PCAT Tips!

[GodIsBeautiful]

Hello, all!

Has anybody taken the PCAT this July, and have any tips for future test-takers? I've taken about 5+ practice exams, yet I still feel underprepared. I feel like I'm going to run out of time, especially in the Critical Reading section. Also in Chemistry, because I have not taken any Orgo classes yet, so I'll have to reason with my guessing skills.

Many people are saying they ran out of time during the July 11th exam, forcing them to guess on 20+ questions. However, I am starting to believe those people did not practice timing well enough (or, the test was difficult and just required much deliberation).

My exam is on Wednesday, so any advice will be much appreciated! Thank you very much!

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[EliseNavidad]

Hey buddy!

I'm taking the PCAT on Wednesday as well. I have not previously taken the PCAT, but I am friends with some people that took the July 2017 test. They stressed the importance of skipping questions that cannot be answered in under a minute. Organic "gimme" topics included things like naming, aromaticity determination, supplying reagents in a suggested reaction, and differentiating SN1/SN2/E1/E2. Based on their suggestions, those are the things that I would be absolutely sure to review about organic.

As for critical reading, I think that skimming the passage first is important, and then going back in for details as necessitated by the question.

I hope that helps a little, again, I'm basing this on experience from previous test takers (both with composites in the 90s).
I think the key is to relax a bit. You know what you know, and I'm sure it's a great deal! Best of luck to you!

 

[DagS132]

My advice is to make sure to eat something with carbs in the morning. Fruits and juices. Get good night sleep.
I timed myself for every practice test I did and usually finished with at least 10 minutes left on each but I managed to use up all the time on each section. For both RC and QR, I ran out of time.
I think the number 1 reason was because of nerves. Because its the real thing I kept thinking to myself not to lose focus and screw up but that ended up taking my focus away. So just try to relax and treat it like the practice exams you have been taking.

Good luck! You guys will do great!

 

[atross]

Hello, all!

Has anybody taken the PCAT this July, and have any tips for future test-takers? I've taken about 5+ practice exams, yet I still feel underprepared. I feel like I'm going to run out of time, especially in the Critical Reading section. Also in Chemistry, because I have not taken any Orgo classes yet, so I'll have to reason with my guessing skills.

Many people are saying they ran out of time during the July 11th exam, forcing them to guess on 20+ questions. However, I am starting to believe those people did not practice timing well enough (or, the test was difficult and just required much deliberation).

My exam is on Wednesday, so any advice will be much appreciated! Thank you very much!

I also took the July 11th PCAT and the only section I felt I ran out of time on was the critical reading section. This was mainly because I felt that the passages were a little longer than the Dr. Collin's passages that I was used to reading. Other than that, I believe that the questions were definitely doable in the amount of time provided.

 

[TofuBlock]

I also took the July 11th PCAT and the only section I felt I ran out of time on was the critical reading section. This was mainly because I felt that the passages were a little longer than the Dr. Collin's passages that I was used to reading. Other than that, I believe that the questions were definitely doable in the amount of time provided.

Hello. I’m using Dr. Collins too. May I ask if you think the practice exams provided by Collins (quant, bio, and chem) were representative of the real PCAT? Do you think Collins practice exams were easier or harder, stuffs like that? Thank you

 

[Calbant]

I took it today. I used Kaplan only and took one practice test which I got a 74th percentile on. For the real one I got a 93rd percentile

 

[atross]

Hello. I’m using Dr. Collins too. May I ask if you think the practice exams provided by Collins (quant, bio, and chem) were representative of the real PCAT? Do you think Collins practice exams were easier or harder, stuffs like that? Thank you

I felt that the questions definitely were representative of the real exam. However, I felt that there were slightly more passages on the real PCAT. Like a 50:50 ratio of passage to non-passage based questions on the real thing. Collins was more like a 40:60 ratio. However, I felt like you didn't have to fully read the passage to answer some of the questions.