What kind of biology is on the pcat

The biology knowledge you need for the PCAT encompasses a wide variety of topics in the categories of general biology, microbiology, and human anatomy and physiology. Mastering biology on the PCAT means not only memorizing vocabulary and facts but also learning to integrate your knowledge, make connections, and otherwise strategically approach the multiple- choice questions in the Biological Processes section.

The Biological Processes Section. Plan to spend only two minutes reading each passage so you can spend 35 seconds on each question. Each passage is — words, and two minutes can pass very quickly, so you will need to make judicious use of the reading and question strategies outlined below to ensure you finish the entire section within the allotted time.

Biological Processes Strategies. For the Biological Processes section, that often translates to skipping the passages and their associated questions initially so you can move directly to the discrete questions scattered throughout the section.

Passage-based questions almost always take longer than discrete questions since they require first reading and then later referencing the passage so you can integrate information from the passage, the question stem, and your outside knowledge to successfully answer each.

This feeling of dread is understandable. Understanding these 10 nuggets of truth and wisdom can help improve your performance. The PCAT is divided into four subtests to be taken over the course of four hours.

This one may seem obvious, but some students get ahead of themselves when it comes to taking the PCAT. This grants you the opportunity to retake the test in case you did not perform as well as anticipated. Here is a brief outline of what you will be tested on during this portion of the exam:. Each section of the exam, including the biology section, is scored separately on a scale of to Those individual scores are then combined to find the average. Your average across each section will be your composite score for the whole PCAT.

The higher your score, the stronger your overall application to the pharmacy school will be. In preparing, you want to set yourself a minimum target for each section so that you know your overall score will not fall below that minimum. Since we all have our strengths and weaknesses, there will likely be a couple of sections where you will have no problem going above and beyond this minimum.

You still need to practice those skills in the context of the PCAT. Whether biology is one of your stronger or weaker subjects, you will want to focus your attention on the material most likely to be on the test.

A The entire exam lasts about four hours and includes a 15 minute break about halfway through.