PCAT Score Interpretation

[exousia]

What exactly do pharmacy schools look at? The Percentile Rank, or the Composite Percentage? Or both? I was talking to a friend and he said they look at the Percentile Rank only, while the handbook mentioned that the average composite score for those for entered in 2009 was around 73%. So with that said, how do you calculate your composite percentage of the number they give you?

 

[roziak]

Based on what I heard from a few schools - I'm sure they look mostly at the percentile ranking. Some schools, however, do have cutoffs for certain sections of the PCAT.

 

[cheeseboy2]

i dont know if im reading your question right, but to my understanding, the PCAT scores will come either in the raw score format (200-600) or the percentile format (1-99%). To my knowledge, the schools only look at the percentile, because it acts as a curve, to show how good a candidate is regardless of the difficulty of the test (like your friend said).

the "composite score" is calculated taking your scores in all the sections of the PCAT including the writing portion. Somehow they add them all up and give you a composite score which will show how you rank overall, rather than by section.

when the pamphlet says the ave score was 73%, that is the average composite score, which is an overall percentile rank.

Your composite score will be given to you, im not sure how they calculate it.

correct me if im wrong.

 

[phathead]

What exactly do pharmacy schools look at? The Percentile Rank, or the Composite Percentage? Or both? I was talking to a friend and he said they look at the Percentile Rank only, while the handbook mentioned that the average composite score for those for entered in 2009 was around 73%. So with that said, how do you calculate your composite percentage of the number they give you?

Your composite score is given to you