Kaplan practice tests

[patel1995]

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Hello everyone,

I just took the Kaplan practice test and scored low. The bio and chem had really hard passage based questions. I am taking PCAT September and these test scores are making me worried. Does the actual test is hard as the Kaplan practice exams? I am already preparing from the Dr. collins self-study guide.

Those who had recently taken PCAT in July please share your thoughts.

 

[keytie]

Hello everyone,

I just took the Kaplan practice test and scored low. The bio and chem had really hard passage based questions. I am taking PCAT September and these test scores are making me worried. Does the actual test is hard as the Kaplan practice exams? I am already preparing from the Dr. collins self-study guide.

Those who had recently taken PCAT in July please share your thoughts.

Hey there! I took my PCAT 7/23 and I used Kaplan but it was the 2015-2016 edition. Personally, I found the Kaplan tests were a bit tougher than the real exam and so I finished off better than I thought I would. I didn't use Dr. Collins as it was a bit too expensive for me, so I can't really give any comparison with regards to that. Barron's has a lot of practice questions as well as two practice exams so I used those to get up to speed. There were quite a few passage based questions in the biology section though. Don't stress out since you still have a solid month to study, and best of luck!

 

[patel1995]

Hey there! I took my PCAT 7/23 and I used Kaplan but it was the 2015-2016 edition. Personally, I found the Kaplan tests were a bit tougher than the real exam and so I finished off better than I thought I would. I didn't use Dr. Collins as it was a bit too expensive for me, so I can't really give any comparison with regards to that. Barron's has a lot of practice questions as well as two practice exams so I used those to get up to speed. There were quite a few passage based questions in the biology section though. Don't stress out since you still have a solid month to study, and best of luck!

Thank you for replying. So you only studied from Barron's?

 

[keytie]

Thank you for replying. So you only studied from Barron's?

I found Kaplan great for biology if you're not too confident with that section, but the organic chemistry section in the book was completely overkill compared to what showed up on the actual PCAT for me. I can't speak for anyone else, but there was much more material regarding general chemistry. 1000 pages of information is a lot to memorize and digest but if you're already looking at it then you should be fine. Barron's book is all practice problems with answers and explanations plus 2 practice tests. I initially studied Kaplan's book then did Barron's exercises, then finally the online Kaplan practice exams.

 

[Dr_eyelien]

I found Kaplan great for biology if you're not too confident with that section, but the organic chemistry section in the book was completely overkill compared to what showed up on the actual PCAT for me. I can't speak for anyone else, but there was much more material regarding general chemistry. 1000 pages of information is a lot to memorize and digest but if you're already looking at it then you should be fine. Barron's book is all practice problems with answers and explanations plus 2 practice tests. I initially studied Kaplan's book then did Barron's exercises, then finally the online Kaplan practice exams.

So what would you say should up the most in chem section?? I only have the kaplan book as my only resource, i would not want to waste time studying something its not going to be tested on. For example, I've read not much of spectroscopy shows up...idk?

 

[Dr_eyelien]

I found Kaplan great for biology if you're not too confident with that section, but the organic chemistry section in the book was completely overkill compared to what showed up on the actual PCAT for me. I can't speak for anyone else, but there was much more material regarding general chemistry. 1000 pages of information is a lot to memorize and digest but if you're already looking at it then you should be fine. Barron's book is all practice problems with answers and explanations plus 2 practice tests. I initially studied Kaplan's book then did Barron's exercises, then finally the online Kaplan practice exams.

Also, what year of Barron's book did you study? 🙂

 

[keytie]

So what would you say should up the most in chem section?? I only have the kaplan book as my only resource, i would not want to waste time studying something its not going to be tested on. For example, I've read not much of spectroscopy shows up...idk?

I felt like the general chemistry in Kaplan was the most relevant. Just know your basic orgo reactions, and I think I got about 2 questions on spectroscopy so it really wasn't much. I think the Barron's book I used was from 2014.