PCAT and study tips

[GuyArcher]

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So, I recently returned to school to finish out a BA in Biology. I'm probably about 30 credits shy of graduating but have most of the prereq's already (just need calculus, physics and chem II). My issue is that it's been a good 3-5 years since I've taken any upper level science courses (micro, anatomy, physiology) so I am definitely rusty and worry that I haven't retained much. I'm looking at registering to take the exam in April so I'll be ready to apply for Fall 2011 admissions.

I'm in the air with what would be the best way to prepare for the test. I've got months to build back up my knowledge and considering some sort of study book that I can go over repeatedly between now and then along with filling in gaps from textbooks (luckily I kept most of mine). Any suggestions on books/practice tests/general tips? I'd love to find a large study guide that provides some sort of practice tests while also providing focused lessons on the topics generally covered on the PCAT.

 

[Andy62]

Dr Collins study guide is almost exactly as you described. It has a packet for each section and is a thorough review. Then there are practice tests to take for each section.
I used it for Oct Pcat and am waiting to see how I did.

If you start now and study for several hours each week, you will be better prepared by the time you take it.

 

[jung1]

Being in grad school, I was in a similar situation. I bought Collins thinking I would have to retake but as it turns out, I scored at the 92%tile. The other prep books were more than enough. With that said, it would be more cost effective to buy Kaplans, Cliffs and McGraws and use your old notes and textbooks in conjunction. I also used AudioLearn and AudioOsmosis, and a must, Pearson's PCAT practice tests.

 

[Geiser]

So I was in a similar boat as well. I scored very well with the exception of written (97th percentile, 3/3). Here's my advice.

I studied for just under a month using Kaplan and didn't like it at all. It was good for preliminary studying and very basic concepts. It was pretty decent for Bio overall but I had issues with it for all other sections.

It covered really little of Organic Chemistry. I went over my Uni notes/looked at a textbook for this. I also tried the Cliff's book and found it was subpar as well.

For Verbal, I found it relatively easy. The practise test from Pearson was also easy compared to the actual test. I think Cliff's tests were a lot better (though I didn't study them). I don't feel my vocab is extensive and could really have benefitted from studying Cliff's. I ended up with a 78 by good guessing skills I think.

Math was horribly covered in all the books I peaked at. The practise test is a good gauge especially for time. Cover all things such as trig, calc (derivations), simple idendities, complex numbers. I purchased both practise tests and they really helped focus my studying. And as for the actual PCAT, DO NOT get hung up on questions that are taking long. Seriously. I whized through the exam a first time in 20 minutes and then went back to difficult sections. I forgot to enter a bubble but still scored 93.

Written. I suck at writing and found this the most stressful and didn't study for it. Honestly, I didn't know how to study for it. If you can bring yourself to just keep writing 30 minute essays and being honest with yourself go for it. 3/3 is the cutoff for the school I'm applying for so it's ok I think. Also I haven't heard of too many people scoring higher than a 3.

Reading Comprehension. The best thing I ever did was purchase the MCAT examkrackers Verbal Ability book for about $30. I basically sat down for a day or 2 and just went through each passage and question as fast as I could. I found these more difficult than the pcat ones since pcat are science based and the mcat ones are about all subjects. But doing these helped me achieve a 95 percentile score. Seriously, buy it!

Hope this helps somebody along the way! I would have loved to get this advice in the beginning, but AM NOT complaining about my score by any means!

 

[diastole]

If you are taking calculus and chem II before the exam, work on learning that material in your classes for the long term. The material will be fresh and you won't need to study much. If you are working on a bio degree, I imagine that much of the material will come back to you as you encounter it again. Kaplan does a pretty good job with this section so use it to figure out your weak points there. They don't do such a great job with microbiology though but there aren't too many questions about that.

Hopefully you aren't too rusty with math. There is no good book for that out there that I have seen. You are going to have to look through various sources to get a good review. I used the practice test to find out areas that have since left my brain and then used the internet to refresh my memory. MathTV.com has some videos that I found useful.