9/17/2012 OAT Breakdown

Papasmurf1234

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Wow...I can't believe i'm actually posting this. It's been a long and difficult 3 months of studying but finally i'm here!!!

I had many questions that were unanswered while I was reading a lot of these breakdowns so I'll try to make this as complete as possible.

1) Study Material

Kaplan:

I used Kaplan on site program but only went to about half of them since the "teachers" only teach the basics that you should already know from reading before coming to class. At first it was a little bit helpful to go over the material again, but honestly, it got too tiring.

I would recommend using Kaplan but in all honesty, I think you can do without it. (more on this later)

I also used the online sample OAT test as well as the 2007 DAT practice exam (minus the PAT section).

Achiever:

This thing kicked my butt...like it does for everyone else. The difficulty of the bio section is about right on with the actual OAT...at least for my test.
The chemistry was a little bit more difficult and the ochem was a lot more difficult than the actual OAT.

I only used about 1 and a half of the 3 tests offered so I can't really give you an indepth analysis. However, you will see from my scores that it is possible to do well without using Achiever.

Now onto the portion that everyone wants to know...how does my actual score relate to my practice?

Kaplan Diagnostic/MT/Final/Full length test 3/Test ADA / Actual OAT

BIO: 290 /400 / 400 / 400 /390 / 360 (88.4%)
CHEM: 320 /340 / 360 / 320 /X / 360 (93%)
OCHEM: 250 /350 / 400 / 300 /350 / 400 (100%)
RC: 310 /220 / X / 350 /X / 400 (100%)
PHYSICS:270 /310 / 340 / X /X / 330 (80.4%)
QR: 390 /360 / 400 / 370 /X / 370 (95.4%)
TS: 280 /350 / 380 / 310 /X / 370 (94.8%)
AA: X / X / X / X / X / 370 (98.7%)

*X's indicate that it was not given or I didn't take it.

My experience:

My appointment was scheduled at 12:45 p.m. but I got there about an hour early and was seated right away (there were only about 4 people taking the test). I asked for noise cancelling headphones (Bose), which worked wonderfully. I was given 2 sheets and 2 fine point markers (not the crappy one the Kaplan program supplies you with). I was also allowed to take several Kleenex in case I needed to erase them instead of handing them over to get new sheets.

Bio:
This section was pretty killer....Kaplan will only somewhat prepare you for this section. The questions were like many people say "very wordy" and give you diagrams and pictures that you are not used to seeing. (For example, I had a picture of blood cells and they asked me "Where would you most likely find this?" and I had to pick the correct structure.
The topics were all over the place. I had several lineage questions one or two plants. But seriously...it's all over the place. I seriously thought I got like a 300 or around there but I guess I got lucky on some questions.

G. Chem: I got the score that I thought I would get. This section is pretty basic. I only had about 3-4 questions that required me to calculate anything. The rest were conceptual. Not expected at all. They also ask very random conceptual questions that Kaplan never even mentioned in the Review notes or the online program.

Ochem: I also thought I did pretty bad in this section. The concepts are all very basic but I suck at Ochem so I didn't think I would do well. Nothing in here that I haven't really seen before...except maybe 3-4 questions.

RC: I was actually the most worried about this section as you can see from my scores above. Fortunately, I was given topics that were very interesting to me. The articles were surprisingly short too...maybe Kaplan just had longer articles but I feel that Kaplan articles are slightly longer...if not about the same. The topics were all over the place - for example, mine were about the Komodo dragon, asteroids vs comets...and one that I can't remember :laugh:

*BREAK* - I wasn't allowed to leave the testing center so I went to the bathroom (fortunately, the bathroom was in the same room as the testing center for me) and I sat on a chair by the waiting room for 10 minutes with my eyes closed until I was ready to go in. I've been studying 5+ hours a day for the past week so I wasn't even close to being tired but I decided to rest anyways.

Physics: Surprisingly...I honestly thought this was the only section I actually did well in (although it proved to be the worst). The concepts were very basic. Nothing out of the ordinary...in fact..it was quite a bit too basic. But they would throw questions at you that you have never really thought of....kind of like going back to the extreme basics so I was a little thrown off. I was so used to doing Kaplan's technical problems that I forgot some of the fundamental concepts :thumbdown:

QR: Ok...seriously...this section freaken DESTROYED me (don't look at the scores lol).
I usually ALWAYS have at least 15 minutes left when I finish this section but not this time...no no....this section was RIDICULOUS. Like Kaplan X 5 (realistically). I literally guessed on 8 problems (with 1 minute left - I was like screw this...) but either I got it right, or most people got a lot of the questions wrong) - probably the latter. Kaplan's questions are so simple and some of the questions they ask you like (which is the biggest out of the fractions) is something they need to correct given that you are given a CALCULATOR so you can easily do them without thinking. Nothing like that is on the test. It just shows you how outdated Kaplan is. You can't just stick on a calculator with the same material...you have to change the questions to fit the new condition!!!

Anyways, then the survey came up...and I was just glad it was over. I was expecting an AA of around 320 so I put 'Dissatisfied' with 'How I thought I did today' lol. My jaw literally fell to the floor when I saw my scores....sure it's not AMAZING but it was a LOT better than how I thought I would do given how I felt during each section.

