Questions for those of you who have taken the PCAT...

[freshbeatschris]

Did any of you actually work through and finish the entire Math section of the PCAT? Biology section? Chemistry section?

Do the proctors give you a 5 minute warning so you can start filling in the unanswered questions with haphazard guesses?

What workbooks/study aides/notes did you use to study for the test? Which ones did you find most helpful through your own personal experience?

Thanks in advance for the info.
Chris

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[Crazy_Norwegian]

Did any of you actually work through and finish the entire Math section of the PCAT? Biology section? Chemistry section?

Do the proctors give you a 5 minute warning so you can start filling in the unanswered questions with haphazard guesses?

What workbooks/study aides/notes did you use to study for the test? Which ones did you find most helpful through your own personal experience?

Thanks in advance for the info.
Chris

Well, I worked through as many problems as I could. Let's put it this way--I had enough time to exhaust all of my knowledge. Here's how I approached the quantitative section: 1) Do all the easy problems I knew I could do quickly 2) Do all the hard problems that I knew I could do correctly 3) Start making elimination guesses on all the problems I had a clue on... 4) Guess B on all the rest.

I only took the October test as a practice...I wanted to see what the test was like. Since my intended school (Ferris) only counts your highest composite score, I had it scored. However, since I work full-time and take classes (usually full-time) out of town, I didn't have much time to study. I figured since this was just a practice test, and I would have to time to receive my scores before the January test, I would just study for 3-4 weeks. Well, as it turns out, between illness, work, and tests, I studied for a whole 3-4 hours the night before the test! I thought I would get killed on the math since I hadn't looked at Calc in over a year and pre-calc in over ten years...long story short, by some miracle (percentile ranking, perhaps?) I got a 93 on the math section. That was my lowest score of the five and I got a 99 composite. I'm not bothering to take the test again.

Well, time to answer some more specific questions... I seem to remember them giving us a time warning on all the tests, but I can't remember how much time was remaining. I was really glad I brought a watch, though, since the only clock in the room was behind me and 12 rows back!

I didn't have any problems finishing the biology or chemistry sections...the only section I didn't finish at least ten minutes early was the math.

I had the Kaplan book, but like I said before, I only studied for a few hours with it. Also, I only studied the biology portion of the book because I had only taken 8 weeks of biology since high school.

Good luck with the test...Have you checked out some of the other threads on this topic? There are plenty, and some of the info is quite useful (topics covered in math, etc.).

 

[mtech]

I took it in October 2003. I ran out of time on the math section with about 8 questions left. I ended up just filling out the last 8 with "C." However, after the Math section I rationed my time a lot better and blazed through chem and bio. I finished Chem just in time and Bio I finished with time to spare. Reading Comp and Verbal were fine.

As far as I remember, yeah, the invigilators did give time warnings. As far as prep materials, I only used Baron's.

 

[b*rizzle]

Did any of you actually work through and finish the entire Math section of the PCAT? Biology section? Chemistry section?

Do the proctors give you a 5 minute warning so you can start filling in the unanswered questions with haphazard guesses?

What workbooks/study aides/notes did you use to study for the test? Which ones did you find most helpful through your own personal experience?

Thanks in advance for the info.
Chris

I managed to finish each section, because I worked through everything I knew first and then came back to tougher questions. If I couldn't get those, I guessed. I do remember my proctors keeping time on the board for us and reminding us when we had approximately five minutes left.

I didn't really study much either. I took the October test as a test run and fully expected to take it again, so I didn't study much. I had A/P my senior year of high school and I have completed most of the chemistry prereqs at my school. I took Calc II over the summer of last year because I didn't know what I wanted to do but didn't study it prior to the exam. The Kaplan's book is very good for a bio review, but I found that a lot of the math in Kaplan's wasn't the type of math found on the test I took...there was a lot more emphasis on calculus. (I believe they have an online thingy with an expanded math section for those who purchased the 2004-2005 book.)

I also took one or two practice tests out of the Barron's and actually did better on the PCAT than the practice tests. My composite ended up being a 94. That was good enough for me. The trick really is to be relaxed and rested when you take the test. Study what you know your weakest area(s) is (are) and then put the books away! A lot of the math/bio/chem questions can be reasoned through, i.e. you can look at the answers and know automatically that two or three are not right.

I had a friend who studied for months beforehand for the exam and only managed making 65th percentile. But relax, you will be fine. Like I said, the trick is going in with a clear head. Hope this helps!

 

[WVURxGal]

On the math and biology, I had time to finish. Chemistry, however, was a real struggle for me. I got to the end, but only because I skipped about half of the questions from start to finish. I just barely had enough time to make an educated guess on some, and random guessing on the others.

 

[b*rizzle]

On the math and biology, I had time to finish. Chemistry, however, was a real struggle for me. I got to the end, but only because I skipped about half of the questions from start to finish. I just barely had enough time to make an educated guess on some, and random guessing on the others.

Yay for random guessing! Remember too that this isn't like the SAT and you don't lose points for wrong answers. When in doubt, take a guess! You really have nothing to lose.