PCAT Scoring trends

Started by Di_Va
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Di_Va

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This maybe helpful for those who wondering about how many questions exactly you can miss on the PCAT test.

I have called the Hartcourt service about the exact scoring, not the percentage. ya all know that each section is graded on a 200-600 base, the service person told me that all points are weighted equally to each questions; so, basically, if you got everything wrong, you are getting 200 points, if you answer everything correct, you get 600. well then, i used little algebra, figured out a formula for everyone.

for those sections with 58 questions, use
y=6.897x+200
for those sections with 48 questions, use
y=8.333x+200

where, x is the number of questions correct

any one wanna double check the formula for me? (just in case i am wrong)
 
The Hartcourt person told me that,
the test is actually compared percent wise to the group who had takend the test from 1998-2003. So, based on the scores posted from the other threads. If you get a composite score above 450, you'll have a 99%
 
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well...from the previous scores, i see that anything between 431-432 is a 90%. So there you go. Just take that scaled score to figure out the total # missed/correct in order to get a 90%. 🙂 😉
 
So you're saying you can miss 24 questions and still score in the 90 percentile? That seems a little generous to me, but i've never received my scores so what would i know, haha. Maybe i didn't do as bad on the pcat as i thought!
 
taloddar2002 said:
So you're saying you can miss 24 questions and still score in the 90 percentile? That seems a little generous to me, but i've never received my scores so what would i know, haha. Maybe i didn't do as bad on the pcat as i thought!

actually, i've been wondering about this too... seems a little odd... but base on the info Hartcourt service gave me.... that should be right.
 
no the curve is not that generous

i think from what i gathered through my friends who have taken the PCAT and how many they thought they miss, 75% right => 85% tile

according to your formulas, for a 58question part, getting a 36 is 450 => 99%, which is only 62%.
 
Yea...i think that getting 36 problems correct would not give you a 90%. It mentions that each test has different difficulty level on hartcourt, and they have different statistics and equation they use to calculate the score; therefore, every test is score differently.
 
I hope ur formulas are rite! but on the other hand it doesnt sound realistic...(getting 18 wrong in Reading Comp and still get 99 percentile!)
2-4 weeks left b4 the results come out... Hurray! 🙁

Di_Va said:
This maybe helpful for those who wondering about how many questions exactly you can miss on the PCAT test.

I have called the Hartcourt service about the exact scoring, not the percentage. ya all know that each section is graded on a 200-600 base, the service person told me that all points are weighted equally to each questions; so, basically, if you got everything wrong, you are getting 200 points, if you answer everything correct, you get 600. well then, i used little algebra, figured out a formula for everyone.

for those sections with 58 questions, use
y=6.897x+200
for those sections with 48 questions, use
y=8.333x+200

where, x is the number of questions correct

any one wanna double check the formula for me? (just in case i am wrong)
 
I know that Harcourt says that scores range from 200-600, but I wonder if the maximum score is really a 600. (Likewise, I suppose, is the minimum score really 200?) I had a couple of 99th percentile scores on the October test, but none of my scores were over 500. Has anyone scored over 500 on any part of the test?
 
kiko said:
I know that Harcourt says that scores range from 200-600, but I wonder if the maximum score is really a 600. (Likewise, I suppose, is the minimum score really 200?) I had a couple of 99th percentile scores on the October test, but none of my scores were over 500. Has anyone scored over 500 on any part of the test?

the PCAT is really weird. the different b/t a 75 to 85 percentile is like 5-6 points like say 420 to 425.

u just need a 450 to score 99%
 
drugdoc said:
The 450 for 99% sounds right, because I got a 449 and got 97% in reading.

For the ones that got 430-450 ..how many questions u think u missed? Do u know/remember?? An approximate guess?
argh..so nervous waiting for the score 🙁
 
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