Final note about Kaplan...I would say it was well worth the money since I got a decent score but some of the material is SERIOUSLY outdated. I've read somewhere that they haven't changed anything in over a decade which isn't unbelievable. And there were several errors which you would THINK they would have corrected them by now. Also, the support staff (the email address for the OATDAT is not very helpful...in fact...they aren't helpful at all....they never answered ANY of my emails. - not what I paid for Kaplan, I was very displeased with this.)

So there ya have it, if you think I left out anything or want clarifications (nothing like "what were some of the questions" because I won't answer those).

My DAT Breakdown: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=13090114#post13090114
The Science/RC/QR sections are the same so you can compare between the two versions of the test.

P.S. I'm also selling my OAT Material,
It comes with:

- KBB with all the supplemental quick notes.
- OAT lesson book
- OAT Kaplan Flash Cards
- OAT Kaplan Admissions test (Includes 2 full length tests)

$200!

Thx ^^

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Thank you for posting this! I was an interesting perspective.

I dont know if you are allowed to say this or not, but were there a lot of free falling questions in the physics section?

How long did you study for the OAT?
 
Not that I remember. Most of the kinematics on my test had to do with frictions but every test is different. I barely had any actual calculations but yours might have more.

I studied on and off for a while. Last summer I studied for a good 2 months but then I couldn't study during the year so I had to start all over this summer. So consecutively studying it's been about two and a half months which is plenty of time as long as you're committed.

Do it fast and get it over with!
 
May you tell me what your technique was to do the reading comprehension? Kaplan tells us to write down the summary and such, but I find that very time consuming. Thanks!
 
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I found the same problem. Kaplan's technique is excellent if you are an extremely fast reader and can write incredibly fast and still have legible hand writing.

I found that reading 1 long or 2 short paragraphs at a time and going through the questions answering as many as I can helped tremendously.
Just skim read and make sure you can recognize keywords asked by the questions and then you can go back and double check to see the answers are correct for each question as you're answering them.
 
I found the same problem. Kaplan's technique is excellent if you are an extremely fast reader and can write incredibly fast and still have legible hand writing.

I found that reading 1 long or 2 short paragraphs at a time and going through the questions answering as many as I can helped tremendously.
Just skim read and make sure you can recognize keywords asked by the questions and then you can go back and double check to see the answers are correct for each question as you're answering them.
 
Sorry for all the questions, Im just nervous for the test (next week!). But I have one last question. The sheets the center gave you, were they easy to erase? Because the sheet Kaplan gave me, the markers would not erase unless I put some water on it.

Thank you for all of your quick replies btw. I really appreciate your help :)
 
No problem! Ask away, that's why i'm here lol.

They give you two sheets and two markers. The markers are very fine point (kind of like fine point sharpies). And no, they are not eraseable. But if you have a prometric center with nice people, they will let you take some kleenex and you can probably wet them in the bathroom and keep them on your desk.
I didn't think of this so i just used my spit to erase it hahaha...
Even if they don't give you a kleenex, just wear an old sweater and spit away! the marker comes off easily with water anyways so it won't stain your clothes

Good luck!!!
 
Thanks for posting this Jaesango! and Congrats!! Those are great scores, I'm sure you'll be hearing back from schools very soon! Which optometry schools are you applying to?

I also used Kaplan to study, but I enrolled in the online class. I mainly used their big OAT book, but my scores were definitely not as stellar as yours. Since you said you stopped attending the on-site Kaplan courses, did you just learn/review all the material by reading their big OAT book?? I'm considering to retake the OAT because I think I could have studied harder, and I'm trying to figure out what I should do differently in terms of studying this time around. I'm aiming for scores like yours!
 
Thank you for the all information. I left the final and the additional 3, so I will compare with you. Do you mind if I ask the Natural Sciences section test B?

Also, are you going to apply both school? I was thinking apply Pharm and optometry to the same school. But I worried if it has a disadvantage.
 
Thanks for posting this Jaesango! and Congrats!! Those are great scores, I'm sure you'll be hearing back from schools very soon! Which optometry schools are you applying to?

I also used Kaplan to study, but I enrolled in the online class. I mainly used their big OAT book, but my scores were definitely not as stellar as yours. Since you said you stopped attending the on-site Kaplan courses, did you just learn/review all the material by reading their big OAT book?? I'm considering to retake the OAT because I think I could have studied harder, and I'm trying to figure out what I should do differently in terms of studying this time around. I'm aiming for scores like yours!

Thanks optomgirl! I'm not applying this cycle. I may be applying next cycle but depending on how I do on the DAT (which is in 2 hours lol) I may just go for dentistry.

As far as studying goes, I feel that its necessary to put yourself in the right mindset. Set an amount of time (2-3 months max) and study as hard as you can. Everytime you find yourself wanting to stop, remember...this is only 2 or 3 months of your life. After this, you can go to opt school, be a doctor and let your dreams come true!

And yes, as far as studying material I really only studied the KBB. However, you should keep in mind that it covers just the basics and how I even got a score I did is beyond me.
Hopefully it wasn't a fluke and I'll do just as well on the DAT :xf:
 
IM taking the online kaplan course and my exam is scheduled for 12/22 can you suggest some study tips for some of the sections this post made me a little nervous! my diagnostic was taken without bothering to study and guessing on half the info its been years since i have seen physics bio or gen chem so my diagnostic total scoore was 260 and i just took the midterm again and due to phone calls during the exam my reading com went from a 320 to a 250 but all other scores went up at least 30 points. im really nervous bc i have a low gpa so i need a really good score!
 
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