Is it realistic to finish the math section of the PCAT on time?

[mjmjoa]

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48 questions in 40 minutes seems ridiculous, especially with some of the longer calculus problems. Half the problems I can't even do without a calculator.. is the actual test easier than the practice test?

 

[romaniangirl]

Math section is one of the harder sections mainly due to time constraints. The real PCAT is not any easier than the practice tests. You just have to keep working on doing the problems, especially calculus ones to make yourself faster.

 

[pharmadiazehhpine]

Was doing the practice test from pearson and the quant section is absolutely ridiculous. How is this even possible?

 

[romaniangirl]

Yeah the Pearson test kind of helped me to gauge about how many questions I would finish. On the actual PCAT, however, I had much harder questions (more intensive calculus questions) and flat-out guessed on about 10 questions.

 

[pharmadiazehhpine]

Yeah the Pearson test kind of helped me to gauge about how many questions I would finish. On the actual PCAT, however, I had much harder questions (more intensive calculus questions) and flat-out guessed on about 10 questions.

How much help were the practice tests in general for you? The website said that 80+% of the questions were seen on the actual PCAT which sounds like a fantasy to me. Thanks for the help! I take the pcat in 9 days

 

[romaniangirl]

Yes you will see many of those exact same questions on the PCAT! Especially those in the verbal section, though maybe not 80%. Personally, I am a big fan of the pearson practice tests in general. They were the only study aid I used and I was able to score very high. They give you a good indication of where you are and what areas you need to work on.

 

[YF786]

The math and Chem sections are the hardest. Math is a lot harder and the time flies by!

 

[pharmadiazehhpine]

Yes you will see many of those exact same questions on the PCAT! Especially those in the verbal section, though maybe not 80%. Personally, I am a big fan of the pearson practice tests in general. They were the only study aid I used and I was able to score very high. They give you a good indication of where you are and what areas you need to work on.

Awesome. How about the chemistry section on the practice test? Was anything similar?

The math and Chem sections are the hardest. Math is a lot harder and the time flies by!

Were the practice test quant/chem sections similar to the PCAT?

 

[YF786]

I felt like the actual test was harder but maybe because I used the wrong study guide or not the popular one (collins) that everyone recommends here

 

[YF786]

Awesome. How about the chemistry section on the practice test? Was anything similar?


Were the practice test quant/chem sections similar to the PCAT?

I felt like the actual test was harder but maybe because I used the wrong study guide or not the popular one (collins) that everyone recommends here

 

[pharmadiazehhpine]

I felt like the actual test was harder but maybe because I used the wrong study guide or not the popular one (collins) that everyone recommends here

I have no idea of what that even is. All i've used so far is just pearsons practice tests as a study guide and youtube videos to self teach orgo because i'll be taking the pcat without having taken that course

 

[YF786]

I have no idea of what that even is. All i've used so far is just pearsons practice tests as a study guide and youtube videos to self teach orgo because i'll be taking the pcat without having taken that course

Dr Collins is the book everyone recommends as a study guide for PCAT. I used pearsons reviews, it didn't help me much, for organic Chem there was plenty of structures and naming, I hope it helps.

For writing, there is a essay section and fill in the blank questions.

For bio there was some detailed questions that's u wouldn't think of while studying.

Goodluck to you! Don't stress just study and go the best you can

 

[pharmadiazehhpine]

Dr Collins is the book everyone recommends as a study guide for PCAT. I used pearsons reviews, it didn't help me much, for organic Chem there was plenty of structures and naming, I hope it helps.

For writing, there is a essay section and fill in the blank questions.

For bio there was some detailed questions that's u wouldn't think of while studying.

Goodluck to you! Don't stress just study and go the best you can

Hey, thanks a lot!

On a side note, when you mention that there is plenty of structures and naming... do you mean on the actual PCAT? From having taken the practice pearson reviews, I personally have noticed that there was quite a bit of orgo in it and a large part was structures and naming. I am just not sure which you were referring to.

 

[YF786]

Hey, thanks a lot!

On a side note, when you mention that there is plenty of structures and naming... do you mean on the actual PCAT? From having taken the practice pearson reviews, I personally have noticed that there was quite a bit of orgo in it and a large part was structures and naming. I am just not sure which you were referring to.

