Hey everyone, I have decided to write a post about my preparation and execution of the OAT since posts like these have been very helpful to me. Also, considering that I just finished the test about an hour ago, I thought it would be best to write this post while everything is fresh in my mind! In total I would say that I studied for the exam for about 3 months and my path of study was different from what I initially thought it would be. I began by using the Kaplan book which I felt was helpful for some areas of the test. It was great for most of the subjects, but I wouldn't suggest using it as a lone substance for the exam. After about a month, I decided to take a practice test through Kaplan and it did not go as well as I thought:
Kaplan Practice 1
Biology-290
General Chemistry-290
Organic Chemistry-300
Physics- 240 (yikes!)
Reading Comp- 350
QR-310
TS-270
AA-300
After seeing these scores, I was shocked. I realized that I had not done in depth studying, but I still thought my baseline scores would be a bit higher. I realized that it was time to go to work. After these results, I decided to invest in Chad's Videos and it was the best decision that I made by far. I purchased access to the videos and the quizzes which were all extraordinarily helpful for the chemistry sections especially.
Considering my low physics score, I also decided to purchase Cracking the OAT which I found to be immensely helpful for the physics section. I was able to really understood the basic concepts of physics and I found that memorizing a lot of the equations came quite naturally to me when I reviewed with this book.
As test day drew closer, I began to worry a bit more and decided to purchase the Crack The OAT software which gave me access to a few practice tests for each subject. This was helpful because it helped me work on the pacing and gave questions similar to what I would see on test day. This was especially useful for quantitative reasoning.
I would like to say that I studied consistently every single day, but to be honest I was a bit sporadic in my studying from day to day. I would say that I likely studied 8-12 hours a week depending on my schedule. A week before taking the test, I decided to take my second full length Kaplan practice test and the results were a bit improved:
Kaplan Practice 2
Biology-320
General Chemistry-360
Organic Chemistry-300
Physics-290
Reading Comprehension-370
QR-310
TS-320
AA-330
In the week between this practice and my final test I spent a lot of time reviewing physics and organic chemistry. Chad's videos offer a list of useful reactions that I memorized for organic chemistry using flashcards and I went through Cracking the OAT again for physics. Mind you, I am also currently a senior and have had to juggle my studying with a busy academic schedule. Up until the night before the test, I was running through reactions and problems, but I also made sure to have a little bit of fun in my last week as well.
Finally, I walked into the Prometric test center. Everything went normally, I was told to read over the rules, assigned a locker, fingerprinted, all that good stuff. When I got to my desk I put on my headphones. I wasn't anticipating needing them, but there was a bit of noise so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I went through the tutorial, said a lengthy prayer, and started the test.
Biology
Despite being a biology major, I still thought that this was a very difficult section for me. It seemed like there were a lot of specific questions that I didn't really know the answer to. I had to reason quite a few of them out and did a fair share of guessing. This is a tough section to prepare for, but I was able to do alright in it luckily.
General Chemistry
This section was more conceptual when compared to the practice tests I completed. I thought that a lot of it dealt with understanding bonding and chemical properties. It was not too difficult in whole and I didn't spend as much time on it as I originally planned out.
Organic Chemistry
I was surprised at how well I did in this section considering that it was a weak spot for me. I attribute this to Chad's Videos and understanding the core basics of the concepts. I don't remember having a lot of reactions in this section, I just had to use a bit of reason. There were a handful of NMR and IR questions, but nothing too difficult overall.
Reading Comprehension
Despite being my best section in the practice tests, this was my lowest score on the exam. I'm not really sure what happened. I felt very confident after the first passage, moderately confident after the second passage, and then I hit the third one. I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I was tired from the reading or that the clock was running low, but I totally spaced here. The questions seemed more difficult and it likely is what caused my lower score on this section.
Physics
After the break, I returned to the physics section. I was also nervous about this section, but as I got into it, it wasn't too bad. There weren't any complex calculations or difficult problems here. I can't thank Cracking the OAT enough for helping me out with this section! Definitely manageable. The Kaplan tests were much more difficult compared to the actual thing, don't give up hope if these scores seem low to you!
QR
I felt pretty prepared for this section since I did a lot of practice exams through Crack the OAT. A good strategy for me was to skip the questions that I knew would either take a long time or that I forgot how to do. This way I would spend the bulk of my time on questions that I could do quickly and accurately without getting hung up on a question that may result in my wasting time. I did guess on a few of them, but learning how to pace yourself is key here.
Once I finished with the exam, I was very nervous and was sweating profusely. I wasn't overly confident at the time and before I knew it, my scores popped up:
Actual OAT scores
Biology-340
General Chemistry-380
Organic Chemistry-350
Physics-340
Reading Comprehension-320
Quantitative Reasoning-370
TS-360
AA-350
I was stoked! I almost yelled in excitement, but remembered that other test takers were around me. Looking back at the studying experience, I would highly recommend all of the things I used to study with a strong emphasis on Chad's Videos and Cracking the OAT (plus Kaplan for Biology). I then got my items out of my locker and rushed outside to call my loved ones! I also thank God for making my dreams become closer to being an actual reality. I really hope that this post is helpful to everyone and if you have any questions, feel free to ask! I am beyond excited (since I took this today) and hope to meet some of you at the next level!
