PCAT - When do I take it?

[AshRx]

I looked up a few timelines and most are three year pre-pharm programs that say study for the test year 2 and take it year 3.

I'm a freshman and classes start tomorrow. I have six semesters here and I'm off to pharmacy school. When do I take my test and when do I apply for colleges? Should I get a PCAT book and study now? I've heard to take 2 semesters of chemistry and 2 semesters of Biology and 1 organic chemistry.

My organic chemistry is Fall 2017. So to finish that will be Spring 2018. Just a semester plus summer away from graduation. I feel like that's too long of a wait. It cuts so close. Any advice?

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[JZC]

Hi AshRx,

My two cents is that you take the basic sciences first (bio 1/2, chem 1/2) and take orgo 1. When I took the PCAT (last month), I feel that is was more heavy on orgo than gen chem. I am pretty good in orgo (since I took both 1 and 2), so I scored high on the chem section. And yes, you can start to study bit by bit until test day and take the 3 practice exams that Pearson offers on their website. I took the PCAT after my sophomore year, but most people take it after freshman year. It all depends whether you're ready or not. : )

 

[bullspharmacy]

I looked up a few timelines and most are three year pre-pharm programs that say study for the test year 2 and take it year 3.

I'm a freshman and classes start tomorrow. I have six semesters here and I'm off to pharmacy school. When do I take my test and when do I apply for colleges? Should I get a PCAT book and study now? I've heard to take 2 semesters of chemistry and 2 semesters of Biology and 1 organic chemistry.

My organic chemistry is Fall 2017. So to finish that will be Spring 2018. Just a semester plus summer away from graduation. I feel like that's too long of a wait. It cuts so close. Any advice?

Hi,

I just took my pcat in July, and as the other poster has mentioned I would recommend waiting until you have your basic, core sciences done with as well as orgo. Bonus points if you can take anatomy, microbiology, genetics etc things of that nature as there are some areas of the test that relate to those subjects. As far as the timeline, I just finished my junior year of college, (6 semesters) and took the test and filled out my application for pharmacy school. This is in line with the admissions process to be reviewed during your senior year and then entry into school the following fall (if you're on a traditional four year track). You should be well prepared by junior year, and I used the Kaplan pcat book to study from, and studied for a few months before the July test date. I found that to be sufficient but don't underestimate the amount of content, it's easy to get overwhelmed so give yourself time so you don't rush.

If you started studying now, as a freshman, I don't think it would be beneficial. You're likely to forget much of what you studied by test time.

 

[kdbaker17]

I'd wait until your 2nd semester of sophomore year to study since you intend to just go to school for 3 years. I'm doing exactly what bullspharmacy is doing. I have one year left, but I have most of my pre-reqs done, just need microbio, organic II, and physics. The material you learn in your pre-reqs with make studying so much easier for the PCAT. Most people seem to recommend reading a lot books/journals to boost your vocab over time in the preparation of the reading portion, since most students are saying that section is much harder. That way you don't have to memorize a lot of terms, and work as hard on that section later.