Pcat

[BellaDDS]

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I am new to the pharmacy world. I've been through the DAT and I know the PCAt is quite different. Can anyone tell me what extra i would have to study for this exam versus the DAT and what would be a good score to get excepted to pharm school? I looking into Long Island University. ALso, how crucial is the score for acceptance ?

Thankss!

 

[philapharm7]

I have no clue how they compare because I know little about the DAT. Your best bet is probably to go to the official PCAT website and look at the breakdown of categories on the exam; or go to a bookstore and flip through one of the PCAT prep books to see what material is covered. PCAT scores are very important to some schools and of little to no importance to other schools (some schools don't require them at all). It really depends on the school, and unfortunately there's no real way to figure it out that I know of (unless of course they don't require the PCAT, in which case it's a pretty safe bet that they don't care).

I'm curious why you took the DAT and are now taking the PCAT? Were you interested in dental school but now want to switch to pharmacy? If so I'd really love to hear why! You can private message me if you'd like. Sometimes I feel the opposite... I'm a pharmaceutical sciences major and I've taken the PCAT once and am taking it again this August, but every once in awhile I consider looking into dentistry and the DAT. I'd just be curious to hear your side! Also, how important are DAT scores to most dental schools?

 

[hwaiting]

I am new to the pharmacy world. I've been through the DAT and I know the PCAt is quite different. Can anyone tell me what extra i would have to study for this exam versus the DAT and what would be a good score to get excepted to pharm school? I looking into Long Island University. ALso, how crucial is the score for acceptance ?

Thankss!

theres a lot more variation in the biology section for DAT. animal physiology, developmental biology, plant biology are covered. its not a lot more, but still fustrating memorizing like 20 more hormones because of plant.

Theres no analogies/sentence completion. Theres no essay. Theres little to no precalc and no calc. Your given a calculator now, crazy, you get a periodic table of elements for chemistry. also the organic chemistry for PCAT is a condensed section thats integrated within the chemistry section. also theres no PAT...

I was in your shoes for awhile too. I never took the DAT though. Most of my friends who took DAT and PCAT (Pcat for backup just in case dental didn't work out) said they didn't study anything extra except microbiology.

score is important. but that said...some schools love gpa, some schools love pcat. I would compare a 19 on the DAT to 85% composite on PCAT. also for pharm schools, work at a pharmacy is not required (weird...but makes sense because international students can't work legally), while for dental school, shadowing is required.

hahaha...i could write you a 10 page essay on this stuff... ill b more than happy to answer any specifics you have

Hope this helps!!

 

[BellaDDS]

philapharm7--> Since i was a little girl i thought i wanted to pursue dentistry as a future career. I never really looked into any other options and just tried to follow a straight path. I've worked for many dental offices and have quite some experience and background but little did i know i can't handle too much blood til my body tends to give up on me and I faint. I know i want to be in the medical field but after so many years, I decided i need a more clean job, which is why i decided to try out pharmacy. Nonetheless dentistry is great and if you can handle minor oral surgeries and what not then by all means, go for it!

hwaiting--> thanks for the mini comparison! I def. wont mind 10 pgs haha... I know nothing about the PCAT. Even tho you haven't taken the DAT, as far as i heard the science section on the PCAT is slightly easier but, the reading/writing section isn't so easy. What do you recommend as he highest rated study guides for PCAT? Is the test computerized? and we have no periodic table or calculator during the exam? Also what is the difficulty level of the math section?

Also, what extra curricular activities do pharm. schools like? I know its a very competitive field right now so, what do they like that might make one stand out? Do you think they will care that I took the DAT and have some experience ?

I'll take any information i can get, it won't hurt.
Thanks guys!

 

[hwaiting]

philapharm7--> Since i was a little girl i thought i wanted to pursue dentistry as a future career. I never really looked into any other options and just tried to follow a straight path. I've worked for many dental offices and have quite some experience and background but little did i know i can't handle too much blood til my body tends to give up on me and I faint. I know i want to be in the medical field but after so many years, I decided i need a more clean job, which is why i decided to try out pharmacy. Nonetheless dentistry is great and if you can handle minor oral surgeries and what not then by all means, go for it!

hwaiting--> thanks for the mini comparison! I def. wont mind 10 pgs haha... I know nothing about the PCAT. Even tho you haven't taken the DAT, as far as i heard the science section on the PCAT is slightly easier but, the reading/writing section isn't so easy. What do you recommend as he highest rated study guides for PCAT? Is the test computerized? and we have no periodic table or calculator during the exam? Also what is the difficulty level of the math section?

