My OAT Experience

[silver eclipse]

Hi everybody! I just took the OAT and wanted to share my experience. I felt reading other people's experiences/post really gave me comfort and a good understanding of what to expect for the OAT. So, prepare for a long post!

My Scores:
AA 350 (88% percentile), TS 350 (85% percentile)
QR: 390, RC: 330, Bio: 330, Gen Chem: 370, OChem 370, Physics: 310

Preparation:
I started studying Mid-May until July. I studied about 3-4 hours every weekday (I was working full time) and spent weekends studying all day. My study materials included: Kaplan OAT Blue book, Kaplan practice tests, ADA practice test, Chad's videos, and DAT boot camp. I'll list what I found most useful or un-useful.

• Kaplan Book - good for Biology, Gen Chem, and Organic Chemistry; gave good details about everything you need to know for biology; lots of practice problems for all chemistry; NOT useful for physics, way too complicated and too much
• Chad's Videos - awesome for physics! (I am awful at physics) Literally gives you video and practice problems for every physics topics. Very easy to understand and easy to take notes with. I also used it occasionally for OChem as well. I did the free version but if you're really struggling, I would recommend buying the $5 version.
• DAT Boot Camp- With a free account, you can take a "practice" test of each section of the OAT (they even have physics for the OAT). It's a really good example for the QR section. The practice questions include the comparative questions that the OAT has added.

OAT Day
I took the test at 8 am at a Prometric testing center. They give you a locker to put your things in and you're not allowed to bring anything into the testing room. They checked my pockets, made me pull up my leggings to show no writing on my legs, and metal wand detector me every time I went in and out the testing room. I was not given scratch paper/pen. I was give 2 front & back dry erase papers with no erasing. I had to raise my hand every time I needed more which was a pain.

1. Bio- A lot harder than I anticipated! There's just so many sections, I wasn't prepared for such the wide variety. Literally need to know a little bit of everything ranging from cell bio, genetics, anatomy, and ecology. The Kaplan Book is good at helping you learn all the topics but there was no way I could've remembered all the small things.
2. Gen Chem- I found it was pretty easy. You need to know the Ideal Gas Law like that back of your hand! Know how to apply it in a lot of different situations. Need to know general trends in the Periodic Table. Also, know how about Keq, Ksp, and oxidation/reduction.
3. Organic- I also thought this section was pretty easy. FOCUS ON REACTIONS. Must know SN1/SN2/E1/E2, oxidation/reduction, Grignard rxn, deactivating/activating groups, stability of carbocation/radical, enantiomers, chirality. Don't worry about HNMR/CNMR, I had like 1 question about it.
4. RC- 3 different reading topics, all scientific based and all gave me a headache lol. Kaplan Practice Tests are good examples of how it'll be like IRL. I found I was rushing for time. I would recommend timing yourself while practicing but other than that, I'm not sure how to practice!
5. 30 minute break- I was too stressed to do anything but go to the bathroom and drink water; I used maybe 10 minutes of my break
6. Physics- a lot easier than expected! I still didn't do well because I'm not good at physics. Kaplan book is wayyyy to hard. I suggest memorizing all the main formulas and knowing general concepts.
7. QR- pretty straight forward. Use DAT Bootcamp for good practice problems! Know how to calculate probability ad solve algebraic equations under a time crunch. A lot of problems were like Equation A: ... and Equation B: ....; Are the solutions equal, greater than, unknown. Also, 3-4 questions were about standard deviation (I didn't have time to calculate and had to guess instead)

Practice Test vs Real OAT

• Kaplan practice tests do tend to score pretty harshly. The natural science portions of the Kaplan test pretty accurately reflect the OAT. Kaplan physics is way harder than the OAT.
• ADA Practice Test was too easy in the Bio/QR/RC sections. Pretty accurate on difficulty of gen chem/organic/physics.
• My scores on Kaplan were always in the range of 300
• My ADA Practice Test was 340
• ADA Practice Test was a more accurate reflection of what I scored

Tips

• Make a study plan and stick to it! I found myself often getting lazy/pushing things off. The more time you study, the better!
• Make cheat sheets/outlines of main concepts you need to know! Especially for reactions in OChem and equations for Physics.
• Do as many practice tests and practice problems as you can. Use MCAT materials, OAT materials, DAT materials. Anything to help you learn, use it!
• Don't spend thousands of dollars on prep. I didn't spend much money ($50 on Kaplan book). I rented prep books from library and did free online practice tests.

Good luck to anyone taking the OAT!!!! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask 🙂

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[optomize]

thank you for sharing! I was wondering, how far along in your studying process did you take the kaplan and ADA practice test? Thanks!

 

[silver eclipse]

thank you for sharing! I was wondering, how far along in your studying process did you take the kaplan and ADA practice test? Thanks!

I took a Kaplan Test right when I started studying just to see what to expect (I made a 250 so don’t worry about that). Then, I took 1 a week before the exam. Then, the weekend leading up to my test I took 2 more. I went and reworked all the problems I got wrong as well.

 

[optomize]

thank you so much! I am going to take my test in 3 days 🙁 but my kaplan scores fluctuate... :/ Do you mind me asking...what were your kaplan scores for physics and QR?? thanks!!

 

[silver eclipse]

thank you so much! I am going to take my test in 3 days 🙁 but my kaplan scores fluctuate... :/ Do you mind me asking...what were your kaplan scores for physics and QR?? thanks!!

Good luck!! Kaplan scores pretty harshly so don’t be too worried about it. For QR, Kaplan gave me around 370-380 so it’s pretty accurate on the difficulty. For physics, I never made over a 300 in Kaplan. I feel like Kaplan was way too hard. The ADA practice test for physics is similar to the actual OAT (and i scored like 320 on that practice test).

