Lol! Way back in the day when I took the OAT, is was last minute, and I studied the only OAT test prep manual available at the time a week before. I gathered any notes I could find in the months prior but I never actually studied. I heard there are prep courses and everything nowadays. It seems so overkill to me when I realize what I did and the scores I got. I had a 330 in almost everything, with 390s in math and "verbal" but a low 290 in Physics. Of course, I would be the first to admit that had I really focused, I would have done better than a 360.
So, personally, I don't think it's necessary to study a ton, but my history speaks for itself. If you are in a time crunch, study the material that you really struggle with. Hopefully, you can use your natural brilliance to shine in the areas you are already good at without studying those parts. If the schools you want to go to expect a higher score, then you may need to work harder.
If you are already studying all the time for the OAT, as you said, optometry school is not going to be much different. The reason I laughed at the beginning is that opt school is nothing like studying for the OAT. If you want to do well, it's much more time consuming. Of course, having said that, I disagree with people who say you can't do well in opt school and still expect to have a life. This again, comes down to the pressure you put on yourself. I don't mean in grades, I mean in general. I have chilled out more since I have gotten here and managed to get better every semester. But not everyone is the same. Some people have to study more just to pass and some of us don't need to study much and we make good grades. I personally believe it's because I let myself relax. You'll need to find the balance that works for you.
So to really answer your question. Based on the schedule you mention, school should be about the same. You study a lot. You take classes 4-5d/wk. You don't usually work, but that time is substituted by labs and additional classes. Your mindset and your abilities are really going to determine whether you can relax more or not, which I associate with fun, as you say. It all depends on the person really. This is just my experience. My friends, even, are all different. My best one stresses all the time and she gets 80s on everything. One guy I know stresses about everything and gets 100s. And some people I know do nothing and get 100s and others get 70s 🙂