You are welcome! I was referring to the actual PCAT test I took not the practice.

 

[pharmadiazehhpine]

You are welcome! I was referring to the actual PCAT test I took not the practice.

Once again, thank you! I will try and keep those topics in mind as I study for organic.

 

[y0ssarian87]

I took the PCAT back in 2010, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I was an idiot and thought you could use a calculator. I brought it with me and was shocked when they said it couldn't be used. Anyway, I didn't get to answer the last quarter of the math questions -- just not enough time. I left and almost had a panic attack (no preliminary score reports could be provided for the written test). I had never taken a standardized math test before and not gotten a perfect score. Anyway, it all turned out okay, and I scored in the 90's for that section, despite leaving a quarter of the questions blank.

 

[cgriff20]

The questions don't really take that long, skip the longer ones and come back to them if you have time.

 

[mjmjoa]

I took the PCAT back in 2010, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I was an idiot and thought you could use a calculator. I brought it with me and was shocked when they said it couldn't be used. Anyway, I didn't get to answer the last quarter of the math questions -- just not enough time. I left and almost had a panic attack (no preliminary score reports could be provided for the written test). I had never taken a standardized math test before and not gotten a perfect score. Anyway, it all turned out okay, and I scored in the 90's for that section, despite leaving a quarter of the questions blank.

Is the actual exam structured like the pearson practice ones? I mean in terms of, you are only able to see 1 question at a time and have to click previous or next for each question? Or are all the questions on one page and you scroll through them?

 

[y0ssarian87]

Is the actual exam structured like the pearson practice ones? I mean in terms of, you are only able to see 1 question at a time and have to click previous or next for each question? Or are all the questions on one page and you scroll through them?

As I mentioned above, I took the written exam. I couldn't tell you.

 

[romaniangirl]

You see one question at a time and click next/previous.

 

[mjmjoa]

You see one question at a time and click next/previous.

Ah, that sucks. Especially for the reading section.. can you hit "review" and see which ones you skipped?

 

[romaniangirl]

Yes you can hit review. It's just like the PTCB.

 

[Neodynium]

Hey guys,
I'll be taking the PCAT next Saturday having procrastinating and barely studying. (I literally did not study for it at all, lol)
Is it okay if I retake it in September or will it look bad to colleges having knowing that I've taken it 2 times?


offtopic: I am also surprised that the guy who's telling everyone not to do pharmacy is not here.

 

[MybuttsHadouken]

Hey guys,
I'll be taking the PCAT next Saturday having procrastinating and barely studying. (I literally did not study for it at all, lol)
Is it okay if I retake it in September or will it look bad to colleges having knowing that I've taken it 2 times?


offtopic: I am also surprised that the guy who's telling everyone not to do pharmacy is not here.

Im not sure if they give an option to discard your score after the test like the MCAT. I would just go in the first time as a trial run and to see how the actual questions are like and then take it again in Septemeber. You'll have an edge majority of the people. If they charge a fee to cancel I would just go ahead and take the test. Its looks really good when you have increased from one test to the next. good luck

 

[Neodynium]

Im not sure if they give an option to discard your score after the test like the MCAT. I would just go in the first time as a trial run and to see how the actual questions are like and then take it again in Septemeber. You'll have an edge majority of the people. If they charge a fee to cancel I would just go ahead and take the test. Its looks really good when you have increased from one test to the next. good luck

Thanks!
I've checked the cancellation fee; they'll return like $100 or so back, which doesn't seem logical for me to do at this point.
I'll just take this as a trial run and hopefully i'll get myself to studying for the September exam.
The only downside is the $200 that went down the drain, lol.

 

[radio frequency]

It's been a few years for me, but I remember the key to doing the math section efficiently being to quickly rule out the wrong answers and choose the ballpark correct answer. Actually going through and correctly calculating all of the answers is pretty time consuming.

 

[YOWAT]

It's been a few years for me, but I remember the key to doing the math section efficiently being to quickly rule out the wrong answers and choose the ballpark correct answer. Actually going through and correctly calculating all of the answers is pretty time consuming.

some questions had closely two answers how u do that? 3/4 or -3/4

i like yr tip, short easy understand