Practice PCAT

[timbutt2]

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Has anyone taken the practice PCAT? I'm confused about the scoring... If 400 is 50th percentile, is 500 75th? Anyone have any idea?

Also, is your score on the practice PCAT indicative of what you will actually get? I have heard the actual PCAT is much easier. Wondering if anyone out there can speak from experience...I'm wondering if Kaplan's practice test isn't just a ruse to get people to take their test...

 

[omnione]

I have no idea how Harcourt computes their scale, but I'm guessing that the test-prep companies don't have the clearest idea either.🙂

I recommend that you take Harcourt's official practice exams online. Though the two exams they do provide aren't free, are shorter than the real PCAT, and do not provide a strong estimate of your score, you can figure out which test-prep questions are overkill and/or too easy after going through an official practice test. That'll focus your attention on the pertinent material instead of being misled by the test-prep companies.

 

[KellyBean]

From looking at other students' scores on here, I have found a similar trends. If you get 400, it's 50th, but if you get 450, give or take one or two points, it's 99%tile. So if you get more than 450, let's say you get 550, it's still 99%tile, but those extra points will average out when you do the composite score. That's why a lot of people get 99%tile even though they only get 50-60 on their reading and verbal sections.

I don't know if Harcourt grades all the questions or not. They might throw in 10 extra questions that they don't even grade. Who knows.

 

[Avrelian]

if there are any free samples of PCAT on internet?

 

[pharmk011]

Has anyone taken the practice PCAT? I'm confused about the scoring... If 400 is 50th percentile, is 500 75th? Anyone have any idea?

Also, is your score on the practice PCAT indicative of what you will actually get? I have heard the actual PCAT is much easier. Wondering if anyone out there can speak from experience...I'm wondering if Kaplan's practice test isn't just a ruse to get people to take their test...

I took Kaplan's free practice test that they offered and I thought it was a waste of time. It was incredibly hard and just scared me. I think they want you to do it so they can convince you to sign up for their PCAT class. My score for the practice was like a 60 or something cumulative and I ended up getting an 89.

 

[phrmboy123]

there are practice tests available from the pcat website. its a few dollars but the questions are from old exams. There are 2 of them available and I actually bought them and they helped a little. I dont remember,however, if it was a full length exam or just a few sample questions from each section...good luck.

 

[naseuy]

I dove into the practice test without reviewing, and other than the verbal section, I did pretty bad in everything else...lol. I'm gonna have to work my butt off.

 

[volleychica]

I took Kaplan's free practice test that they offered and I thought it was a waste of time. It was incredibly hard and just scared me. I think they want you to do it so they can convince you to sign up for their PCAT class. My score for the practice was like a 60 or something cumulative and I ended up getting an 89.

Same here. I took the free practice test offered by Kaplan and I did terrible. I think I was in the 40 or 50th percentile. I freaked out a little bit but tried to remember that (as pharmk011 said) Kaplan wants to scare you into taking their class for like $1000. So, if nothing else, taking their free practice test motivated me to get my butt into study gear big time. I ended up getting a 92 composite score the first time taking the PCAT last October. So, if you need some motivation to start studying, take the Kaplan practice test, but don't sign up for their class. I recommend checking out Schaum's outlines from the library to study from. I think I checked out the Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, Biology and Organic Chemistry books. I also used the Kaplan verbal GRE book to get my vocab skills up, and the Barron's PCAT book and used the study guides in that book as a guide as to which subjects to focus on. I did the practice test on Harcourt's website a few days before I took the actual PCAT. I scored in the 80's on that test. On the actual test, most of my subject area scores were in the 80's but one of the subjects was in the 90's, so somehow it worked out to bump me up to a 92 percentile. We've tried in previous threads to figure out how Harcourt does the percentiles, but it's impossible to do. I found that doing a lot of timed practice tests from the study books is very helpful. Oh, and I got the Cliff's 5 Practice PCAT Tests book (don't remember the title exactly) and did a lot of those practice tests. That helped me get my pacing down. So, I recommend just timing yourself rather than try to find something on the internet. I doubt you'll find anything anyway. To answer your question, though, check out Kaplan's website for a free practice test (and then you'll have to go to their site to take it in person, anyway).

 

[2bpharmD]

good job Volleychica.............first time and you scored 92. I also want to do that too. I am giving the test on June 23 and looking through Kaplan book and building up by VOCAB. Thanks for sharing your preparation..........do u have more strategies that would help me??😕

 

[volleychica]

good job Volleychica.............first time and you scored 92. I also want to do that too. I am giving the test on June 23 and looking through Kaplan book and building up by VOCAB. Thanks for sharing your preparation..........do u have more strategies that would help me??😕

Well, if you have enough time, try to understand or figure out a way to remember something or come up with your own mnemonic devices rather than try to straight memorize something. Another book I used was Vocabulary Cartoons (there are two of them, I and II). This made it easy to study words I never even heard of because they have funny cartoons that help you remember in a wacky way what the word means. A few of these came up on the actual PCAT and I was glad to have used those books. If you search previous threads, there are some mnemonic devices that others have shared and are helpful. One other thing I did, since I spent a lot of time driving to work and other places, was tape record myself speaking the words and definitions from the Kaplan GRE vocab book and listen to the tapes while in the car. I didn't want to spend the cash on tapes you can buy so I made my own.

Sorry if this post goes off topic from the rest of the thread... check out some of my other posts in previous threads. There may be more tips I've given in the past.

By the way, I have been accepted to UF - St. Pete Campus and will be a 1PD next year. 🙂

Good luck and study hard!

 

[Fuzzychickens]

So is there any value to free online practice test such as this?

http://www.testprepreview.com/pcat_practice.htm

Or pay to use such as this?

http://www.mo-media.com/pcat/ <-----They claim to be excellent. Can

anyone vouch for them?

 

[rosina]

How do score my own practice pcat's i take at home? how many can or should i miss to equal a score around 60, i know that sounds low well it is low but that's all i need to get into a certain school. Im taking this test as an incoming sophomore, is it possible?

 

[rosina]

Will i have a periodic table for the test and how do i scale my own practice pcat's at home? how many can i miss to equal a certain score?

 

[AZgurl]

Are you guys talking about the practice test offered by Hartcourt? Its weird how you can only do it once, other wise you have to pay again to practice it more than once?!?! 😕
Are there any other official practice tests online that I can look for?
Thanks 😛

 

[omnione]

Are you guys talking about the practice test offered by Hartcourt? Its weird how you can only do it once, other wise you have to pay again to practice it more than once?!?! 😕
Are there any other official practice tests online that I can look for?
Thanks 😛

Harcourt only provides those two official exams. Any other exams from other companies are merely estimate the material.

I suppose Harcourt only lets you take the test once because there's really no benefit in taking the exact exam again. Your predicted score would be inflated because you simply remembered answers instead of "how" the answer came about.🙂