Kaplan PCAT Preview Class

I took a preview class with Kaplan today at 7pm EDT (4pm my time.)  I gotta say I loved it. It was a pretty straightforward live online class. The Kaplan instructor went through the basics of the exam, then we went through 11 sample problems covering the various topics on the test.

Those were some good sample questions. Good at showing me how useful taking a Kaplan course would be, and good at showing me how much I don't know and need to review. If anyone sees this in time and wants to check out the free preview class themselves, you can register for next Thursday's class (May 27th, 9pm EDT) at this link.

And of course at the end of the class, they cover the product that they offer, which is a 14 class program (Sometimes once a week, other times multiple times a week.) that focuses on a different topic each time, and includes two full practice tests.

The classes cover:

Class 01 - 3.5 hours - In class Diagnostic Exam
Class 02 - 3.5 hours - Orientation and Verbal Ability 1
Class 03 - 3.0 hours - Biology 1
Class 04 - 3.0 hours - General Chemistry 1
Class 05 - 3.0 hours - Organic Chemistry 1
Class 06 - 3.0 hours - Reading Comprehension
Class 07 - 3.0 hours - Quantitative Ability 1
Class 08 - 3.5 hours - Midterm Exam
Class 09 - 3.0 hours - Verbal Ability 2
Class 10 - 3.0 hours - Biology 2
Class 11 - 3.0 hours - General Chemistry 2
Class 12 - 3.0 hours - Organic Chemistry 2
Class 13 - 3.0 hours - Quant 2/Reading 2/Quant Mini-Test
Class 14 - 3.5 hours - Final Exam

You can take the classes live in a class, live online, or through on demand files (and private 1 on 1 tutoring is available as well.). If I took the class, I'd probably take the live online version. It costs $1399 ($150 off if you sign up before May ends.) I think it would absolutely raise my score, but that is a lot of money (You do physical materials sent to you no matter which learning service you pay for.).

As it is right now, if I have to go through a second round of applications, then I will absolutely take the course, but at this moment in time, I don't see myself paying for this service.

What I did take away from the experience though is that I most definitely need to do a lot of review and studying. I need to remember all kinds of simple tricks. And I learned that the average score in all these different categories (besides the writing portion) is a 400, and a 440 is needed to be in the 90% percentile.

Not much more to say except that the studying continues!

(And of course, to learn more of the Kaplan services, check out their website.)

Kaplan PCAT Diagnostic Exam

(I cut out and scanned the Answer Sheet rather than try photocopying it.  Click to enlarge.  Feel free to copy/paste it to use for yourself if you don't want to damage your own book.)

The diagnostic exam is half as long, in half the time, with no essay portion.  There are my results:

Verbal Ability: 19/24

Biology: 8/25

Chemistry: 11/24

Reading Comprehension: 18/20

Quantitative Ability: 18/24

Without even knowing what percentile I'd be in, obviously my Bio and Chem need a lot of work and the Verbal and Quant could use some improvement as well.

Verbal

I didn't score too bad.  I did change two of my answers away from the right answers, and with one question I filled in the wrong bubble.  That's an easy mistake to avoid.

Biology

First of all... there is a typo in the instructions that says you're only supposed to get 10 minutes, as opposed to 15.  It has the time correct in the full breakdown of the diagnostic, but not right before the actual Bio questions.

And the section this to note... I completely bubbled in the wrong section.  I was bubbling in the Chemistry section rather than the Biology section.  I only noticed when I was more than halfway done.  Fatal mistake that I'll be sure to not repeat again.

As for the actual content.  This is the section that I was pretty sure I'd need the most help on.  I will be retaking Physiology and Anatomy, so that should help.  And was already considering retaking Bio I and II.  Look like that consideration has more weight now.

Chemistry

I didn't feel as lost in this section as the Bio section even though I did almost as bad.  It all looked very familiar, but I took Gen Chem I over ten years ago.  My reading comprehension of chemistry is slow now because I'm out of practice.  I also ran out of time, and missed bubbling a question.

I got an A in the class last time, but I think I'll also have to be retake the class again because it's too old, and I guess from these results I can see why.

Reading Comprehension

Not much to say.  I ended this section very early.  I made a couple mistakes, but the score is probably pretty decent.  Just got to repeat this result or get better on the real thing.

Quantitative Ability

I could have done better.  I'll go over the exact reasons I made mistakes later.  But it's not horrible.  It's nothing that just a tiny bit of practice won't fix.  No worries here.

It's going to be a while until I take the actual PCAT, but I think getting the book this early and taking the diagnostic to give me some concrete feedback on what I need to work on has already been worth it.  That should help keep me focused when I retake some classes, and help really motivate me to pay attention rather than fall into the trap of feeling like I already know half (or more) of the material and I don't need to pay attention in the beginning.

It's someone sad that seeing how much work I need is a good thing, when I know I have a lot of ability in me, but I need to keep myself grounded and ensure that I don't stray from the path anymore.

