What are some things you can do early to prepare for the PCAT?

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jackal head

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I'm just wondering what it takes to score in the 80th or above percentile. I will be taking it 1.5 years from now but is there anything I can do to prepare for it now? For example what courses do I really try to retain all my info from?

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I'm in the same boat and I would suggest volunteering to learn from Pharmacists. I am currently volunteering at the Free Clinic every Tuesday and Thursday. The first thing I learned was that anything ending with "pril" is an ACE inhibitor. They have it organized by stuff like that.

So I don't know if this will help on the test, but hands on experience might help you out if you learn that way. Other than that, I have study guides, but someone said to wait until you are about to take it to really study them.

If you live in NC, you might want to take this :

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=532256

It's for the PTCB but it might help. I don't know, I'm in the same boat as you.

Steve
 
I'm in the same boat and I would suggest volunteering to learn from Pharmacists. I am currently volunteering at the Free Clinic every Tuesday and Thursday. The first thing I learned was that anything ending with "pril" is an ACE inhibitor. They have it organized by stuff like that.

So I don't know if this will help on the test, but hands on experience might help you out if you learn that way. Other than that, I have study guides, but someone said to wait until you are about to take it to really study them.

If you live in NC, you might want to take this :

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=532256

It's for the PTCB but it might help. I don't know, I'm in the same boat as you.

Steve
PCAT has nothing drug related, its all general information that concentrates on the sciences, math, English.
 
I'm just wondering what it takes to score in the 80th or above percentile. I will be taking it 1.5 years from now but is there anything I can do to prepare for it now? For example what courses do I really try to retain all my info from?


It's good that you're thinking about it now. I would start learning vocabulary words (I'm currently using Kaplan SAT flashcards). Just learn a few words a day. You can also look through PCAT prep books to familiarize yourself. But you don't have to stress about it now- I started seriously studying for the August PCAT this past month.

I think recommended courses would be Biology I, General Chemistry I-II, PreCal, Calculus, and Organic I
 
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It's good that you're thinking about it now. I would start learning vocabulary words (I'm currently using Kaplan SAT flashcards). Just learn a few words a day. You can also look through PCAT prep books to familiarize yourself. But you don't have to stress about it now- I started seriously studying for the August PCAT this past month.

I think recommended courses would be Biology I, General Chemistry I-II, PreCal, Calculus, and Organic I

excellent idea, i found this after searcing for 5 seconds, do you think this list is what I can expect from the PCAT?

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashcards/list/461768
 
excellent idea, i found this after searcing for 5 seconds, do you think this list is what I can expect from the PCAT?

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashcards/list/461768
Nice find! It looks extremely similar to Sparknotes 1000 practice SAT words as well if you are looking to print off the words since they are all lumped together in 67 pages, whereas your link would require clicking each page then printing. Good Luck.
 
re: learning from pharmacists.

it is great that you are taking this initiative to become familiar with drug names but it probably won't help very much with the PCAT.

Learning vocab, as someone suggested above, would help a lot more.

Also, keep your basic math skills up to par by doing some math every once in a while. It's good for the soul.

And, if you are ever really bored, turn to the glossary of your Intro Bio and Chem Books and skim them to review some important terms. You'll be surprised how much you forgot so quickly, but also by how it comes back to you and reinforces itself.
 
Since you have 1.5 years....

I wouldn't rely on some list of vocab. You'd be lucky to see 2 of those 1000 words appear on the actual exam. There's so many to choose from that a 1000 word list won't do you any good.

Instead, read your favourite novels, read the news, preferably newspapers with a little more sophisticated vocabulary (usually in the metropolitan cities there will be one or two newspapers that's a little richer in vocab). Reading is by far the best way to build your vocab BAR NONE. Also helps with your writing too. Since you have so much time, I think memorizing a word list is useless.
 
Since you have 1.5 years....

I wouldn't rely on some list of vocab. You'd be lucky to see 2 of those 1000 words appear on the actual exam. There's so many to choose from that a 1000 word list won't do you any good.

Instead, read your favourite novels, read the news, preferably newspapers with a little more sophisticated vocabulary (usually in the metropolitan cities there will be one or two newspapers that's a little richer in vocab). Reading is by far the best way to build your vocab BAR NONE. Also helps with your writing too. Since you have so much time, I think memorizing a word list is useless.


I agree, reading is another great way to learn words. But word lists shouldn't be discredited. I studied word lists for the SAT and I was surprised how many of them were on there. I realize that the PCAT is a different exam, but the verbal reasoning appears to be just the same. If anything, recognizing words and roots from a list can help in the long run, just as reading.
 
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