My Complete OAT Experience (Test 9/24/16)

Jmt4536

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Hi guys! I just took my OAT on Saturday, and because reading everybody's posts about their OAT experiences prior to taking my own helped so much to ease my anxiety, I wanted to take some time to share my personal experience with y'all to help in whatever way I can :)

I studied for about 3 months before taking my exam. Though I TRIED to keep a consistent study schedule during the summer, it definitely did not work out that way. I was working 2-4 full days as an optometrist technician, so there were many days where I would come home and be way too tired to get any efficient studying done. On average, I would say that I studied about 3 hrs. for 3-4 days a week. Once school started at the end of August and I was working less, I found much more time study. Maybe about 3 hrs. for 6 days a week?

The study materials I used included the big blue Kaplan review book, the online self-paced Kaplan course that came with quizzes and 5 full-length practice tests, and Chad's videos. I read the entire Kaplan book within a month and a half, took all the practice tests, and whatever topics I needed some extra info on that I felt Kaplan didn't cover well, I would watch on Chad's videos.

Here is the progression of my scores in the timely order of Kaplan 1/Kaplan 2/Kaplan 3/Kaplan 4/Kaplan 5/ADA/OAT:

Bio: 310/290/290/310/320/290/280
Gen. Chem: 270/290/310/310/330/360/370
O-Chem: 280/300/300/320/350/390/400
Physics: 220/260/280/310/280/310/290
Total Science: 260/280/290/310/330/340/330
Reading Comp: 360/340/390/390/390/390/380
QR: 280/280/340/330/310/390/360

Academic Avrg: 290/290/320/330/330/360/350

The first Kaplan practice test was taken about 3 months ago in June, and the ADA practice exam was taken a day before my OAT. The other 4 Kaplan practice tests spanned in between. While the OAT seemed a bit easier than the Kaplan tests, it was a bit harder than the ADA sample test.

Okay, now on to the run-down of the day of the exam!

Before the exam: Probably one of the most nerve-wracking mornings of my life. Woke up at 9:00AM, got ready, started last-minute reviewing at 9:30AM, and forced myself to eat at least half of a bagel. Studying the morning of the exam was not a good idea because all it did was freak me out more and cause me to become more tense. Got to my testing center at 12:00PM with my 2 forms of ID, water, and the rest of my bagel. Had all my stuff in a locker and was completely checked in by about 12:15. You receive 2 dry-erase sheets front and back and 2 markers for scratch work. I was able to start my exam as soon as I was walked into my testing room even though my appt. wasn't until 12:30.

Tutorial: Normally I would just skip right through the tutorial, but I actually went through the entire tutorial so that I could gather myself before I started my test.

Biology: Oh my goodness, this section was MUUUUUCH harder than I expected it to be! I knew Biology was gonna be a feat to tackle, but I did not expect it to be this hard. I should've known though since this subject is just so diverse that the test-makers can literally throw anything at you. To be honest, I think I both educatedly- and blindly-guessed on every single question.. which was such a disappointment because I felt like I had stored an enormous amount of info in my head that was just not asked. After completing this section, you could only imagine how discouraged I was taking the rest of my test.. Wish I could tell y'all what to study, but there's really no use because anything can be asked.

Gen. Chem: Nothing particularly stood out to me here. Expect rate laws, quantum numbers, redox reactions, balancing equations, limiting reagent, empirical formula, periodic trends, molecular geometry, Gibb's free energy, PV=NRT, M1V1 M2V2, most soluble compound, identifying Bronsted Lowry acid/base and Lewis acid/base, etc.

O-Chem: Reactions, reactions, reactions. Know the names of the reactions, reagents of the reactions, and products of the reactions! I had a couple of laboratory procedure, SN1/SN2/E1/E2, diastereomer or enantiomer, most acidic hydrogen, carbocation, anti-aromatic, most stable chair conformation, optical activity, and NMR questions as well, but I would say > 50% consisted of reactions.

Reading Comp: Nothing out of the ordinary. I was given one very easy passage, one easy-to-medium passage, and the last passage seemed a little more advanced that took more time to digest. It wasn't anything mind-blowingly difficult though. The test includes a new highlighting feature for this section so that helped a lot.

