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Hi all. I don't remember many specific questions from my test, it's all kind of a blur, but hopefully this will somewhat help those who haven't taken theirs yet. A lot of my experience was actually similar to mxbookworm.. and our academic averages were the same, haha. So, the evening before the OAT I took my ADA practice test. I'll post that score first for each section, then the OAT score. I feel that between the two, the ADA test was a better measure of my knowledge. Some scores went up, some went down, and overall the averages came out 10 points lower on the actual so they basically evened out.
Test Center: I had done a practice drive a couple days before which I think is a good idea. My center is only 20 minutes from my house. I had a 1 pm appointment on a Saturday and the center was very busy. They only asked me for one ID and didn't fingerprint me, so, I guess they weren't trying too hard to do a proper job. When I went in, the first room had a seating area, tv, lockers, and check in desk. The next room they put me in, I had to sit and wait for like 6 people to be ID'ed and photographed, it was a little tough being patient because I was anxious to go into the test room and get started.
Bio: 360 (ADA). This is one of two sections that I feel was a lot harder than I expected / harder than the ADA. Like people have said, it's so random, and I can hardly recall what was tested. I got a hardy weinberg problem, a classification problem, a question about the birth control pill, and a question with a photo of cells asking where in the body it would be located. 320 (OAT).
Chem: 370 (ADA). This was a little harder than I expected. I got a question on balancing a reaction in acid, probably a redox reaction, that I didn't know how to do. 350 (OAT).
Orgo: 330 (ADA). Again, I hardly remember anything from the natural sciences. Overall, I went really slowly through the sciences section because I always have extra time, but I just wasn't feeling good throughout it. That morning I memorized some IR spectrum bands but those weren't on the test.. NMR H+ questions were. I must have gotten REALLY lucky with my guessing in this section, because I got a 370, and it's typically my worst subject.....
Reading Comp: 360 (ADA). I was glad when it was time to do this section. I only did a couple of practice ones but I was comfortable with mapping out passages. The passages were only about 10 paragraphs each, so that was a nice surprise. However, I guess I didn't do as well as I thought on answering the questions! 320.
Break: By this point I really needed it. My stomach was growling. Went to the bathroom, ate a snack and went back in. Also, I wore the noise cancelling headphones on and off throughout the exam. I'm the type of person who needs absolute quiet to focus, and I was getting distracted by someone who had a lot of typing to do on their test. Plus, I could sometimes hear the staff going in and out of the room behind me and even doing some talking. It's a little chaotic because all the test takers start and end their tests and take breaks all at different times, so people are constantly going in and out of the exam room.
Physics: 360. This section was a little bit easier than expected, so, yay! Elevator problem, conservation of momentum, force. For some reason I couldn't get any of the answers for either of two torque questions... I could have sworn I knew how to do those! 360.
QR: 390. I was starting to feel relief and excitement by this point because this was supposed to be one of my best subjects, and I was really just looking forward to finishing. This is the other section that was way harder than I expected!!! I marked sooo many questions, and had to go back in the end to either try them again or just guess. There were two questions on those csc, sec, etc. functions that I didn't know. Lots and lots of fraction stuff, fraction exponents, and negative exponents. Like others have said, this section is really time crunched so go through all the questions making sure you do the ones you know how to do, before tackling the harder ones. Just knowing that I was almost done with the test, I was able to cheer myself on and not get too worried about this section. Just do your best! 350.
When I finished I even forgot that the scores would appear on my screen, haha. I was pleasantly surprised with my scores. The test was not a pleasant experience, but, I am happy with my scores and glad to be done with the oat!!
TS: ada-370. oat-360.
AA: ada-360. oat-350.
I took the Kaplan class last semester but saved most of the work for my winter break. So I basically did most of my studying in 3 weeks. I somehow did a good job of keeping myself relatively calm and not too anxious before and during the test, and that definitely helped. Now I just have to finish 2 supplemental apps and hopefully I'll be on my way to some interviews! Hopefully these scores are good enough that it'll take some pressure off for the interviews cuz I'm nervous about those 😛
Oh, one more thing, the markers and erasers were fine! The markers didn't run out and the eraser actually erased. The only thing is the marker, even though it's "fine tip", it's really more like a medium tip marker.. so just be prepared, if you're super used to writing in pencil and pen and being super organized, you'll end up writing a lot bigger on the laminated sheets. My notes were all over the place!
