Just took it now got some questions

[Plowi]

Does the essay count? Do schools care about it?

Rest of the stuff made sense at least.

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[heaven]

Wasnt too bad, but some of the math questions seem completely irrelevent to anything remotely close to pharmacy.


Only thing I felt I did bad on was the essay. My pendmanship is REALLY BAD.

Will my bad essay score matter?

How is this test graded overall?

This was my first time, and i thought the time constraints were ridiculous....

 

[ndearwater]

Wasnt too bad, but some of the math questions seem completely irrelevent to anything remotely close to pharmacy.


Only thing I felt I did bad on was the essay. My pendmanship is REALLY BAD.

Will my bad essay score matter?

How is this test graded overall?

Your essay will be graded on a 1-5 scale. That individual score has no effect on your composite score.

 

[Plowi]

Yeah but what if my composite is good but I get a 1 or 2 on the essay, should I take it again? Its just the pendmanship really, I was writing way too fast to fill up the pages.

 

[trinnieoh]

Just got back from driving from the test center.

Honestly, not so bad. I felt like there was sufficient time on every section (surprisingly) EXCEPT for the essay.
I kinda freaked on the essay at the conclusion paragraph, because the proctor called 5 minutes and I didn't even realize the time.

So, I had a question about the "experimental" section. Are those just questions put in there randomly or am I completely forgetful and there was a whole section there?

 

[Frank93]

This was my first time, and i thought the time constraints were ridiculous....

My first time too. The time contraints were VERY RIDICULOUS esp. for the maths section

 

[Plowi]

Essay was just very vague IMO.

 

[starsweet]

Hmmmph.

A ton of the questions were the same ones on the October test, but probably half of those I wasn't sure of the first time. So that sucked...

I definitely did better in Quant this time, but was really trying to improve Chem. I wish we could discuss questions here! Is it just me or is it impossible to finish Chem?

Anyone here take the October test too?

 

[calrx]

Hmmmph.

A ton of the questions were the same ones on the October test, but probably half of those I wasn't sure of the first time. So that sucked...

I definitely did better in Quant this time, but was really trying to improve Chem. I wish we could discuss questions here! Is it just me or is it impossible to finish Chem?

Anyone here take the October test too?

I took the October test. I was in shock while going through the bio, verbal, and reading comprehension sections. I was pleased with how many questions were familiar to me.

I think I did a little better on the math section this time. I felt I was able to work through more problems. I still didn't finish though and ended up randomly bubbling a lot of answers in at the end. I hate math.

On the other hand, I was really surprised by the chemistry section (in a bad way). This was my 2nd highest section on the October test and for some reason I had a really tough time with it this time around. I had like 5 questions left that I didn't even have time to get to. I don't have a good feeling about this section so I'm anticipating my score to be lower.

I wish we could talk about specific questions too... like last time! I have a few in my head that I'm iffy about. Grrrr...

 

[fub5623]

Overall it was ok, except for the math. i wish i had more time :/

 

[Novasaurus]

I took the Oct. test...and was suprised at the overlap of questions (many of the reading passages were the same). I easily finished all the sections with time to spare except quant. However, I did go all the way through the quant section and got all the ones I knew for sure, then just had to fill in the bubbles of the ones I skipped. I think that taking timed practice tests out of Kaplan and Arco book really helped my speed, as well as being the second time taking the test. The chem section was ridiculously easy compared to Kaplan.

 

[Novasaurus]

Just got back from driving from the test center.

Honestly, not so bad. I felt like there was sufficient time on every section (surprisingly) EXCEPT for the essay.
I kinda freaked on the essay at the conclusion paragraph, because the proctor called 5 minutes and I didn't even realize the time.

So, I had a question about the "experimental" section. Are those just questions put in there randomly or am I completely forgetful and there was a whole section there?

There are random questions within the test that are "experimental". They cannot hurt your score and you don't know which ones they are.

 

[ethyl]

I've taken this dang thing three times now. I was also surprised on how many repeat questions I had on verbal and reading. I had at least 3 of the passages before on previous exams. What gets me is the repeat verbal questions I had were the same ones I had difficulty with last exam! I'm sorry, but having to know detailed GEOGRAPHY of lesser known islands and countries should not be needed for the verbal section!!!

