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The Pharmacy College Admissions Test is a comprehensive examination designed to test not only your knowledge of background material required for pharmacy school, but also your academic ability and critical thinking skills needed to succeed within the program and as a future professional. As a college student, you probably learned that as long as you memorized every lecture note, slide, flash card, homework problem assigned by the professor, you would pass the class with flying colors. While that may be true in a course where you are generally required to regurgitate information, the PCAT is an examination where that information merely qualifies you to answer the question. Your knowledge has NO bearing whatsoever on whether you will be able to answer the question. This means, no matter how much you know, you can still get the question wrong if you don't know what the question is asking.
Many of you may already have completed the majority of your classes; hopefully, you have been studying with the mentality of retaining the information you learn in your classes. If you haven't, it is highly recommended that you start now. It is a habit that you must carry with you as a professional. Our chosen profession does not operate via "fire and forget"; rather, we must follow through with our efforts from start to finish. Any successful PCAT candidate will tell you that the key to doing well on the exam is that they retained information from their undergraduate coursework and the science foundation laid there. This is not because they have more knowledge than you going into the exam; chances are, given enough preparation time, anyone can go into the PCAT testing center with the knowledge to answer every question if there were no time limit on each section.
What then is the difference between the successful PCAT candidate and a nonsuccessful one? With minor variances in innate test-taking ability accounted for, the key difference lies in the second component being tested by the PCAT: academic ability and critical thinking skills. Now you are probably thinking "Well, I have a really high GPA, who are they to say I am not qualified in my academic ability." Granted, you are probably a most excellent student in your classes, but your performance there tells nothing about your ability to make educated qualified decisions with the available information in a constrained time frame. That is why admissions committees often require both the GPA and PCAT; they are evaluating two entirely different components of your ability as a future pharmacist.
Now, a short caveat here: If you are working on PCAT problems and you find that you can't do many of the problems even without a time limit, then there may be indeed an issue with the level of knowledge that you need to acquire before taking the exam. In this case, it is up to you to evaluate your readiness in this regard before even considering applying the knowledge in the manner required by the exam. Remember, without the knowledge, you can't even begin to comprehend the secondary aim of the examination. You must have the required knowledge in order to apply it.
If you find that you can do nearly all of the questions without a time limit, then you have proven to yourself what many of us have said all along: the questions are not difficult, and you already have all the knowledge you need. Don't listen to the prep courses and tutors who tell you blindly to read this and study that. You know yourself what you know. You don't need someone else to tell you what you know. Taking control of your PCAT preparation will allow you to minimize any waste of time and instead focus on the testing skills and strategies needed to maximize your potential on the examination.
While this isn't a post to provide basic testing strategy, it is one which hopefully will guide you to think a certain way while preparing for the exam. Why should you spend 6 weeks following a prep course getting a review of the subject material when you already know it? (If you don't, see caveat above). Why not spend those 6 weeks looking for patterns in the testing questions, or finding long-term strategies which will boost your critical thinking skills. These skills are not skills you can memorize and regurgitate; you must practice, practice, practice. Only by analyzing what you are doing right and what is working will you be able to build your confidence in a testing style which allows you to maximize points.
Finally, the PCAT is designed so that it can be finished. It is very difficult to finish each section comfortably, but each section is designed so that if you work efficiently and take advantage of the exam design and any shortcuts you may know through application of your existing knowledge, you can finish every question and not guess. (I've done it myself, so I know it can be done.) If it couldn't be finished, then they would have just put 300 questions in each section and asked you to do as much as you can so that there would be no chance for anyone to finish a section. However, they don't do that. They know the most prepared students can and will finish the examination.
You can be that individual if you aim to take the PCAT with the proper review and preparation.
No one starts off with superior critical thinking skills that allows them to apply the knowledge in the way the PCAT requires. It is a mode of thinking which individuals have learned to acquire within the classroom, workplace, or most importantly, through independent study. You can acquire these same skills and perform excellently on the exam. You can acquire this mode of thinking which will allow you to customize your own preparation. Learn to think for yourself. Make the PCAT a reflection of your hard work and your own thoughts.
Finally, be honest with yourself. If you haven't taken a course in calculus or organic chemistry, be prepared to face the consequences. If you aren't able to master the foundation material by yourself, the test still won't cut you any slack. If you are a weak reader, don't just ask for tips on how to do well on the section in the exam; find out how to become a better reader overall so you will do better in your future endeavors as a pharmacist. Don't limit your thinking and attitude to just hurdling the obstacle known as the PCAT. Broaden your way of thinking and use the PCAT as a way to gauge your ability to think in the way of the professional. Remember, if you have the knowledge and have the skills, the great score will come naturally. There's no need to force it.
