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t-minus 1.5 hours and counting!! post scores here
I took my PCAT on July 27th as well and I did good in some areas and not so good in some areas. Here's my percentiles:
VA: 50%
BIO: 99%
CHEM: 95%
RC: 19% <---
QA: 93%
Should I retake? Aside from PCAT, I have great leadership skills at my univeristy (historian, vice president, and currently president of pre-pharmacy association), 200+ volunteer hours in a hospital pharmacy, and by the time I apply, 1.5 years of pharmacy technician job experience. And my GPA is currently 3.78
What should I do? I'm so confused. Someone please evaluate me!!
I'm going to apply to all Texas and Oklahoma schools for fall of 2012!What school are you applying to? these stats are sufficient for most schools.
I took my PCAT on July 27th as well and I did good in some areas and not so good in some areas. Here's my percentiles:
VA: 50%
BIO: 99%
CHEM: 95%
RC: 19% <---
QA: 93%
Should I retake? Aside from PCAT, I have great leadership skills at my univeristy (historian, vice president, and currently president of pre-pharmacy association), 200+ volunteer hours in a hospital pharmacy, and by the time I apply, 1.5 years of pharmacy technician job experience. And my GPA is currently 3.78
What should I do? I'm so confused. Someone please evaluate me!!
Really good scores! Most peoples verbal and RC are the lowest as they are the hardest to improve. How did you study For the science and math classes?
Vaddiya btw haha
Thank you! I feel better now
I took my PCAT on July 27th as well and I did good in some areas and not so good in some areas. [...] What should I do? I'm so confused. Someone please evaluate me!!
For those who did good in math - What did you do to study? I didn't find Collins entirely helpful although it did help some.
This was very helpful thanks! Which shaums outline do you have? The calculus one? which would be the most beneficial for the pcat? thanks! Also contact schools you are applying to sometimes they do not accept sub section scores under a certain numberThanks for the evaluation. This was my second PCAT I had written. The first one was horrible (62% composite score) so I did improve by a lot. Ever since high school I have loved math. For practice on math I used the "Schaum's outlines." When it came to the sciences I used Kaplan, Destroyer, Dr. Collins, as well as Kaplan's online Organic Edge on-demand class. I also had the Princeton Review Hyperlearning Science Reviews which helped A LOT! I even made a bunch of flashcards in addition to the Kaplan ones I had. Overall this summer, I mocked the testing conditions and took practice tests about 11 times (3 from Pearson, 3 from Achiever, 2 from Kaplan, and the rest I made test sets from Dr. Collins) at my univeristy's library or the Kaplan center.
Hope this helps!
Hey Desigirl, How were the practice exams from achiever? I considered buying them, but there was only 1 review on amazon, and it was kinda negative. Is it roughly the same difficulty as the actual PCAT?
For those who did good in math - What did you do to study? I didn't find Collins entirely helpful although it did help some.
Edit - Desigirl89, you did very good on all the sections that matter most. I wouldn't retake it. I'll check out those math study guides you mentioned as well.
This was very helpful thanks! Which shaums outline do you have? The calculus one? which would be the most beneficial for the pcat? thanks! Also contact schools you are applying to sometimes they do not accept sub section scores under a certain number
Go post in the What Are My Chances thread. That's what I'd do.
In this thread, we're all in the same boat (for the most part) that you are - working on an application. There are people with more experience over there.
Edit:
Kaplan practice tests to identify weaknesses. (I also picked up a couple other books, but they were less helpful, except in practicing going quickly on multiple choice math questions.) Google / YouTube / Math book for explanations on things I missed (omg logs how I hate thee)... Online games to increase my calculation speed. Also, I tried to do everyday math problems in my head as quickly as I could - tips, estimating gas cost, mileage, chair configurations & multiplication by 12, 13, 14 chairs per row. Pearson tests to confirm I was fast enough & knew enough.
I really liked the Achiever. It had all sections and it was timed. At that time I was with Kaplan so I had my instructor grade my essays. You pay online and you immediately get a downloading request which downloads the software on your computer/laptop where you can access all 3 tests. I would definitely recommend the Achiever!
Even though it was my lowest section on the PCAT by far, I really think Dr. Collins is great for the quant. section. If you can do every problem from the his test conceptually(not just memorize answers) you will be in great shape. Make sure you practice your timing too. I knew I was going to do well enough on other sections that all I needed was a halfway decent score in quant to make up for it.
