Pros and Cons for The Computer Based PCAT

[Ji the Captain]

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Many of you have probably received an email from Pearson offering you the opportunity to take the PCAT on the computer. This may help others while harming some. Here's are some unbiased reasons:

PROS 😀👍:

You type up both of your essays. Usually, people can type faster than they can write. And believe it or not, it is easier to catch spelling/punctuation/grammar errors on the computer than it is in writing.

You won't develop hand cramps from writing essays and bubbling in 240 bubbles with your hands.

Theoretically, you will save more time for each section on the computer because instead of spending 3 seconds to bubble in a circle, it only takes .5 seconds to click on the correct response.

CONS🙁 👎

Most students perform better on exams when they are allowed to actively engage the test booklet by marking it up, highlighting passages, working out math problems, drawing out punnet squares. You won't be able to circle skipped questions or annotate passages on the computer based test. Trust me, poking the monitor with a No. 2 pencil and highlighting the monitor is a sure fire way to receive a nice fine.

It is harder to skim the test booklet for easy questions and for skipped questions because you have to go through all the questions in a sequence based format.

 

[justhanging]

Its so true about the 3 sec it takes to bubble in an answer. If there are 48 questions on the test and it takes 3 sec to bubble them in then you waste 2-3 minutes bubbling answers for each subtest, that is too much wasted time.

 

[delano2000]

Many of you have probably received an email from Pearson offering you the opportunity to take the PCAT on the computer. This may help others while harming some. Here's are some unbiased reasons:

PROS 😀👍:

You type up both of your essays. Usually, people can type faster than they can write. And believe it or not, it is easier to catch spelling/punctuation/grammar errors on the computer than it is in writing.

You won't develop hand cramps from writing essays and bubbling in 240 bubbles with your hands.

Theoretically, you will save more time for each section on the computer because instead of spending 3 seconds to bubble in a circle, it only takes .5 seconds to click on the correct response.

CONS🙁 👎

Most students perform better on exams when they are allowed to actively engage the test booklet by marking it up, highlighting passages, working out math problems, drawing out punnet squares. You won't be able to circle skipped questions or annotate passages on the computer based test. Trust me, poking the monitor with a No. 2 pencil and highlighting the monitor is a sure fire way to receive a nice fine.

It is harder to skim the test booklet for easy questions and for skipped questions because you have to go through all the questions in a sequence based format.

Just be aware that these programs will be disabled during the test.

 

[diastole]

It sounds like a net negative. Your essays might be better but almost everyone gets 3s on those anyway and unless you do poorly, I don't think the schools care that much about it. Not being able to easily flip through the exam on the math portion sounds like a real disadvantage as many, many people don't have time to complete that section under normal circumstances. Picking and choosing is just good test taking strategy for that section.

Are they still going to use the norm group from a few years ago? That doesn't seem fair if the norm group didn't take the same type of exam. Scores may turn out higher or lower just based on testing format.

 

[phathead]

It sounds like a net negative. Your essays might be better but almost everyone gets 3s on those anyway and unless you do poorly, I don't think the schools care that much about it. Not being able to easily flip through the exam on the math portion sounds like a real disadvantage as many, many people don't have time to complete that section under normal circumstances. Picking and choosing is just good test taking strategy for that section.

Are they still going to use the norm group from a few years ago? That doesn't seem fair if the norm group didn't take the same type of exam. Scores may turn out higher or lower just based on testing format.

Good points

I would think that if its computer based, the times would have to be adjusted. I can't think of many people in our generation who cannot type at at least a moderate speed level, so one would surmise that by typing an essay you would get a lot more in than someone who hand writes it.