Help

[Future Trk Dentist]

Hello everyone,

I literally know nothing about the OAT or how optometry stuff works but I know I want that field. I want to start studying now because I suck at cramming. Please help me out on giving what resources to use and your scores if it isn't TMI to you. I would love to hear about how much increase you had with a certain resource. Which book should I buy and what free things are there to use? What's the max and min score in OAT? How long does optometry take to actually start working? Ahh anything is welcomed because I have no idea about anything!!!

Thanks

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[mar2018]

After you finish the pre-reqs (usually 4 years of undergrad), optometry is an additional 4 years and then you receive a doctorates degree in optometry. You can do a residency after, and I think those are typically 1 year? I don't know if theres a minimum OAT score but it's out of 400. You want a >320 ish to be competitive. the test includes biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, reading comprehension, physics, and quantitative reasoning (math). I used DAT Bootcamp to study, a lot of people use course saver

 

[AlexD95]

Hello everyone,

I literally know nothing about the OAT or how optometry stuff works but I know I want that field. I want to start studying now because I suck at cramming. Please help me out on giving what resources to use and your scores if it isn't TMI to you. I would love to hear about how much increase you had with a certain resource. Which book should I buy and what free things are there to use? What's the max and min score in OAT? How long does optometry take to actually start working? Ahh anything is welcomed because I have no idea about anything!!!

Thanks

-First thing: if you haven't already shadowed a few optometrists, do that. When you apply to optometry schools most of them require you to have had some exposure to the field by either shadowing or working with optometrists. And most schools require 1 letter of recommendation from an optometrist. And during your interviews, they will definitely ask about that.

-I think all schools have rolling admissions so when you're ready to apply, make sure you submit your optomcas, transcripts, letters of recommendations early, like before December.

-OAT: After you take it you get a few scores, they show you what score you got on each subject, AA (academic average score), and TS (total science score). Most schools ask for at least 300/400 in every section, AA/TS. But like somebody else said, aim for 320+ unless you have a really good GPA.

I took it twice. First time I used Kaplan and chad's videos (coursesaver). Kaplan is useless, course saver was gold for general and organic chemistry. But overall I didn't do well (280 AA/TS). Second time I used course saver for gchem and ochem, crack the oat for physics, and DAT bootcamp for everything. For extra/ very challenging practice questions, I used OAT destroyer. The most expensive source I mentioned is DAT bootcamp but it's worth it. Second time I took the Oat I got 330 AA/TS. Technically it's meant for pre-dental students but the Dat and oat are very similar. My advice is after you review all the material, practice A LOT of questions and do A LOT of practice exams.

-For practice exams: There's a free ADA exam, just look it up on google. OAT achiever exams can be bought online, these were the most difficult but if you can get an average score on them, you should be able to ace the actual OAT.

 

[In Easy We Trust]

I spent about $50 bucks on Coursesaver (Chads videos) it helped on everything but Bio, for Bio I used Feralis Biology notes, which were free. AA 340 TS 350

 

[cateyegal]

I want to throw in that being a well-rounded student and having good exposure to the field will help you tremendously. I had a 3.3 GPA and 310AA/300TS on the OAT even after retaking it, which isn't amazing compared to the stats I hear on these forums and was often below the average for schools' entering classes, but I got into every school I applied to. It helped that I worked about 30 hrs/wk at a private practice for 3 years, it showed that I was able to handle multiple sources of stress. So consider the overall story your application tells about you and work on volunteering, shadowing, working if you don't have a stellar academic record.
I used Chad's videos ($10/month) and the Kaplan OAT book ($50) but definitely relied more on the videos. I probably could have done more to prepare though!

 

[iridologist]

I want to throw in that being a well-rounded student and having good exposure to the field will help you tremendously. I had a 3.3 GPA and 310AA/300TS on the OAT even after retaking it, which isn't amazing compared to the stats I hear on these forums and was often below the average for schools' entering classes, but I got into every school I applied to. It helped that I worked about 30 hrs/wk at a private practice for 3 years, it showed that I was able to handle multiple sources of stress. So consider the overall story your application tells about you and work on volunteering, shadowing, working if you don't have a stellar academic record.
I used Chad's videos ($10/month) and the Kaplan OAT book ($50) but definitely relied more on the videos. I probably could have done more to prepare though!

where did you apply to?

 

[cateyegal]

where did you apply to?

SCO, UAB, Nova, Salus