For those who have already overcome the OAT

[doc25398]

Hello everyone, I have searched quite a few of the posts here in regard to sample OAT problems being much harder than the real OAT. However I am using the achiever, Kaplan, and Opted.org OAT sample questions alongside the Kaplan review notes (large book). Unfortunately I do not think I am benefiting much from combining all of these sources, because my scores have been fluctuating from exam to exam in different sections. I am not squandering these exams I use them after studying what the previous exam told me I needed to strengthen.


Achiever: Opted: Kaplan:
AA 270 280 270
P1 240 280 240
QR 300 280 260
RC 350 320 300
BS 290 270 280
GC 270 320 280
OC 260 280 270
TS 270 290 270


I have noticed that as I am progressing through the achiever to the second test (after extensive studying on the questions I miss) my score will get lower or stay the same. I have completed all my reading of the larger Kaplan oat material, but still don't understand where my focus should be as my exam is in 1 week and my scores are low across the bord. I apologize for the long post, I am just a bit frustrated with my results since they are very inconsistent. Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Alex

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[thanotoriousfob]

Hello everyone, I have searched quite a few of the posts here in regard to sample OAT problems being much harder than the real OAT. However I am using the achiever, Kaplan, and Opted.org OAT sample questions alongside the Kaplan review notes (large book). Unfortunately I do not think I am benefiting much from combining all of these sources, because my scores have been fluctuating from exam to exam in different sections. I am not squandering these exams I use them after studying what the previous exam told me I needed to strengthen.


Achiever: Opted: Kaplan:
AA 270 280 270
P1 240 280 240
QR 300 280 260
RC 350 320 300
BS 290 270 280
GC 270 320 280
OC 260 280 270
TS 270 290 270


I have noticed that as I am progressing through the achiever to the second test (after extensive studying on the questions I miss) my score will get lower or stay the same. I have completed all my reading of the larger Kaplan oat material, but still don't understand where my focus should be as my exam is in 1 week and my scores are low across the bord. I apologize for the long post, I am just a bit frustrated with my results since they are very inconsistent. Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Alex

Well I was going to say don't worry about it because Achiever and Kaplan exams are more difficult than the real exam but your opted score is very low. I hate to say it but I would post pone if I was you.

I would personally not invest anymore time in the Achiever. It is difficult and not realistic. Have you tried the OAT destroyer? The OAT destroyer with the Kaplan big book (not the ones with the exams) are a good way to beat this exam.

Try to focus on the basics. I remember trying to remember every little detail but the majority of the questions were about the basics. If you have a solid grasp of basic material and understand the concepts you should do fine.

 

[bobbio]

Hi Alex,

What helped me was to review all the content to reaffirm my understanding of each subject (which it sounds like you are doing/did with the Kaplan book). Next, I did problems, then I took the sample exams. It sounds like you're not doing any problems, which may be the root of the problem, BUT if you are doing problems and you're still strugging then you may want to postpone as the previous poster mentioned. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[doc25398]

Thanks for both of your responses. The only problems I have been doing are those form the Kaplan review notes at the end of each section. I also have an MCAT high yield problem solving guide, that I can start using but I was afraid it covered different concepts. I do agree that the problems on the achiever are quite a bit different than on the opted exam. I had taken the opted exam first, before I heard about the achiever, so I did not have a detailed report to see which concepts I was missing. I did review all the answers on the opted exam and then completed the larger Kaplan book, while taking the achiever samples.

 

[bobbio]

Thanks for both of your responses. The only problems I have been doing are those form the Kaplan review notes at the end of each section. I also have an MCAT high yield problem solving guide, that I can start using but I was afraid it covered different concepts. I do agree that the problems on the achiever are quite a bit different than on the opted exam. I had taken the opted exam first, before I heard about the achiever, so I did not have a detailed report to see which concepts I was missing. I did review all the answers on the opted exam and then completed the larger Kaplan book, while taking the achiever samples.

I haven't seen the 'big' Kaplan book so I can't comment on the problems in it. I used OAT Destroyer which is a book (actually, a couple of books) with just problems and solutions. I like it because it is organized by subject and within each subject there are many problems dedicated to one topic (for example, forces in physics) in an orderly fashion. Unlike the smaller Kaplan book which contain different types of problems (forces, circuits, fluids, etc) that are scattered throughout their practice sets. As for the MCAT problems, I would probably avoid those since the MCAT is more passage based, whereas the OAT consists of standalone questions.

 

[mathcod]

At the end of each exam, you should be understanding your mistakes and how to derive the answer to the problem. If you miss a circuit problem, grab a textbook and read a chapter on circuits, especially when it covers the problem you missed.

 

[doc25398]

At the end of each exam, you should be understanding your mistakes and how to derive the answer to the problem. If you miss a circuit problem, grab a textbook and read a chapter on circuits, especially when it covers the problem you missed.

As you and Bobbio said earlier, I will try doing more problems. I will save the ADA DAT sample for Friday, since that test is the last valuable tool I have. Thanks for all your advice and support.

Alex