what i need to know about the pcat 2018
Am J Pharm Educ. 2022 Mar; 85(3): 8179.
Trends in Pharmacy College Admission Test Requirements and Utilization Across Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy
Jamie L. Hall, PharmD, 
a Robin L. Corelli, PharmD,b Renee DeHart, PharmD,c Jason Haney, PharmD,d Lisa Lebovitz, JD,due east Ann M. Philbrick, PharmD,f Libby J. Ross, MA,yard Caroline Sierra, PharmD,h and Paul Jungnickel, PhDi
Jamie L. Hall
aUniversity of Missouri Kansas City, School of Pharmacy at MU, Columbia, Missouri
Robin L. Corelli
bUniversity of California, San Francisco Schoolhouse of Pharmacy, San Francisco, California
Renee DeHart
cSamford University McWhorter, School of Pharmacy, Birmingham, Alabama
Jason Haney
dMedical University of Due south Carolina, College of Chemist's, Charleston, Due south Carolina
Lisa Lebovitz
eUniversity of Maryland, School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, Maryland
Ann 1000. Philbrick
fAcademy of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Libby J. Ross
gAmerican Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Arlington, Virginia
Caroline Sierra
hLoma Linda University, School of Pharmacy, Loma Linda, California
Paul Jungnickel
iAuburn University Harrison School of Chemist's shop, Auburn, Alabama
Received 2022 May 21; Accepted 2022 November thirty.
Abstract
Objective. To place national trends among The states pharmacy schools and colleges in their requirements for the Chemist's College Admission Test (PCAT) and underlying rationales for not requiring chemist's shop schoolhouse applicants to accept it.
Methods. An electronic survey regarding the following was sent to all US pharmacy programs: current and time to come PCAT requirements for applicants, apply of the PCAT or other means to assess applicants' written communication skills, use of unofficial PCAT scores, and, if applicative, the rationale for non requiring applicants to submit PCAT scores. Information assay was performed using Excel.
Results. One hundred five (73%) of 144 schools and colleges of pharmacy responded to the survey. Twelve institutions discontinued the PCAT requirement between the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 admissions cycles. The most commonly selected reason for discontinuation was a desire to increase chemist's applications by reducing access barriers. Chemist's shop schools nationwide had concerns regarding high PCAT registration fees. The bulk of pharmacy programs that used PCAT scores in their application process indicated that they ever, often, or sometimes invited applicants for an interview before they had received the applicant'south official PCAT scores. The bulk of pharmacy programs considered applicants' PCAT writing score in making their admissions decisions. Other methods used included onsite essays and personal statements.
Decision. At the time of this study the bulk of U.s. pharmacy schools required applicants to submit the PCAT scores before being considered for admission to chemist's school; however, the use of this examination has declined nationally.
Keywords: pharmacy college admissions test, admissions, assessment, student pharmacists
INTRODUCTION
The Chemist's College Admission Test (PCAT) is a standardized test designed for and administered to prospective pharmacy students by the Pearson Corporation. The objective of the examination is to measure a candidate'south academic preparation for chemist's school. For many years, about Doc of Chemist's shop programs in the United States used applicants' PCAT scores in their cess of applicants for admission to pharmacy school. In recent years, there has been a refuse in the number of institutions requiring applicants to submit PCAT scores to be considered for admission. Reasons for schools discontinuing the PCAT requirement for admission vary and previously have only been reported anecdotally.
The PCAT Informational Committee, appointed by the President of the American Clan of Colleges of Chemist's (AACP) and comprised of AACP staff and members representing diverse pharmacy programs, was charged with advising AACP and the Pearson Corporation regarding the development, assistants, and promotion of the PCAT. The committee was also asked to help in the enhancement of the test to ensure information technology effectively predicts the academic preparedness of pharmacy applicants. The committee conducted a nationwide survey of schools and colleges of pharmacy to identify electric current usage of and national trends related to the PCAT, and to narrate the rationales of those schools that have eliminated the PCAT admission requirement.
METHODS
The AACP PCAT Advisory Commission developed a 13-particular survey that independent questions in the post-obit content areas: current and hereafter PCAT requirements for admission, use of the PCAT or other ways to assess applicants' written communication skills, institutional concerns virtually the cost of the PCAT, use of unofficial PCAT scores during the admission process, and reasons for not requiring the PCAT as an admissions requirement (this question was only asked of institutions not requiring the PCAT).1
The survey, available at https://chip.ly/2EypFye, was administered electronically using the Formsite.com platform. A link to the survey was sent via the AACP Connect member advice portal in May 2022 to the online communities for PharmCAS, the Pupil Services Personnel special interest group (SIG), and members of the Council of Deans, which represents all The states pharmacy programs (n=144 as of 2022 when the survey was disseminated).ane Instructions in the recruitment email specified that only individuals knowledgeable virtually the employ of the PCAT at their institution (eg, admissions director, admissions commission chair) should complete the survey. Ii reminder emails were sent during the following month.
