ohioisthebest
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Just for background, I am currently a 4th year Canadian university student and I started studying in late May and studied for around 3 months until my test date. I started off with booster's 10 week study guide, on the first day of studying I felt extremely overwhelmed with the amount of content but I got used to it in the first week. Later that summer, I started a summer job so I ended up pushing my test date back a month and kept using the 10 week study guide but aimed to do 4-5 days of content per week since I had less time to study.
Materials Used
OATBooster(10/10)
Throughout my entire study process, OATBooster was the only resource I used besides checking my university notes once or twice. I really preferred doing my studying through one platform so I just trusted that OATBooster would be able to teach me everything comprehensively. Practice tests were very representative of the questions you get on the real test, I felt like I was just doing another practice test during my exam for most sections.
In terms of how I used OATBooster, I would only do the readings and not watch the videos for chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics followed by doing all the questions sets. For biology, I started off with watching the videos and typing notes but had to transition to cheatsheets because some of the topics at the end like ecology didn't have videos, I did very few bio bits, completed half the anki deck, and never did the readings. For QR and RC, I just watched the videos and stuck to the study guide.
Real OAT Sections
Biology (400)
Questions on the real test were really similar to the practice tests, I got a fair mix of all types of questions with the exception of diversity of life which I saw very few of. This is definitely the most content heavy section in my opinion, I often found it extremely overwhelming studying for this section and I ended up just focusing on a few topics I understood the least such as embryology and diversity of life, and hoping I remember enough for the rest. So if you're from a biology background, I'd recommend spending extra time in areas you're less familiar with by doing things like anki cards and trusting yourself in areas you're familiar with to save time. For me, I found that general chemistry and organic chemistry would take longer so I made sure to complete my biology questions quickly.
General Chemistry (400)
Again really similar to the practice questions, less math problems than the practice tests though. Concepts tested weren't too complex, most of them just require one step of thinking. While studying, I did the readings and made sure to complete all the question sets. I also did all the anki cards during phase 3 of studying.
Organic Chemistry (400)
This is the section that I found the most different to practice tests. There was a big focus on the topics covered in the first 3 chapters such as acids/bases, nomenclature, and conformations. There were also quite a few arrow pushing questions on my exam. I finished the section not feeling too good especially given that I had to rush a bit at the end so I was pretty surprised by my score. I studied organic chemistry pretty similarly to how I studied general chemistry, making sure to run through the anki cards during phase 3 of studying. Organic chemistry is probably one of my weakest subjects, I got a 240(8 out of 30) on my first practice test before studying and I honestly had trouble even remembering if I learned concepts it turns out I've learned. Constantly going back to review chapters I learned a week or 2 ago helped me solidify my knowledge.
Reading Comprehension (400)
This is another section that was a bit different than the practice tests. The passages and questions themselves were basically the same but the distribution of questions for each of the 3 passages almost threw me off. My first passage had 23 questions and I was close to approaching 30 minutes left by the time I was done, the next passage has 15 questions, and the last had only 12. I'm glad I chose to spend extra time on the first passage instead of rushing to fit every passage into 20 minutes. While studying, I made sure to do the extra RC passages which I found very difficult, for 2 or 3 of them I couldn't hit 300 no matter how many attempts I did. Because of how challenging these passages were I feel like I was forced to develop a reading strategy that works the most optimally for me.
Physics (390
My first thought while doing the first 10 questions was that the questions weren't too bad, however the next few questions however were much harder and I had to guess a few. But overall, the questions here were very similar to ones on practice tests. I studied for this section the same way i studied for general and organic chemistry. Since physics didn't have an anki deck, I made my own with around 150 cards covering some key formulas, I feel like this helped a lot. Throughout studying for physics, I found that there were very few questions on the question sets, I enjoyed that I could finish studying early but I was also concerned that I wouldn't be getting adequate practice. At the end, I just focused on the concepts for physics and doing all the example problems in the readings by myself before checking the solution.
Quantitative Reasoning (400)
Similar to one of the 3-4 practice tests I found the most challenging. Surprisingly a lot of algebra on my test, I had to guess a few questions for things like log rules which I didn't review a lot. Overall for this section, I'd recommend doing the question sets and familiarizing yourself with the types of questions that could be asked. Sometimes the math itself can be challenging but there's not too many questions types they ask so if you're familiar with those, you can hit a high score pretty easily.
Final Thoughts
- This test is pretty hard, especially since most people taking it are really smart people. Don't underestimate the test but also know it's possible to do well if you work hard and smart
- Focus on understanding concepts and not just doing questions or memorizing. To be clear, doing questions is essential for solidifying your knowledge and identifying weaknesses but I truly believe if you understand the concepts well, you'd be able to answer any question presented to you. This is especially true for physics but also applies to QR, organic chemistry, and general chemistry, it applies less to biology which is mostly just memorization and RC which is just practice
- Have faith in yourself, you are smart and capable. I remember sitting at the park during phase 1 of studying and having doubts about whether I could score well, I even started to doubt if I was cut out for optometry. While it may be true you might not know anything now, that can be changed if you put in the hard work and time to learn
- Many people end up scoring better on the real test compared to the practice tests so don't get too stressed if you're scoring low on the practice tests, but at the same time take low scores very seriously and work hard to improve them. I'll never forget how shocked I felt after pressing end and seeing my results, I even had to check my score report the next morning to see if it was all a dream. But as much as I hate to think about it, at least some part of this test depends on if you get lucky with the questions you're given.
- Give yourself breaks, studying can get really stressful and mentally exhausting. Take both some short and long breaks to clear your head which will also help you absorb information better when you go back to studying
- Surround yourself with supportive people. A big part of why I did well was my parents, friends, and people I worked/shadowed with in a similar situation. I particularly thank my friends for tolerating my 3AM rants about studying. So if you know any other pre-health career people, especially ones who are also studying for the OAT or similar tests, make sure to connect with them so that you can all suffer together(only half kidding)
- I've attached both my practice test progress and my score report to this post
- To anyone taking the OAT soon: YOU GOT THIS, I'M ROOTING FOR YOU!
