How To Study for PCAT

[pharm2006]

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I know may people in this forum asked what materials are best to study for pcat... I got the materials however I want to ask those scored high on pcat how they study for it?

here is my situation:

• I took pcat last october and will retake it again this october.
• took chem & bio classes about 2 yrs ago still remember some but I need lot of time to review
• quantitative is my strong subject... however my weakest subjects are reading and verbal

for chem & bio can someone suggests how they study for it? it's so vast and I am kind of loss of where to begin... from my experience review alone doesn't help me remember much since it's too much info and I tend forget lots of the stuff when I first started in the beginning toward the end of my reviewing. someone in the forum suggests to use online practical tests but without reviewing doesn't help me remember info that much either....

I know this is kinda strange... basicly I just want those that done well on the pcat give a suggest how they study for it... thanks guys this forum is great

 

[omnione]

I only got a 71 on the biology section and that was after four years of college with lots of bio classes. I'm not the best person to advise on that.😀

First, you need to distinguish between topics you need to relearn as opposed to review and/or practice. For me, I had to relearn bio stuff but not so much math concepts. I just had to practice a bunch of math problems just to jog my memory. For biology, I had to use review guides to select topics in my bio textbooks to relearn. A good chemistry and organic chemistry textbook offers PCAT-type problems to solve and the information necessary to relearn any concepts. The Kaplan-type of stuff assumes that you already have some level of proficiency with concepts.

The suggestion about online tests isn't as useless as you make it. The point of those exams is to simply identify weaknesses for you to select out the concepts in the vastness you describe so that you aren't studying everything just to be safe. Good reviewing involves keeping strong memories fresh while harping on those more fleeting concepts. Those exams help identify which topics require more studying.

Reading and verbal are different beasts depending on the problem that plagues the student. A student who has a low vocabulary but proficiency at correctly answering questions when he/she understands both words probably needs to increase vocabulary through word lists and Greek/Latin roots. A student with the reverse situation where he/she understands words but doesn't understand how to create the proper context for them needs to do some more reading for long-term studying and practice for short-term studying. Old SAT prep books were my friend when I studied. I used Examkrackers MCAT book for Verbal Reasoning (That's the MCAT analogue for the PCAT reading section).

 

[diastole]

I haven't yet taken the PCAT but I have done well on various standardized tests in the past so keep that in mind when viewing my advice. You have lots of time between now and October. I find that lots of repetition will put the material in your head for the long term. When you review a chapter in a book like Kaplans, don't move on to the next chapter and just forget it. When you have time in the days ahead, do a quick review of it to see what you remember and what you have started to forget. At first, you may have to go over a lot of material that you previously learned. As time goes on and you have seen it again and again, the list of material you need to relearn will get smaller and smaller and the time it takes to review a chapter will decrease. You will just be adding the details to your large body of knowledge.

If you have a lot to learn, I would start with the material that you don't remember at all and then go back to the material that you think you know. If you put in the time between now and October, you can potentially improve your score a lot. Just don't put off the studying until it is almost time for the exam.

 

[pharm2006]

first of all thanks for your great advice guys: omnione & diastole

omnione:
verbal and reading are my weakest subjects maybe due to the fact that english is my 2nd language. want to ask you if you could let me know any resource that you used...

once again thanks for your suggestions guys.

 

[omnione]

first of all thanks for your great advice guys: omnione & diastole

omnione:
verbal and reading are my weakest subjects maybe due to the fact that english is my 2nd language. want to ask you if you could let me know any resource that you used...

once again thanks for your suggestions guys.

I used Examkrackers' MCAT 101 Passages in Verbal Reasoning book. The MCAT-style question and the increased difficulty of the passages provides good practice as opposed to reading random stuff and hoping for the best. Ideally, it's better to read more difficult stuff and improve that way, but vast improvement is unlikely on a two to four month study schedule.

I didn't study for verbal as much after I felt confident after taking the Pearson (then Harcourt) practice exam. I lightly used an old College Board SAT prep guide to practice analogies and sentence completions with manageable words.