PCAT advice from my advisor...???

[takethecannoli3]

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So, I went to my department advisor today. He informed me that he supposedly "writes" for the PCAT and that I for SURE needed to take genetics before taking the PCAT.
I told him, problem is, I have already taken the PCAT--3 times.
He asks me how many more times am I planning on taking it?
I tell him I wanted to take the august, october, and january tests.

Long story short--he basically acted like I was from Mars for wanting to take the test so many times, and told me he is strongly against it bc the pharm schools will down upon it.

My question to you all--is it true that the pharm schools will look down on multiple exams, even if my scores keep steadily improving each time?😕

 

[FFpharmd]

i'm pretty sure that pearson only lets you take the pcat 5 times. if you want to take it more than 5 times, you need to send in a special written request or something. that's something to consider too.

 

[takethecannoli3]

i'm pretty sure the pearson only lets you take the pcat 5 times. if you want to take it more than 5 times, you need to send in a special written request or something. that's something to consider too.

oh, 😱 hadn't heard of that. i'm going to check their website right now... thanks!

**edit...I checked the website...didn't see anything about a limit. do you remember where you might have heard that from? now i'm really nervous...

 

[Tatodotcom]

oh, 😱 hadn't heard of that. i'm going to check their website right now... thanks!

**edit...I checked the website...didn't see anything about a limit. do you remember where you might have heard that from? now i'm really nervous...

yes five times is the limit..look at the top of page 9 on the pearson website.

but why would you plan on taking it three more times??? just focus and nail it, you should know what to look for now.
good luck

 

[takethecannoli3]

yes five times is the limit..look at the top of page 9 on the pearson website.

but why would you plan on taking it three more times??? just focus and nail it, you should know what to look for now.
good luck

thank you, i found it!
i guess i'm just really nervous my score isn't going to be good enough...
as i was saying in my other thread, i studied SO HARD for this last june test, thought i would do really well on it, especially having taken it 2 times previously, and was SO not confident when i walked out of the june exam. 🙁 i know i can do better.
and the first time i took the pcat, i made a really stupid mistake. Bio was the section I was most confident in, and when i got my scores back, it said i had an 8. ive been known in the past to have a bad habit of skipping questions and not checking to make sure my answer number corresponds to the questions number, so i just KNOW that's what happened the first time. so that was a wasted exam. idk...i'm just so nervous about it, i thought that if i took it the maximum amount of times i would feel better about it.

 

[Kaxa2000]

Take Genetics before the PCAT? I hadn't heard of that although it shouldn't hurt. I hear, however, that they recently beefed up genetics on the bio part of the PCAT, but the main classes you need are Bio, Chem, OchemI, and Calculus IMO. I haven't taken the PCAT yet and only hope to take it once.

 

[philapharm7]

I never heard of taking Genetics (though in the interest of full disclosure, I haven't taken the PCAT yet, I'm taking it for the first time in August). But, I did just take Immunology, and I've found that some things I learned in Immuno have come in handy while taking practice PCATs. I think the benefit of taking higher level science classes (like genetics or immunology) is that you learn in-depth (and, at least to me, more interesting) applications of what you learned in the more basic science classes, which makes those basic concepts easier to remember and easier to understand. So in my humble opinion, I wouldn't freak out about trying to take a class like Genetics before the PCAT, but if it is something you were already looking to do (like I already wanted to take Immunology this summer to get ahead in my course load for next year), then it might have an added benefit of helping you on the PCAT in an indirect way.

 

[Kaxa2000]

I agree with Phil, I have a question though...my university has Immunobiology instead of Immunology...is this the same thing?

 

[JTrue14]

also, you should check the schools you're applying to. I believe UB is one school that averages your PCAT after you take it three times. I believe they are the only school that does that, but you should definately check.

