Best way to study?? Plz help!

shadower

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Hey all!

I had a quick question and would like your input as to the best way to study for the OAT. I just got the Kaplan Review Notes book as well as the Lesson Book from a friend and now I have no idea how I should start studying.

Would it be best just to study the book by subjects? For example, just study the entire Biology section and then move on to Gen Chem or should I just study bits and pieces from each section? I just want to know how people have studied in the past so that I could get a feel as to how it's done in the classroom. Thanks a ton!!!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Get off SDN and get your face in the book? Start form page one and work until the last page.
 
Hey shadower,

I used the Kaplan review notes book as well! It might look overwhelming, but I came up with a schedule that allowed me to finish it in about a month and a half. I did about 3 chapters a day, making notes on all of the important information. It took me an average of 4-6 hours to do per study day. After that I started doing practice exams.

It may seem like a lot of work, but that's just how I did it!

Tina
 
Just to add one more quick tip! Sometimes it can really help to break up the subject. For example, do 2 bio chapters in the morning and 2 gen chem chapters in the afternoon!

This keeps the material fresh and prevents burnout.

Let me know how else I can help!

Patrick
 
Members don't see this ad :)
You just have to sit down and start chipping away at that monster book, lol.

I second what tmorowat said about making a schedule. Depending on when your test date is, just map out a plan for what chapters to go through for each day and stick to it. For me, I started with my easiest subject and finished with the more difficult ones. I personally spent about a week on each of the sciences (4-8 hours a day, reviewing and taking notes), then just started taking practice tests and addressing my weak spots the week before my test date.

I would definitely recommend OAT Achiever for good practice. It's like $60 for 3 simulated tests in near identical format to the real test, but the questions are much more challenging (guaranteed to find your weak spots).

Also, it helped me a lot to supplement in youtube videos from Khan Academy. He somehow makes many terribly boring topics almost enjoyable to watch and learn about. I wouldn't count on his videos for every topic, but it's a great change of pace when your brain is fried from reading page after page after page.

Hope this helps!
 
I used a lot of prep material to study for the OAT. I took the OAT in 9/2010 and did well enough to get into school with only three years of undergrad. All of my sections were between 330 and 370 with an overall 340 and science 330. Not great but not bad either. My GPA is 3.65 with a 3.44 in science. Below is what I did in a nutshell.

The biology section of the OAT tests a vast amount of information I would recommend studying from as many sources as you can. I used the Kaplan Review notes, OAT Destroyer, The Ultimate Study Guide For Biology from Patrick Leonnardi, Volumes 1,2,3. Also the Kaplan flash card and Kaplan Quick Review sheets.

Take as many tests as you can. Besides the above materials, I used the Kaplan OAT Optometry Admissions Test 2007-5008 edition and a earlier edition from 2004. Each book has 2 full-length practice exams and two practice sets for each OAT section. I also used the OAT Achiever, which has three exams. I thought it was more dificult than the actual OAT, but was good for becoming familar with the computer display interface of the exam.

Chad's videos were a good review of Gen. Chem, OChem. and Physics and well worth the money.

I actually purchased two of the big Kaplan Review notes (>1200 pages covering everything on the OAT), thinking that I might be missing something from the newer version. So I have the 2008 version and also the 2005 version. Both contain the same exact information except the newer version has a glossary of terms that the 2005 version does not. For $300 I got essentially what was in the 2005 version I purchased for $225

I scored a 370 on the RC. I would do as many practice RC exams as possible. Really not a good way to prepare for the RC, just try to find as many passages from different sources as you can. I thought all the Kaplan and Achiever RC passages were easier than the real OAT. I was prepared for the QR. My study material material prepared me well. There were a number of questions that I had no clue and had to guess. Studying more really would not have made any difference though. I think my QR was either 360 or 350, I through out my sheet that had the scores.

I took Gen. Bio. my first year and A&P my second year and that really helped having taken A&P. I took two semesters of Organic, I do not think I would have scored very well with just one semester. Most of the science was conceptual, so if you are a chug and plug type, it will be difficult to score well on the OAT. I would recommend completing all the courses tested over the OAT before taking the exam.

I studied about 6 hours a day for two and half months. The last 2 weeks or so there were a lot of days that I only got in 2 or 3 hours of review. I started out with the Kaplan big book reading a section. Then,if it was covered under Chad's videos I would watch his material and do the homework. For biology I answered the questions in Patrick Leonnardi's study guide after reading the Kaplan big book. If there was something I did not get I would go back and read the Kaplan book. I did the practice tests that were provided in the Kaplan big book as I came to them. I have the Kaplan Lesson book, but did not use this. It was left blank in both my versions. It might have been beneficial to fill this in, but since I planned on selling the stuff later I did not want to mark up the book.

I then did the OAT Destroyer,looking anything up I could not figure out from Destroyer's review answers in the Kaplan book or my text books. After the OAT Destroyer, I did the two Kaplan full length exams in each of the books I had purhased. I then purchased the OAT Achiever and did those three exams and reviewed the answers. Reviewing the answers for both the achiever and destroyer helped me learn the information, so take the time to review, even the questions you got right.

After taking the Achiever, I reviewed the OAT Destroyer a second time, which went faster than the first time. I studied the Kaplan flash card,Kaplan Quick Review sheets,and my notes taken from Chad's videos the last week before the OAT. The day before the test I did not study at all. For the most part I took off the last week before the test, maybe reviewing a few hours a day.

I hope this helps someone out there getting ready to study for the OAT. I still have my material and will be posting in the "For Sale and Advertisements" forum for anyone interested.
 
Top