pharmcas and pcat question

[Shehzad Roy]

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hey watsup guys... as u know that the pharmcas for 2010 is opening on june 1st. i just want to submit it as soon as possible. the problem is that i took pcat in the october of last year and did horrible (below 30 percent). now, i m planning to take it again this august. I know that if you make a 50 point jump in pcat, your old score is automatically cancelled. i am pretty sure that i am going to make that 50 point jump (since i m preparing for this pcat day and night). my question is that when the pharmcas asks you "pcat taken" do i NEED to put in YES i took it last october, and plan to take it again this august. Or can i just put in plan to take it this August only and not even mention that i took it last october (Since my old scores are going to be cancelled anyways).

i would appreciate all ur help.

thanks

 

[Carboxide]

Oh jeez.

When you make a 50 point jump your NEW scores are cancelled. To repeat: THE HIGHER SCORES ARE CANCELLED.

Yes. You MUST put down that you took it last October.

 

[Carboxide]

Oh jeez.

When you make a 50 point jump your NEW scores are cancelled. To repeat: THE HIGHER SCORES ARE CANCELLED.

Yes. You MUST put down that you took it last October.

 

[Shehzad Roy]

wait...i thought that the old scores are cancelled and the higher scores are kept. it wouldn't work otherwise.right??

 

[trailrider400]

All of your pcat scores that you've earned over the past 2 years (or something like that) will be sent to pharmcas. But I've been told most schools just look at the better school. And not to discourage you but a 50 point jump would be tough so I wouldn't worry about having to explain that just yet. But even getting up to 60 or 70 will help you. Anytime you can show improvement like that it helps you.

 

[Shehzad Roy]

thanks for the replies.. i just want to clarify though that if you make a 50 point jump are your old scores (lower) cancelled or are the new ones (higher) cancelled.

thanks

 

[Showtime]

I would'nt worry about a 50 point increase if i were you. Why not get the high score first before you start worrying about your scores been cancled. It should be a motivation for you. Besides what are you going to do different that will guarantee this 50 point jump? The worst thing that can happen is that you retake it. just retake it and prove them wrong. No biggie.

 

[charfdorn]

thanks for the replies.. i just want to clarify though that if you make a 50 point jump are your old scores (lower) cancelled or are the new ones (higher) cancelled.

thanks

The 50 point jump will cancel your higher scores. I repeat: an increase of 50 percentile points or more will cancel your new, higher scores. This is done to curb cheating. Rather than investigate each case individually, they cancel huge jump scores on the assumption that no serious student would be able to study hard enough to improve such a terrible score that much that quickly. I guess they figure it's better to cancel some legitimate improvements than to let slip some illegitimate ones.

There's also the issue that if you improve by 50 or more, your first score was less than 50, and I guess they want to punish you for doing so badly the first time.

I would not worry about this, however, unless it happens to you. The decision can be appealed if it happens, but if I were a betting man I'd put the over/under on your score at 60. That's still a huge improvement, and you can be proud of that if you beat it, but wait until you have that 80 to worry about making it count.

 

[429]

i just want to clarify.....the 50 point increase refers to the composite score right?? so if I have a 50 point score in only one of the sections, the new score won't be cancelled??

 

[charfdorn]

i just want to clarify.....the 50 point increase refers to the composite score right?? so if I have a 50 point score in only one of the sections, the new score won't be cancelled??

That's right. You could theoretically improve one section by 50+ and still get a worse score.

 

[mike25k]

Hey guys, for me i don't think i'm really comfortable with this 50+ rule ritual that Perason has introduced at all. Despite malpractice as they'er expected, don't you think they should hold that particular student accountable for his/her behavior? rather than denying hard working students who want to improve their score. Your opinion?

 

[charfdorn]

Hey guys, for me i don't think i'm really comfortable with this 50+ rule ritual that Perason has introduced at all. Despite malpractice as they'er expected, don't you think they should hold that particular student accountable for his/her behavior? rather than denying hard working students who want to improve their score. Your opinion?

Show me one student who can improve that score by 50 or more in the space of a year without cheating and we can talk about it. Unless you didn't study ANYTHING, including taking basic science courses, you're not going to pull this off. Anyway, you CAN appeal. If you scored so badly first time, I would take the test every time, trying to improve by 15-20 each time. Then you can say, "no, I wasn't cheating - see! I got better gradually!"