PCAT Question

[Citrusxoxo]

Hello Everyone,
I am very new to this board. I am currently about to transfer to a four-year college that has a pharmacy school. My major is Interdisiplinary Sciences I am about two years away from finishing my degree. Obviously what I plan to do with my degree is go to Pharmacy School.
My Question is.....Did you guys use any books BESIDES ones from classes (like practice tests and stuff) to study? Also when do you suggest that I take the test...For my Pre-reqs I still have to take Organic 1 & 2 and Physics 1 & 2 but everything else im done with...I have done my research but I have read alot of posts where people had only taking bio 1 and took the pcat so i wasnt sure if I should take it and get it over with


Thanks!!

Emily

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[beccala33]

Hello Everyone,
I am very new to this board. I am currently about to transfer to a four-year college that has a pharmacy school. My major is Interdisiplinary Sciences I am about two years away from finishing my degree. Obviously what I plan to do with my degree is go to Pharmacy School.
My Question is.....Did you guys use any books BESIDES ones from classes (like practice tests and stuff) to study? Also when do you suggest that I take the test...For my Pre-reqs I still have to take Organic 1 & 2 and Physics 1 & 2 but everything else im done with...I have done my research but I have read alot of posts where people had only taking bio 1 and took the pcat so i wasnt sure if I should take it and get it over with


Thanks!!

Emily

Kaplan is good and the tests on harcourt's website are really good practice. My best advice to you is TAKE ORGANIC CHEM BEFORE THE PCAT. I would recommend taking ochm I and being in the middle of the semester of ochm II when you take the pcat. There is a real lot of organic stuff on there, I don't know how anyone gets a good score on the chem section without having an organic background!

 

[jamboo54]

Hello Everyone,
I am very new to this board. I am currently about to transfer to a four-year college that has a pharmacy school. My major is Interdisiplinary Sciences I am about two years away from finishing my degree. Obviously what I plan to do with my degree is go to Pharmacy School.
My Question is.....Did you guys use any books BESIDES ones from classes (like practice tests and stuff) to study? Also when do you suggest that I take the test...For my Pre-reqs I still have to take Organic 1 & 2 and Physics 1 & 2 but everything else im done with...I have done my research but I have read alot of posts where people had only taking bio 1 and took the pcat so i wasnt sure if I should take it and get it over with


Thanks!!

Emily

Kaplan book is good as well as one from classes. Use Kaplan book to study from and then use your text books to get a better understanding if needed. I recommend being in the middle of your first semester of ochem. When I took the test (Oct 2004), all the ochem was from the first half of first semester.

Also, I don't think Kaplan has good chem study material. What I did was read through my gen chem text book (read the stuff that was mentioned in the Kaplan book to narrow down what to study). Another thing to remember when studying for chem is that the PCAT is mostly theory so don't focus on memorizing all the equations.

 

[Citrusxoxo]

Kaplan book is good as well as one from classes. Use Kaplan book to study from and then use your text books to get a better understanding if needed. I recommend being in the middle of your first semester of ochem. When I took the test (Oct 2004), all the ochem was from the first half of first semester.

Also, I don't think Kaplan has good chem study material. What I did was read through my gen chem text book (read the stuff that was mentioned in the Kaplan book to narrow down what to study). Another thing to remember when studying for chem is that the PCAT is mostly theory so don't focus on memorizing all the equations.

Thanks for the feedback, now when you say take it while im in the middle of my first semester of ochem, should it be in the middle of my first semester of ochem 1 or 2? Do i need to finish the ochem class before or after I take it?
Thanks guys for the information.

Emily

 

[calrx]

Thanks for the feedback, now when you say take it while im in the middle of my first semester of ochem, should it be in the middle of my first semester of ochem 1 or 2? Do i need to finish the ochem class before or after I take it?
Thanks guys for the information.

Emily

I would have to agree with beccala33 100%. I would recommend finishing all of Orgo I and as much of Orgo II as possible before taking the PCAT. It seems like as time goes on, more and more Orgo appears on the test.

On a better note, there is no Physics on the PCAT!

Good Luck

 

[Citrusxoxo]

I would have to agree with beccala33 100%. I would recommend finishing all of Orgo I and as much of Orgo II as possible before taking the PCAT. It seems like as time goes on, more and more Orgo appears on the test.

On a better note, there is no Physics on the PCAT!

Good Luck

Thats so awsome!! thanks so much, I will definitly finish organ 1 and 2 To what extent is the math portion. I havent taken cal yet but ive taken trig...Thanks so much

 

[inocenciotj]

Thats so awsome!! thanks so much, I will definitly finish organ 1 and 2 To what extent is the math portion. I havent taken cal yet but ive taken trig...Thanks so much

With regards to the orgo, you will survive w/ just orgo 1... i am currently in orgo 1 and when i took it back in october i got an 84 percentile on the chem section... but i guess if u're really wanting to maximize your first score potential, then i'd wait too. with the math... it does have some calculus questions, so calc before the test is also a good idea.

 

[rxlynn]

Hello Everyone,
I am very new to this board. I am currently about to transfer to a four-year college that has a pharmacy school. My major is Interdisiplinary Sciences I am about two years away from finishing my degree. Obviously what I plan to do with my degree is go to Pharmacy School.
My Question is.....Did you guys use any books BESIDES ones from classes (like practice tests and stuff) to study? Also when do you suggest that I take the test...For my Pre-reqs I still have to take Organic 1 & 2 and Physics 1 & 2 but everything else im done with...I have done my research but I have read alot of posts where people had only taking bio 1 and took the pcat so i wasnt sure if I should take it and get it over with


Thanks!!

Emily

Totally agree with other posters - you MUST take organic, at least first semester before you take PCAT. I was surprised at the amount of organic on the Oct. test. I have a friend who took PCAT in June before she took any organic and she ended up taking the no-score option because she knew she had done so poorly on the chem. section. Also, I don't think that the Kaplan review material is nearly as comprehensive as it needs to be - there is only one chapter on organic, so you will definitely need a textbook and other study materials. Maybe the new edition of the Kaplan book will be better?