-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
July 20 PCAT
Started by ThugMotivation
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Good luck to you!
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
So how was it? I have a question for those of you who have taken the test...
Is the Chemistry section approximately 75% Gen Chem and 25% OChem material? I'm not too keen with OChem but I do remember the very basics (reactions are not my forte) like nomenclature.
Is the Chemistry section approximately 75% Gen Chem and 25% OChem material? I'm not too keen with OChem but I do remember the very basics (reactions are not my forte) like nomenclature.
No. The chemistry section consists of 60% General Chemistry/40% Organic chemistry.
first time taking it and my preliminary scores were,
VA: 40
Bio: 88
RC: 13
QA: 71
Chem: 93
Composite: 67
SO i did great on chem and bio but i guess my english is terrible lol.
I guess im gonna have to do it again... 🙁
is it possible for the marks to change by a lot?
VA: 40
Bio: 88
RC: 13
QA: 71
Chem: 93
Composite: 67
SO i did great on chem and bio but i guess my english is terrible lol.
I guess im gonna have to do it again... 🙁
is it possible for the marks to change by a lot?
for how many months did u prepare and how was math and verbal ?which book did u used for math and verbal
It was not similar at all in my opinion. The format was right on but the types of questions where way off. I bought multiple practice test and when I took the PCAT today I felt like I was completely lost trying to read a foreign language for the chemistry and biology sections.
Did anyone use dr collins to study for it and if you did was it helpful for today's pcat? I'm taking it next Wednesday and I mostly focused on dr collins and pearson practice pcat. I went over kaplan and bio chem also but I noticed the chem questions in kaplan were much harder than the pearson ones.
Thought I had done terribly, almost cried when it was over because I had to guess nearly half of quant. And missed a couple off the end, so didn't even guess them. I must have been lucky (and admittedly I read most of the questions to eliminate clearly wrong answers and up the probability if a correct guess, but didn't have enough time to work the answers).
Overall though it went really well, 97th percentile!
59th for quant, but 99 chem, 98 bio and I can't find my score sheet now but verbal was 90s, reading upper 70s. Just proves how much chem is weighted on the test, hoping that the writing wont bring my score down too badly :s
Hope everyone else had a positive test experience 🙂
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
what kind of organic chemistry was on the test?
I didn't, though other test takers from here have reported good marks in the past. I already have a biochem and genetics degree so I have more bio and chem classes than most, though so many didn't transfer from England to the US 🙁 I think that would be my greatest advantage. I used a Kaplan book from 2008-2009 and it was full of spelling errors! Practicing questions online by searching for pcat practice helped some, and I borrowed a GRE book to look at some of the vocabulary, though certainly didnt read it cover to cover.
Good luck with dr Collins, other threads have reported great results using it 🙂
My PCAT today was totally different then the practice tests...I failed miserably.
Can you elaborate on the format of the test? For example, were there multiple questions on the page or was it a single question where you push "next" to go on? Also, for the math section was any paper provided? Thanks!
I agree, quantitative was definitely the section where there wasn't nearly enough time. But I managed to clear 90th percentile in everything 😀 and I'm so happy I don't need to shell out another 200 bucks to take it again.
I think the best part of the test was getting to have my palm vein print taken. The security at Pearson is more intense than the TSA! Although when I came back from my break at first the computer wouldn't verify my print, and I was afraid they would think I had switched myself out with an impostor
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
One question per page. There was a "navigator" option where you can go to any question in the section, though, so you don't have to click all the way back to look at a question at the beginning again. If you are registered for the test
(or maybe even if you're not?) you'll be able to go to the Pearson website and take a tutorial about the computer-based format.
For the math section, and for all the sections, you get a dry-erase marker and note board to write on.
I agree, quantitative was definitely the section where there wasn't nearly enough time. But I managed to clear 90th percentile in everything 😀 and I'm so happy I don't need to shell out another 200 bucks to take it again.