(Note, this goes along with my previous post in the other section of this forum about being proactive about your application process. )
Many of you may already have completed the majority of your classes; hopefully, you have been studying with the mentality of retaining the information you learn in your classes. If you haven't, it is highly recommended that you start now. It is a habit that you must carry with you as a professional. Our chosen profession does not operate via "fire and forget"; rather, we must follow through with our efforts from start to finish. Any successful PCAT candidate will tell you that the key to doing well on the exam is that they retained information from their undergraduate coursework and the science foundation laid there. This is not because they have more knowledge than you going into the exam; chances are, given enough preparation time, anyone can go into the PCAT testing center with the knowledge to answer every question if there were no time limit on each section.
What then is the difference between the successful PCAT candidate and a nonsuccessful one? With minor variances in innate test-taking ability accounted for, the key difference lies in the second component being tested by the PCAT: academic ability and critical thinking skills. Now you are probably thinking "Well, I have a really high GPA, who are they to say I am not qualified in my academic ability." Granted, you are probably a most excellent student in your classes, but your performance there tells nothing about your ability to make educated qualified decisions with the available information in a constrained time frame. That is why admissions committees often require both the GPA and PCAT; they are evaluating two entirely different components of your ability as a future pharmacist.
Now, a short caveat here: If you are working on PCAT problems and you find that you can't do many of the problems even without a time limit, then there may be indeed an issue with the level of knowledge that you need to acquire before taking the exam. In this case, it is up to you to evaluate your readiness in this regard before even considering applying the knowledge in the manner required by the exam. Remember, without the knowledge, you can't even begin to comprehend the secondary aim of the examination. You must have the required knowledge in order to apply it.
If you find that you can do nearly all of the questions without a time limit, then you have proven to yourself what many of us have said all along: the questions are not difficult, and you already have all the knowledge you need. Don't listen to the prep courses and tutors who tell you blindly to read this and study that. You know yourself what you know. You don't need someone else to tell you what you know. Taking control of your PCAT preparation will allow you to minimize any waste of time and instead focus on the testing skills and strategies needed to maximize your potential on the examination.
While this isn't a post to provide basic testing strategy, it is one which hopefully will guide you to think a certain way while preparing for the exam. Why should you spend 6 weeks following a prep course getting a review of the subject material when you already know it? (If you don't, see caveat above). Why not spend those 6 weeks looking for patterns in the testing questions, or finding long-term strategies which will boost your critical thinking skills. These skills are not skills you can memorize and regurgitate; you must practice, practice, practice. Only by analyzing what you are doing right and what is working will you be able to build your confidence in a testing style which allows you to maximize points.
Finally, the PCAT is designed so that it can be finished. It is very difficult to finish each section comfortably, but each section is designed so that if you work efficiently and take advantage of the exam design and any shortcuts you may know through application of your existing knowledge, you can finish every question and not guess. (I've done it myself, so I know it can be done.) If it couldn't be finished, then they would have just put 300 questions in each section and asked you to do as much as you can so that there would be no chance for anyone to finish a section. However, they don't do that. They know the most prepared students can and will finish the examination.
You can be that individual if you aim to take the PCAT with the proper review and preparation.
No one starts off with superior critical thinking skills that allows them to apply the knowledge in the way the PCAT requires. It is a mode of thinking which individuals have learned to acquire within the classroom, workplace, or most importantly, through independent study. You can acquire these same skills and perform excellently on the exam. You can acquire this mode of thinking which will allow you to customize your own preparation. Learn to think for yourself. Make the PCAT a reflection of your hard work and your own thoughts.
Finally, be honest with yourself. If you haven't taken a course in calculus or organic chemistry, be prepared to face the consequences. If you aren't able to master the foundation material by yourself, the test still won't cut you any slack. If you are a weak reader, don't just ask for tips on how to do well on the section in the exam; find out how to become a better reader overall so you will do better in your future endeavors as a pharmacist. Don't limit your thinking and attitude to just hurdling the obstacle known as the PCAT. Broaden your way of thinking and use the PCAT as a way to gauge your ability to think in the way of the professional. Remember, if you have the knowledge and have the skills, the great score will come naturally. There's no need to force it.
(Note, this goes along with my previous post in the other section of this forum about being proactive about your application process. )
