July PCAT study group

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Wallace12

Wallace12

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  1. Pre-Pharmacy
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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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ibminh said:
Hey guys quick questions. I was doing the practice test and turned out I did horrible on the Reading section. It said that percent of items correct is 63% but my percentile is only 20-40 percentile. Meanwhile, I got 60% item correct in math section and my percentile falls within 60-80....Does that mean that i suck at reading compare to most people? :scared:
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No it simply means more people are able to get 60% and higher (raw score) in Reading than they are able to do so in math section. For most people reading is an easier section than math, therefore more competitive as far as raw score.

I'm on the same boat as you as far as reading, don't worry just do well on other sections 👍
 
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Did anyone finish all the Pearson practice test? I don't wanna brag or anything but the biology and chemistry sections are really easy for me, I consistently get those section in 80-99 percentile. I heard that Biology is suppose to be tough if not the toughest. I don't know if these questions difficulty truly represent the real PCAT, i'm going nuts here 🙁
 
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I'm still a little confused on the actual test format or whatever. Suppose for example you are taking the verbal section and you finish it in 20 minutes so you have 10 minutes to spare. You cannot go on to biology section right? you can either use the 10 min to review problems or just sit there...
 
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isanders said:
I'm still a little confused on the actual test format or whatever. Suppose for example you are taking the verbal section and you finish it in 20 minutes so you have 10 minutes to spare. You cannot go on to biology section right? you can either use the 10 min to review problems or just sit there...
Click to expand...

correct

EDIT: actually, I just watched the PCAT instructional video and I am not sure anymore...
 
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Does anyone know what the user interface for the test is like? Do we get to see the questions we skipped before we submit all the answers?
 
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isanders said:
I'm still a little confused on the actual test format or whatever. Suppose for example you are taking the verbal section and you finish it in 20 minutes so you have 10 minutes to spare. You cannot go on to biology section right? you can either use the 10 min to review problems or just sit there...
Click to expand...

You CAN move on to the next section.
 
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Ohhh ok thanks for the clarification! Now I have the dilemma of either reviewing my answers or finishing faster so my brain isnt totally fried for the awful quant section...
 
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For the biology section, which parts aren't included on the test anymore? I know questions like plants and animals aren't included, but are things such as evolution and ecology still on the exam?
 
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aznheat80 said:
For the biology section, which parts aren't included on the test anymore? I know questions like plants and animals aren't included, but are things such as evolution and ecology still on the exam?
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I'm pretty sure there are no evolution or ecology questions anymore. Not since the 2012 update.
 
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No bra you can't accrue time if u finish a section early u lose that time it sucks Ho w much time do we get for quant?? 30 min??
 
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I already read the Kaplan book for bio like 2 months ago but I'm starting to worry I may have forgotten most of it. I hope reading through Collins bio before the test would be good enough.
 
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When you take the pearson practice test do you stick with time limits or do you continue doing the test even after the clock runs out. What are your composite score ranges when you adhere to time limits?
 
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vasoolraja said:
When you take the pearson practice test do you stick with time limits or do you continue doing the test even after the clock runs out. What are your composite score ranges when you adhere to time limits?
Click to expand...

For test #3 (the 2nd test) I stuck to the limits and the report says I got between a 75-95%
 
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HOLY CRAP, test 4.... That one seemed much harder, and i didnt do as good.

VA- 15-35 -----dropped from test 3 (45-65)
BIO- 80-99----same
CHEM- 60-80--- close to same dropped
RC- 10-30----dropped
QUANT- 65-85--- raised from 40-60
comp- 45-65--- dropped from 65-85 i think was what it was on 3?

-i had focused solely on quant these last couple of days, though on the practice test i felt like i guessed A LOT. This test definitely seemed more challenging than number 3. that 20 increase is nice and im happy it showed a little bit, i didnt do the RC very good, i had a tough time focusing and getting into that section, its friday and im tired haha but i definitely need to do all my collin's RC tests before the real thing to get stamina and just practice. VA i feel like is going to be hit or miss for me, either i'll know the words or wont...

My plan is to finish all my remaining Collins subtests and hopefully that is enough to keep my VA, RC, and QUANT from being HORRIBLE...
 
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Wallace12 said:
HOLY CRAP, test 4.... That one seemed much harder, and i didnt do as good.