I think the best part of the test was getting to have my palm vein print taken. The security at Pearson is more intense than the TSA! Although when I came back from my break at first the computer wouldn't verify my print, and I was afraid they would think I had switched myself out with an impostor
Yeah, HARD CORE security. They wouldn't let me bring any kleenex into the test room. (I always keep 2 fresh kleenex in my pocket in the event I get the sniffels... worst feeling ever in the middle of a test to need one and not have it)
Pockets inside out, self pat-down, Palm Vein scan, the works. You can't walk the 5 feet from your seat to the door without being physically escorted, and the proctor has every single candidate on video and audio not to mention the line of sight to every cubicle.
We take this exam seriously, but pearson doesn't Eff around either!
Prelim scores
VA : 63
Bio: 80
RC : 65
QA : 94
Chem: 93
Composite: 87
Guessed maybe 5-7 question on quant and chem since I ran out of time, don't know how i got that score. Studied since June while taking G.Chem 2 in the summer and G.Bio2 (bio didn't help me at all, so many immunology and endocrinology questions)
*Used Kaplan for quick review and dr. collins for practice tests
VA : 63
Bio: 80
RC : 65
QA : 94
Chem: 93
Composite: 87
Guessed maybe 5-7 question on quant and chem since I ran out of time, don't know how i got that score. Studied since June while taking G.Chem 2 in the summer and G.Bio2 (bio didn't help me at all, so many immunology and endocrinology questions)
*Used Kaplan for quick review and dr. collins for practice tests
How does the preliminary score differ?!
I def thought the Quant section was the hardest and had to guess on most of them but it ended up being my highest score (89).
Chem was hard- I bombed it but when I took the pearson tests i was scoring in the 80s.
Reading comp was ridiculous- it didnt seem hard but was eventually my lowest score (35).
I def thought the Quant section was the hardest and had to guess on most of them but it ended up being my highest score (89).
Chem was hard- I bombed it but when I took the pearson tests i was scoring in the 80s.
Reading comp was ridiculous- it didnt seem hard but was eventually my lowest score (35).
You know what I caught myself doing for time constraints?
I read each paragraph one at a time and answered the questions by paragraph. For instance if the question was asking about something done in Paragraph 1, I would read that paragraph, then answer all the questions about it. Immediatly moving to the next paragraph ONLY when the question asked about it.
I think that did me very well, because the general structure and even ideas of some of those articles were quite different than those of the individual paragraphs.
I read each paragraph one at a time and answered the questions by paragraph. For instance if the question was asking about something done in Paragraph 1, I would read that paragraph, then answer all the questions about it. Immediatly moving to the next paragraph ONLY when the question asked about it.
I think that did me very well, because the general structure and even ideas of some of those articles were quite different than those of the individual paragraphs.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
VA: 73
Bio:75
RC:32
Quant:85
Chem:85
Composite: 76
Reading comp was horrible, I could not focus on that section and I felt as if the practices tests did not prepare me well enough for that section. I was honestly disappointed in my bio score, I have a 4.0 gpa in my biology classes and I am a human biology major, I just felt like there was some odd ball questions in that section. I finished quant with 8 full minutes left so I felt it wasn't as bad. I also felt like chemistry hardly had any calculation problems, but it went well.
As far as study materials, I am extremely disappointed in Pearson's practice tests, I thought the PCAT was 100x harder. Dr. Collins without a doubt improved my quant, chem, and verbal. Biology wasn't too bad, but there was enough random questions that threw me off. Reading comprehension I have no excuses and I can't even give advice. I also thought the writing topics were fun and interesting 🙂
Bio:75
RC:32
Quant:85
Chem:85
Composite: 76
Reading comp was horrible, I could not focus on that section and I felt as if the practices tests did not prepare me well enough for that section. I was honestly disappointed in my bio score, I have a 4.0 gpa in my biology classes and I am a human biology major, I just felt like there was some odd ball questions in that section. I finished quant with 8 full minutes left so I felt it wasn't as bad. I also felt like chemistry hardly had any calculation problems, but it went well.
As far as study materials, I am extremely disappointed in Pearson's practice tests, I thought the PCAT was 100x harder. Dr. Collins without a doubt improved my quant, chem, and verbal. Biology wasn't too bad, but there was enough random questions that threw me off. Reading comprehension I have no excuses and I can't even give advice. I also thought the writing topics were fun and interesting 🙂
