PCAT- How many can you miss and still get in each percentile? Really.

[Saiyo]

So, I've looked around ALOT for the answer to this...and what i've found seems to either be iffy or from a long time ago :3 i think one of the threads from a while back stated 75% questions right = 85th percentile?

-Before anyone flames, I know that PCAT is scaled, and they don't tell you how many you missed so its impossible to know exactly,-

But what I'm wondering is, in general, how many can you expect to miss and still get a decent PCAT score? (In my dreams, I get a 90+ composite 😀)
(as in its possible, but highly unlikely, that people who feel like at most they missed 2 +/-2 in a section will get a 60th percentile in it....so does anyone know the norm for the percentiles? )

-> that was an exaggerated example, but what about the score for missing 5+/- 3 questions?


Thanks!

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[chemguy79]

It's really hard to say; However, I can try to guestimate using my PCAT scores.

Verbal: 437/92
Biology: 446/96
Reading: 427/84
Quantitative: 499/99
Chemistry: 472/99
Composite: 456/99

I scored a 499 (99th percentile) on the Quantitative section of the PCAT. Therefore, I don't think that I missed any questions in that section.

However, I also scored in the 99th percentile on the Chemistry section of the PCAT, however, my scaled score was a 472. Logically, I can assume that I missed a question or two, yet I still scored at the 99th percentile.

Bottom line, I don't think that there is a set answer. However, I can comfortably say that you can miss a question or two and still score in the 99th percentile.

 

[Saiyo]

ahh, thanks,

So it seems that you can miss a couple and still get in the high 90's...

I've narrowed down my misses to around 3-5 for each section (other than chem 👎) on Dr. Collin's---not sure how accurate of a gauge that is for how well i can expect to do on the real thing

 

[diastole]

I think it depends on the section. With math you can miss a bunch and still do well while on reading missing that many will knock you down. To give you an example, I scored a 92 on both the reading and math sections. On the practice tests for the reading section, I was typically missing around four questions. I assume that I did about the same on test day. For the math, I flat out guessed on somewhere between five and ten questions and that doesn't count the other ones I attempted but solved incorrectly. So I can assume I missed more on that section than I did on reading.

I am only guessing but I think that if you miss 3 to 5 on each section that should put you comfortably as a 90+ composite.

 

[b1234]

I'm absolutely certain that on at least one section you can miss over 10 and still score in the high 80's on that section...