Test Center: I had done a practice drive a couple days before which I think is a good idea. My center is only 20 minutes from my house. I had a 1 pm appointment on a Saturday and the center was very busy. They only asked me for one ID and didn't fingerprint me, so, I guess they weren't trying too hard to do a proper job. When I went in, the first room had a seating area, tv, lockers, and check in desk. The next room they put me in, I had to sit and wait for like 6 people to be ID'ed and photographed, it was a little tough being patient because I was anxious to go into the test room and get started.
Bio: 360 (ADA). This is one of two sections that I feel was a lot harder than I expected / harder than the ADA. Like people have said, it's so random, and I can hardly recall what was tested. I got a hardy weinberg problem, a classification problem, a question about the birth control pill, and a question with a photo of cells asking where in the body it would be located. 320 (OAT).
Chem: 370 (ADA). This was a little harder than I expected. I got a question on balancing a reaction in acid, probably a redox reaction, that I didn't know how to do. 350 (OAT).
Orgo: 330 (ADA). Again, I hardly remember anything from the natural sciences. Overall, I went really slowly through the sciences section because I always have extra time, but I just wasn't feeling good throughout it. That morning I memorized some IR spectrum bands but those weren't on the test.. NMR H+ questions were. I must have gotten REALLY lucky with my guessing in this section, because I got a 370, and it's typically my worst subject.....
Reading Comp: 360 (ADA). I was glad when it was time to do this section. I only did a couple of practice ones but I was comfortable with mapping out passages. The passages were only about 10 paragraphs each, so that was a nice surprise. However, I guess I didn't do as well as I thought on answering the questions! 320.
Break: By this point I really needed it. My stomach was growling. Went to the bathroom, ate a snack and went back in. Also, I wore the noise cancelling headphones on and off throughout the exam. I'm the type of person who needs absolute quiet to focus, and I was getting distracted by someone who had a lot of typing to do on their test. Plus, I could sometimes hear the staff going in and out of the room behind me and even doing some talking. It's a little chaotic because all the test takers start and end their tests and take breaks all at different times, so people are constantly going in and out of the exam room.
Physics: 360. This section was a little bit easier than expected, so, yay! Elevator problem, conservation of momentum, force. For some reason I couldn't get any of the answers for either of two torque questions... I could have sworn I knew how to do those! 360.
QR: 390. I was starting to feel relief and excitement by this point because this was supposed to be one of my best subjects, and I was really just looking forward to finishing. This is the other section that was way harder than I expected!!! I marked sooo many questions, and had to go back in the end to either try them again or just guess. There were two questions on those csc, sec, etc. functions that I didn't know. Lots and lots of fraction stuff, fraction exponents, and negative exponents. Like others have said, this section is really time crunched so go through all the questions making sure you do the ones you know how to do, before tackling the harder ones. Just knowing that I was almost done with the test, I was able to cheer myself on and not get too worried about this section. Just do your best! 350.
When I finished I even forgot that the scores would appear on my screen, haha. I was pleasantly surprised with my scores. The test was not a pleasant experience, but, I am happy with my scores and glad to be done with the oat!!
TS: ada-370. oat-360.
AA: ada-360. oat-350.
I took the Kaplan class last semester but saved most of the work for my winter break. So I basically did most of my studying in 3 weeks. I somehow did a good job of keeping myself relatively calm and not too anxious before and during the test, and that definitely helped. Now I just have to finish 2 supplemental apps and hopefully I'll be on my way to some interviews! Hopefully these scores are good enough that it'll take some pressure off for the interviews cuz I'm nervous about those 😛
Oh, one more thing, the markers and erasers were fine! The markers didn't run out and the eraser actually erased. The only thing is the marker, even though it's "fine tip", it's really more like a medium tip marker.. so just be prepared, if you're super used to writing in pencil and pen and being super organized, you'll end up writing a lot bigger on the laminated sheets. My notes were all over the place!
