What is the PCAT?

The Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT®) is a specialized test that helps identify qualified applicants to pharmacy colleges. It measures general academic ability and scientific knowledge necessary for the commencement of pharmaceutical education. The PCAT is constructed specifically for colleges of pharmacy. The PCAT is administered in a computer-based test (CBT) format. The PCAT will generally occur on one or more dates in July, September, October, November, and January.

The PCAT is comprised of five section:

  1. A writing piece responding to a problem posed by the prompt (30 minutes), Biological Processes (40 minutes), Chemical Processes (40 minutes), Critical Reading (50 minutes), Quantitative Reasoning (45 minutes).
  2. The second section is divided up into three sections, 50% focuses on general biology while the other half is 20% microbiology and 30% human anatomy/physiology.
  3. The third section is also split into three parts, 50% general chemistry while the other half is 30% organic chemistry and 20% basic biochemistry processes.
  4. The fourth section is split into three parts as well, 30% evaluation, 40% Analysis, and 30% Evaluation.
  5. The final section looks to test your basic math knowledge and will contain questions ranging from these topics: basic math, algebra, probability and statistics, precalculus, and calculus.

What are some PCAT study resources?

  1. Practice Tests
  2. McGraw-Hill
  3. Kaplan
  4. Cracking the PCAT
  5. Barron’s PCAT
  6. PCAT Flashcards
  7. PCAT Preparation Software