The AACP staff obtained institutional demographic data (ie, institution type, year founded, geographic region) and merged that information with the PCAT survey responses to create a de-identified data set. Programs were categorized as "established" (founded before 1996) or "newer" (founded in 1996 or later) to reflect the yr when there was a substantial increase in the number of chemist's programs in the United States.2,3 Responding programs were characterized by the Federal Trade Commission's geographic regions,four and then grouped into 4 sections based on location (Midwest, Northeast, South, and West). Information analysis was conducted using Microsoft Excel. Responses of "not sure" and "non applicable" were removed from descriptive calculations.
RESULTS
One hundred five (73%) of the 144 accredited US pharmacy programs responded to the survey. A slight majority of respondents were from public institutions (57/105, 54%) and institutions founded before 1996 (56/105, 53%). Of the institutions that responded to the survey, 24 schools were located in the Midwest, 27 in the Northeast, 29 in the South, and 25 in the West. The breakdown of programs requiring applicants to take the PCAT (reported past region and institution blazon) is depicted in Table 1. Of the 76 institutions that required applicants to submit PCAT scores for admission in 2018-2019, four stopped requiring it for the 2019-2020 school yr and eight were undecided about whether to require it at the time of the survey. These 12 institutions were comprised of three private and 9 public pharmacy schools. Seven of the 12 were established earlier 1996 and five in 1996 or later. Three of the 12 schools were located in the Midwest, iv in the Northeast, two in the S, and 3 in the West.
Table 1.
Pharmacy College Access Test Requirements for Academic Years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020
Twenty-9 institutions (18 private, 17 newer) that did not require or no longer required the PCAT indicated the reasons for this conclusion by selecting from a list of options (multiple selections were allowed). A "desire to increase chemist's shop applications past reducing admissions barriers" was the nigh commonly selected choice (21/29, 72%). The majority of programs selecting this response were newer institutions (13/21, 62%), private institutions (12/21, 57%), and institutions located in the W (9/21, 43%). The response "Our assay indicates PCAT is not a strong predictor of success for our students" was selected past xv programs; of these, ten/fifteen, 67%, were private pharmacy schools. The response "Other colleges/schools in my region do not (or no longer) require the PCAT" was also chosen by fifteen institutions. These programs were more likely to be newer (x/15, 67%), private (10/xv, 67%), and located in the West (8/15, 53%). The total list of questions and breakdown of responses are presented in Tabular array 2.
Table ii.
Rationale Selected by Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy for Not Requiring the Pharmacy College Admission Test
The PCAT registration fee was a perceived application barrier by most institutions. Most respondents (81/105, 77%) agreed or strongly agreed that the cost of the PCAT may preclude low-income students from taking the examination and thus applying to their program if they required students to submit PCAT scores. This was a more mutual sentiment among public institutions (47/57 or 82% agreed or strongly agreed with this particular) than private (34/48 or 71%, agreed or strongly agreed with this item). Concern that payment of the registration fee for taking the PCAT was a deterrent for low-income applicants was high nationwide: 81 programs agreed or strongly agreed vs 12 programs that disagreed and 12 that selected non applicable. Regional competition was also a business: 83 programs agreed or strongly agreed the PCAT registration fee may forbid students from applying to their establishment if other programs in their region did non crave the test, versus only half-dozen programs that disagreed and xv that reported non applicable. This business organization was evenly shared amongst private (36/83, 43%) and public institutions (47/83, 57%) and among newer (37/83, 45%) and established programs (48/83, 55%,), and across institutions in different geographic regions (22/83, 27% Northeast; xx/83, 24% Midwest; 17/83, 20% West; 24/83, 29% Due south).
The majority (sixty/84, 71%) of programs that use PCAT scores in their chemist's school application process either always, often, or sometimes invited applicants for an interview before receiving the applicant'southward official PCAT score. This practise was well-nigh common among private institutions and in the Northeast. Acceptance of a candidate prior to receiving their official PCAT score was more common amongst private institutions and in the South. In one case applicants were admitted, 23 institutions (12 private, 11 public) used PCAT scores to identify at-risk students who might benefit from early on intervention to avert bookish struggles. Only 1 school in the Due west used PCAT scores in this way, compared to v in the Midwest, seven in the Northeast, and 10 in the S.
Of the 48 institutions that reported considering the PCAT writing score for admissions decisions, nearly lxx% (33/48) were public. Past region, it was least used in the West (only 4 programs, all public). Xviii of the 48 programs (38%) used it to run into the requirement set along by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) to assess written communication in the admissions process. All respondents were too asked what other methods they used to fulfill this requirement: 60% (63/105) required an onsite essay during the interview process (34 private and 29 public). Merely 28 programs reported using the personal statement from the Chemist's College Application Service application equally a writing sample to fulfill ACPE's applicant writing requirement.
