PCAT practice tests, cliffs and barrons

[unit18]

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Hello fellow PCAT'ers.. I have taken the cliffs practice test from the book of 5 tests. I scored a 79.5% raw score(verbal-72, bio-81, reading-77, math-88, chem 85)

and from the barrons practice test I scored 83% raw score, however I have heard that barrons is MUCH easier than the PCAT so I will not consider that...

Anyways, how does 79.5% relate to a scaled score? Does anyone know if the raw score is lower/higher than the scaled composite? Also has anyone taken these practice tests and calculated their raw scores? This information would be of much value, thank you.

 

[qingywingy]

from what I have read on this forum..
alot of people has said that barron's portrays the difficult level of the PCAT the most.

which should be good thing. =D

 

[unit18]

really... Every forum I have searched says Barrons is much easier, do you have any first hand experience?

 

[Wow Strong Armz]

really... Every forum I have searched says Barrons is much easier, do you have any first hand experience?

I seriously think, Cliffs is similar in Math, Chemistry, and Biology. Reading and Vocab is way to easy. I took the online Harcout Pcat Practice exam and the questions were similar to Cliffs.

 

[acetyl]

On one of Harcourt's practice PCAT tests, I made an 82%, 98/120. That is the composite. I took the test under timed conditions as well. I took the real PCAT twice, and scored composites of 87 and 91.

I am not familiar with Barron's or Cliff's. If you have Kaplan stuff, and you get a raw score over 80%, you will be fine on the real test.

 

[qingywingy]

really... Every forum I have searched says Barrons is much easier, do you have any first hand experience?

No i dont. but I have read some posts of people saying barrons are similar. I'm taking it jan for the first time also.
*Shruggs*

 

[qingywingy]

dgroulx
01-10-2003, 05:42 PM
I scored a 98% overall, 98% verbal, 98% biology, 94% reading comprehension, 90% chemistry and 82% math.

I felt the test was easy, but there was not enough time for me to finish the math and chemistry sections. This led to my lower scores in those subjects.

For studying, I used the PCAT Audio Learn cassette tapes for biology. I listened to the tapes several times. For the other sections, I used the Barron's PCAT study guide with sample tests. The tests in that book are in the same format of the PCAT, so it gets you familiar with the format. When I took the test, I found my anxiety level drop when it looked identical to my practice tests. I started the practice tests about one week before the PCAT. Anything I missed, I reviewed in textbooks.

When you take the test, answer all the questions in math and chemistry that don't require calculations. Then, go back through and pick up the ones that you skipped. You have more than enough time on the other sections of the test.


^ that was what I read about the Barrons from another post.
Hope that helps?
=)

gluck jan takerssssss.

 

[cdpiano27]

Yes, but the date of that post was 2003. It is 2007, and I am sure the test is MUCH harder now than it was before.

I have old ARCO books from around 2002, and the questions are so easy, that I think you could get by with your high school chemistry class and very little organic then. You could read the end of your general chem book and get a good chunk of them correct.

 

[Me+PharmD]

I took the test in Oct 06 and I studied using Barrons, Cliff's, and Kaplan. I found that Barrons was ok for chemistry and biology; Cliff's was ok for pretty much everything, and the kaplan study guide was really challenging to the point of an overkill for the actual PCAT(which is not necessarily a bad thing). I did ok considering I was in the midst of taking organic I and calculus, with only one biology under my belt. I would definitely say that it was the knowledge that I acquired in my classes that gave me the greatest boost rather than a one week cram session of study guides. If anything, use the study guides to improve the speed at which you test, rather than using them to learn the information. Time=critical factor which I cannot, nor anyone else, emphasize enough.

Comp: 83
Read & Verb: 56
Biology: 78
Quant: 87
Chemistry: 93
Writ: 4

 

[unit18]

Time doesnt seem like such a big factor to me, whenever i do a practice test whether it be Cliffs or Barrons, I always have time to spare on every single section (except reading)...

Anways do you think that the PCAT is harder or easier than cliffs/barrons?

I feel that barrons is very easy in all sections and that cliffs is slightly harder... I tried the kaplan practice exam and found it to be incredibly difficult. I hardly doubt the PCAT questions are similar to those of Kaplan. Ironically, I am using Kaplan for my school courses....