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🇺🇸 PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) · flashcards
PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) Critical Reading Flashcards
54 question-and-answer cards covering Critical Reading as it is examined in PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test). 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the Critical Reading deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
How can you distinguish a passage meant to persuade from one meant to inform?
Persuasive passages take a position and use evidence, appeals, and charged language to convince; informative passages present balanced facts neutrally without advocating a stance.
What does "text structure" (organizational pattern) describe?
The way an author arranges and orders ideas and information to convey relationships between them.
List five common text-structure (organizational) patterns.
Chronological/sequential, cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution, and order of importance (also description/spatial).
What signal words indicate a cause-and-effect structure?
"Because," "since," "therefore," "thus," "as a result," "consequently," "leads to," and "due to."
What signal words indicate a compare-and-contrast structure?
Similarity: "likewise," "similarly," "both," "in the same way." Difference: "however," "on the other hand," "whereas," "unlike," "in contrast."
What signal words indicate a chronological or sequential structure?
"First," "next," "then," "after," "before," "finally," "meanwhile," and explicit dates or time markers.
What is the function of a problem-solution text structure?
It identifies an issue and its significance, then proposes one or more solutions and their effects, often evaluating their feasibility.
Why does recognizing text structure improve comprehension?
It reveals how ideas relate (sequence, causation, comparison), helps predict content, and makes it easier to locate and remember key information.
In analyzing an argument, what is a claim (conclusion)?
The main point the author asserts and wants the reader to accept as true.
What are premises (in an argument)?
The reasons, evidence, or supporting statements offered to justify the conclusion.
What distinguishes a fact from an opinion in argument evaluation?
A fact is verifiable through objective evidence; an opinion is a personal judgment, belief, or interpretation that cannot be definitively proven.
What makes an argument's evidence strong?
It is relevant to the claim, sufficient in quantity, representative, accurate, current, and drawn from credible sources.
What is a logical fallacy?
A flaw in reasoning that weakens an argument, such as an irrelevant, unsupported, or deceptive inferential move.
Identify the fallacy: attacking the person rather than their argument.
Ad hominem.
Identify the fallacy: assuming that because one event followed another, the first caused the second.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc (false cause / correlation mistaken for causation).
Identify the fallacy: presenting only two options when more exist.
False dilemma (either/or fallacy).
What is the three-part classical model of persuasive appeals, and what does each mean?
Ethos (appeal to credibility/character), pathos (appeal to emotion), and logos (appeal to logic/reason).
What does it mean to evaluate a source's credibility?
Judging how trustworthy and reliable a source is based on factors like author expertise, accuracy, evidence, publication, currency, and absence of bias.
Name several criteria used to assess source credibility (e.g., the CRAAP test).
Currency (how recent), Relevance, Authority (author's credentials), Accuracy (verifiable, supported), and Purpose (intent and bias).
What is bias in a source, and what are common signs of it?
Bias is a one-sided slant favoring a particular view; signs include loaded/emotional language, omission of opposing evidence, unsupported generalizations, and a financial or ideological stake in the conclusion.
What is the difference between a primary and a secondary source?
A primary source is firsthand/original evidence (e.g., an experiment, original data, eyewitness account); a secondary source interprets, analyzes, or summarizes primary sources (e.g., a review article).
In synthesis questions, what does it mean to "apply" information from a passage?
Taking a principle, finding, or idea stated in the text and using it to evaluate a new situation, example, or scenario not discussed in the passage.
What is synthesis in critical reading?
Combining information, ideas, or evidence from multiple parts of a text (or multiple sources) to form a new, integrated understanding or conclusion.
How do you evaluate which new evidence would strengthen or weaken an author's argument?
Strengthening evidence supports the conclusion or its premises and closes assumption gaps; weakening evidence contradicts a premise, undermines an assumption, or offers a competing explanation.
What this deck covers
The Critical Reading deck follows the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) Critical Reading syllabus — 3 chapters and 9 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 18.0 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 124 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
Critical Reading flashcards FAQ
How many Critical Reading flashcards are in this PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) deck?
54 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 54-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the Critical Reading cards cover?
They follow the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) Critical Reading syllabus — 3 chapters and 9 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.