How to read PCAT scores?

Question

My husband's scores came in the mail today and I am hiding them until I know how he did. Can someone help me understand what I am looking at? Is the composite score the one we are most interested in? What is considered a GOOD score? What the heck is the scaled score?

Please don't link me to any PCAT websites - I'm obviously not smart enough to understand their explanations or I wouldn't be asking you guys...

Hugh G. Rection · Accepted Answer

Yeah what he said. Read it like a school paper....only instead of percentage, it's a percentile...50 is probably the lowest most pharm schools will take..(and that's on the low end)...Good scores are 80 and above with anything in the 90's being exceptional.

(So how'd he do?)

Margalo · Answer

The composite score is probably the one you are most interested in - it's the "overall" score. The percentile, which is what I'm assuming you mean by the scaled score, goes from 0 to 99 and tells you how you did relative to other test takers. For example, if you were in the 99th percentile (like my brilliant sister), you were in the top 1% of test takers. 

What is considered a "good" score varies, but I have heard 430 and/or between the 80 and 90th percentiles. 

Hope that helps, although the whole opening and hiding other people's mail thing seems kinda... weird, but it's none of my business. >:-)

How to read PCAT scores?

2 Answers