How'd you do?

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PositiveVibes1 said:
Any advice?
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Just be confident. Some of the questions are really obvious and I spent maybe 1-2 seconds on them, without reading the other choices. I had around 5-10 minutes spare at the end of the sections after reviewing and used that time to meditate/relax.

Overall, you either know the material or you don't.

I kinda eff'd up on reading because I was daydreaming half the time.
 
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pharm4cy said:
Just be confident. Some of the questions are really obvious and I spent maybe 1-2 seconds on them, without reading the other choices. I had around 5-10 minutes spare at the end of the sections after reviewing and used that time to meditate/relax.

Overall, you either know the material or you don't.

I kinda eff'd up on reading because I was daydreaming half the time.
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.
 
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pharm4cy:
What material did you use for study?
Did you do Pearson practice tests? If so was your score close to what you got in the real pcat?
 
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I used Dr. Collin's and Pearson's. I got 80-99 on all the subtests, except for verbal on the first exam and reading on the second. They were slightly under the 80-99 range.

Pretty accurate I would say, but the difference between 80 and 99 is kind of too broad for me.
 
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mimkt said:
@pharm4cy how are hard was the quantitative?
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I have a strong background in math, so it was pretty easy for me, but I can see how it could be difficult for non-math people. A lot of those questions I breezed through in a couple of seconds, and I spent more time on the harder ones.

Know the derivatives and antiderivatives of your trigonometric functions (sec, csc, cot) as most people would probably **** their pants there.
 
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pharm4cy, do you know if the chemistry/bio passages are experimental? how do you deal with those questions?

congratulations on your score.
 
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Thercias said:
pharm4cy, do you know if the chemistry/bio passages are experimental? how do you deal with those questions?

congratulations on your score.
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Thanks.

I did the passages normally, but I'm pretty sure they are experimental. I would definitely recommend leaving the passages for last.
 
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74 composite. Seriously could have been so much worse. In the past few weeks, I looked at pretty much zero PCAT material. The most studying I did was in April for 2 hours a day for about 5 days maybe. I tried to spend more time on the quantitative material, but I really hadn't looked at any problems in weeks until I spent maybe an hour going through some of the problems I missed. And I graduated college in spring of 2013, so it's not like any of the material was all that fresh in my mind.

More specifically:
verbal: 63
biology: 84
reading: 71
quantitative: 55
chemistry: 72
 
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Verbal: 98
Biology: 97
Reading: 90 (****ing pissed about this one because this is historically my best area; 36 on ACT in this category)
QA: 95
Chem: 93
Composite: 98

That reading section was just a kick in the teeth. Still pleased.
 
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Verbal: 43
Biology: 92
Reading: 5
QA: 67
Chemistry: 88
Composite: 61

I can't believe I made that low on reading! Should I retake this? I have 3.8 gpa and 120 hours volunteer pharmacy hospital service. That reading killed me. What should I do? I used Dr. Collins.
 
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Okay so I'm honestly not sure how I got only 1 percent difference than CaptainAddy because you did super well but mine are:

Verbal: 95
Biology: 96
Reading: 56
QA: 96
Chem: 98
Composite: 97

Do you think that reading score will hurt me alot? I'm not sure if I need to retake it.
 
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pharmboy27 said:
Okay so I'm honestly not sure how I got only 1 percent difference than CaptainAddy because you did super well but mine are:

Verbal: 95
Biology: 96
Reading: 56
QA: 96
Chem: 98
Composite: 97

Do you think that reading score will hurt me alot? I'm not sure if I need to retake it.
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I don't know if you're joking or not.

Anything above 95 is not worth retaking at all. A 97 differs from 98 and 99 in name only; sure, you don't get "perfect score" bragging rights, but when push comes to shove, it's all one in the same to pharm schools
 
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I took it today and scored as follows:

VA: 91
Bio: 84
Read: 96
QA: 81
Chem: 88
Composite: 93

I was disappointed with my QA score considering that has always been my highest score on practice. I self taught with kaplan and have not taken orgo 2 or biochem. I used kaplan practice test along with the 3 pearson test and felt that although the test looks identical to the kaplan test, the questions were from the pearson, some were copy and paste.

Overall I though the PCAT was harder than the practice test would lead you to believe and also reccomend to save the passage questions for last as often they are too time consuming for a question you may or may not be able to derive an answer to anyways.

