PCAT advice or help?

[cephALEXin]

Hello everyone. Would appreciate no judgement. I'm taking my PCAT for the 5th time. I have major anxiety for standardized testing. I have a 3.9 GPA and I know the test isn't a good measure of my capability ,but it's discouraging when I can't even get an average PCAT score.
These are my previous scores
Attempt 1 Biology- 1, Chemistry-32 , Reading Comprehension- 15 , Quantitative- 47, Composite- 12
Attempt 2 Biology-8, Chemistry- 26 , Reading Comprehension- 2 , Quantitative- 13, Composite- 5
Attempt 3 Biology-1, Chemistry- 55 , Reading Comprehension- 17 , Quantitative- 62, Composite- 21
Attempt 4 Voided.

Right now I'm schedule to take it in January ,but I feel like I don't have enough time to prepare anymore and I want to study for february testing. Should I just take the january test and see what I get? I think either way I'm going to take it in february window. Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[cephALEXin]

Also want to mention, would it look worse for how many attempts I've made? Should I just cancel january testing window?

 

[BC_89]

Also want to mention, would it look worse for how many attempts I've made? Should I just cancel january testing window?

Yes. It looks worse the more attempts you make.

Two things:

1) Speak to a counselor and see if the anxiety is controllable. If not, you may need to be diagnosed and would at least have sound reasoning for the repeats with an unclaimed anxiety diagnosis.

2) Apply to schools that do not require the PCAT.

If your study habits have not changed for January test, your wasting an attempt expecting a miraculous change and that never works. Also, exams become more common in professional schooling....You need to heed the first advice to better advance in your professional studies.

Pursue a bachelors in the meantime (assuming your 3.9 is prereqs and not a degree).

 

[pharmcharm22]

I also am a very bad test taker. I took the pcat 3 times (january 2018, july 2018 and september 2018). My first score was a 16, and I was very shocked because I wasn't expecting that. I bought dr. collins after and my july score was a 36, which is still very low. After that, I actually attended the dr. collins class and ended up with a 51 percentile. It still wasn't what I wanted to score, but I applied early decision and got in. If you have time, I would revisit your study habits and maybe buy the dr. collins. It's expensive but it helped my biology score, which it looks like you struggled in. I also have tips on the reading, if you want any! Don't lose hope, because I almost did and it turned out to be in my favor. Also, in my pharmacy school interview it was never brought up that I took the pcat 3 times.

 

[DagS132]

1) Speak to a counselor and see if the anxiety is controllable. If not, you may need to be diagnosed and would at least have sound reasoning for the repeats with an unclaimed anxiety diagnosis.

Listen to this person.

 

[limeymatey]

I suggest you take your current PCAT scores and apply to schools with no PCAT requirement. You need to let your personal statement shine if you apply with your current PCAT score. Email the admissions coordinator of your schools of choice, explain the situation, include a copy of your transcript and see what response they give. You may have a chance if they make allowances/exceptions and do not enforce a strict cutoff PCAT cutoff.

I do not suggest you take either the Jan or Feb PCAT until you've address the underlying issue or have consistently hit higher scores in mock practice tests in a very similar test environment.