Second PCAT Results

[kurtis88]

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Hello, I have just taken the PCAT for the second time. I am concerned about a few things I was hoping to get your opinions on:

PCAT 1 SS/PR

Verbal 412/68
Biology 411/63
Reading 394/39
Quantitative 401/49
Chemistry 415/72
Composite 407/61

PCAT 2 SS/PR
Verbal 406/58
Biology 447/97
Reading 391/34
Quantitative 438/95
Chemistry 472/99
Composite 431/95

Obviously my main concern is my verbal and reading. Not only that they are god awful, but more importantly that they went down from my first run. How badly does this look? I assume they want to see a positive trend everywhere but do my other scores compensate?

 

[AstraZ]

First: congrats on your second scores. Those are awesome! I know you're not happy with two sections, but take a few minutes to celebrate your improvement in all of the other sections.

What I've found during the application process is that each school is different in exactly what they want. Some only care about a composite being above a certain number, others have section minimums, and others only look at specific sections. My advice is to contact the schools you're interested in and ask them exactly what they're looking for from the PCAT score (section minimums, overall composite, which sections are most important, etc). Check their websites first and PharmCAS's school sites to make sure the questions aren't already answered though. Good luck!

 

[R32]

Hello, I have just taken the PCAT for the second time. I am concerned about a few things I was hoping to get your opinions on:

PCAT 1 SS/PR

Verbal 412/68
Biology 411/63
Reading 394/39
Quantitative 401/49
Chemistry 415/72
Composite 407/61

PCAT 2 SS/PR
Verbal 406/58
Biology 447/97
Reading 391/34
Quantitative 438/95
Chemistry 472/99
Composite 431/95

Obviously my main concern is my verbal and reading. Not only that they are god awful, but more importantly that they went down from my first run. How badly does this look? I assume they want to see a positive trend everywhere but do my other scores compensate?

Damn what did you use for the second try? Dr Collins? Your math increased by a lot

 

[AstraZ]

I was also wondering about the study material(s) used to see such an improvement.

 

[kurtis88]

Ah yeah, so for my studying my first time around I used a Kaplan prep book and Crack the PCAT, which clearly didn't work too well for me. Although I will say I did put a lot less effort in the first time I took the test.

The second time I mainly used Dr.Collins.

For chemistry I used Dr.Collins exclusively, although I did recently take an online biochem course which helped a lot. My bachelors is also in chemistry which is also very helpful (perhaps a testament to how little work I put in my first time around).

For biology I used Dr.Collins while rereading the sections of the old Kaplan book to keep everything fresh, I probably reread it 4 times over.

For math I mainly used Dr.Collins. I took each practice test twice, kept track of the ones I got wrong then redid the ones I got wrong a bunch of times to really hammer it in. I also noticed that I was struggling the most with precalculus/trig so I bought the Cliff Notes book off the Kindle store for like $5, and read that to help me out. The entire thing wasn't useful but I would still say it was worth the money, you just need to make sure you're not studying unnecessary material. Khan academy also helped a bunch with anything I was still confused about. One huge suggestion I have for this section is if you have spare time at the end of any other section to draw out the unit circle/cos+sin curves/write your squares/any other things you can remember when your head is clear but may not be able to think of when your under time constraints. This would also help a lot in chemistry, particularly for orbital counting.

I won't even mention what I did for verbal/reading since I do not think I am in the position to give advice on these.

I also bought the 3 Pearson practice exams and took those.

I wouldn't suggest using Crack the PCAT at all. The questions are much harder than the real exam and I can't imagine the composite scores they give you being accurate at all, it really just lowered my self esteem (to put into context I was getting about 340 composites on Crack the PCAT). In my opinion the only thing it is useful for is that the program is almost exactly like the real PCAT. So if you know someone with it I would suggest taking a look at it to become comfortable with it, but this really doesn't justify the cost.

Sorry if this was too much information. I wasn't sure if you guys were looking for what I used in general or just for math. Anyway, I hope this help and best of luck.

I also want to credit this post: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pcat-study-tips-from-the-99-ile-club.754083/

 

[AstraZ]

Ah yeah, so for my studying my first time around I used a Kaplan prep book and Crack the PCAT, which clearly didn't work too well for me. Although I will say I did put a lot less effort in the first time I took the test.

The second time I mainly used Dr.Collins.

For chemistry I used Dr.Collins exclusively, although I did recently take an online biochem course which helped a lot. My bachelors is also in chemistry which is also very helpful (perhaps a testament to how little work I put in my first time around).

For biology I used Dr.Collins while rereading the sections of the old Kaplan book to keep everything fresh, I probably reread it 4 times over.

For math I mainly used Dr.Collins. I took each practice test twice, kept track of the ones I got wrong then redid the ones I got wrong a bunch of times to really hammer it in. I also noticed that I was struggling the most with precalculus/trig so I bought the Cliff Notes book off the Kindle store for like $5, and read that to help me out. The entire thing wasn't useful but I would still say it was worth the money, you just need to make sure you're not studying unnecessary material. Khan academy also helped a bunch with anything I was still confused about. One huge suggestion I have for this section is if you have spare time at the end of any other section to draw out the unit circle/cos+sin curves/write your squares/any other things you can remember when your head is clear but may not be able to think of when your under time constraints. This would also help a lot in chemistry, particularly for orbital counting.

I won't even mention what I did for verbal/reading since I do not think I am in the position to give advice on these.

I also bought the 3 Pearson practice exams and took those.

I wouldn't suggest using Crack the PCAT at all. The questions are much harder than the real exam and I can't imagine the composite scores they give you being accurate at all, it really just lowered my self esteem (to put into context I was getting about 340 composites on Crack the PCAT). In my opinion the only thing it is useful for is that the program is almost exactly like the real PCAT. So if you know someone with it I would suggest taking a look at it to become comfortable with it, but this really doesn't justify the cost.

Sorry if this was too much information. I wasn't sure if you guys were looking for what I used in general or just for math. Anyway, I hope this help and best of luck.

I also want to credit this post: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pcat-study-tips-from-the-99-ile-club.754083/

Thank you for the response. I was curious for in general if I do end up retaking it since I'm on the fence.