Also, what extra curricular activities do pharm. schools like? I know its a very competitive field right now so, what do they like that might make one stand out? Do you think they will care that I took the DAT and have some experience ?

I'll take any information i can get, it won't hurt.
Thanks guys!

The test is not computerized so unlike DAT, it takes 4-6 weeks to process your test score. You don't get a periodic table or calculator during exam. And math section in PCAT covers more areas, but i wouldn't say its much harder.

As for study guides...theres a lot. But which will be effective is dependent on the person. I used Kaplan PCAT (most of the sections are word-for-word the same as the DAT one), Barron's PCAT which has 2 tests (which i think are really easy), Cliffnotes (CliffTestPrep) has 5 tests with pretty good explanations of problems, PCAT Destroyer (almost the same as DAT destroyer), and MCAT examkracker for Biology...i only used this for the microbiology section. Also you have to actually study for the analogy and sentence completion portion, good study guides include GRE books and free websites with graduate level words/definition. Some people have also said that DrCollins self study guides are pretty good, but i haven't used it...its a lil $$$.

I'm in the same shoe as you...I have a lot more experience in the dental field than i do pharmacy. I shadowed a dentist for over 50 hours. I worked at a dental lab for over 3 years and I was part of the pre-dental society. I'm now the secretary for pre-pharm and I worked at a pharmacy for 1 month and I'm applying this year. hopefully my gpa and pcat scores will be good enough to make up for the lack of experience.

Pharm schools consider EC as much as dental if not more. They like student paticipation, volunteering, research...but every school is different. if your applying this cycle, it might be too late to stand out realli well, but still trying to get as much volunteering in and work at pharmacy is good. If your not applying this cycle, you have a lot of time! Committ a lot of time into volunteering, get your pharm tech certification and work at a pharmacy or shadow one.

hahaha anymore questions?

 

[BellaDDS]

How does the scoring work? and also did u hear any helpful feed back in regards to pharm. school within the NY/NJ range?

 

[hwaiting]

How does the scoring work? and also did u hear any helpful feed back in regards to pharm. school within the NY/NJ range?

scoring for what? PCAT? PCAT scores have a raw score..but nobody looks at it. every school looks at percentage...which is the percentage you did better than the people who have taken it in the past 2-3 years (according to most people...) So 80% = u did 80% better than people who have taken it in the past 2-3 years...

if this question was for DAT...DAT is weighed. you can get every question correct and still get a 29 (out of 30).

dont kno much about the NY/NJ schools for pharm~ i would request information or goto their sites...there are a lot of schools in the area.

 

[philapharm7]

scoring for what? PCAT? PCAT scores have a raw score..but nobody looks at it. every school looks at percentage...which is the percentage you did better than the people who have taken it in the past 2-3 years (according to most people...) So 80% = u did 80% better than people who have taken it in the past 2-3 years...

if this question was for DAT...DAT is weighed. you can get every question correct and still get a 29 (out of 30).

dont kno much about the NY/NJ schools for pharm~ i would request information or goto their sites...there are a lot of schools in the area.

For the PCAT, I agree no one cares about the raw score (seems weird, but definitely true!). But I thought the percentage was based just on everyone that took the PCAT on that day? Someone told me that's how they alleviate the issue of some PCATS being harder than others because they are constantly changing the questions. I could definitely be wrong though... I don't even remember where exactly I heard that. Are you positive it's based on the past 2-3 years? That makes it a little less scary... I know I did bad on math but still got like a 80%...it's scary to know I could get the exact same raw score but get like a 60% just because everyone else taking it that day is smarter than the people taking it the last time I took the PCAT.

 

[Trankuil]

From what I know it is the percentage based on everyone that took the test that same day as well.