VA- 15-35 -----dropped from test 3 (45-65)
BIO- 80-99----same
CHEM- 60-80--- close to same dropped
RC- 10-30----dropped
QUANT- 65-85--- raised from 40-60
comp- 45-65--- dropped from 65-85 i think was what it was on 3?

-i had focused solely on quant these last couple of days, though on the practice test i felt like i guessed A LOT. This test definitely seemed more challenging than number 3. that 20 increase is nice and im happy it showed a little bit, i didnt do the RC very good, i had a tough time focusing and getting into that section, its friday and im tired haha but i definitely need to do all my collin's RC tests before the real thing to get stamina and just practice. VA i feel like is going to be hit or miss for me, either i'll know the words or wont...

My plan is to finish all my remaining Collins subtests and hopefully that is enough to keep my VA, RC, and QUANT from being HORRIBLE...
Click to expand...

i have seen a lot of random disease names that ive never heard of from the Pearson's practice test... what about y'all? or maybe i just need to study more?

oh and there are couple of the questions requires us to know the diseases and common info about it. but i was having the impression we dont need to memorize those....
 
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Wallace12 said:
HOLY CRAP, test 4.... That one seemed much harder, and i didnt do as good.

VA- 15-35 -----dropped from test 3 (45-65)
BIO- 80-99----same
CHEM- 60-80--- close to same dropped
RC- 10-30----dropped
QUANT- 65-85--- raised from 40-60
comp- 45-65--- dropped from 65-85 i think was what it was on 3?

-i had focused solely on quant these last couple of days, though on the practice test i felt like i guessed A LOT. This test definitely seemed more challenging than number 3. that 20 increase is nice and im happy it showed a little bit, i didnt do the RC very good, i had a tough time focusing and getting into that section, its friday and im tired haha but i definitely need to do all my collin's RC tests before the real thing to get stamina and just practice. VA i feel like is going to be hit or miss for me, either i'll know the words or wont...

My plan is to finish all my remaining Collins subtests and hopefully that is enough to keep my VA, RC, and QUANT from being HORRIBLE...
Click to expand...

Hey Wallace, how long were the RC passages in test 4 compared to test 3? I didnt buy test 4 since i was broke after buying the other tests :S I know test 3 passages were like 4 or 5 paragraphs long.
 
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Wallace12 said:
HOLY CRAP, test 4.... That one seemed much harder, and i didnt do as good.

VA- 15-35 -----dropped from test 3 (45-65)
BIO- 80-99----same
CHEM- 60-80--- close to same dropped
RC- 10-30----dropped
QUANT- 65-85--- raised from 40-60
comp- 45-65--- dropped from 65-85 i think was what it was on 3?

-i had focused solely on quant these last couple of days, though on the practice test i felt like i guessed A LOT. This test definitely seemed more challenging than number 3. that 20 increase is nice and im happy it showed a little bit, i didnt do the RC very good, i had a tough time focusing and getting into that section, its friday and im tired haha but i definitely need to do all my collin's RC tests before the real thing to get stamina and just practice. VA i feel like is going to be hit or miss for me, either i'll know the words or wont...

My plan is to finish all my remaining Collins subtests and hopefully that is enough to keep my VA, RC, and QUANT from being HORRIBLE...
Click to expand...


Hey, would you recommend buying test 4? I bought mine before when they only had 1-3, so I got all of them for $90 if I remember right. If I bought the 4th one, it would be another $45. Do you think it's worth it to have the "harder" questions? I've heard from a few people on this forum that it was harder, but I don't know if it's worth it to buy another one or not - thanks for your opinion!
 
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Binchen222 said:
i have seen a lot of random disease names that ive never heard of from the Pearson's practice test... what about y'all? or maybe i just need to study more?

oh and there are couple of the questions requires us to know the diseases and common info about it. but i was having the impression we dont need to memorize those....
Click to expand...
Yeah lots of random diseases I've never heard of our know all the symptoms the questions ask about haha








hushpuppies said:
Hey Wallace, how long were the RC passages in test 4 compared to test 3? I didnt buy test 4 since i was broke after buying the other tests :S I know test 3 passages were like 4 or 5 paragraphs long.
Click to expand...
They're about the same, how are you studying for RC?
 
