Should I wait to take PCAT?

[kelvin77]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post to SDN. I'm in my second semester of pre-pharm classes, and was wondering should I wait until I have completed the Organic Chem sequence before I take the PCAT? Any suggestions or input would really help me out. My advisor said Organic is not on the PCAT, but that doesen't sound right to me. One more thing, does it matter if take some of my science classes during the 5 week summer sessions? Or should I only take science classes during regular semesters?

Kelvin

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[pharmk011]

I took the PCAT last October... so I was about a month and a half or so into Organic.. and I got a 93 on the chem section. There isn't too much organic.. but there's definitely some on there. Most of it is pretty basic stuff that you would've picked up on within the first few weeks.. if not.. just take your best guess based on your knowledge! Or, you could always buy an Organic review book or look ahead in your textbook if you wanted to be sure.

I think it would be fine to take science classes during the summer... but if you can it'd be better to take them at your regular college and not at a community college.. it would look better on your transcripts. But as for the term, I don't think they care if it's summer or regular as long as it's the same class (same difficulty).

 

[Zeke1955]

Hello,

I would definitely take Organic Chemistry before taking the PCAT. There is some organic chemistry on the PCAT - IUPAC nomenclature and some specific reactions involving a lot of different stereoisomers and chirality. Personally, my understanding of chemistry went way up after taking Organic Chemistry. I took O-Chem I in a long semester and the 2nd half in a 5 week summer session. I'm glad I took it in the summer because I basically just focused on O-Chem for 5 solid weeks. I don't feel as if I learned any less or was expected to know any less in the 5 week summer course since as a final exam, I took the same ACS exam that the long semester courses take. Having really "gotten the hang of" Organic Chemistry in the long spring semester, it wasn't too difficult to transition to the 5 week summer session. It was somewhat stressful, but in the end it was worth it and I did extraordinarily well.

I got a 95 on the chemistry section and was pretty happy with it. I know I would not have been able to do as well if I had not taken Organic Chemistry. However, that's just my opinion.

 

[cp5lb]

I took it in October and did really well. I had had a month and a half of organic chem. Most was gen chem 2 stuff if I recall correctly. Plus, I don't think the experience can hurt you anyway. If you do poorly and do well the second time, they will understand that you hadn't had organinc chem before the first test. Get a review book. I used Kaplan and went over a couple of chapters a night for a month or so before the test to make sure I understood it all. I can't find my score report right now to tell you exactly what my chem pct was. I'm sure you can search under my name to find it if you're that interested. I posted them earlier. (It's funny how unimportant that test becomes the second you get into a school).
As far as taking science classes over winter or summer sessions, I don't think it matters as long as you learn the material. I prefer 4 week sessions because they are more focused. I think it depends on your learning style. I doubt the admissions committees care one way or the other as long as you do well in the classes.