subject: Pharmacy College Admissions Test For Students [print this page] There is a big industry in test preparation, just like with the NCLEX exams taken in high school. Students can choose from a millions of PCAT exam preparation books and courses. Well known test companies such as Kaplan have a book and course to sell to any motivated student.
Depending on the state where a person is getting the pharmacist license, there will be certain requirements they have to meet before taking the state board exam.
PCAT is offered four times a year in June, August, October, and January. After the junior year of college, most students take the June or August test administration, which both allow for the October testing date if initial test results are not satisfactory. Many schools will not accept results from the January test date because it is too late into the pharmacy school admissions process. This means all prerequisite courses need to be completed by the end of the junior year. Pharmacists can advise doctors and others in the health care profession on dosage selections, side effects of the medications and interactions the medications can have with other drugs.
Students should have recently completed all prerequisite courses required to get into pharmacy school, before doing any preparation for the exam. It is difficult and time consuming to prepare for the PCAT without recent mastery of the subjects being tested on the exam.
Being a pharmacist is less stressful than becoming a doctor, a forensic social worker or as an emergency medical technician. The pharmacists biggest challenges are reading the prescriptions by the doctors. They can be challenged by explaining the pros and cons of the prescriptions to the patients having them filled.