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Wallace12 said:
Yeah lots of random diseases I've never heard of our know all the symptoms the questions ask about haha









They're about the same, how are you studying for RC?
Click to expand...

I've been just relying on pearsons for RC and hope for the best, because unlike science/ math, RC is somewhat hard to prepare for. VA and RC are my lowest at the moment for this reason. :S
 
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Wallace12 said:
Yeah lots of random diseases I've never heard of our know all the symptoms the questions ask about haha









They're about the same, how are you studying for RC?
Click to expand...

are the real PCAT gonna have stuff like that? and lol there is no way to study RC...
 
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Jessica1992 said:
Yep, we do need to know random health facts. This is the outline of the PCAT by Pearson - http://www.pcatweb.info/downloads/about/PCATTestBlueprintandSampleItems_2013.pdf

So, it's just going to be whoever randomly knows about a disease or lucky guessers - there is no way we can memorize all of it.
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that's such bs... and some of the practice analogy question is weird as well...like we need to know which ones are secondary colors and historical places, site and names -_- ughhh
 
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I know. I've been studying since the end of May (when spring semester ended), and I feel like everything on the test is just going to be hit or miss. Of course studying helped refresh a lot of information, but overall...hit or miss.
 
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Binchen222 said:
that's such bs... and some of the practice analogy question is weird as well...like we need to know which ones are secondary colors and historical places, site and names -_- ughhh
Click to expand...

Totally agree, just took test 3 this morning and was frustrated with some of the questions, like how am I supposed to know that mount kilamarjaro or whatever is in tanzania or something?! Composite score still the same from test 3 but my verbal dropped down to like 55-75%. Just gonna have to do better on the others to compensate for VA. Not looking forward to test 4 since everyone says its so hard but ill attempt it monday morning.
 
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isanders said:
Totally agree, just took test 3 this morning and was frustrated with some of the questions, like how am I supposed to know that mount kilamarjaro or whatever is in tanzania or something?! Composite score still the same from test 3 but my verbal dropped down to like 55-75%. Just gonna have to do better on the others to compensate for VA. Not looking forward to test 4 since everyone says its so hard but ill attempt it monday morning.
Click to expand...


im going to take that on monday.. sigh. only few days left
 
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isanders said:
Totally agree, just took test 3 this morning and was frustrated with some of the questions, like how am I supposed to know that mount kilamarjaro or whatever is in tanzania or something?! Composite score still the same from test 3 but my verbal dropped down to like 55-75%. Just gonna have to do better on the others to compensate for VA. Not looking forward to test 4 since everyone says its so hard but ill attempt it monday morning.
Click to expand...

I wish I could get your verbal score haha
 
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I bought tests 1-3 before when those were the only ones available. Would you guys recommend buying test 4 as well? I've heard everyone say it's harder, but I don't know if it's worth another $45 or not. Thanks!
 
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Wallace12 said:
I wish I could get your verbal score haha
Click to expand...

bro, about the only ones i can always get right are the same analogies from dr collins VA haha i can usually narrow it down to two but i have to guess a lot.
by the way your avatar is awesome, I've been catching up on BB season 5 episodes in between studying cant wait for more episodes in august i believe!
 
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isanders said:
bro, about the only ones i can always get right are the same analogies from dr collins VA haha i can usually narrow it down to two but i have to guess a lot.
by the way your avatar is awesome, I've been catching up on BB season 5 episodes in between studying cant wait for more episodes in august i believe!
Click to expand...

Yeah I watched the whole series this summer.... haha so you've done all of dr Collins and that's helping with it?
 
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lol i am looking to improve my VA score as well... any tips?

and how close are those practice exam compare to the actual PCAT?
 
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yeah ive been through all 8 VA practice tests twice, and i can immediately recognize those questions that have same words. The pearson ones are just much more difficult unless you know the word (hit or miss really). Although, I have been looking at GRE top 200 words though, dont know if it really is helping that much. I'm doing good in the sentence completion part but those analogies are killing me, I just try to eliminate half the answers by either recognizing the relationship of the first two words or guessing synomyn/antonym or type to do with the lone word.
 
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I need help I am confused my subset score on test 1 were verbal 68% biology 68% chemistry 70%. Reading 50% and quant 50%. So what is my total I am so confused I think I did real bad I don't get what core items are
 
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