- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 175
- Pre-Optometry
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Hi everyone! I've been a long-time lurker in this forum and have really appreciated the advice people post about the OAT. You guys rock! Here are my two cents on the test.
Drive/Test center: I don't know if it is like this for most of you, but my nearest test center was surprisingly far away. I had a 150-mile drive, so I signed up for the afternoon (12:30pm) test slot. I left at 8:00am to make sure I could get there with traffic, but it turned out to be smooth sailing. I had a couple of hours to find the test center, get some lunch, and try not to panic! The test center was really small and not busy, which was nice. I think I was the only one taking the OAT; there were mostly GRE people from what I could tell at check-in. For check-in, I had a little hiccup with my two forms of ID. I brought my California driver's licence and my college student ID. Apparently the student ID was not sufficient because it did not have my signature on it. Luckily, I had a Visa card with my photo on it and a signature. Make sure you bring two solid forms of ID, and bring anything you have with your picture on it just in case! They checked my pockets, took my picture, and got thumbprint once my ID was accepted. I was issued (as expected) two markers, two 8x11 double-sided dry-erase sheets, an eraser, and some dorky orange earmuff things. Anyway, you guys know the drill by reading other posts; on to the good stuff!
Biology: This section was one of the more challenging ones for me, simply based on the wide variety of subjects they pulled from. I can't remember most of the questions, likely due to the fact that I didn't know very many of the answers! As a biology major, I am surprised at how many questions and answers did not even look familiar, but that's the nature of the beast! Biology is just so dang broad. Definately know embryology (cleavage patterns and the resultant body parts of the 3 primary germ layers), photosynthesis, types of muscle (and whether it is mono- or multi-nucleate, striated or non-striated, and voluntary or involuntary), hardy-weinberg equilibrium, hierarchy of organism organization (kingdom, phylum, etc), ATP synthesis, ecological interactions (e.g., mutualism, commensalism, etc), and how to predict the phenotypic results of a dihybrid cross. I can't remember much else.
Chemistry: This wasn't too bad! I was able to get through most of the questions with at least some idea of the right answer. Here is a random smattering of basic subjects I can rememebr: Periodic trends, colligative properties of solutions, free energy/enthalpy/entropy, redox, rate constants, mole fractions, chosing the strongest acid from a list, choosing which solution would have the highest or lowest pH, lewis structures, and concentration units.
Organic: There were a lot of reactions I didn't know! If I did it all over again I would focus more on knowing my reactions. I also felt myself really panic during this section, so I probably lost some of my knowledge to freaking out! Subjects I can remember include aromaticity, grignard, oznolysis, friedel-crafts alkylation, SN2, hydration of alkenes, oxymercuration-demercuration, and hydroboration-oxidation, and 1H NMR general spectra trends.
Reading Comp: This section surprised me so much. I did absolutely ZERO prep for this. I had taken a practice test with Kaplan and this section was extremely hard. While studying, I just decided to let this one go in favor of studying more concrete subjects. But, to my surprise, my reading comp section was very straight-forward. In my Kaplan practice test, the passages were dense and packed with definitions and numbers. I felt like I was being bombarded by confusing concept after confusing concept the whole time. The actual OAT was a lot more straightforward and much less dense. There were very few numbers and no figures. Because of my previous practice test, I knew I was under time pressure, so I got through all 3 passages with 15 minutes to spare. This gave me time to read through the second passage one more time and check my answers, since that was the most challanging passage for me. There were only a few questions that were not straightforward. I suspect I got an easy batch of passages, judging from reading about the experience of other test-takers.
Physics: This sections was pretty straightforward. Conservation of energy and momentum, free fall, torque, kinematics, buoyant force, series/parallel circuits, electric fields, electric potential, all the things you'd expect. You definately want to know that elevator problem that everyone seems to mention in their OAT rundowns. I wrote down a few of the harder-to-remember questions during the break, which was nice. Oddly I didn't use many of them, but it took a weight off my brain so that I could think more clearly during the test.
Quantitative Reasoning: WOW! I really was not prepared for this one. I didn't realize that there would be trig identities on there, so I was kind of down the river without a paddle for quite a few questions. I feel pretty dumb for not knowing those after all the advice on this forum, but since I never saw questions with the identies in my practice tests, I just assumed I knew enough to get by. Spend 10 minutes re-learning those identities (including sec, csc, cot, etc) and you'll be happy you did! Other than that, it was pretty standard. Systems of equations, average speed, etc. Also be able to handle multiplying, dividing, adding, and subtracting numbers in scientific notation.