 

[ffpickle]

thank you, i found it!
i guess i'm just really nervous my score isn't going to be good enough...
as i was saying in my other thread, i studied SO HARD for this last june test, thought i would do really well on it, especially having taken it 2 times previously, and was SO not confident when i walked out of the june exam. 🙁 i know i can do better.
and the first time i took the pcat, i made a really stupid mistake. Bio was the section I was most confident in, and when i got my scores back, it said i had an 8. ive been known in the past to have a bad habit of skipping questions and not checking to make sure my answer number corresponds to the questions number, so i just KNOW that's what happened the first time. so that was a wasted exam. idk...i'm just so nervous about it, i thought that if i took it the maximum amount of times i would feel better about it.

I agree with your professor, it doesn't look good to take the test 5 times, even if you are allowed to. How are you doing in Biology? Was 8 your highest score or your average? In any case, I agree that in your case, you should take Genetics before doing the PCAT again. You should also focus on one test date and prepare accordingly.

 

[woods1]

I never heard of taking Genetics (though in the interest of full disclosure, I haven't taken the PCAT yet, I'm taking it for the first time in August). But, I did just take Immunology, and I've found that some things I learned in Immuno have come in handy while taking practice PCATs. I think the benefit of taking higher level science classes (like genetics or immunology) is that you learn in-depth (and, at least to me, more interesting) applications of what you learned in the more basic science classes, which makes those basic concepts easier to remember and easier to understand. So in my humble opinion, I wouldn't freak out about trying to take a class like Genetics before the PCAT, but if it is something you were already looking to do (like I already wanted to take Immunology this summer to get ahead in my course load for next year), then it might have an added benefit of helping you on the PCAT in an indirect way.

Has anyone by any chance taken the PCAT course? I heard that they offer many practice tests? Does anyone have a copy of those tests that they can email me that have already taken the PCAT and done well? [email protected]

 

[Coenzyme]

Try Dr. Collins. It would help you immensely. I find that the practise tests are really accurate to the real PCAT.

 

[Ji the Captain]

If you are satisfied with a solid score, just keep that score and move on. Taking the PCATs multiple times shows a lack of confidence. While it is true that improving scores are a good sign, taking the exam too many times will result in admissions thinking you are insecure of your academic abilities😎

Hope this helps😀

 

[Ji the Captain]

Has anyone by any chance taken the PCAT course? I heard that they offer many practice tests? Does anyone have a copy of those tests that they can email me that have already taken the PCAT and done well? [email protected]

Genetics is an important course that covers many concepts in the PCAT biology section...take it at all costs before hittin up the PCATS

 

[Tatodotcom]

If you are satisfied with a solid score, just keep that score and move on. Taking the PCATs multiple times shows a lack of confidence. While it is true that improving scores are a good sign, taking the exam too many times will result in admissions thinking you are insecure of your academic abilities😎

Hope this helps😀

while this may be true sometimes, many schools love it if you take the pcat multiple times. for example; South university states on it's website that they recommend taking the pcat more than once as it shows "determination and drive".....I know many schools and admission officers that have told me that they like it when they see an applicant striving to do better on multiple pcat tests.

 

[Transformer]

So, I went to my department advisor today. He informed me that he supposedly "writes" for the PCAT and that I for SURE needed to take genetics before taking the PCAT.
I told him, problem is, I have already taken the PCAT--3 times.
He asks me how many more times am I planning on taking it?
I tell him I wanted to take the august, october, and january tests.

Long story short--he basically acted like I was from Mars for wanting to take the test so many times, and told me he is strongly against it bc the pharm schools will down upon it.



My question to you all--is it true that the pharm schools will look down on multiple exams, even if my scores keep steadily improving each time?😕

Will pharmacy schools look down upon taking the PCAT multiple times?

YES and NO



It is best you contact the pharmacy schools you wish to apply to and ask them this question.

Many schools I applied to didn't care how many times I took the PCAT as long as my highest PCAT composite, and quantitative, biology, and chemistry sub-scores were within the pharmacy school's competitive PCAT score ranges.

Good luck on your next PCAT exam. Study hard and take lots of practice exams! 🙂