a non-native speaker you can expect to have a few errors; heck, even native speakers get the writing part wrong! ;-) Write a basic outline of the article on scratch paper (thesis/reason/reason/reason/close), and use that as a guide.

When you're comfortable with this, you can always expand it to more paragraphs, such as using two paragraphs per reason, rather than one. However, before you get crazy, try timing yourself.

I wish you the best of luck!!!!!!

 

[zzll]

Thank you so much! This is really helpful. Since I still have no idea about the writing topics of PCAT, I'm going to use GRE issues as the start point. Hopefully that helps.

I have a lot to do for the application. I don't know where I will be directed to by this huge change. Will the job market for pharmacists shrink after my graduation if I could be accepted? I'm really a little nervous. 😳

Anyway, thanks a lot!

A very basic writing technique is the five-paragraph plan:

First paragraph- state your thesis and bring up three reasons to defend your stance.

Second, third, and fourth paragraphs- expound on your reasons, one reason per paragraph.

Fifth paragraph- wrap it all up, briefly restate your thesis in a way that your reasons defended it, and close.

I realize this seems pretty simple, and you may be uncomfortable with it because you're not too confident in your writing skills. From my perspective, your writing skills are fine, from what you've shown so far (although you did use 'assay' instead of 'essay,' but that's not a real big concern). English is hard, and it's truly, truly difficult to learn as a second language.

I recommend using the above technique to summarize articles in newspapers or magazines (start ot with simple ones), and then move into professional journals. Ask someone to go over them with you, proofing them for grammar and syntax errors. As a non-native speaker you can expect to have a few errors; heck, even native speakers get the writing part wrong! ;-) Write a basic outline of the article on scratch paper (thesis/reason/reason/reason/close), and use that as a guide.

When you're comfortable with this, you can always expand it to more paragraphs, such as using two paragraphs per reason, rather than one. However, before you get crazy, try timing yourself.

I wish you the best of luck!!!!!!

 

[Phlame217]

The pharmacy job market is going to do nothing but increase. I read somewhere that the shortage of Pharmacists is expected to double by 2020 which really make sense to me since the elderly population (65+) alread out numbers the teen population (13-21) and the elderly population is supposed to double by then.