Scores:
Quantitative Reasoning: 320
Reading Comp: 400
Biology: 320
General Chemistry: 360
Organic Chemistry: 320
Physics: 350
Total Science: 340
Academic Average: 350
I know these aren't mind-blowingly amazing or anything, but I am pretty happy. I am kicking myself for not knowing a few things that would have gone a long way (mainly on the quantitative reasoning), but with limited preparation this isn't too bad.
How I studied/what I'd do differently: I ended up studying over my 3-week winter break, plus some sparse time during my first week of classes afterward. I also went on vacation for a few days in there, so I really only had about 3 weeks of real study time. I wanted to start sooner, but fall quarter at school was very demanding and took a lot of my time. The plus side is that I got a great report card, but it was pretty demoralising when I woke up on the first day of winter break with this big OAT weight on my shoulders. I didn't even have an idea of how to study, and I wasn't very motivated because I felt so worn out from the hard quarter I just finished. I bought the Schaum's outline for general chemistry and biology, and used my old physics book and o-chem notes for those subjects.
I studied biology first. I went through the Schaum's book from cover to cover, and in hindsight I see how much of a waste that was. In my quest to be thorough I ate up 2 weeks of study time and didn't retain much. My advice is to focus on practicing problems. I wouldn't even bother with a review book like Schaum's for biology. So I was left with about 10 days to study ochem, chem, and physics. I work as a research student in organic chemistry, and so I shelfed ochem in favor of studying physics and general chemistry. Judging from my score, I definately needed to study for ochem, but I just didn't feel like I had the time. Instead, I went through the Schaum's chem book and my physics textbook. I didn't have a ton of time to practice any problems, so I pretty much had to trust that I'd be able to apply the concepts on test day.
How I feel about the score overall: My goal for the OAT was mostly to have a score that doesn't blaringly stand out as bad. Maybe this is the wrong attitude, but with the time I had I didn't expect to dazzle anyone. I will not be taking the OAT again, based on the time until the applications are due. If I could go back, I really would have liked to discover optometry as a career path about three months sooner than I did. That would have given me a summer to study! But, if you're a busy student, I hope my scores bolster your confidence a little bit. I know my scores aren't outstanding, but that aren't bad considering my scatterbrained study style and my time restrictions. So there IS hope! 🙂
Happy studying all!
Drive/Test center: I don't know if it is like this for most of you, but my nearest test center was surprisingly far away. I had a 150-mile drive, so I signed up for the afternoon (12:30pm) test slot. I left at 8:00am to make sure I could get there with traffic, but it turned out to be smooth sailing. I had a couple of hours to find the test center, get some lunch, and try not to panic! The test center was really small and not busy, which was nice. I think I was the only one taking the OAT; there were mostly GRE people from what I could tell at check-in. For check-in, I had a little hiccup with my two forms of ID. I brought my California driver's licence and my college student ID. Apparently the student ID was not sufficient because it did not have my signature on it. Luckily, I had a Visa card with my photo on it and a signature. Make sure you bring two solid forms of ID, and bring anything you have with your picture on it just in case! They checked my pockets, took my picture, and got thumbprint once my ID was accepted. I was issued (as expected) two markers, two 8x11 double-sided dry-erase sheets, an eraser, and some dorky orange earmuff things. Anyway, you guys know the drill by reading other posts; on to the good stuff!
Biology: This section was one of the more challenging ones for me, simply based on the wide variety of subjects they pulled from. I can't remember most of the questions, likely due to the fact that I didn't know very many of the answers! As a biology major, I am surprised at how many questions and answers did not even look familiar, but that's the nature of the beast! Biology is just so dang broad. Definately know embryology (cleavage patterns and the resultant body parts of the 3 primary germ layers), photosynthesis, types of muscle (and whether it is mono- or multi-nucleate, striated or non-striated, and voluntary or involuntary), hardy-weinberg equilibrium, hierarchy of organism organization (kingdom, phylum, etc), ATP synthesis, ecological interactions (e.g., mutualism, commensalism, etc), and how to predict the phenotypic results of a dihybrid cross. I can't remember much else.
Chemistry: This wasn't too bad! I was able to get through most of the questions with at least some idea of the right answer. Here is a random smattering of basic subjects I can rememebr: Periodic trends, colligative properties of solutions, free energy/enthalpy/entropy, redox, rate constants, mole fractions, chosing the strongest acid from a list, choosing which solution would have the highest or lowest pH, lewis structures, and concentration units.
