How to Understand PCAT Scoring

You've studied and stressed out and studied some more in preparation for taking the PCAT. Test day comes and goes and you finally get your test score only to find you have no idea what it means. Sometimes it seems as though the scoring for any standardized test is arbitrary but, believe it or not, there is a method to how your PCAT is scored.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Know the different sections of the PCAT. The five sections are: Verbal, Quantitative, Biology, Chemistry and Reading Comprehension. One writing topic also is included.
2. Understand argumentative and problem-solving essays. You will be required to write one of the two for your PCAT and are scored on a scale of 0 to 5 on what you write. Zero is an incomplete, 1 is the lowest score and 5 is the highest.
3. Realize the score range. PCAT score ranges from 100 to 300.
4. Grasp the meaning of Scaled Scores. The multiple-choice subjects are scored from 200 to 600.
5. Identify your Composite Score. Your Scaled Score is combined for an unweighted average. This is your Composite Score.
6. Find your Percentile Ranks. Your Percentile Rank is your test results as measured against results of a norm group.
7. Interpret your Percentile Rank. If your percentile rank is 40, that means that 60 percent of test takers in your norm group had higher scores than you.

Tips & Warnings

• Check with the pharmacy schools in which you are applying to receive specific cut-off scores for admissions.
• Remember, your Composite Score is an unweighted average so your strengths in one subject may help make up for your weaknesses in another.
• Be sure you have fulfilled your prerequisites. You must complete these before taking the PCAT.
• Fill in all of the blanks. Wrong answers are not counted against you. Take an educated guess for questions about which you're not sure of the answer. It could be correct!