Bio section on the OAT

[fly10]

I got a 290 on this section and i have 2 months to study since im taking in again.
I am using the MCAT kaplan book to study for the Bio, I so plan on skipping over the parts that go into too much detail.

My question is. Last time i went over the destroyer once and took notes(as in wrote out the explanations for the questions) but this method was not that helpful cause by the time i got to the exam i could barely remember anything.

Do you guys suggest its better to just read and highlight? cause when i write notes it takes twice the amount of time and doesn't help me remember.

The wording on the Bio section of the OAT is straight forward so i don't have to worry about getting confused but Im just struggling with finding the most efficient way to study. My goal is to get nothing lower then a 340 .

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[mjl]

I got a 290 on this section and i have 2 months to study since im taking in again.
I am using the MCAT kaplan book to study for the Bio, I so plan on skipping over the parts that go into too much detail.

My question is. Last time i went over the destroyer once and took notes(as in wrote out the explanations for the questions) but this method was not that helpful cause by the time i got to the exam i could barely remember anything.

Do you guys suggest its better to just read and highlight? cause when i write notes it takes twice the amount of time and doesn't help me remember.

The wording on the Bio section of the OAT is straight forward so i don't have to worry about getting confused but Im just struggling with finding the most efficient way to study. My goal is to get nothing lower then a 340 .

What is your undergrad background in? If its bio related going through old notes would definately help a lot. Im a bio major and everything on the bio section i had learned at some point in college. Also i had the destroyer as well and didnt really use it for bio. I used a princeton review mcat book mostly. I think using a book that is actually going through and explaining things in a logical order and building concepts off of one another is much more useful to study, at least initially, than a book that just has random questions. The destroyer is good practice once you have studied enough and just want to test yourself.

 

[hoops123]

I also used the Destroyer and the the Kaplan MCAT book (which does go into a lot more detail then you need to know)

2 months is plenty of time so start going over some information everyday and you should be fine, GOOD LUCK!

 

[optom123]

Do you guys think its necessary to study plants?

I just can't get myself to take the stuff about plants seriously

 

[fly10]

Do you guys think its necessary to study plants?

I just can't get myself to take the stuff about plants seriously

Yup, i would study plants. just know the basics like Vascular vs non. Vascular and general characteristics of the main plant phylum's you learned in 1st year bio. I'm probably just guna read over it a few times.

 

[Blondiechick919]

Do you guys think its necessary to study plants?

I just can't get myself to take the stuff about plants seriously

I remember thinking the same thing! You can look at it one of two ways. Easy points if you retain the material or points you will stress over and eventually lose. Yes it's dumb but push through. I maybe had 4-5 plant questions.

 

[swtster]

I found MCAT books to be overkill for the OAT. The biology section on the OAT was more general and not as detailed as on the MCAT (imo). I ended up studying from Princeton Review AP books, which worked out great because they covered all I really needed to know - no more, no less - and they were definite time savers.

 

[optom123]

Can you explain what you mean by more detail? Or anyone else?


For example, would you consider knowing the steps of of the krebs cycle too detailed for the OAT? Would it be ok just to know what the krebs cycle does, its products/reactants etc.?

 

[mjl]

Can you explain what you mean by more detail? Or anyone else?


For example, would you consider knowing the steps of of the krebs cycle too detailed for the OAT? Would it be ok just to know what the krebs cycle does, its products/reactants etc.?

Yes knowing every step would be overkill. When i said i used an mcat book to prep earlier, i should have added that i didnt try to memorize every single detail it covered. It was a good tool because i believe it touched on the majority of subjects I needed to learn, i just had to use my own judgement when deciding how in depth to go. For something like the krebs cycle, I would just know the basics like where it occured, and what goes in and what comes out.

 

[ddalz10]

You got a 290 in bio but what were the rest of your scores? What is your gpa
? If you did well in all of the other sections, retaking the OAT may not even be necessary.

 

[fly10]

You got a 290 in bio but what were the rest of your scores? What is your gpa
? If you did well in all of the other sections, retaking the OAT may not even be necessary.

My gpa is 3.1 so not that great and my other scores were extremely low as well.
270 physics
260 in RC (don't know what happened there, and yes english is my 1st language)
290 Bio
280 QR
340 O.chem
320 Gen chem..

im hoping to get at least get a 300 in physics and 340 in bio.. i think i'll be fine for gen chem and O chem.
At this point i don't think i can do anything about the RC and will try get a 300 in QR.
I already know i have no chance of getting in this year.

 

[optoapp2012]

If you can get your hands on a Kaplan OAT book, then I would recommend that. I read from the big huge Lecture Notes book they have for the class, and read a couple chapters twice (like excretion - I have the hardest time with all the kidney anatomy/physio). I also used their flashcards. Those two things were the only things that I used for studying the bio section and I got a 400. I'm not a bio major either.

I think it's tough to use an MCAT book, because you're having to pick and choose a lot about what might or might not be important to remember...and all the extra details are really distracting.

Here's another link that might help. It lists all the skills tested on the OAT:
https://www.ada.org/oat/oat_examinee_guide.pdf
(skill list starts on pg 38) You could go back to your old textbooks and read up on those topics if you can't get the Kaplan books. The pictures in textbooks certainly help my memory more 🙂

 

[dngk5119]

Hi, I took OAT a few days ago and was able to score 390 on Bio. 380 TS and 370 AA.
For Bio, I have used a combination of Kaplan big blue book, OAT destroyer and Examkracker MCAT bio, OAT achiever, Kaplan subject tests and a few random websites to clarify some things.
Kaplan big book is pretty good but you can't use that alone to study for the OAT. Also OAT destroyer is more like a way of check of how much you know. In my point of view, OAT destroyer would be good for someone who already has a solid base in biology. OAT achiever had pretty good information but its biology section was way too hard and if I were to try for OAT again, I wouldn't bother with OAT achiever.
For me, I think I learned the most from Kaplan big blue book, examkracker MCAT bio and the Kaplan subject tests.
I have not taken the Kaplan class. I just got these materials from a friend of mine. If you can somehow get your hands on these materials from websites or wherever u might find them, practice with them.


I spent about 2 months to study. You can do great on the OAT.
Good luck