Did all my OAT prep in 3.5 weeks and it went well (long)(detailed)

[Tiff-of-knee]

Hi everyone, I took my OAT Wednesday, Jan 8, 2020, and thought I’d post a complete, detailed story of it, bc reading abt others’ experiences helped me prepare a little.
Background: I’m 19, a sophomore, biochem major, bio minor, 3.54 gpa. My winter break is 4 weeks long. I work very well under pressure and very poorly over a longer, more relaxed schedule. SO. I thought it would be an idea to go hard and do everything -learn, study, practice test, review, and take the official OAT- over 3.5 weeks.
My study schedule and materials:

• Friday, Dec. 13 — buy 1 month subscription to Coursesaver OAT materials(50$) and 1 big Kaplan OAT 2017-2018 book(55$)
• Weeks 1-2, Dec. 14 to 29 — Learn new stuff — I knew physics, bio, and ochem were the ones I’d have to cover before the practice exams. I had only taken the first semester of physics so far; I’m bad at bio; for Ochem I got good grades, but I’d have to review it now. Gchem I decided not to study, bc throughout freshman year I was a tutor for the subject. For physics I used coursesaver’s physics videos and associated quizzes. For bio I went through the Kaplan book’s bio section and quizzes, and then coursesaver’s bio quizzes. I looked to YouTube’s Crash Course and Bozeman Science when I didn’t get something. For Ochem, I went through the Kaplan book quizzes, coursesaver’s ochem quizzes, and the dat bootcamp ochem reactions sheet.
  • wake up(10:30, I’m a night person)
  • go to the library(11:30)
  • study hard (coursesaver/taking notes/kaplan book)
  • go home for dinner and take a break(5-8) where I don't think abt the OAT at all,
  • study more relaxed(Crash course, bozeman science, practice problems, flash cards, phone and youtube breaks). Highly recommend: the relaxed studying helped take a little pressure off so that I didn't feel overwhelmed so much
  • sleep(1am, I'm still a night person).
• Week 3-3.5, dec. 30 to Jan. 7 — practice test and review — Monday Wednesday and Friday were test days, the other days were to go over them and then general reviewing. I took 4 practice exams: ADA’s sample DAT, Kaplan Book’s practice exams 1 and 2, and ADA’s sample OAT. Going over them meant looking over the questions I missed and then writing down why the right answer was right.

Jan. 8th — OAT

• Get to the testing center, empty pockets, throw everything into a locker, get taken to a cubicle. I had been reviewing in the car, but I’d gotten to the center early, so I thought I’d have some chill time to review more and got taken a little off guard when my whole backpack just got locked up. Test starts.
• format and environment: Kaplan is the closest to how the real test is administered. a little timer in the corner, and buttons for next, previous, mark, and exhibit(periodic table). You can also right click answer choices to cross them out.
• my bio section: like a long vocab test, lot of memorization and knowing the functions of things (I.e. why is oxygen important in aerobic respiration? What cell component would let a cell move towards a stimulus?) Can’t pick a topic that was favored, they pulled from all around. Coursesaver’s oat biology section is incomplete- crash course and Kaplan cover everything you need.
• gen chem: no hard calculations. More conceptual stuff w occasional numbers (I.e. based on the following equations’ reduction potentials, which would not dissolve in chemical X?)
• ochem: It was a mix on mostly reactions and a little spec. Didn’t have to look at any graphs.
• reading comp: I do this section by skimming the passage and highlighting key words, then search and destroy as fast as I can. I had 3 passages on bats, drug addiction, and the brain.
• 30 min optional break
• physics: way easier than Kaplan practice tests, coursesaver’s physics section was very good prep in terms of difficulty and material.
• quantitative reasoning: more logic than math. (I.e. the number X is divisible by 5. The number X is divisible by 2. Do these 2 statements give sufficient info to find the last digit of X?) or (X is positive, M=(x+1)2, N=x2-2x+1 How are M and N related? M is greater/less/equal/not enough info)

my scores
Test (date) - BIO/GC/OC/RC/PHY/QR/AA/TS
ADA DAT (Dec.30)- 370/390/400/340/380/400/380/400 (the DAT doesn't have physics, so I used coursesaver's ovarall physics quiz to substitute)
Kaplan 1 (Jan. 1) - 340/360/340/340/330/360/350/360
Kaplan2 (Jan. 3) - 340/390/320/350/360/350/350/370
ADA OAT (Jan. 6) - 380/380/350/400/380/400/380/390
Official OAT (Jan. 8) - 390/400/350/370/400/400/390/400

Hope this was helpful someway, good luck on your OATs! and pls comment or msg w any questions!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Rpeardon94]

Hey that is awesome! What school will you be going to?

 

[Tiff-of-knee]

Hey that is awesome! What school will you be going to?

I'm going to try to get into SCCO before getting a bachelor's degree, but if I don't make it, then I'll finish my bachelor's and try for UC Berkeley and SCCO

 

[Rpeardon94]

I'm going to try to get into SCCO before getting a bachelor's degree, but if I don't make it, then I'll finish my bachelor's and try for UC Berkeley and SCCO

Awesome best of luck to you! I am starting at UAB this fall!