DISCUSSION
The majority of U.s.a. pharmacy programs that responded to the survey required applicants to submit a PCAT score before an admissions decision could be made; nevertheless, the number of schools that require the PCAT continues to decline.five Our data suggest that programs requiring the PCAT for admission tend to be public and established. Over one-3rd of private institutions, compared with approximately one-fourth of public, admit applicants to the program without receiving the applicants' official PCAT score. This suggests that chemist's shop programs might exist moving toward a more holistic admissions process.
More than 1-quarter of respondents used an bidder's performance on the PCAT to identify students at risk of having bookish difficulty in pharmacy school and who might demand early intervention to ensure their success. This survey did not ascertain whether institutions use other metrics to determine which students require additional help, though Muratov and colleagues demonstrated that several components should be considered when making this determination.6 Using PCAT scores more holistically like this, as a metric for identifying students who need early on academic intervention, may continue to be an area of utility for the PCAT, even in programs where taking the examination is no longer required for admission.
The current published evidence is mixed regarding the human relationship between a educatee'south performance on the PCAT, and their success during pharmacy schoolhouse. In one retrospective report, PCAT scores were strong predictors of students' success in a pharmaceutical calculations course, and in several other studies, on the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Cess (PCOA).7-xi Even so, Ferrante and colleagues demonstrated that PCAT scores are non reliable indicators of students' progress during pharmacy school, and others state that PCAT scores do non predict pupil performance on objective structured clinical examinations or advanced pharmacy practice experiences.12-xiv The lack of consensuses inside literature regarding the correlation between PCAT scores and student academic success does not negate the potential predictive value of the PCAT, peculiarly when it comes to the PCOA. This is an important point in calorie-free of the ACPE'southward use of the PCOA as a measure of curricular effectiveness, and the PCAT's potential to identify at-gamble students for early intervention before they struggle in the curriculum or perform poorly on the PCOA. All the same, the unclear relationship between a students' performance on the PCAT and their bookish progress, coupled with the pressure pharmacy schools are facing as they compete for new students with other regional institutions that no longer crave the PCAT, may explain the survey results, which show a shift away from schools requiring applicants to take the PCAT.
I business brought to light by this study is that some institutions perceived the toll of the PCAT as a barrier to students applying to their program. The majority of respondents expressed a concern about the PCAT fee, particularly when other programs in their area did not require the PCAT. This is a greater concern for public institutions, the majority of which required the PCAT for admission. Additionally, while fewer than half of the responding programs in the West region did not require the PCAT for admission, their business about the impact of the PCAT fee on applicants was not significantly different from that of institutions in other regions.
The movement abroad from standardized testing is not limited to chemist's shop education. A growing number of law schools have appear they will accept the Graduate Record Examination in lieu of the Law School Admission Test for admission to accommodate prospective students who are exploring multiple career options.fifteen-17 There has as well been a dramatic shift in testing policies at undergraduate institutions. Between September 2022 and September 2019, nearly 50 colleges and universities announced they were dropping the Scholastic Aptitude Test or American College Testing every bit an admission requirement.eighteen Additionally, an organization challenge the standardized testing requirement violates antidiscrimination statutes within their state sued the University of California in December 2019.nineteen These and other environmental factors may influence an establishment's decision to require the PCAT for admission.
Interestingly, 48 respondents indicated they used the PCAT writing score in their admissions decisions, but only 40% reported using the writing score to meet ACPE's requirement for assessing written communication during the admissions process. Onsite essays and use of the personal statement from the PharmCAS awarding were commonly reported by programs as methods used to assess applicants' writing skills. Both methods have limitations that must be considered inferior to the PCAT writing assessment. The PharmCAS essays may not be a truthful reflection of the applicant's writing ability since it is not monitored and there is opportunity to have someone else write or edit. Onsite writing samples increment time required for the interview as well as workload for those assessing responses. In contrast, the PCAT uses a validated arrangement for evaluating student essays, with trained scorers using standardized processes and rubrics. A potential option for programs that only need a validated, standardized cess of applicants' writing would be for this PCAT section to be offered as a standalone production at low cost.
CONCLUSION
While the majority of US schools and colleges of pharmacy still required the PCAT for admission to chemist's shop school, the use of this examination has declined nationally. This trend seems to be driven by the decreasing applicant pool and if other schools within a region no longer require the PCAT for admission. Some programs have constitute additional uses for PCAT scores, such as in identifying at risk students, but farther research is needed to make up one's mind the relationship between PCAT functioning and student success in pharmacy school.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All authors are nowadays or past members of the AACP PCAT Advisory Committee. Paul Jungnickel serves as Chair of AACP'due south PCAT Advisory Committee. Libby Ross serves on the AACP staff. AACP has an agreement with Pearson in support of the PCAT.
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Manufactures from American Journal of Pharmaceutical Teaching are provided here courtesy of American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8006487/
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