 

[Plowi]

&@*

 

[DHG]

I think the people who make this test are out of touch with healthcare in general. Why do I have to write essays on stuff that a humanities major would have for a presentation? And you are right about that verbal, I saw references to things people used to worship 1000s of years ago so why do I need to know this crap? What were they thinking?

It's designed to test your ability to problem solve and your communication and logic. Not to test your knowledge of specific facts. It is designed so that it will test your ability to read about something umfarmiliar and be able to locically understand what you are reading, and use skills like inferance to read between the lines. The verbal topics can be anything under the sun, but the way you process the information you are given is what is being tested.

You probably did better than you think you did. Don't stress yet. Wait until you et your scores! Good luck and be glad the worst is over

 

[Boop2002]

I just finished the PCAT aswell. My impressions of the exam as follows.

Verbal/Sentence completion- Went well, pretty easy.
Math-Went well till i looked at the clock and saw that i had to do 18 questions in 5 mintues. The time requirement was definalty shorthanded. I could have touched up my calculus skills.
Reading-interesting articles, and most questions were direct.
Biology-Generally easy, i could eliminate more than two answers on most questions. Time was not a factor.
Chemisry-I was expecting more biochem and ochem, yet mostly general chem. Lots of nomiclature. Its almost so simple its confusing. Time was a factor aswell i ran out of time i guessed on about 10 questions.
Essay- pretty vauge question and did my best.

Overall i felt like my experience went well. Although the testing center was full of distractions. We had a grandfather clock like chime go off twice which threw off my concentration. Lots of sick people coughing. Other than that it was like a boxing match bunch of small jabs which toward the end just knocked me out. Not totally though. Its more of a endurance test than anything. If you somwhat paid attention in your classes you should know a least half the answers. I used Kapalan to prepare and found it very very very helpfull. I am just waiting for my score, hope i did well.

 

[bdl1411]

I feel like I did horrible. If I was supposed to finish the test, (math/chemistry) I have no hope whatsoever of doing good. I can't think that fast, which is sad, because I know I could have finished and got right a great majority of the problems if I would have had time to think. The PCAT sucks my butt, but I guess I've probably got until June to learn everything better where it becomes automatic instead of a mining my brain experiment. Bleh, I don't even want to guess how many I bubbled in.
Biology-easy
Verbal-fairly easy
Reading-easy
Math-killed me
Chem-ate my children
Essay-not sure, bsed the heck out of it..probably poor...guessing a 3.

 

[Yacoff]

"Chem-ate my children"

Is that a Mike Tyson reference? Nice.

I'm with you on the math hurting badly. I didn;t feel the chem was too bad, but it did require more use of 'chemical intuition' than I expected it to.

 

[Swenis]

Overall I thought it was alright... I think. The hardest part for me was definitely quant., but the easiest part was chemistry by far. I felt sort of rushed for Reading Comp, but I think it was OK.

 

[Mr_Ritim]

Several repeated questions in all sections, I had 2 passages there were exactly the same with the same questions. This was my 2nd time taking it and I found the Biology section to be the easiet of them all. Quant was probably where I had most problems with, kept looking at my watch and realize I wasnt getting anywhere with just 15 mins to go. Chemistry I felt more confident than last time I took it, I found much more organic which is my strength in the Chem section.

 

[bigalaz1]

Well, I think that if I had taken organic and A&P before this test I would have been in great shape. This test is way easier than I expected. Almost all the questions are just straightforward knowledge questions. Even though I don't think I did that well (all the guessing on stuff I'm just now starting to take classes for) it still alleviated a ton of the fear associated with it. I hope they keep questions for the next test from this one! Math was actually way easier than I thought it would be, in my opinion, and there wasn't that much calc on it. Some of those analogies are stupid but oh well, what can you do? Adroit?? The essay did suck; however, and there is definitely NOT enough time for it. If you spend 5 minutes prepping you're screwed. I basically started writing right away and barely got done and had time to proof read. 40 minutes would be much better.