The journey for the August PCAT Beggins!

[Albo]

Ok guys, my long journey to the August PCAT is begging. Books i got so fair: my college biology book, my college chemistry and organic chemistry books. I ordered Baron's PCAT book (3d edition) and Kaplan PCAT book (2007), also i have ExamKracker 101 Verbal Reasoning for MCAT and ordered Cliffs Quick Review Books for Calculus, Microbiology and A&P. I just have to wait for all my books to come so i can commit 100% to studying. I also got the 200 GRE words and some common root words to start with.

Anyway my question is i was doing the reading passages from my Barons book and they seemed incredibly easy compared to the Verbal reasoning passages from the Examkrackers MCAT book. Is the Reading Comprehension actually much easier on the PCAT than MCAT or is Baron's Reading comprehension full of crap.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[CaliCPhT]

I had the same thoughts as you with the Baron's reading section. I didn't miss any questions! I thought it was way too easy. I can't speak for the MCAT vs. PCAT and which is more difficult. I would say that they'd be comparable...

Happy Studying!

 

[omnione]

I got a 7 and 9 (out of 15) for the two Verbal Reasoning MCAT scores I took.

I got a 94 on the Reading Comprehension of the PCAT.

Strangely though, the Reading Comprehension on the actual PCAT seemed just as difficult as the MCAT Verbal Reasoning section. I think it's possible that I lucked out on the PCAT by getting reading passages that "meshed" with me. On Harcourt's practice PCAT, the test estimated my score to fall within the 51-75 range that made sense at the time. However, I bombed one passage that may have skewed my score.

Regardless, that Examkrackers book is the best source for PCAT Reading Comprehension practice IMO.

 

[medblue]

does it make a difference which examkracker edition you purchase??? i see many older editions for sale.

 

[omnione]

does it make a difference which examkracker edition you purchase??? i see many older editions for sale.

Nah..... most of the content is the same. Since Examkrackers seems small-time relative to Kaplan, some of the older books have more mistakes. The newer versions just correct them.

So if you use Examkrackers look for their errata on their website since you don't want to believe a wrong answer is correct.

 

[think]

same here
i have decided no matter what i will study every single day for couple of hours......and i am using the kaplan book soooo i am gona try to get to know he boook very very welll....i know its a hard book but better to over prepare than under....did u take the pcat before ...i did...and got the score that almost gave me a heartattack( even though i knew i was going to get a really low score)
barons book i think i way tooo easy ....it made me get overconfident...

 

[UBCvan]

hi guys,

i checked the pcat website and it said that there will be 20% microbiology on biology section. is microbiology really gonna be on the exam. because i cant take it until winter and i wont know the material until winter.


so my question is:Is micro really on it? what subjects should i expect?
how should i prepare for it since i havent taken the course yet? (i have the kaplan 07 and it seems that it doesnt have micro on it)


thnx,

 

[Albo]

hi guys,

i checked the pcat website and it said that there will be 20% microbiology on biology section. is microbiology really gonna be on the exam. because i cant take it until winter and i wont know the material until winter.


so my question is:Is micro really on it? what subjects should i expect?
how should i prepare for it since i havent taken the course yet? (i have the kaplan 07 and it seems that it doesnt have micro on it)


thnx,

Yea i am in the same boat with u there. I took General Bio 1 and 2 but i neither took A& P and Micro so what i am doing is, buying Cliff Notes quickreview for Micro and A&P.

 

[Bonbon2007]

hi guys,

i checked the pcat website and it said that there will be 20% microbiology on biology section. is microbiology really gonna be on the exam. because i cant take it until winter and i wont know the material until winter.


so my question is:Is micro really on it? what subjects should i expect?
how should i prepare for it since i havent taken the course yet? (i have the kaplan 07 and it seems that it doesnt have micro on it)


thnx,

I posted awhile back about microbio, a person was asking whether it was better to take physiology or micro. Most people said to take physiology just because they found it more helpful on the exam than micro even though micro is weighted more heavily percentage-wise.

You are practically guaranteed a micro question or two on the exam so if you're prepared ....you'll be okay. If you decide to play it neutral and not study micro at all, you will be sorry. (my two cents)

I feel like the topics to be covered in micro can be picked from any of these broad areas:

1) Viruses
2) Bacteria
3) Fungi
4) Sterilization
5) Microscopy (skim)
6) Staining
7) Diseases

If I leave anything important out, please let me know.

 

[UBCvan]

well i dont really know if i can be prepared for the augest pcat since i m only studying in the weekend(friday-sat-sun)of each week.

bonbon as you are sayin there will definitely be some micro questions and since i havent take the course i will buy the cliffs(as albo said). i think i'll buy biology & anatomy and phys & microbiology & the 5 practice test cliff.


are these cliff things really helpful-do they leave any questions or any topics out and hurt u in the exam? can i finish them since each of them are like 200 pages?


and by the way did you know that the bio,chem,verb have been reduced to 46 questions and instead of 1 essay we have to write 2 essays? i jus saw it on the pcatweb.

 

[Bonbon2007]

well i dont really know if i can be prepared for the augest pcat since i m only studying in the weekend(friday-sat-sun)of each week.

bonbon as you are sayin there will definitely be some micro questions and since i havent take the course i will buy the cliffs(as albo said). i think i'll buy biology & anatomy and phys & microbiology & the 5 practice test cliff.


are these cliff things really helpful-do they leave any questions or any topics out and hurt u in the exam? can i finish them since each of them are like 200 pages?


and by the way did you know that the bio,chem,verb have been reduced to 46 questions and instead of 1 essay we have to write 2 essays? i jus saw it on the pcatweb.

You caught me there UBCvan, I did not know that we are doing two essays. I've been preparing for june thinking I was only going to write 1. I like Cliffs, it's some dense material but conceptually, it won't (knock on wood ) be harder than that.

I've also been working the five cliff PCAT tests and as a word of caution, I found their tests to be poorly edited in the verbal section (so far I've finished the first two).

 

[binghamkid]

The MCAT is definitely way harder than the PCAT. I know. haha. Because of this, I actually recommend studying the biology and chemistry from the MCAT prep books. It gives you a more comprehensive overview than the PCAT prep books do.

The toughest part about the PCAT is timing. The questions are fairly easy; if you've been paying attention in your pre-req courses, there's no reason you shouldn't already have 80% of the knowledge already in your head (even with our astronomical decline in retention) The hard part is finishing each section right after another with no breaks in between. Unless you're one of those sadistic guys who LOVE pressure for about 4 hours, you're probably going to need to practice practice practice to get used to the stress and pressure.

As for the prep books, it's good to look at all the concepts, but analyze the test as well. The questions are worded so you can often eliminate half the answers almost immediately. You can easily waste a minute or two trying to calculate an answer that you don't even need to calculate when the other three answers are completely off the charts.

Do practice tests to get your timing down; if you can answer all 55 questions in a section and miss 5 questions, your score will STILL be better than someone who can only do 45 questions in a section. You might think that you'll miss more, but that's not true. The standard section roughly gives you about a minute for each question (after accounting for time used to bubble in answers). If it takes you about 15 seconds to read and comprehend the question, that leaves you with 45 seconds to come up with an answer (assuming you CAN comprehend the question in 15 seconds while under pressure). The average test taker can't do that. If you can get to the point where you can be confident in your answer and keep up the pace, you'll do much better. There are study tactics which will help boost your score, but i won't go into them here. PM me if you want to know how I did it.