I am an average student with a 3.65 GPA at a private university. I plan on applying to USF ED.
 
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futurepharmd33 said:
@BlakeG any tips or advice for reading??
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No one will tell you this on the forums, nor will Dr. Collins tell you this:

If you are a native English speaker and have already gone through your K-12 English classes, Reading Comprehension is the one section that will probably not be able to improve upon in any statistical way. It's not like biology, chemistry or QA where you can just regurgitate facts or do elementary calculations. And it's not even really related to verbal reasoning, either, which can also be gamed through memorization.

Reading Comprehension requires an innate understanding of the English language from a deep, intuitive level as well as being able to sort out subtle nuances in wording and phrasing. It cannot be improved overnight-- there is no magic tip or quick fix. You simply must garner experience from doing a lot of higher-level reading and truly understand what is happening at every level.

That's my tip, at least. I hope it helps you understand how I view the section, at least, but YMMV.
 
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I would agree! its hard to give any advice in reading, often the difference in answers is one word. Look for keywords, i found often answers were very similar except the first sentence. I felt there were a lot of questions that asked, "the main idea of paragraph 4 is?" and "the author includes blah blah blah to do what to the reader?" for main idea I would rule out anything that wasn't specifically mentioned, and anything too extreme. For the second example look for what you thought when you read it. Often time imagery and words with strong connotation are included to evoke an emotional response from the reader.
 
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BlakeG said:
I would agree! its hard to give any advice in reading, often the difference in answers is one word. Look for keywords, i found often answers were very similar except the first sentence. I felt there were a lot of questions that asked, "the main idea of paragraph 4 is?" and "the author includes blah blah blah to do what to the reader?" for main idea I would rule out anything that wasn't specifically mentioned, and anything too extreme. For the second example look for what you thought when you read it. Often time imagery and words with strong connotation are included to evoke an emotional response from the reader.
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The caribou are going to end up like the buffalo; i cri evrytiem :,(
 
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Roo4321 said:
Verbal: 43
Biology: 92
Reading: 5
QA: 67
Chemistry: 88
Composite: 61

I can't believe I made that low on reading! Should I retake this? I have 3.8 gpa and 120 hours volunteer pharmacy hospital service. That reading killed me. What should I do? I used Dr. Collins.
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Don't bother retaking it at all. I know students with a lot lower gpa and a 28 composite on the PCAT getting in. They looks at everything not just the scores. You r fine, don't worry about it.
 
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I chose not to count my score because I felt so horrible about the Reading and Math sections. I feel like crap right now 🙁 do you think concealing my score will hurt my chances? I will be re-taking it in September.
 
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Just finished my test 2 hours ago

Verbal 49
Bio 95
Reading 30
Math 99
Chem 91
Comp 91

I was kinda losing it during reading and couldnt focus.. There was more biochem than i thought. I'm so glad it's over already xD
 
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Roo4321 said:
Verbal: 43
Biology: 92
Reading: 5
QA: 67
Chemistry: 88
Composite: 61

I can't believe I made that low on reading! Should I retake this? I have 3.8 gpa and 120 hours volunteer pharmacy hospital service. That reading killed me. What should I do? I used Dr. Collins.
Click to expand...

it really depends on which school and what they ask for in each subtest. I talked to a pharm school rep once and she said all they care about is Chemistry (for just that school).
 
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alexyoonable said:
Just finished my test 2 hours ago

Verbal 49
Bio 95
Reading 30
Math 99
Chem 91
Comp 91

I was kinda losing it during reading and couldnt focus.. There was more biochem than i thought. I'm so glad it's over already xD
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You did that poorly on 2 of them and still pulled off a 90+? Wow.. maybe I should have counted mine because I did good on Bio, Verbal and ok on Chem
 
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mjmjoa said:
You did that poorly on 2 of them and still pulled off a 90+? Wow.. maybe I should have counted mine because I did good on Bio, Verbal and ok on Chem
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I think Math accounts for more than any other section so if you do well, it will boost the composite score a lot. maybe? yeah you should have. It was over $200..
 
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Essay topic was basically "One-third of traffic accidents in the US are alcohol-related; alcohol has also been linked to accident and injury in other places too like falling off ladders, buildings, etc.; how do we stop/mitigate this?"
 
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saeghe2000 said:
Were all the readings health or science related?
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No, most weren't. Advice: skip a reading that seems the most difficult. For me it was the first one and it wasted so much of my time with the later questions which were easier.
 
