How to Prepare for the PCAT: Pharmacy College Admission Test

Rating:
Summary: I bought it and got a 99
Review: a pretty good book, i bet if i used it i would have done even better, but probably not, it kinda sat on the shelf, and it looked useful, just watch out for the chem section, lots of questions and little time. i'm sure if i'd used it i would have done better, or maybe not, but i gotta say that i did buy the book and i did get a 99%ile, for Jan 2003. take care

Rating:
Summary: Beware---Old edition
Review: After taking the PCAT October 23, 2004, I was not the only one shocked it contained calculus. One thing you must remember in your review of this guide is that it was written in 2002. The pre-calc, calculus, essay at the end (which is being field-tested only this year), and the increased difficulty of the reading comprehension IS ALL NEW FOR 2004-2005. Best chance is to find a book most recently published. Overall this book was good. I enjoyed the two pratice tests. Explanations for answers were sometimes too short and some others were too long. Brush up on your organic, calculus, and critical thinking skills.

Rating:
Summary: Preparation for PCAT
Review: Beautiful. It was a great help to me in my preparation for PCAT.

Rating:
Summary: To: jmccrudden3
Review: DEAR, jmccrudden3

I tooked PCAT in October ?? Can you try to email me ?? My email is [e-mail] I have some questions on the PCAT. If you have read this , can u try to e-mail me as soon as possible. Thank you very much

Rating:
Summary: Excellent - a real help in preparation
Review: Excellent set of questions with answers clearly explained. I quickly realized exactly where I needed to spend my study time and bought review books in those areas.

Rating:
Summary: Useless
Review: Hardly anything that I studied in this book was even asked on the PCAT. The Biology in this book covered mostly General Bio, but the PCAT was mostly on Physiology. The math was a billion times harder on the PCAT. Beware...the PCAT has calculus and geometry problems that this book did not cover. The chemistry was also a lot more difficult and was more understanding than quantitative. I definitely do not recommend this book!!!

Rating:
Summary: This is a good study guide???
Review: Hey previous reviewer, who are you kidding!!!
This book ranks low as a study guide for the PCAT IMHO.
Who is going to believe that someone actually got
100% on all sections of the PCAT. And you used
this book to get that? Sure. How much money
did you get to write that!

People, listen to me who has gone thru this before and has
been accepted to Pharm school for fall 05. Don't just buy
one book, get your hands on ALL of them and do the practice
tests. You need to know your subjects, that's a given. You
have to practice on your speed and learn HOW to take these
standarized tests.

These tests don't just measure what you know.
They also measure your IQ indirectly with carefully designed
questions. If you are a "A" student, you failed yourself if
don't get 90+. Same goes with a "B", "C", student. Schools
look for that. If you're GPA is 3.7 and you get 80% on the PCAT
that doesn't look good for you. What I'm basically telling you
is that your expectation should closely match your grade. That
is a 3.0 student should expect to get in the 80s, IF YOU PREPARE
WELL FOR THE PCAT. It's not realistic for that 3.0 student to
expect to get 90+ on the PCAT. You can, but you had better
put in 150% effort to prepare for the PCAT.

PCAT is difficult. It's a tool to find out who are the top
students; students who are serious, dedicated, and committed.
I see lots of students who want to be, but aren't willing to
work for it. Those are the ones who won't make it here or
anywhere. Who are you?

Rating:
Summary: How to Prepare for the PCAT
Review: I agree with Chadd's review regarding time management. I took this test earlier today (10/25/2003) and found this book to be very useful for preparing in the Verbal, Biology and Chemistry sections. However, the Reading Comprehension was significantly more difficult than the passages/questions given in this book. Many questions on the actual exam were "What did the author infer from "...." in the passage". Also, on the actual exam, be very careful with your time management in the Quantitative section since there are 65 questions in about 30 minutes. I would suggest finding other sources to supplement this text for the Reading Comprehension section. The method that I suggest is to study for this exam by practicing taking as many tests as you can find. Good Luck.

Rating:
Summary: Caution!
Review: I am writing this review on March 15,2003. I have just taken the PCAT 7 hours ago for the first time. This book will help you famaliarize yourself with the PCAT test format. The verbal reasoning, chemistry and biology sections are the best for getting you prepared for what will be on the PCAT in those sections. However, the Quantitative and Reading Comprehension on the PCAT is much more difficult that what is in the Barron's book so watch out! The main word of warning is this- the time alloted in the Barron's book for taking their practice tests is a lot more than what is on the actual PCAT. Example- on the PCAT that I just took, we only had 30 minutes to do the Quantitative. You will have 45 minutes on the actual PCAT when doing the Reading Comprehension section if I can remember correctly. Don't let that fool you. That is not a lot of time to do that section. You must keep moving. Watch your time closely when doing the Chemistry, Quatitative and Reading Comprehension sections and use the times that you will do on the actual PCAT, not what the Barron's book gives you or you will find yourself in turmoil when you take the exam. Just food for thought! Good Luck!

Rating:
Summary: Way Outdated
Review: I bet this study guide completely rocked in '97, but I'm going to have to completely agree with the last two reviews. I am very happy to see I am not alone in this! What I really liked about this book was the in-depth explanations for the answers where applicable. The Chemistry in here is actually harder than the PCAT was which had substantially less calculations. The Biology is ok for the VARIETY of things that will be on the PCAT however I don't remember a single question being the same, so don't bother memorizing anything from here..plus the actual PCAT was very heavy on the Anatomy Physiology area which I've not had, so that should be fun to see the results. The verbal in the book is really close too, however they don't do antonyms anymore on the PCAT apparently so don't bother too much with that.

And FINALLY, this book COMPLETELY screwed me on the Quantitative section as it did the others who have reviewed. I was ready to eat that section alive since the book shows it to be all basic linear albegra setups, however, BAMM!!! Calculus right off the bat. Had I known this I could have brushed up on it as it's been a while and most people don't walk around with integrals and Summation formulas in thier heads.... seriously a couple hours I would have been fine... maybe I'll sue... naah... anyway, all of this must have been new this year because most of the reviews of this book prior to yesterday were still pretty good.

Good luck all you who took the test, I'll be seeing you in November..lol