July PCAT study group

Started by Wallace12
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Wallace12

Wallace12

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Who all is taking the PCAT in July and would maybe want to join together in this thread and ask for help and keep each other motivated for the test??
I'll be studying starting ~may 13th it's the Monday after my spring finals. I'll be using Dr Collins and MAYBE cracking pcat by PR. But it doesn't matter what materials we use we can still help each other out. Lets kill this test and get accepted into pharmacy school!
LETS GOOOOO!!!
 
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I just took my PCAT today and I am satisfied with my results. I am an upcoming sophomore so I have not completed all the prerequisites yet.. I am hoping my score will be good enough to get into the instate school here in my state.
SS, PR
Verbal Ability: 395, 38
Biology: 408, 57
Reading Comprehension: 398, 47
Quantitative Ability: 442, 96
Chemistry: 438, 93
Composite: 416, 79
As far as studying, I used kaplan 2012-2013 and Princeton Cracking the PCAT 2012-2013.. I was not able to study like I really wanted to due to summer classes and having a job, but God blessed me with the score that I received.. As far as tips to do well on the test, answer what you know and move on to the next question.. Don't spend time on a problem that you can not solve.. Solve what you can, and remember to stay calm..
 
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miscer said:
Dang, I'm sorry! Was it that you got confused on that section, or didn't study it enough? My summer class was stats, so that helped me a little bit. I definitely made a bad choice of not looking at verbal or reading comp. though.[/

I guess you could say I was a victim of poor time management on that section. I finished every other section with 10-15mns to spare! I just really Fd-up on the QA. I have absolutely no intention of retaking it. I will be calling the admissions of the schools I'm applying to. If I have to reevaluate what schools I'm applying to then so be it.
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FelixRx said:
Verbal (58)
Biology (92)
RC (20) 🙁
QA (85)
CHM (85)
Comp: 76

Kinda having mixed feelings right now. Dont know whether to retake or not. I was aiming for 80+ and came up a bit short. Fatigue kicked in the RC and my brain just started to give out. It really killed my composite. It could of easily been 80+ if I could of just stayed more focused. I have to think about it, but to retake or not? What do you guys think?

Oh and congratulations on all who got such amazing scores!!! 🙂
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We have the same composite, and I also got worn out during RC. I am thinking of retaking it to get at least in the 80s to make me more confident about my application
 
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congratulation on everyone either did good or poor. well in my opinion, good means if u like it or not. and poor means if u hate it or not. in my case, i like my score even though im not 90s or 80s because i still have great experiences, extra curricular activities, fabulous LORs, and confidence about my future profession. once again, if u got like 80-99, congrat but below 80 or even 60, dont give up. PCAT is only part of application. you will have many other things to make it up. hope all of ya'll get in great school and succeedingly finish ur school 🙂
 
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Member20192019 said:
thanks!

what about evolution topics or animal behavior (conditioning, imprinting, etc) in the biology section? was reading dr. collins enough for the biology section?
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I think there was something asking about genetic drift, which was weird since I thought that kind of stuff would have been taken out. Dr. Collins was enough for me, but I still used my old micro and anatomy lecture notes to help with some of the material
 
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Is there a score conversion between Dr. Collins chemistry practice tests and the actual PCAT? I am getting around 10 questions wrong out of 50 on Dr. Collins chemistry tests-- would that be in the 80th percentile?
 
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Tested on the 17th. Thought the test kicked my a**, but came out with an 81st. Very happy about this score 🙂

There was a lot more anatomy than I thought there would be. Always finished the QA section on the official practice tests with ten minutes to spare, but came up way short on the actual test. Had to quick click on the last ten questions, unfortunately. Verbal was much easier than the practice tests. I used Kaplan and various internet sources to study, but no collins.

SO GLAD JULY PCAT IS OVER 👍 👍 👍
 
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You had anatomy? I wish my July PCAT did! I think I had maybe like 1 question, though I can't recall any. I swear 80% of my questions were VERY specific microbiology questions or those dumb disease/nutrition questions. I always scored 80-99 percentile on the Pearson practice tests for the biology section, but I ended up getting a 51 on that section on the real thing. (Thank goodness I scored high in chemistry to boost my composite to a 84.)
 