God bless
Kaplan Practice 1
Biology-290
General Chemistry-290
Organic Chemistry-300
Physics- 240 (yikes!)
Reading Comp- 350
QR-310
TS-270
AA-300
After seeing these scores, I was shocked. I realized that I had not done in depth studying, but I still thought my baseline scores would be a bit higher. I realized that it was time to go to work. After these results, I decided to invest in Chad's Videos and it was the best decision that I made by far. I purchased access to the videos and the quizzes which were all extraordinarily helpful for the chemistry sections especially.
Considering my low physics score, I also decided to purchase Cracking the OAT which I found to be immensely helpful for the physics section. I was able to really understood the basic concepts of physics and I found that memorizing a lot of the equations came quite naturally to me when I reviewed with this book.
As test day drew closer, I began to worry a bit more and decided to purchase the Crack The OAT software which gave me access to a few practice tests for each subject. This was helpful because it helped me work on the pacing and gave questions similar to what I would see on test day. This was especially useful for quantitative reasoning.
I would like to say that I studied consistently every single day, but to be honest I was a bit sporadic in my studying from day to day. I would say that I likely studied 8-12 hours a week depending on my schedule. A week before taking the test, I decided to take my second full length Kaplan practice test and the results were a bit improved:
Kaplan Practice 2
Biology-320
General Chemistry-360
Organic Chemistry-300
Physics-290
Reading Comprehension-370
QR-310
TS-320
AA-330
In the week between this practice and my final test I spent a lot of time reviewing physics and organic chemistry. Chad's videos offer a list of useful reactions that I memorized for organic chemistry using flashcards and I went through Cracking the OAT again for physics. Mind you, I am also currently a senior and have had to juggle my studying with a busy academic schedule. Up until the night before the test, I was running through reactions and problems, but I also made sure to have a little bit of fun in my last week as well.
Finally, I walked into the Prometric test center. Everything went normally, I was told to read over the rules, assigned a locker, fingerprinted, all that good stuff. When I got to my desk I put on my headphones. I wasn't anticipating needing them, but there was a bit of noise so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I went through the tutorial, said a lengthy prayer, and started the test.
Biology
Despite being a biology major, I still thought that this was a very difficult section for me. It seemed like there were a lot of specific questions that I didn't really know the answer to. I had to reason quite a few of them out and did a fair share of guessing. This is a tough section to prepare for, but I was able to do alright in it luckily.
General Chemistry
This section was more conceptual when compared to the practice tests I completed. I thought that a lot of it dealt with understanding bonding and chemical properties. It was not too difficult in whole and I didn't spend as much time on it as I originally planned out.
Organic Chemistry
I was surprised at how well I did in this section considering that it was a weak spot for me. I attribute this to Chad's Videos and understanding the core basics of the concepts. I don't remember having a lot of reactions in this section, I just had to use a bit of reason. There were a handful of NMR and IR questions, but nothing too difficult overall.
Reading Comprehension
Despite being my best section in the practice tests, this was my lowest score on the exam. I'm not really sure what happened. I felt very confident after the first passage, moderately confident after the second passage, and then I hit the third one. I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I was tired from the reading or that the clock was running low, but I totally spaced here. The questions seemed more difficult and it likely is what caused my lower score on this section.
Physics
After the break, I returned to the physics section. I was also nervous about this section, but as I got into it, it wasn't too bad. There weren't any complex calculations or difficult problems here. I can't thank Cracking the OAT enough for helping me out with this section! Definitely manageable. The Kaplan tests were much more difficult compared to the actual thing, don't give up hope if these scores seem low to you!
QR
I felt pretty prepared for this section since I did a lot of practice exams through Crack the OAT. A good strategy for me was to skip the questions that I knew would either take a long time or that I forgot how to do. This way I would spend the bulk of my time on questions that I could do quickly and accurately without getting hung up on a question that may result in my wasting time. I did guess on a few of them, but learning how to pace yourself is key here.
Once I finished with the exam, I was very nervous and was sweating profusely. I wasn't overly confident at the time and before I knew it, my scores popped up:
Actual OAT scores
Biology-340
General Chemistry-380
Organic Chemistry-350
Physics-340
Reading Comprehension-320
Quantitative Reasoning-370
TS-360
AA-350
I was stoked! I almost yelled in excitement, but remembered that other test takers were around me. Looking back at the studying experience, I would highly recommend all of the things I used to study with a strong emphasis on Chad's Videos and Cracking the OAT (plus Kaplan for Biology). I then got my items out of my locker and rushed outside to call my loved ones! I also thank God for making my dreams become closer to being an actual reality. I really hope that this post is helpful to everyone and if you have any questions, feel free to ask! I am beyond excited (since I took this today) and hope to meet some of you at the next level!
God bless
