Pearson PCAT Registration

How Your Test Is Scored
Score Reporting
Interpreting Your Score Report
Cancellation of Scores by Harcourt Assessment

How Your Test Is Scored
Answer documents are electronically scored and the data are stored in computer files from which Score Reports are printed. Harcourt Assessment understands the importance of your test results and uses computerized and manual quality control procedures both during and after the scoring process to ensure the accuracy of scores.

The information on your Score Report is the only information available to you about your results. Because of the need to maintain test security, Test Booklets are not made available for review, and Harcourt Assessment does not provide a list of the questions you answered incorrectly or correctly.

Score Reporting
Approximately four weeks following the date of testing, you will be sent your personal Score Report, and the institutions to which you requested your scores be reported will be sent official score Transcripts. Under no circumstances will scores be reported over the phone or faxed.

Do not attempt to send copies of your personal Score Report to schools to which you are applying. Schools will only accept official score Transcripts.

Please refer to the Candidate Information Booklet for more information.

Interpreting Your Score Report
When you receive your Score Report, your scores will be reported as scaled scores and percentiles for each of the five PCAT subtests and for the test as a whole (Composite). An example of a personal Score Report with interpretive explanations appears under Example Score Report.

Different forms of any test may vary somewhat in difficulty. Because of the differences in difficulty between different forms of the PCAT, the same raw scores on different forms are not necessarily equivalent. Using the statistical process of equating, it is possible to express scores in comparable terms across different forms of the test. Scaled scores are used for this purpose. The scale used for the PCAT ranges from 200 to 600, with a median of 400 (i.e., a scaled score of 400 corresponds to the 50th percentile).

In addition to scaled scores, your Score Report will list five subtest percentile scores and a Composite percentile score. The percentile score shown on your Score Report indicates the percentage of PCAT examinees that made up the norm group--all first-time examinees who took the test between October 1998 and March 2003--with scaled scores equal to or lower than yours. For example, an examinee who earns a Composite percentile score of 70 scored equal to or higher than 70% of the examinees from the norm group on the test as a whole.

There is no passing or failing score set by Harcourt Assessment for this test. The extent to which test results are used in deciding whether or not a person will be admitted to a college of pharmacy varies from one school to another. Please consult the schools to which you are applying for information about their use of test scores. In general, test results are combined with other information, such as high school and undergraduate records, references, and the results of personal interviews.

Cancellation of Scores by Harcourt Assessment
Harcourt Assessment is responsible for reporting scores that accurately reflect the performance of each examinee. For this reason, we adhere to a set of test administration and test security standards and review all test scores and administrative irregularities. Harcourt Assessment reserves the right to cancel any score it believes was obtained in a questionable manner.

When a score is cancelled, examinees will be given the opportunity to provide additional information about the situation. Harcourt Assessment will make no reimbursements for any expenses incurred by an examinee whose scores are cancelled. The examinee may apply to take the exam again; all applicable fees must be paid.

All score cancellations are held in strict confidence. Reasons for score cancellations will not be disclosed to anyone except the examinee.

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