Need help planning timeline for OAT/application please!

[hellooo_123]

Hello!

I'm starting to plan out my schedule in terms of taking the OAT and when I want all of my materials to be ready for app submission and I just had a few questions... hopefully someone can help me out :x

I'm planning on applying during the 2015-2016 cycle and I plan on taking the OAT in February or March so I want to start studying as soon as possible.. I'm also currently still in the process of taking a few more pre-requisite courses at community college but I have already graduated from a university. I want to take a Kaplan course (any suggestions as to which one? I'm not too great at self-studying and usually do better with some sort of formal instruction but I know that this is an important test so I know I will be more motivated to study). I have a break from school starting in mid December to around mid February, which I plan on using to study for the OAT. I want to take the test soon after that and I was just wondering if that's too late? But I'm also worried that the 2 months may not be enough time for me, especially since it's right in the middle of the holidays. So should I still plan on taking it in late Feb/March or should I postpone it longer? Also, I read on a couple forums that some schools don't accept scores if they are taken after March 1, is that true? I have my letters already so that's one less thing to worry about.. Am I missing anything? I'm also working at an opto office.

Any help/advice/words of wisdom would be truly appreciated, thank you!

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[nnessa]

Hello!

I'm starting to plan out my schedule in terms of taking the OAT and when I want all of my materials to be ready for app submission and I just had a few questions... hopefully someone can help me out :x

I'm planning on applying during the 2015-2016 cycle and I plan on taking the OAT in February or March so I want to start studying as soon as possible.. I'm also currently still in the process of taking a few more pre-requisite courses at community college but I have already graduated from a university. I want to take a Kaplan course (any suggestions as to which one? I'm not too great at self-studying and usually do better with some sort of formal instruction but I know that this is an important test so I know I will be more motivated to study). I have a break from school starting in mid December to around mid February, which I plan on using to study for the OAT. I want to take the test soon after that and I was just wondering if that's too late? But I'm also worried that the 2 months may not be enough time for me, especially since it's right in the middle of the holidays. So should I still plan on taking it in late Feb/March or should I postpone it longer? Also, I read on a couple forums that some schools don't accept scores if they are taken after March 1, is that true? I have my letters already so that's one less thing to worry about.. Am I missing anything? I'm also working at an opto office.

Any help/advice/words of wisdom would be truly appreciated, thank you!

Since you're applying for the 2015-2016 cycle, that means the the last time to take the OAT (being really really late, in my opinion) is around March 2016, meaning you can apply before taking the OAT. Some schools may want the OAT taken a little before March. If you're planning to take the OAT in March 2015, I think you will be well ahead of the game since the admissions cycle for most schools do not open until July 2015. I took the OAT later than I wanted to because optometry was fairly a recent decision for me and I chose to study throughout the summer (I took the OAT in September of this year). I could've submitted my application before I took the OAT but I waited because my GPA was low so I wanted to make sure I had a good OAT score before I applied. Anyway, I had around two months to study and I think it would have helped me tremendously if I had an extra month to review important concepts. As for studying, if you know you don't have the discipline to sit down and study for 5+ hours a day, I would recommend taking a course. If you think you are motivated, you can first subscribe to chad's videos and set a schedule to watch x amount of videos per day, I think that would be a good resource. I recommend reading others' posts on their OAT experiences because really it helped me plan and gave me a good idea of what to expect on the exam. Good luck, and if you have any more questions, let me know!