 

[risandmorty]

Would you mind sharing your cheat sheets for physics that you made? I'm struggling so hard on physics and on my practice tests that i've been taking, I haven't been able to raise physics over a 300 🙁 I take my oat in about 20 days.

 

[silver eclipse]

Would you mind sharing your cheat sheets for physics that you made? I'm struggling so hard on physics and on my practice tests that i've been taking, I haven't been able to raise physics over a 300 🙁 I take my oat in about 20 days.

I actually recycled all my study guides LOL. But if you PM me I can send you the Kaplan OAT physics cheat sheet, I found it super helpful.

 

[startlearn]

I actually recycled all my study guides LOL. But if you PM me I can send you the Kaplan OAT physics cheat sheet, I found it super helpful.

thank you so much for your sharing. it's very helpful.
question: you said: ADA practice test for physics is similar to the actual OAT . do you mind telling me how to get this ADA practice test ?

thanks again

 

[Optician2OD]

Hi everybody! I just took the OAT and wanted to share my experience. I felt reading other people's experiences/post really gave me comfort and a good understanding of what to expect for the OAT. So, prepare for a long post!

My Scores:
AA 350 (88% percentile), TS 350 (85% percentile)
QR: 390, RC: 330, Bio: 330, Gen Chem: 370, OChem 370, Physics: 310

Preparation:
I started studying Mid-May until July. I studied about 3-4 hours every weekday (I was working full time) and spent weekends studying all day. My study materials included: Kaplan OAT Blue book, Kaplan practice tests, ADA practice test, Chad's videos, and DAT boot camp. I'll list what I found most useful or un-useful.

• Kaplan Book - good for Biology, Gen Chem, and Organic Chemistry; gave good details about everything you need to know for biology; lots of practice problems for all chemistry; NOT useful for physics, way too complicated and too much
• Chad's Videos - awesome for physics! (I am awful at physics) Literally gives you video and practice problems for every physics topics. Very easy to understand and easy to take notes with. I also used it occasionally for OChem as well. I did the free version but if you're really struggling, I would recommend buying the $5 version.
• DAT Boot Camp- With a free account, you can take a "practice" test of each section of the OAT (they even have physics for the OAT). It's a really good example for the QR section. The practice questions include the comparative questions that the OAT has added.

OAT Day
I took the test at 8 am at a Prometric testing center. They give you a locker to put your things in and you're not allowed to bring anything into the testing room. They checked my pockets, made me pull up my leggings to show no writing on my legs, and metal wand detector me every time I went in and out the testing room. I was not given scratch paper/pen. I was give 2 front & back dry erase papers with no erasing. I had to raise my hand every time I needed more which was a pain.

1. Bio- A lot harder than I anticipated! There's just so many sections, I wasn't prepared for such the wide variety. Literally need to know a little bit of everything ranging from cell bio, genetics, anatomy, and ecology. The Kaplan Book is good at helping you learn all the topics but there was no way I could've remembered all the small things.
2. Gen Chem- I found it was pretty easy. You need to know the Ideal Gas Law like that back of your hand! Know how to apply it in a lot of different situations. Need to know general trends in the Periodic Table. Also, know how about Keq, Ksp, and oxidation/reduction.
3. Organic- I also thought this section was pretty easy. FOCUS ON REACTIONS. Must know SN1/SN2/E1/E2, oxidation/reduction, Grignard rxn, deactivating/activating groups, stability of carbocation/radical, enantiomers, chirality. Don't worry about HNMR/CNMR, I had like 1 question about it.
4. RC- 3 different reading topics, all scientific based and all gave me a headache lol. Kaplan Practice Tests are good examples of how it'll be like IRL. I found I was rushing for time. I would recommend timing yourself while practicing but other than that, I'm not sure how to practice!
5. 30 minute break- I was too stressed to do anything but go to the bathroom and drink water; I used maybe 10 minutes of my break
6. Physics- a lot easier than expected! I still didn't do well because I'm not good at physics. Kaplan book is wayyyy to hard. I suggest memorizing all the main formulas and knowing general concepts.
7. QR- pretty straight forward. Use DAT Bootcamp for good practice problems! Know how to calculate probability ad solve algebraic equations under a time crunch. A lot of problems were like Equation A: ... and Equation B: ....; Are the solutions equal, greater than, unknown. Also, 3-4 questions were about standard deviation (I didn't have time to calculate and had to guess instead)

Practice Test vs Real OAT

• Kaplan practice tests do tend to score pretty harshly. The natural science portions of the Kaplan test pretty accurately reflect the OAT. Kaplan physics is way harder than the OAT.
• ADA Practice Test was too easy in the Bio/QR/RC sections. Pretty accurate on difficulty of gen chem/organic/physics.
• My scores on Kaplan were always in the range of 300
• My ADA Practice Test was 340
• ADA Practice Test was a more accurate reflection of what I scored

Tips

• Make a study plan and stick to it! I found myself often getting lazy/pushing things off. The more time you study, the better!
• Make cheat sheets/outlines of main concepts you need to know! Especially for reactions in OChem and equations for Physics.
• Do as many practice tests and practice problems as you can. Use MCAT materials, OAT materials, DAT materials. Anything to help you learn, use it!
• Don't spend thousands of dollars on prep. I didn't spend much money ($50 on Kaplan book). I rented prep books from library and did free online practice tests.

Good luck to anyone taking the OAT!!!! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask 🙂

I found the actual test to be more conceptual than expected. Not having a calculator really effected me. I felt like I over prepared studying 5 months everyday then blanked out during the actual test.