Kaplan PCAT : 2004-2005 Edition

Rating:
Summary: Not for the PCAT I took.
Review: First I had to wait over a month to get this book while they "updated" it. The update was a couple lines inserted in the book saying "go to our website for the new stuff on the test." The website lessons were very short and perfunctory, especially the calculus. There was more complicated calc on the test than Kaplan indicated there would be. Plus their calculus internet lesson had many mistakes, some of which made it impossible to answer the questions as written. One even included a solution that was just flat out wrong!

My biggest problem with the book is the chemistry section. It is way too heavy on complicated calculations that I spent hours working over. The real test didn't have a single chemistry calculation that I couldn't do in my head. The verbal section was not very useful, although it's not easy to study for this section anyway. But a list of high occurence words would have been nice. There were many typos throughout the book, which just made it seem poorly written. If you're collecting study guides, you might want to include this one. But if you're only getting one, don't get this one.

Rating:
Summary: GO WITH BARRONS PCAT REVIEW
Review: Go with Barrons books... they're much more cost effective, and not to mention more helpful!

Rating:
Summary: This book is great for the PCAT
Review: I don't know what the other reviewer was thinking - I took the PCAT without prep the first time and then bought this KAPLAN book. It covered all the areas of the PCAT very well. I would highly recommend this book to anyone prepping for the PCAT - I know that the math and chemistry section really made a huge impact on my overall score the second time - after using this book I raised my composite from an 84% to a 93% - that is no small jump considering the points are harder to come by the higher up you get! I used no other tools to prep between tests save this KAPLAN book - Well worth the $$ and I paid the cover price of $45 @ the local book store!

Rating:
Summary: GO WITH BARRONS PCAT REVIEW
Review: I just got my score from the PCAT I took in March 2004 and I scored in the 99th percentile. This was the only book that I used to review. I studied it cover-to-cover and took the pre-test seriously. I've been out of school for a bit and hadn't seen chemistry like that in 5 years. Biology on the test was easier than the content in the book. Same with math, but speed is the key to doing well in that section.
Good Luck!

Rating:
Summary: It brought me success...
Review: I just got my score from the PCAT I took in March 2004 and I scored in the 99th percentile. This was the only book that I used to review. I studied it cover-to-cover and took the pre-test seriously. I've been out of school for a bit and hadn't seen chemistry like that in 5 years. Biology on the test was easier than the content in the book. Same with math, but speed is the key to doing well in that section.
Good Luck!

Rating:
Summary: This book is for the old pcat version!
Review: I just recently took my pcats on Nov 20th and I cannot tell you how disappointed I was with this book. After reading the reviews for this book I thought that this was the PERFECT book for me. When I took the Pcats, however, this book only contained about 1/3 of the information that I needed to know about Chem and Bio. I studied this book night and day, and I knew this book from front to back. Also, organic chemistry was a third of the Chem section, and Kaplan did not cover all the info that was needed to do well on that section. Surprisingly, biology was a lot harder than Chemistry, while the verbal section was easy.(mainly because Kaplan failed to include the essentials for the test)
This book might have been great for the Pcats before they made changes to it, but to me this book was absolutely useless in preparing me for my Pcats.

Rating:
Summary: Great Study Guide
Review: I thought this book was great. If you know the content and the concepts covered in this book you will do well on the test. The chemistry, biology, verbal, and reading comprehension sections in the Kaplan book are a little harder that the actual test which I thought was helpful to be fully prepared. The math section is pretty accurate to the actual test. I just took the March PCAT and every question on the test was covered in this book. Anyone who says this book isn't helpful probably just wasn't prepared enough! Yes, this book is similar to Kaplan's MCAT book, however the PCAT and the MCAT have similar content in some sections. I used a lot of my old MCAT study materials to prepare for the PCAT. I don't know why other reviewers see this as a problem. The only complaint I have is that there were some typos in the book.

Rating:
Summary: By far, the best prep. book in the market...believe me
Review: I took the March 27th, 04 PCAT, and I prepared for it by literally getting my hands on every PCAT prep. book the university book store had in stock. Lemme tell ya, by FAR, this book best represents the material you'll encounter on the test. Firstly, verbal section: waaaaaay more difficult that the actual words and analogies you'll have to understand, so don't panic if you don't understand what "dawdry" means. Next, bio: this book provides the BEST bio12 coverage compared to other review books that only give you a rough guide (outline) of what to expect (don't spend so much time on taxonomy). Reading Comp: expect these kinds of questions on the exam instead of the elementary level questions you find in Barron's or PCATSuccess. Quantitative: Most representative - content and difficulty wise (UNDERSTAND YOUR FRACTIONS MAN!!!!) (not so much on the trig tho). Lastly, Chem: actually, I think you're better off to go with Barron's actual practice exam for this one since the material in the Kaplan is a little higher (but hey, better it being harder than easier right?) The study content in the Kaplan Chem is pretty inclusive of all the material you'll need to know. Well, that's it. Hope this helps and wish ME luck when I get my results back. Later

Rating:
Summary: It worked for me
Review: I took the PCAT in October and November. For the 1st exam, I used the Barron book only and got 63% overall. Then I found out about the Kaplan book and studied it for the 2nd exam and got 83% overall this time.
Kaplan offered online updates for recent PCAT changes for free. I took them and found them very helpful.
On the other hand, Barron didn't even have an update on math & verbal ability changes.
The biology material in Kaplan is also much more accurate and relevant.
I would recommend the Kaplan book.

Rating:
Summary: New PCAT version
Review: The Kaplan book is very good as other reviews have said....but it does not include the latest changes. Calculus questions are throughout the math section and quite a few organic chemistry reaction are in the chem section. Review your textbooks and don't rely only on the Kaplan book for those. Otherwise the review was fine, especially the Biology and general Chemistry sections. I just wish I didn't have to wait 4-6 weeks to find out what I go on the test!