PCAT Practice Test vs. Actual PCAT

[jpharm2010]

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I just finished my first official practice exam from the PCAT website, and I did alright on it. In fact, I did petty well. I was wondering how the Practice PCAT compares to the actual PCAT. The website says they use real questions from past PCATs, but I still don't trust my score. For those who've taken the actual PCAT and the practice tests, are the practice tests a reliable approximation for how you'll do on test day?

I took the practice test under timed conditions, and I took a 20 minute break between the chem and reading sections. I figure that's pretty close to test conditions as I can get at home in my bedroom, lol.

Thanks!

 

[mcalabr3]

I just finished my first official practice exam from the PCAT website, and I did alright on it. In fact, I did petty well. I was wondering how the Practice PCAT compares to the actual PCAT. The website says they use real questions from past PCATs, but I still don't trust my score. For those who've taken the actual PCAT and the practice tests, are the practice tests a reliable approximation for how you'll do on test day?

I took the practice test under timed conditions, and I took a 20 minute break between the chem and reading sections. I figure that's pretty close to test conditions as I can get at home in my bedroom, lol.

Thanks!

Well unfortunately the only break during the entire test is halfway through right before you write the second essay... btw it's only about 15minutes.

The Practice test is probably the closest thing you can get to forecasting a PCAT score. Of course the range it gives you is a 20 point spread. But hey I did well on the PCAT and my composite fellow into the projected one.

 

[mwatton]

Besides the 20 point range on the practice test scores, mine was spot on. My composite range on the practice test was 78-98 and I actually got an 88. I would say it's the best predictor you have.

 

[JJVmom]

I took the older two, before the latest was posted. My range was 62-82 on both tests. Unfortunately, I got a 62 on the real thing.

Just took the 3rd one (another $40 to Pearson)...my scores are all over the board. My composite was in the same range, but the percentile in each section was so random. This time, my verbal and RC were low, and my quant, chem, and bio were high. The complete opposite of June's real test. I hate the fact that a standardized test will make/break my acceptance. I just hope that w/2 more tries, I can pull it all together on one of them and come out w/a competitive composite.

 

[jpharm2010]

Thanks for the responses!


I'm just a little nervous about getting a false sense of security about the test. Only 11 days until the big day!!! I don't want to jinx anything. I'll go knock on wood or walk out the door, turn around three times, and spit.

 

[phathead]

My scores and the time of material were quite accurate.

The more important thing is to take the practice tests just like the real test.

 

[dominicl]

I took the first and the second practice tests on pearsons website i took them all under the same conditions as the real pcat.

The composite range the practices tests were 80-99% on practice test 1 and a 78-98% on the second practice test.

Now on the actual pcat that i took back in june i got the 90%. So i would same that the range they put you in is pretty accurate.

i was worried about the same thing when i took the practice tests but i think whatever they indicate is probably where you are at. So if its high then you can relax a bit but if its low you better get to the grind. lol

 

[pch]

I took the first and the second practice tests on pearsons website i took them all under the same conditions as the real pcat.

The composite range the practices tests were 80-99% on practice test 1 and a 78-98% on the second practice test.

Now on the actual pcat that i took back in june i got the 90%. So i would same that the range they put you in is pretty accurate.

i was worried about the same thing when i took the practice tests but i think whatever they indicate is probably where you are at. So if its high then you can relax a bit but if its low you better get to the grind. lol

congrats on the 90%! do you know if these practice test scores are scaled at all? When i did practice 1 I scored a pretty low percentile on verbal but my actual percent was 75%. When i did practice 3 my verbal percentile rose up about 10% but my actual percent was still 75%. I'm just wondering because I got the exact same range for both my practice exams and I dont know if its because there has been a mistake.

 

[phathead]

congrats on the 90%! do you know if these practice test scores are scaled at all? When i did practice 1 I scored a pretty low percentile on verbal but my actual percent was 75%. When i did practice 3 my verbal percentile rose up about 10% but my actual percent was still 75%. I'm just wondering because I got the exact same range for both my practice exams and I dont know if its because there has been a mistake.

they're scaled on the average scores from the last... I wanna say four years or so in order to give you a rough estimate of where you fall.

 

[aznxrice]

So how high does the difficulty on the actual PCAT go up compared to the practice tests?

 

[mchang521]

Can anyone help me out? I bought the Dr. Collin PCAT material from someone on this site, and he included 2 pearson practice test inside but it doesn't have the scoring. I just took the 2 exams, I got 17 wrong 🙂() on the first one, and 9 wrong on the second one. can you guys tell me what the score will convert to on the actual PCAT? thanks so much!

 

[mchang521]

what's the scale if i get 42/48 on chem on the 1st practice test? thanks!!

 

[goodfellas]

I just took the 3rd Practice test from Pearson (the only one I've ever taken). As long as it's more accurate than Kaplan, I'm a lot more relived about tomorrow! Kaplan's practice tests destroyed me...

 

[xsc614]

Can anyone help me out? I bought the Dr. Collin PCAT material from someone on this site, and he included 2 pearson practice test inside but it doesn't have the scoring. I just took the 2 exams, I got 17 wrong 🙂() on the first one, and 9 wrong on the second one. can you guys tell me what the score will convert to on the actual PCAT? thanks so much!

Probably in the high 90s if you are only getting an average of 2 or 3 questions wrong per section... 17 wrong out of a core of 200 questions is incredibly good.