Abstract: A process for preparing a thermoplastic randomly branched aromatic polycarbonate which process comprises reacting at least 20 weight percent of a stoichiometric quantity of a carbonate precursor with a mixture of a dihydric phenol and at least 0.05 mole percent of a polyfunctional aromatic compound in a medium of water and a solvent for the polycarbonate having present therein at least 1.2 mole percent of a polymerization catalyst, while concomitantly adding to the reaction medium sufficient alkali metal hydroxide to maintain a pH range of about 3.0 to about 6.0, and then adding sufficient alkali metal hydroxide to raise the pH to at least about 9.0 to less than about 12 while reacting the remaining carbonate precursor.