pcat practice tests advice

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Louisiana Girl

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I have heard that the pcat is too easy in the Barron's book, but a little to hard in Kaplan and Cliffs. I have been looking at this website(http://www.studyguidezone.com/pcattest.htm) and was wondering is this too easy, too hard, or about right. I am just trying to get a good sense of how the chemistry section is. Please help.
 
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haha that second sentence reminds me of goldie locks and the three bears

the harcourt pcat website offers a real pcat exam given in the past for 21 dollars...it has about 25 questions from each section. that should give you a good idea of how the pcat is.
 
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I know I just wanted more practice than 25 questions. I know the other stuff is good practice but I wanted something that is as close as possible to the real thing besides the practice pcat. I know itsouded like the 3 bears I thought about that after I read it back to myself.🙂
 
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I feel the practice questions for biology and chemistry on the Harcourt site were a little too easy. I would get 25/25/ or 24/25 or 23/25 on those sections for both practice tests. I found that the analogies were a bit tougher than expected for the first test and pretty lenient on the second. But all in all, science questions were so easy that I begin to worry if it is a good indication of the types of questions that will be asked on the real thing. Or it could be because my major is Molecular Biology and Microbiology and these types of topics are drilled into my head a whole bunch of times. Does anyone else feel that the science sections were too easy?
 
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Took the new PCAT June 2007

Background such as major does in my opinion have an effect on how you perceive the test difficulty.

My experience: I am a Chemistry major....earned a 94 on Chemistry.


====>>> The test as I told another member is Harcourt's attempt to "demystify the exam" You are introduced to PCAT question structure.

======>>>> Though you might have found the science areas to be very simple in your words "easy" ...keep in mind that the actual PCAT is approximately 4 hours of testing.....you cannot compare the difficulty of the actual PCAT with a 15 minute practice exam..... !

======>>>> In my opinion the practice exam was a reflection of THE ACTUAL PCAT.... that is they both have questions of that varied widely in difficulty/complexity... and that all important question that is designed to determine those who know the material and those who "MASTERED THE MATERIAL". If you understand what I mean.


Hope this response was helpful. 🙂
 
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i just took one of the cliff's practice test, i thought that the sections were fairly easy except for the chemistry section, which killed me. I had 15 questions remaining when time ran out. I've heard that the cliff's chemistry section is harder than the real thing. i was just wondering if anyone did horrible in the cliff's chemistry section but scored well on the chemistry section of the real pcat.
 
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nerv12345 said:
the harcourt pcat website offers a real pcat exam given in the past for 21 dollars...it has about 25 questions from each section. that should give you a good idea of how the pcat is.
Click to expand...

harcourt's pcat practice exams are jokes!!! SERIOUSLY - don't waste your $$. The questions on their practice exams are almost all the easiest questions you MIGHT find in the real exam. I couldn't believe it. I've taken January and June and now August PCATs and the questions in their practice exams PALE IN COMPARISON to the questions in the real exam - at least for the Bio, Chem, and Math sections. Harcourt's practice exams are only good for Verbal and Reading. They don't even give you a practice Writing topic...just advice on how to approach the writing section = whoopee...I can get that on any free PCAT advice site.

So, unless you need serious help with your verbal and/or reading, DON'T WASTE YOUR $$ ON HARCOURT'S PRACTICE EXAM!👎
 
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I agree with Toomeke. The practice test is a waste of money. The questions on the real pcat were harder, but some (not many) were like on the practice exam. Especially math.
 
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Louisiana Girl

The pdf file [184 pages] on your website link has a lot of good information, worth the time to look it over.

The best parts of the pdf:

- strategies for the Reading Comprehension: maybe the best i've seen
- recognition of the Analogy types [you must build vocabulary on your own]
- strategy for the Writing section: i did mine just like that on Saturday

Mediocre parts:

- the Bio section. Good information, you need to know all of that, but PCAT won't test you on a lot of it; also PCAT tests a lot that is not on the pdf.
- telling you what to study for Chem [not much taught on the pdf though]: you are better off studying Kaplan, your Chem 2 notes, and your Org 1 notes & textbooks if you have them. PCAT Chem is mostly Chem 2.

BAD part:

- the Math section. The real PCAT is 50x harder than that now, you need to study a Calculus textbook or an AP Calc prep book plus lots of Trig.
 
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eric4321 said:
Louisiana Girl

The pdf file [184 pages] on your website link has a lot of good information, worth the time to look it over.

The best parts of the pdf:

- strategies for the Reading Comprehension: maybe the best i've seen
- recognition of the Analogy types [you must build vocabulary on your own]
- strategy for the Writing section: i did mine just like that on Saturday

Mediocre parts:

- the Bio section. Good information, you need to know all of that, but PCAT won't test you on a lot of it; also PCAT tests a lot that is not on the pdf.
- telling you what to study for Chem [not much taught on the pdf though]: you are better off studying Kaplan, your Chem 2 notes, and your Org 1 notes & textbooks if you have them. PCAT Chem is mostly Chem 2.

BAD part:

- the Math section. The real PCAT is 50x harder than that now, you need to study a Calculus textbook or an AP Calc prep book plus lots of Trig.
Click to expand...

what PDF file ..can you provide us the link for it..thanks
 
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