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Hey everyone! I took my OAT this November. Reading other people’s breakdowns really helped with my own preparation so I thought I’d share how I studied as well.
Study Material:
I solely used OATBooster because it was highly recommended by other pre-optom students, and after having used it myself, I also highly recommend it! The practice tests and cheat sheets (especially for organic chemistry and biology) were very helpful as they focus on high-yield topics.
Study Timeline:
I spent a few days in June and July studying for the exam, but I really started studying continuously in August. Then due to school starting up again in September, I resumed studying for the OAT in November. I started by following the recommended 8-week study schedule, but due to life getting in the way, I ended up straying from it and did whatever worked for me. In total, I spent 198.75 hours studying for the OAT.
Prior Background Knowledge:
Your background in each subject affects how hard you need to study for each section, so definitely consider that when planning your own study schedule.
For some background on me, I had taken orgo I last year (and not orgo II at all) so although I had been introduced to the reaction mechanisms, I still needed a refresher. I had a strong background in general chemistry due to years of taking chemistry courses in high school and university. I had just taken physics so that was pretty fresh in my mind, and I am a biology major.
QR (Scored 320):
I watched all the videos while making handwritten notes. Then I memorized the formulas by rewriting them over and over again and did practice tests. The questions themselves are not difficult as long as you’ve memorized the formulas and have become familiar with the style of questions. The hard part about this section is the race against time! To prepare, I would suggest doing as many timed practice tests as possible so that your time management improves and you learn how to answer each style of question.
RC (Scored 320):
I focused on this section early on in my studying and was scoring very high on practice tests (around 380), which led me to become overconfident and not practice for it since then - please don’t do this! Definitely do some RC practice in the weeks leading up to your exam. In terms of how I studied for it, I watched the videos and did timed practice tests. For any question I got wrong, I tried to understand why the correct answer was right. Remember to read the passages as quickly as possible.
Biology (Scored 360):
To be very honest, I spent the least amount of time studying for this section. I started off by trying to memorize the Feralis notes but I found the amount of detailed information to be overwhelming. Instead, I looked over the cheat sheets and did some practice to prepare. My background in biology really helped on the day of my exam. I got a wide range of questions but none of them were extremely specific nor did they require the memorization of intricate details.
Gen Chem (Scored 370):
I watched all of the videos. I started off by taking notes on the videos but found that to be a waste of time so I stopped doing that midway. What I found helpful was printing out the chapter notes and highlighting important information as I read through them. This might work for you as well if you also have a solid background in general chemistry (all of the information was review for me). I then did many practice tests.
Organic Chem (Scored 320):
I put in the most time studying for this section. I watched all the videos and made detailed notes on them. However, this was very time consuming and I wouldn’t recommend doing this - rather, I would suggest just watching the videos once and then memorizing the reaction sheet. I had memorized the reaction sheet front to back and was scoring extremely high on my practice tests (around 370!). Unfortunately, I got unlucky with the pool of questions I was asked on the real exam and most of the questions were conceptual rather than reaction problems. So although you should definitely memorize the reaction sheet, do try to fit in some time to master the theory as well.
Physics (Scored 340):
The chapter notes were incredibly helpful for this section. I read through all of them, watched most of the videos, and practiced. For every question I got wrong, I wrote down the correct solution and revisited it every once in a while to ensure I wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.
Other Notes:
I printed the formula sheets that were provided by Booster and annotated them with important information/extra formulas I thought were important. I then memorized the formulas by rewriting them over and over. I did this before every timed practice test I took. Another tip is to get plenty of rest the night before your exam! Because I was so anxious, I was not able to sleep at all the night before which definitely impacted my performance.
All the best with your OAT prep and I hope this helped!
Study Material:
I solely used OATBooster because it was highly recommended by other pre-optom students, and after having used it myself, I also highly recommend it! The practice tests and cheat sheets (especially for organic chemistry and biology) were very helpful as they focus on high-yield topics.
Study Timeline:
I spent a few days in June and July studying for the exam, but I really started studying continuously in August. Then due to school starting up again in September, I resumed studying for the OAT in November. I started by following the recommended 8-week study schedule, but due to life getting in the way, I ended up straying from it and did whatever worked for me. In total, I spent 198.75 hours studying for the OAT.
Prior Background Knowledge:
Your background in each subject affects how hard you need to study for each section, so definitely consider that when planning your own study schedule.
For some background on me, I had taken orgo I last year (and not orgo II at all) so although I had been introduced to the reaction mechanisms, I still needed a refresher. I had a strong background in general chemistry due to years of taking chemistry courses in high school and university. I had just taken physics so that was pretty fresh in my mind, and I am a biology major.
QR (Scored 320):
I watched all the videos while making handwritten notes. Then I memorized the formulas by rewriting them over and over again and did practice tests. The questions themselves are not difficult as long as you’ve memorized the formulas and have become familiar with the style of questions. The hard part about this section is the race against time! To prepare, I would suggest doing as many timed practice tests as possible so that your time management improves and you learn how to answer each style of question.
RC (Scored 320):
I focused on this section early on in my studying and was scoring very high on practice tests (around 380), which led me to become overconfident and not practice for it since then - please don’t do this! Definitely do some RC practice in the weeks leading up to your exam. In terms of how I studied for it, I watched the videos and did timed practice tests. For any question I got wrong, I tried to understand why the correct answer was right. Remember to read the passages as quickly as possible.
Biology (Scored 360):
To be very honest, I spent the least amount of time studying for this section. I started off by trying to memorize the Feralis notes but I found the amount of detailed information to be overwhelming. Instead, I looked over the cheat sheets and did some practice to prepare. My background in biology really helped on the day of my exam. I got a wide range of questions but none of them were extremely specific nor did they require the memorization of intricate details.
Gen Chem (Scored 370):
I watched all of the videos. I started off by taking notes on the videos but found that to be a waste of time so I stopped doing that midway. What I found helpful was printing out the chapter notes and highlighting important information as I read through them. This might work for you as well if you also have a solid background in general chemistry (all of the information was review for me). I then did many practice tests.
Organic Chem (Scored 320):
I put in the most time studying for this section. I watched all the videos and made detailed notes on them. However, this was very time consuming and I wouldn’t recommend doing this - rather, I would suggest just watching the videos once and then memorizing the reaction sheet. I had memorized the reaction sheet front to back and was scoring extremely high on my practice tests (around 370!). Unfortunately, I got unlucky with the pool of questions I was asked on the real exam and most of the questions were conceptual rather than reaction problems. So although you should definitely memorize the reaction sheet, do try to fit in some time to master the theory as well.
Physics (Scored 340):
The chapter notes were incredibly helpful for this section. I read through all of them, watched most of the videos, and practiced. For every question I got wrong, I wrote down the correct solution and revisited it every once in a while to ensure I wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.
Other Notes:
I printed the formula sheets that were provided by Booster and annotated them with important information/extra formulas I thought were important. I then memorized the formulas by rewriting them over and over. I did this before every timed practice test I took. Another tip is to get plenty of rest the night before your exam! Because I was so anxious, I was not able to sleep at all the night before which definitely impacted my performance.
All the best with your OAT prep and I hope this helped!