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Jessica1992 said:
You had anatomy? I wish my July PCAT did! I think I had maybe like 1 question, though I can't recall any. I swear 80% of my questions were VERY specific microbiology questions or those dumb disease/nutrition questions. I always scored 80-99 percentile on the Pearson practice tests for the biology section, but I ended up getting a 51 on that section on the real thing. (Thank goodness I scored high in chemistry to boost my composite to a 84.)
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I think there were a few physiology questions, and there was definitely a fair amount of microbio. I'm glad I took microbio this past semester, it was definitely helpful learning about the diseases and the organisms that caused them. It was funny that I got a 99 in bio, but an 81 in chemistry (considering my major is biochemistry, and I've never gotten an A in any of my bio classes)
 
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niftydoc said:
I guess you could say I was a victim of poor time management on that section. I finished every other section with 10-15mns to spare! I just really Fd-up on the QA. I have absolutely no intention of retaking it. I will be calling the admissions of the schools I'm applying to. If I have to reevaluate what schools I'm applying to then so be it.
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Sorry, I didn't see your reply earlier! I ran out of time on every section except verbal and bio...I was able to guess through the last 8 questions in the chem and quant
 
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miscer said:
Sorry, I didn't see your reply earlier! I ran out of time on every section except verbal and bio...I was able to guess through the last 8 questions in the chem and quant
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oh its no big! good luck to everyone on their applications! now time to write my personal statement! oh boy!
 
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Hey guys,
Im retaking my PCAT in september and I figured Id ask everyone's opinion on study materials. For the july one, I only used kaplan 2012-2013 and did one of the pearson practice tests. I'm thinking I might buy dr. collins but I'm not entirely sure what I should get.
 
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Buy all of the Pearson practice tests! They really help. I used Kaplan and the Princeton review book (plus the pearson practice tests) and I scored a 84. I thought Kaplan was horrible, but the Princeton review was pretty decent. If there was ever a topic I didn't feel too confident about, I just looked up more information online or found a video explaining it on youtube.
 
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Jessica1992 said:
Buy all of the Pearson practice tests! They really help. I used Kaplan and the Princeton review book (plus the pearson practice tests) and I scored a 84. I thought Kaplan was horrible, but the Princeton review was pretty decent. If there was ever a topic I didn't feel too confident about, I just looked up more information online or found a video explaining it on youtube.
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I was planning on buying the Pearson practice tests, but I ended up not having enough time to do those. I started studying 2 weeks before my test, and I used the practice tests that were in the Dr. Collins material. Those were pretty good and helped a lot as well. Not too sure how it compares to the Pearson ones, but I did well when test day came around.

I definitely agree with Jessica1992 about looking up videos for the topics that you're struggling with (Khan Academy is good for quant, chem, and some of bio). Also, if you have old lecture notes from past classes, those can also be helpful too.
 
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thanks everyone! Im hoping to score in the 80th percentile this time. I really need to focus on bio and the RC, cause those are the two I did bad on
 
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0411 said:
thanks everyone! Im hoping to score in the 80th percentile this time. I really need to focus on bio and the RC, cause those are the two I did bad on
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The best way to prepare for RC is just to read a lot. Also, get your hands on some MCAT verbal reasoning questions if you can. They're a lot harder than the PCAT RC, but there's no harm practicing with more difficult material. I knew RC would be my weakest section, but I ended up getting a 91.
 
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Ayano said:
The best way to prepare for RC is just to read a lot. Also, get your hands on some MCAT verbal reasoning questions if you can. They're a lot harder than the PCAT RC, but there's no harm practicing with more difficult material. I knew RC would be my weakest section, but I ended up getting a 91.
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Do you think the mcat RC helped you a lit by seeing more difficult questions and passages?
 
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Wallace12 said:
Do you think the mcat RC helped you a lit by seeing more difficult questions and passages?
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Definitely. I used this booklet:

http://www.mcatprep.net/pdf/MCATPrep_Preparation_for_MCAT_Verbal_Reasoning-vrq05.pdf

If you want the answers, you have to send $5 to the author, but it's definitely worth it. I also used The Princeton Review's verbal reasoning.

But I think reading regularly is the most important aspect to achieving a good RC score. Since your time is limited on the PCAT, you'll have to read AND understand the passages very quickly. The more you read, the faster you'll be able to process information. When I just started studying, it took me a long time to read through the passages. 20 books and verbal reasoning prep later, I was finishing the RC practice tests in 30 minutes.
 
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I was wondering if someone could post a link of where to buy the dr. collins prep? Everything I looked up does not seem like what people have been talking about on here and I don't want to order the wrong things.
 
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