PCAT info help!?

[akuma39]

I'm in second year rite now in biology just because of interest in the material, but hadn't always had my goals set on pharmacy, not until I volunteered at a pharmacy last year and getting actual working experience when I starting falling in love with this career.

 

I do not know much about the admission process, it seems like its not very detailed, but I just need a few tips on the PCAT. I have done all necessary pre-reqs for pharm.

 

-When is a good time to write my PCAT? After second year?

-What kind of material is tested on the PCAT and how do I prepare for it? I know what is tested on the mcat and different methods to study from others' experience, but no clue for pharm!

-How is it graded and whats a score I need to be one of the top?

-How long is it recommended to study for the material?

-How much chemistry do I need to know? lol

Ive only done first year chem and second year orgo (general) and biological orgo and highschool chemistry. Nothing too advanced.

 

 

Any answer to any of the questions is helpful enough! thank you for ur time!

[wavygravy89]

I wrote the PCAT this past fall, so hopefully I can help!

1) You will definitely be prepared to write the PCAT after second year. Most of the material was actually high school level, and I don't recall there being anything above second year level (except for maybe a bit of biochem, but you certainly wouldn't need to take a course to master the small amount of info)

2) PCAT has six sections - writing, biology, chemistry, math, verbal analogies and reading comprehension. I had written the MCAT prior to the PCAT and there is some overlap, but the PCAT is much easier. Reading comprehension is sort of an easier version of verbal reasoning (but I somehow did way better on verbal reasoning haha) and verbal analogies are found on quite a few standardized tests (LSAT, GRE, etc). Studying for the PCAT was similar to studying for the MCAT - I just bought a prep book and some practice tests through Pearson. I didn't study for too long, maybe about a month and not too intense, and my comp was 97% (granted, none of the material was necessarily new to me).

3) For each section you get a percentile ranking, which compares your performance with the past performance of all first-time test takers over the past ten years or so. You also get a scaled score that is somewhere in the range between 400-600, but I'm not really sure of the significance of that (the school I am applying to only looks at percentile rankings so I didn't really look into it). For the writing sample, one of your essays will be marked (but they don't tell you which one) and you will get a score out of 6. I'm not sure what you mean by a score that puts you on the top. Obviously, getting a 99% comp and 6/6 writing is the best you can do. I'm not really sure what competitive is, but from reading pharmacy threads on SDN I don't think you need an insanely high PCAT score to be competitive at Canadian schools.

4)The length of time to study depends on how comfortable you are with the material. I found the material pretty easy, so I casually studied for a month and then focused the last week. If you aren't comfortable with one of the sections you might need to study for longer.

5) There is an entire section on chemistry, but for the most part it's first year general chemistry. There is a bit on organic chemistry and biochemistry thrown into this section as well, but it was really basic. It sounds like with your chemistry background you should be fine.

I'd reccommend checking out the PCAT site: http://www.pcatweb.info/ - it is pretty easy to read through and can answer questions I wasn't able to, or more clearly than I could. Also, if you decide to buy a prep book be aware that the PCAT material has changed within the past year, so make sure you buy a current book (or, know what sections to ignore and supplement those that aren't included).

Good luck

[akuma39]

Thank you SOO MUCH! Very thorough and clear!