Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the PCAT: Pharmacy College Admission Test

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I bought this book, along with every other PCAT book I could find. I studied and studied all of them up until test day. When I took the exam (10/99), the only book whose questions were similar to the actual test was this one. The other books are WAY too in-depth. Overkill might be a good thing on other exam preps, but here, over-studying could lead to burn-out, and failure to miss the big picture. Granted, I'm a graduate student in Pharmacology, but this book is the best prep I read. Pick up this book and the HighYield series in Biology and General Chemistry. Forget the rest.

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!

I felt that the questions were an excellent representation of the types and wording of the questions on the PCAT. The most helpful was the outlines of each section, there were questions over every topic. The time this book gives you for each section is a little inflated over what the real time limits of the PCAT test is. Overall a great source of information.

Was this book helpful to me..? Indeed it was in the fact that it gave me a great idea about what the real PCAT looks like. The reading and biology section were the most helpful and closest to the real thing. However, the chemistry was way off and was not even close. Some of the math problems were the same and the math section is a must for any one wanting to take the PCAT. A helpful book but do not but all your weight on this book and the Chemistry section is misleading big time.

I took the 10/23 test and just got my score. The PCAT is very
difficult. This book is way too easy but the sample tests
are useful in that you can use them to help you increase
your speed in taking the test. That's the key. The PCAT
is focused on speed and how you apply common sense that you
already have. Many questions can be answered based on broad
knowledge you have together with common sense to get to the
correct answer. You have to learn the techniques of of taking
standard tests: time mgmt, elimination, focus. But the other
side of it is to put in enough self study time to feel confident
about the subjects so that you don't worry about that aspect when
you take the test. In summary, get these study books from the
library and buy the one you feel is good. But copy the sample
tests to practice your speed. If you realy really want to get
into pharmacy school and get a good PCAT score, start your prep
work 6 month prior to the test. Look outside of PCAT to study.
Study the MCAT test and MAT tests, learn the new vocabs.
I'm didn't get perfect score, but I think doing all the above
definitly help me get my 94 on the test.

This book provided the minimal amount of information for the PCAT. In particular, the math review section and practice test sections had very simple math compared to the actual PCAT. Also, a few questions in the practice tests were repeated later in the same test. There is no all inclusive review either, only an outline of what is needed. I found this book helpful, but only to the point to get a general idea of the test layout, not of the actual test material. If there is another option, I would use it next time. If Kaplan makes a book, use theirs.

Now, the PCAT as I see it, is basically a useless test which I hope will someday die a horrible, horrible death. In the meantime, I think this book really helped with getting to know the overall format. I do have to agree with a previous reviewer; the reading comprehension wasn't nearly as hard as the actual test. However, everything was relatively similar. Heck, I even found a question very similar to one in the guide on the test. I highly suggest buying this book. It really prepares you pretty well.

I took the PCAT in October 2002. It had been 10 years since my last biology class, 9 years since my last general chemistry class, and 7 years since organic chemistry. This book's outline of topics to study for the PCAT was excellent. Sure, when I actually took the test, I realized that the outline wasn't perfect, but it provided an (almost) complete list of topics to study. The study and sample test questions in the book were a bit easier than the actual test, and using this book alone is not enough to prepare you for the test. I used the book's outline, then went back to my text books to study each subject that was listed. This method worked great for me--I scored in the 99th percentile.

I've just finished taking the Jan 24th, 2004 pcat. This book is the closest you'll ever find, at least at the moment, to the actual pcat. The biology practice questions in this book are quite similar to the ones you'll encounter on the real exam. I found the verbal and bio sections on the exam quite easy, probably owing to the fact that I did all the practice tests in this book. The reading section on the real exam was alright(too many "what is not true", "what does the author infer/mean" questions). One piece of advice: KEEP TRACK OF YOUR TIME, especially in the math and chemistry sections! The math section is definetely a killer. You have 45min to finish 65 questions(which means you have less than a min for each question). I ran out of time on the chem section. There were a lot of conversion questions..not much organic, though. There is also an experimental section on the test. Anyway, getting to the point, this book will help you master the basic concepts tested in the bio, chem, math, and verbal sections. For the reading part though, I suggest you get the Kaplan book. A fourth or fifth grader can do the questions on the reading part in this book(seriously!) I have a good feeling about this and I'm eagerly awaiting my score(they said it'll take 4-6 weeks...bummer!) I hope this review helped a bit and I wish all you wannabe pharmacists the best of luck!

I took the Oct 2003 PCAT (scored in the 99 percentile) and this book really gives you an idea of what the test questions will look like. The time allotted and # of questions per section don't match up to the real test, but the actual questions are very similar in format and content. This book doesn't have a subject-by-subject review, but the questions that are presented are a good indication of what test questions look like. PS- DO NOT BUY THE ARCO BOOK! This book along with your high school chem and bio books are all you really need. I also recommend the Cliffs Biology Review.