Break time: I thought it was funny how my proctor told me it was okay to look over any notes I had in my locker during break time, but I chose not to do that. Instead I took advantage of the 15 minutes to use the restroom, take a bite of my bagel, drink some water, ask for 2 new dry-erase sheets, and then return to my testing room to use the remaining time to write down the Physics kinematic formulas and QR trig. identities before hitting next.

Physics: Very conceptual based with some very easy calculations- NOTHING nearly as difficult as what was given on Kaplan. Know kinematics, torque, frictional force, DC circuits, lenses and mirrors, buoyancy, density, wavelength, gravitational force, units, conversions, tension, spring forces, Snell's law, linear expansion, electric fields, center of mass, etc.

QR: Reading past threads about the QR section being harder on the actual OAT than on Kaplan made me extremely nervous for this section, however, it wasn't too bad at all. There were more word problems and triangles than I wished for, but if you're able to solve problems on Kaplan then there should be no struggle here. Only problem for me was running out of time so I had to go back and guess on the 5 or 6 that I had marked and planned to go back to later. Bummer. I know a major concern for me before the test was whether or not you could use the number pad to type into the calculator, and the answer is yes you can!

Survey: Swear the test-makers purposely stick this survey in right before our scores to mess with us. The anxiety and nervousness I had while completing this 10 question survey was no joke. My hands were shaking profusely so much that I had to click the answer bubbles more than once because I kept missing. I hit submit... and then finally..... DA DA DA

Scores:

Bio: 280
Gen. Chem: 370
O-Chem: 400
Physics: 290
Total Science: 330
Reading Comp: 380
QR: 360
Academic Avrg: 350 (90th percentile, eek!)

I was pretty stoked!!! With the exception of Physics and Biology, of course. Both those sections were absolute trainwrecks that I wish I studied better for because they took a major toll on my scores. I was very disappointed in myself for performing so poorly in those sections. I guess I shouldn't complain though because a 350 is way more than I initially aimed for... but....still. Ugh. I sat in the testing room for a good 5 minutes after receiving my scores because I was in shock that the test was finally, finally over.

SO IN CONCLUSION, here is my word of advice for you guys currently studying for the OAT. Do not underestimate Biology! Whip out whatever resources you can to study for this section because the more you know, the better. For those of y'all using Kaplan as your primary resource, I believe that it sufficed for Gen. Chem, O-Chem, Reading Comp, and QR. Physics, on the other hand, was way too complicated on Kaplan. I realized that I had totally overlooked all the basic concepts that ended up being tested over on the OAT because I had dedicated so much time to blindly memorizing how to solve all the difficult problems on Kaplan. No bueno. I'd strongly suggest sticking to Chad's videos or even Sparknotes for Physics.

I'm sorry this post is so long, but I hope it helped. Don't lose hope guys! Good luck on your studies, and I hope we all make it onto bigger and better things!!! :D



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Congrats on your great scores! :) I just wanted to share my experience using the Kaplan book as my only study material for the OAT. So I started studying in February of this year and took my test towards the end of July. I work about 30 hours a week as an optician, volunteer at the hospital 4 hours a week, and volunteer in a research lab about 8 hours a week. My studying started out slow at first but once I got into a steady routine, I was probably studying 3-4 hours a day 3-4 days a week. I decided to focus on ochem, gchem, and bio first since they had the most chapters and I would alternate between the subjects each day. For example, I would just focus on bio on Tuesday, gchem on Wednesday, and ochem on Thursday. Each day I would try to get through at least 1 chapter and if I had time, start on the next chapter. While I went through each chapter, I would either type notes or write notes, depending on if it involved formulas or just conceptual information. I think it was around April that I started adding in physics to my schedule, and then I also started trying to review the chapters that I already went through to make sure I don't forget anything. I didn't start studying for math or reading at all until June and once I got towards the end of June, I knew it was crunchtime and started packing in more hours a day after work and was studying 4-5 days a week. I finally finished the entire book about a week before my test and spent that last week just reviewing everything and doing practice problems. I wanted to take my time with my studies and spread it out over a couple of months because it's suppose to help you retain the information better, and I wanted to make sure that I fully understood the material as much as I could.

Here are the scores I received:
QR: 330
Reading: 370
Bio: 320
Gchem: 340
Ochem: 340
Physics: 300
TS: 330
AA: 330

I wish I scored higher but I did do better than I thought I would do so that's something. I guess everyone just has their own way of studying. Good luck to those who are still studying for their OAT! :)
 
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