Tips on microbio section

[deleted727644]

How did you guys study for the microbiology and Health/diseases section on the PCAT? Would Kaplan be sufficient?

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[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

It is absolutely not sufficient! Took my first pcat test in July and the very first question on the bio was a symptoms to bacteria question (won't give the exact symptoms because I'm fairly sure it's against the rules). Now that was the only question with symptoms but I hadn't taken micro since 2012 so I was reallllly rusty on it. What im doing now is going on Quizlet and type in "pcat microbiology" and go through which ones I think have enough diseases to study. I might buy a small textbook for my test in oct, but not sure yet.

 

[deleted727644]

It is absolutely not sufficient! Took my first pcat test in July and the very first question on the bio was a symptoms to bacteria question (won't give the exact symptoms because I'm fairly sure it's against the rules). Now that was the only question with symptoms but I hadn't taken micro since 2012 so I was reallllly rusty on it. What im doing now is going on Quizlet and type in "pcat microbiology" and go through which ones I think have enough diseases to study. I might buy a small textbook for my test in oct, but not sure yet.

How did you do in the test overall? Any tips? I finished Collins and their practice tests and read over Kaplan bio but I took a practice exam and did horrible

 

[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

How did you do in the test overall? Any tips? I finished Collins and their practice tests and read over Kaplan bio but I took a practice exam and did horrible

My score was horrific! Lol now this is mainly due to me doing poorly with my studying and not doing enough practice test which killed me since I hadn't had a few of these classes in 5+ years. I only used Kaplans practice test. This time I've bought all 3 Pearson exams since almost everyone here recommends it.

My highest score was a 65 in the bio section so I do believe Kaplan is good enough for bio, chem and orgo. My best advice is to go through all three Pearson test to get used to the test. Study 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Don't get caught up in a lot of theories for chemistry since most chem related questions are math based. Know your periodic trends and for orgo know your reactions.

I don't think any book is good enough for the math section. For that all you can really do is find some online problems and work them out along with the problems on the practice test. This is definitely where the practice test helps because math is the last section and I was burned out by the time I got there. Wish I could help out with more tips but my score sucked. These are just the areas I realized I needed to strengthen.

 

[deleted727644]

My score was horrific! Lol now this is mainly due to me doing poorly with my studying and not doing enough practice test which killed me since I hadn't had a few of these classes in 5+ years. I only used Kaplans practice test. This time I've bought all 3 Pearson exams since almost everyone here recommends it.

My highest score was a 65 in the bio section so I do believe Kaplan is good enough for bio, chem and orgo. My best advice is to go through all three Pearson test to get used to the test. Study 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Don't get caught up in a lot of theories for chemistry since most chem related questions are math based. Know your periodic trends and for orgo know your reactions.

I don't think any book is good enough for the math section. For that all you can really do is find some online problems and work them out along with the problems on the practice test. This is definitely where the practice test helps because math is the last section and I was burned out by the time I got there. Wish I could help out with more tips but my score sucked. These are just the areas I realized I needed to strengthen.

This was helpful, thank you! Good luck to you in October!

 

[pharmschoolhopeful2014]

I took the PCAT in July and got a good score in Bio (94). For biology in general, I studied Kaplan book along with class notes from college (it's been a while, I graduated in 2013), then did all the practice tests (for Bio) in Collin's. Reviewed all the questions that I missed, then few days before the test I did all the Collin's Bio practice tests again.
Don't worry too much about Kaplan practice tests. I did horrible on them. If you can get the Pearson practice test, at least 2. They are very helpful.