Organic: There were a lot of reactions I didn't know! If I did it all over again I would focus more on knowing my reactions. I also felt myself really panic during this section, so I probably lost some of my knowledge to freaking out! Subjects I can remember include aromaticity, grignard, oznolysis, friedel-crafts alkylation, SN2, hydration of alkenes, oxymercuration-demercuration, and hydroboration-oxidation, and 1H NMR general spectra trends.
Reading Comp: This section surprised me so much. I did absolutely ZERO prep for this. I had taken a practice test with Kaplan and this section was extremely hard. While studying, I just decided to let this one go in favor of studying more concrete subjects. But, to my surprise, my reading comp section was very straight-forward. In my Kaplan practice test, the passages were dense and packed with definitions and numbers. I felt like I was being bombarded by confusing concept after confusing concept the whole time. The actual OAT was a lot more straightforward and much less dense. There were very few numbers and no figures. Because of my previous practice test, I knew I was under time pressure, so I got through all 3 passages with 15 minutes to spare. This gave me time to read through the second passage one more time and check my answers, since that was the most challanging passage for me. There were only a few questions that were not straightforward. I suspect I got an easy batch of passages, judging from reading about the experience of other test-takers.
Physics: This sections was pretty straightforward. Conservation of energy and momentum, free fall, torque, kinematics, buoyant force, series/parallel circuits, electric fields, electric potential, all the things you'd expect. You definately want to know that elevator problem that everyone seems to mention in their OAT rundowns. I wrote down a few of the harder-to-remember questions during the break, which was nice. Oddly I didn't use many of them, but it took a weight off my brain so that I could think more clearly during the test.
Quantitative Reasoning: WOW! I really was not prepared for this one. I didn't realize that there would be trig identities on there, so I was kind of down the river without a paddle for quite a few questions. I feel pretty dumb for not knowing those after all the advice on this forum, but since I never saw questions with the identies in my practice tests, I just assumed I knew enough to get by. Spend 10 minutes re-learning those identities (including sec, csc, cot, etc) and you'll be happy you did! Other than that, it was pretty standard. Systems of equations, average speed, etc. Also be able to handle multiplying, dividing, adding, and subtracting numbers in scientific notation.
Scores:
Quantitative Reasoning: 320
Reading Comp: 400
Biology: 320
General Chemistry: 360
Organic Chemistry: 320
Physics: 350
Total Science: 340
Academic Average: 350
I know these aren't mind-blowingly amazing or anything, but I am pretty happy. I am kicking myself for not knowing a few things that would have gone a long way (mainly on the quantitative reasoning), but with limited preparation this isn't too bad.
How I studied/what I'd do differently: I ended up studying over my 3-week winter break, plus some sparse time during my first week of classes afterward. I also went on vacation for a few days in there, so I really only had about 3 weeks of real study time. I wanted to start sooner, but fall quarter at school was very demanding and took a lot of my time. The plus side is that I got a great report card, but it was pretty demoralising when I woke up on the first day of winter break with this big OAT weight on my shoulders. I didn't even have an idea of how to study, and I wasn't very motivated because I felt so worn out from the hard quarter I just finished. I bought the Schaum's outline for general chemistry and biology, and used my old physics book and o-chem notes for those subjects.
I studied biology first. I went through the Schaum's book from cover to cover, and in hindsight I see how much of a waste that was. In my quest to be thorough I ate up 2 weeks of study time and didn't retain much. My advice is to focus on practicing problems. I wouldn't even bother with a review book like Schaum's for biology. So I was left with about 10 days to study ochem, chem, and physics. I work as a research student in organic chemistry, and so I shelfed ochem in favor of studying physics and general chemistry. Judging from my score, I definately needed to study for ochem, but I just didn't feel like I had the time. Instead, I went through the Schaum's chem book and my physics textbook. I didn't have a ton of time to practice any problems, so I pretty much had to trust that I'd be able to apply the concepts on test day.
How I feel about the score overall: My goal for the OAT was mostly to have a score that doesn't blaringly stand out as bad. Maybe this is the wrong attitude, but with the time I had I didn't expect to dazzle anyone. I will not be taking the OAT again, based on the time until the applications are due. If I could go back, I really would have liked to discover optometry as a career path about three months sooner than I did. That would have given me a summer to study! But, if you're a busy student, I hope my scores bolster your confidence a little bit. I know my scores aren't outstanding, but that aren't bad considering my scatterbrained study style and my time restrictions. So there IS hope! 🙂
Happy studying all!