September 2012 PCAT

[yungnaira]

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How is everyone studying?
I've been going over Cracking the PCAT w/TPR and while I thought I was learning this stuff.

My 1st pearson practice test put me in the 55-70%tile range, with my QA being 25-35!!!

Do you think this will actually reflect my REAL pcat score and how the hell can I improve. I feel like I know 95% of the information presented in the book.

What else should I do.

 

[Jahodac]

How is everyone studying?
I've been going over Cracking the PCAT w/TPR and while I thought I was learning this stuff.

My 1st pearson practice test put me in the 55-70%tile range, with my QA being 25-35!!!

Do you think this will actually reflect my REAL pcat score and how the hell can I improve. I feel like I know 95% of the information presented in the book.

What else should I do.

I'll be man enough to post my scores, although I'm not exactly happy with a few of them.

Pearson Practice PCAT Test #1
Writing - N/A
Verbal Ability - 60-80
Biology - 61-81
Chemistry - 83-103
Reading Comprehension - 3-23
Quantitative Ability - 80-99
Composite - 66-86

Pearson Real PCAT Attempt #1 (July)
Writing - 4.5
Verbal Ability - 70
Biology - 97
Chemistry - 93 (never took organic or biochemistry)
Reading Comprehension - 47
Quantitative Ability - 45 😡
Composite - 84 😀

I would say the the practice test is relatively accurate. As you can see, my verbal, chemistry, and composite feel where they should. Unfortunately, my quantitative fell to the basement and my reading comprehension didn't get much better, but my Biology went through the roof.

Obviously many things can happen and if I were taking the test again, I would definitely put more effort into doing math with lots of transcendentals and focusing my attention better on the reading comprehension (didn't expect people to be pounding out their essays while I was reading ). You'll be fine! I had friends who scored well above what they were expected to get,however, I also had friends who scored much lower than they wanted. I used Kaplan but I'm sure most of the guides are the same. You can only study so much for these exams, if you feel you've studied all you can, just keep reviewing material until exam day.

Also for your reference, most people don't get these high 90th percentile SDN scores. Only 3 of my friends even broke 400 while the rest fell below. A 70th percentile score would be very respectable if that's what you ended up getting.

 

[xtsukiyox]

Knowing math is one thing - the PCAT measures more your ability to do it accurately and quickly. My biggest tip is to practice doing math as quickly as you can. Figure tips in your head. Figure out how many items the cashier can check in an hour. Figure your mpg before the light turns. Do more complicated math... when you're not driving. 😉

The more practice, the better you'll do and the more comfortable you'll feel. The trick to the quantitative section is to keep calm and quickly identify the problems that will be time sinks, guess on those, and come back if you have time. Learning to confidently & quickly estimate will help you narrow down your guesses.

 

[serene tan]

Hey! What did you use to study for verbal?

I'll be man enough to post my scores, although I'm not exactly happy with a few of them.

Pearson Practice PCAT Test #1
Writing - N/A
Verbal Ability - 60-80
Biology - 61-81
Chemistry - 83-103
Reading Comprehension - 3-23
Quantitative Ability - 80-99
Composite - 66-86

Pearson Real PCAT Attempt #1 (July)
Writing - 4.5
Verbal Ability - 70
Biology - 97
Chemistry - 93 (never took organic or biochemistry)
Reading Comprehension - 47
Quantitative Ability - 45 😡
Composite - 84 😀

I would say the the practice test is relatively accurate. As you can see, my verbal, chemistry, and composite feel where they should. Unfortunately, my quantitative fell to the basement and my reading comprehension didn't get much better, but my Biology went through the roof.

Obviously many things can happen and if I were taking the test again, I would definitely put more effort into doing math with lots of transcendentals and focusing my attention better on the reading comprehension (didn't expect people to be pounding out their essays while I was reading ). You'll be fine! I had friends who scored well above what they were expected to get,however, I also had friends who scored much lower than they wanted. I used Kaplan but I'm sure most of the guides are the same. You can only study so much for these exams, if you feel you've studied all you can, just keep reviewing material until exam day.

Also for your reference, most people don't get these high 90th percentile SDN scores. Only 3 of my friends even broke 400 while the rest fell below. A 70th percentile score would be very respectable if that's what you ended up getting.