It’s important to grasp not only the logistics of the PCAT (so you know what to do on Test Day) but also the underlying principles of the test (so you know why you’re doing what you’re doing). The straightforward facts tested by the PCAT are covered throughout this book, but now it’s time to examine the heart and soul of the PCAT to see what it’s really about.
Most people preparing for the PCAT fall prey to the myth that the PCAT is a straightforward science test. They think something like this:
The PCAT covers the two years of science I had to take in school: biology, chemistry, and basic organic chemistry, plus math and freshman English. The important stuff is the science, though. After all, we’re going to be pharmacists.
Here’s a little-known secret: The PCAT is not just a science test; it’s also a critical-thinking test. This means the test is designed to let you demonstrate your thought processes as well as your content knowledge. The implications are vast. Once you shift your test-taking paradigm to match the PCAT’s, you’ll find a new level of confidence and control over the test. You’ll begin to work with the nature of the PCAT rather than against it. You’ll be more efficient and insightful as you prepare for the test, and you’ll be more relaxed on Test Day. In fact, you’ll be able to see the PCAT for what it actually is rather than for what students fear it to be. We want your Test Day to feel familiar, not awkward!
Pharmacy schools do not need to rely on the PCAT to evaluate what content you already know; admission committees can measure your subject-area proficiency using your undergraduate coursework and grades. Schools instead are interested in the potential of your mind. In recent years, many pharmacy schools have shifted pedagogic focus away from an information-heavy curriculum to a concept-based curriculum. Currently, more emphasis is placed on problem solving, holistic thinking, and cross-disciplinary study. This trend affects you right now because it’s reflected in the PCAT. Every good tool matches its task. In this case, the tool is the PCAT, which is used to measure you and other candidates, and the task is to quantify how likely it is you will succeed in pharmacy school. In fact, research shows the PCAT is correlated with success in pharmacy school and, together with undergraduate GPA, is an excellent tool for pharmacy schools to determine which applicants are likely to be the top—and the bottom—pharmacy students.
Therefore, your intellectual potential—how skillfully you annex new territory into your mental boundaries, how quickly you build connections between ideas, and how confidently and creatively you solve problems—is far more important to admission committees than your ability to recite the pKa for every known acid. Schools assume they can expand your knowledge base. They choose applicants carefully because expansive knowledge is not enough to succeed in pharmacy school or in the profession. There’s something more, and it’s this something more that the PCAT is trying to measure. Every section on the PCAT tests essentially the same higher-order thinking skills: analytical reasoning, abstract thinking, and problem solving. Most test takers get trapped into thinking they are being tested strictly about their knowledge of science and math and thus approach each section with a new outlook on what’s expected. This constant mental shifting of gears can be exhausting and counterproductive. Instead of perceiving the PCAT as split into radically different sections, maintain your focus on the underlying nature of the test: Each section presents a variation on the same theme. The PCAT is not just about what you know; it’s also about how you think.
With this perspective, you may be left asking questions: What about the science? What about the content? Don’t I need to know the basics? The answer to each is a resounding Yes! You must be fluent in the different languages of the test. You cannot do well on the PCAT if you don’t know the basics of biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and mathematics. The best approach to learning that content is to take one year each of undergraduates courses in biology, general chemistry, and organic chemistry and then review the content in this book thoroughly before taking the PCAT. Note that the biochemistry content you need for the PCAT is covered in introductory biology and chemistry courses, and you should not need to take a separate biochemistry course (though taking one would not hurt you and is required for admission to certain schools). Knowing these basics is just the beginning of doing well on the PCAT, though. That’s a shock to most test takers. They presume that once they relearn their undergraduate science they are ready to do battle against the PCAT. Wrong! Test takers with only this minimum of knowledge merely have directions to the battlefield and lack what they need to actually beat the test: an understanding of the test maker’s battle plans. You won’t merely be drilled on facts and formulas on the PCAT; you will need to demonstrate the ability to reason based on ideas and concepts.