 

[Bright12]

Hi everyone, I took my OAT Wednesday, Jan 8, 2020, and thought I’d post a complete, detailed story of it, bc reading abt others’ experiences helped me prepare a little.
Background: I’m 19, a sophomore, biochem major, bio minor, 3.54 gpa. My winter break is 4 weeks long. I work very well under pressure and very poorly over a longer, more relaxed schedule. SO. I thought it would be an idea to go hard and do everything -learn, study, practice test, review, and take the official OAT- over 3.5 weeks.
My study schedule and materials:

• Friday, Dec. 13 — buy 1 month subscription to Coursesaver OAT materials(50$) and 1 big Kaplan OAT 2017-2018 book(55$)
• Weeks 1-2, Dec. 14 to 29 — Learn new stuff — I knew physics, bio, and ochem were the ones I’d have to cover before the practice exams. I had only taken the first semester of physics so far; I’m bad at bio; for Ochem I got good grades, but I’d have to review it now. Gchem I decided not to study, bc throughout freshman year I was a tutor for the subject. For physics I used coursesaver’s physics videos and associated quizzes. For bio I went through the Kaplan book’s bio section and quizzes, and then coursesaver’s bio quizzes. I looked to YouTube’s Crash Course and Bozeman Science when I didn’t get something. For Ochem, I went through the Kaplan book quizzes, coursesaver’s ochem quizzes, and the dat bootcamp ochem reactions sheet.
  • wake up(10:30, I’m a night person)
  • go to the library(11:30)
  • study hard (coursesaver/taking notes/kaplan book)
  • go home for dinner and take a break(5-8) where I don't think abt the OAT at all,
  • study more relaxed(Crash course, bozeman science, practice problems, flash cards, phone and youtube breaks). Highly recommend: the relaxed studying helped take a little pressure off so that I didn't feel overwhelmed so much
  • sleep(1am, I'm still a night person).
• Week 3-3.5, dec. 30 to Jan. 7 — practice test and review — Monday Wednesday and Friday were test days, the other days were to go over them and then general reviewing. I took 4 practice exams: ADA’s sample DAT, Kaplan Book’s practice exams 1 and 2, and ADA’s sample OAT. Going over them meant looking over the questions I missed and then writing down why the right answer was right.

Jan. 8th — OAT

• Get to the testing center, empty pockets, throw everything into a locker, get taken to a cubicle. I had been reviewing in the car, but I’d gotten to the center early, so I thought I’d have some chill time to review more and got taken a little off guard when my whole backpack just got locked up. Test starts.
• format and environment: Kaplan is the closest to how the real test is administered. a little timer in the corner, and buttons for next, previous, mark, and exhibit(periodic table). You can also right click answer choices to cross them out.
• my bio section: like a long vocab test, lot of memorization and knowing the functions of things (I.e. why is oxygen important in aerobic respiration? What cell component would let a cell move towards a stimulus?) Can’t pick a topic that was favored, they pulled from all around. Coursesaver’s oat biology section is incomplete- crash course and Kaplan cover everything you need.
• gen chem: no hard calculations. More conceptual stuff w occasional numbers (I.e. based on the following equations’ reduction potentials, which would not dissolve in chemical X?)
• ochem: It was a mix on mostly reactions and a little spec. Didn’t have to look at any graphs.
• reading comp: I do this section by skimming the passage and highlighting key words, then search and destroy as fast as I can. I had 3 passages on bats, drug addiction, and the brain.
• 30 min optional break
• physics: way easier than Kaplan practice tests, coursesaver’s physics section was very good prep in terms of difficulty and material.
• quantitative reasoning: more logic than math. (I.e. the number X is divisible by 5. The number X is divisible by 2. Do these 2 statements give sufficient info to find the last digit of X?) or (X is positive, M=(x+1)2, N=x2-2x+1 How are M and N related? M is greater/less/equal/not enough info)

my scores
Test (date) - BIO/GC/OC/RC/PHY/QR/AA/TS
ADA DAT (Dec.30)- 370/390/400/340/380/400/380/400 (the DAT doesn't have physics, so I used coursesaver's ovarall physics quiz to substitute)
Kaplan 1 (Jan. 1) - 340/360/340/340/330/360/350/360
Kaplan2 (Jan. 3) - 340/390/320/350/360/350/350/370
ADA OAT (Jan. 6) - 380/380/350/400/380/400/380/390
Official OAT (Jan. 8) - 390/400/350/370/400/400/390/400

Hope this was helpful someway, good luck on your OATs! and pls comment or msg w any questions!

I tried to personally message you, but Im not sure why it wont allow me to send a message. Soo, did you find Coursesaver and the Kaplan book enough? I have the Kaplan prep plus big book and I will be purchasing the coursesaver. I am on a time crunch, So basically on a tight schedule as you were.

 

[Tiff-of-knee]

I tried to personally message you, but Im not sure why it wont allow me to send a message. Soo, did you find Coursesaver and the Kaplan book enough? I have the Kaplan prep plus big book and I will be purchasing the coursesaver. I am on a time crunch, So basically on a tight schedule as you were.

Yes, I thought both of them together were great.
If you're on a time crunch like me, you'll probably not want to study every single page of both resources(unless you're a super fast learner idk).
You can save time and energy by just using 1 of them, which one you use depends on the section.
If you want a Compare/Contrast between the 2:
Bio - Kaplan. Use the Kaplan book, don't look at Coursesaver, its bio section is incomplete. Kaplan goes into a little more detail than I needed, but I still say do it just in case, bc on the OAT they pulled questions from any random bio subject
GC - Coursesaver. I didn't study for GC, but I took Coursesaver's overall GC quiz and got the same score as on the OAT, so it should be on level
OC - Coursesaver. Chad explains things well and the quizzes were similiar to my OAT.
RC - Kaplan has better and more practice. Coursesaver's RC practice didn't help me.
PHY - COURSAVER's physics gave me only everything I needed to know, and their quizzes were so close to the actual OAT I saw 1 or 2 questions that they basically just copied and changed the numbers. idk what Kaplan's doing but their physics is unnecessarily much harder than the OAT.
QR - Coursesaver. I didn't study for QR either, but I took Coursesaver's overall QR quiz: got the same score as on the OAT, so it should be on level
Good luck!