I bought the Kaplan book on the Kaplan name, but it was nice to see the following review after I had purchased it from Amazon.com, since Bio and Chem are obviously the sections that I need work on:

I just got my PCAT score back and this book was close to the only thing I used to study.  The chemistry and biology sections are very good reviews.  Yes there are many typos, but they are usually obvious enough  that they will not mislead you.  However, the organic chemistry section only addresses a few functional groups.  The math section does not have enough calculus, so I took a practice test and reviewed the concepts that appeared on that exam.  The verbal section and reading comprehension section are too short to actually help the reader.  Lastly, the writing section is basically two pages.  In closing, this book is a good review of inorganic chemistry and general biology (I was in the 99th percentile for both the chem and bio sections), but I would get an additional aid for the writing, verbal and reading comprehension sections... and look over your old organic and calculus notes.  The organic chemistry on the exam is a breeze if you are a chem major so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Book Preview - Kaplan PCAT 2010-2011

As I said a couple posts back, the importance of taking the PCAT for the first round of applications has become more important to me, so I of course got the Kaplan guide.  Seems to be a well known and respected brand for all sorts of exams.  Originally I had been planning on waiting half a year or so for the next edition to come out, but with the new change in perspective, I wanted to start studying now, while I'll be having a pretty easy semester.  The bonus is that I'll be able to take the practice exam in this edition, and the practice exam in the next edition, if I should choose to do so.

Now for the Table of Contents:

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- Preface
- Note to International Students

 Section I: PCAT Strategies
- Chapter 1: Introduction to the PCAT
- Chapter 2: TTest Expertise
- Chapter 3: Test Mentality
- Chapter 4: PCAT Diagnostic Test and Explanations

 Section II: Verbal Ability
- Chapter 5: The Importance of Vocabulary
- Chapter 6: Mastering Sentence Completion and Analogies

 Section III: Biology
- Chapter 7: The Basis of Life
- Chapter 8: Reproduction
- Chapter 9: Genetics
- Chapter 10: Vertebrate Embryology
- Chapter 11: Vascular Systems in Animals and Plants
- Chapter 12: Endocrinology
- Chapter 13: Neuroscience
- Chapter 14: Respiration
- Chapter 15: Autotrophic Nutrition
- Chapter 16: Muscles and Locomotion
- Chapter 17: Digestion
- Chapter 18: Excretion
- Chapter 19: Animal Behavior
- Chapter 20: Ecology
- Chapter 21: Classification
- Chapter 22: Evolution

 Section IV: Reading Comprehension 
- Chapter 23: Reading Skills

 Section V: Quantitative Ability
- Chapter 24: Arithmetic
- Chapter 25: Algebra
- Chapter 26: Probability and Statistics
- Chapter 27: Precalculus and Calculus

 Section VI: Chemistry
- Chapter 28: Atomic Structure
- Chapter 29: The Periodic Table
- Chapter 30: Bonding and Chemical Reactions
- Chapter 31: Compounds and Stoichiometry
- Chapter 32: Chemical Kinetics and Equilibrium
- Chapter 33: Thermochemistry
- Chapter 34: The Gas Phase
- Chapter 35: Phases and Phase Changes
- Chapter 36: Solutions
- Chapter 37: Acids and Bases
- Chapter 38: Redox Reactions and Electrochemistry
- Chapter 39: Nuclear Phenomena
- Chapter 40: Organic Chemistry

 Section VII: Writing
- Chapter 41: The PCAT Essays

 Section VIII: Self-Check: Are You Prepared?
- Chapter 42: Final Exam
- Chapter 43: Final Exam Explanations

Pharmacy School Admissions - The Truth... and other links

As you can see on the right, I've added a bunch of links to various blogs and websites.  There's a nice list of all the California pharmacy school websites, as a well as a link for the rankings of all the pharmacy schools in the US.  (I believe it's all of them at least.  I haven't checked the whole list.)

There's a link that least to a list of (potentially) interesting blogs to read that are written by pharmacists.  It's long list and I've only checked out the number one blog on that list, The Angry Pharmacist.

And for more advice and insight into the process of getting into pharmacy schools, I have a section for admissions blogs and sites.  The one that I just finished reading through is Pharmacy School Admissions - The Truth

Although I'm not quite clear as to who the exact person writing most of the entries is, it is someone who has experience as an admissions officer, and it is an extremely helpful blog.  It began at the end of April, and there are updates pretty much every day, answering a question that was emailed in, or pointing out something of interest.

For me, personally, the most interesting aspect of it were all the entries dealing with the PCAT.  I live in California, and the California schools don't accept the PCAT, so I have very little exposure with anything dealing with the PCAT.  Back when I just believed I was going to go to pharmacy school, but didn't do any research on the admissions process, I figured that I'd just apply to all the California schools.

But if I'm to be realistic, since I have a low GPA that I still need to fix, researching and applying to out of state schools is something I have to do, on top of looking into the California schools.  With those schools (and assuming I do excellent on the PCAT, which I know I'm capable of doing if I apply myself), I have that secondary academic measurement on my application that can balance out my GPA.

All the advice on personal statements is also excellent, with several entries dedicated to showing snippets of specific examples with what should be changed and why.  And coming up soon will be many questions geared towards the interview process.

I will certainly be checking out that blog regularly.