Awsome for quant I'm just doing dr collins and learning how to do all the problems not MEMORIZING them. For chem do you think collins and skimming thru my ochem book should do me fine? and for Bio i'm doing dr collins and reading out the kaplan book roughly 15-20 min a day. thanks!
As far as chem is concerned, Dr. Collins is the way to go. There wasn't much in the ways of orgo 2 on my exam, and he pretty much covers all the pertinent sections in his packet. I also think Organic Chem as a Second Language is a immensely helpful book.
QFT!! Most people I saw at my testing center were looking through their Kaplan books or said they took the Kaplan course. As we all know on here, Kaplan is crap.
You're about the only person I've seen scoring well only using Kaplan. Your undergrad classes must have prepared you very well and you're probably a good test taker too.All I bought was a Kaplan book and scored in the 90th percentile composite, Chemistry was 98th and QA was 95th.
I'm certain your good scores in those sections are certainly not the result of Kaplan. Kaplan orgo is non-existent, and Kaplan quant is mostly focused on fractions and basic algebra.You're about the only person I've seen scoring well only using Kaplan. Your undergrad classes must have prepared you very well and you're probably a good test taker too.
Second time posting here, and I figured I would add to the pool
VA: 86
BIO: 99
RC: 24...........FAIL
QA: 85
CHEM: 99
COMP: 96
First time taking the PCAT, I used the Dr. Collins study guide and a LOT of my own research. I tanked my RC because I literally choked on that section, literally. I couldn't finish the RC and I had to leave the last 10 questions blank, there was this horrible article about music and that killed me, but it seems like a good chunk of people struggled with the RC.
I am satisfied with my scores, but that damn RC is killing me because I know I can do better. I have been contemplating if I should retake the test, because my RC score is horribly low and I don't know how that would look to my prospective pharm. schools. What do you guys think?
Also, congrats to everyone! and good luck to everyone taking it in september
Does anyone have their scores on https://tpc-etesting.com/pcat/ScoreReport yet? I know it says within 5 weeks on the Pearson site, so when can we expect to see our score report?
I'm a little worried because I see the following on this page and I'm hoping it's like that for everyone because mine was definitely scored!
"No Test Score Exception There are no test scores in your profile. If you have taken the PCAT within the last five years, chose to score the test, and your test scores have not been invalidated by Pearson, please contact PSE Customer Relations at 1-800-622-3231 or [email protected] to get a new User ID."
Got a way to go it seems, awesome...thanks!When I phoned Pearson, the rep told me I could expect to see my score posted first week of september/last week of august.
Yea, mine is 3/3 too but im happy overall, and nothing changesGot my official score report today. Nothing changed from the preliminary scores, but I only got 3.0/3.0 on writing, what's up with that?
sameGot my official score report today. Nothing changed from the preliminary scores, but I only got 3.0/3.0 on writing, what's up with that?
lol, completely agree on this oneOK, so here's my consipracy theory: The Pearson writing scorers get paid the same no matter how many hours they work, so they all got together and decided to take a long vacation after scoring the July PCATs. They skimmed the essays - if they saw an error, 2.0/2.0, if they didn't see one immediately, 3.0/3.0. Scored 'em all in 2 days then hit the beach until September!
OK, so here's my consipracy theory: The Pearson writing scorers get paid the same no matter how many hours they work, so they all got together and decided to take a long vacation after scoring the July PCATs. They skimmed the essays - if they saw an error, 2.0/2.0, if they didn't see one immediately, 3.0/3.0. Scored 'em all in 2 days then hit the beach until September!
what about the mean score? it says i got a 2.8. Does everyone who got a 3/3 also got a mean of 2.8 as well?
Ok, my essay was pretty damn good. After the exam was over, I was surprised at how well I extemporized. Shame on Pearson.
I remember you pontificating about how you would get an amazing score your for essays.
Did the scores show up on PharmCAS yet?
I still maintain that I deserved no less than a 4. This 3/3 is an outrage lol.
RC: 412/ 65
Based on the description in the info booklet / practice tests, I also maintain I deserved higher than a 3/3. As a general rule, I don't make grammar & spelling errors, so at least that section should have been higher than 3. The other score is more subjective - maybe my essay was boring.
I'm guessing they scored my essay I wrote while I was "playing on tilt" after the break. The Pearson people were total dicks.
Whatevs, didn't effect my composite. A 3 out of 5 proves I can write under pressure at least as well as average, and my personal statement shows more directly how well I can write.