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So basically I'm pretty good at every subject but QA 🙁 with bio and chem being my strong suits (i score in the 80-99 percentile based on the pearson practice exams). The math is really rusty for me because the last math class I took was 3 years ago and I'm a bio major! With that being said, I was wondering how much the math portion will affect my overall composite score?
I've been getting in the 50-60 range for QA
For RC and VA I've been getting in the 70-80 range.
I take my pcat tomorrow and I'm freaking out because I'm so bad at math 🙁 what should I do?
 
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If you have a average intro, 2 solution and an conclusion will you basically get a 3? Because I'm worried I'll get a lower grade than that because I ran out of time and I made the mistake of going back to correct an earlier paragraph. Perhaps a few bad word choices and grammer mistakes too. 🙁 help!!!
 
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jujubee8 said:
So basically I'm pretty good at every subject but QA 🙁 with bio and chem being my strong suits (i score in the 80-99 percentile based on the pearson practice exams). The math is really rusty for me because the last math class I took was 3 years ago and I'm a bio major! With that being said, I was wondering how much the math portion will affect my overall composite score?
I've been getting in the 50-60 range for QA
For RC and VA I've been getting in the 70-80 range.
I take my pcat tomorrow and I'm freaking out because I'm so bad at math 🙁 what should I do?
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Honestly, I did not feel confident in QA whatsoever when I took the exam earlier today. I took 3 practice exams from pearson and the math questions they asked were very similar to the real exam! I scored around 50% on these practice exams for the math sections, and still wasn't even able to figure out how to do them after. I took the exam today and got a 63 in math, but I literally had to guess on like 15-20 of the questions! If you feel confident in other subjects then you will be fine. I did extremely well in biology and chemistry, and because of that I managed to get a 90 composite score regardless of my math grade. Also, the average person tends to do much worse in the math sections, so they definitely scale this section by a lot. Good luck! 🙂
 
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Studyandcry said:
If you have a average intro, 2 solution and an conclusion will you basically get a 3? Because I'm worried I'll get a lower grade than that because I ran out of time and I made the mistake of going back to correct an earlier paragraph. Perhaps a few bad word choices and grammer mistakes too. 🙁 help!!!
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No schools cares about how well you can write an essay in 30 minutes. How good your personal essay is totally off-sets it.
 
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GOOD LUCK GUYS BE HAPPY!
pharmboy27 said:
Okay so I'm honestly not sure how I got only 1 percent difference than CaptainAddy because you did super well but mine are:

Verbal: 95
Biology: 96
Reading: 56
QA: 96
Chem: 98
Composite: 97

Do you think that reading score will hurt me alot? I'm not sure if I need to retake it.
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please don't you got over 50% on reading outstanding scores. some schools jsut need nover30-45%subset
 
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ab5678 said:
How did all the July 9th takers do today?
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Verbal SS 427 PR 87
Biology SS 447 PR 97
Reading SS 424 PR 89
Quantitative SS 413 PR 72
Chemistry SS 434 PR 91
Composite SS 429 PR 94

Does anyone know if the official scores vary from the preliminary ones?
 
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mjmjoa said:
No schools cares about how well you can write an essay in 30 minutes. How good your personal essay is totally off-sets it.
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I'm my case I'm in a direct pharmacy program. I need to hit like a bare minimum like a 3 on the essay and I am guaranteed a spot in the pharmacy school. I don't even need to reapply I'm just in.
 
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Hi everyone! Need advice here! I took it yesterday and my scores were the followi ng.

VA 22
Bio 74
RC 90
QA 67
Chem 72

Composite 70

In all the practice exams I did low on verbal ability. I don't know if the fact that English is not my first language is what's killing my score there. All my other scores improved a lot as I studied my first practice had 38 composite lol

I have a 3.73 GPA, research, internships and starting to volunteer at a hospital pharmacy. Should I retake the exam? This was my first time taking the exam
 
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Hi everyone! I will take pcat this September. I'm very worry about verbal section, whats study guide u guys used to prepare for the exam? Thank you
 
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VA: 63
Bio: 49
Reading: 90
QA: 72
Chem: 34
Composite: 66

I know my chem and bio scores are atrocious but I'm a rising sophomore and haven't taken organic or A&P yet so I was expecting low scores. I'm fairly happy with my composite and especially my reading score.
 
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