- Joined
- Jul 4, 2009
- Messages
- 60
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Pre-Optometry
hehe after a very long time of having optometry as my goal, i can't believe the time has already come that I'm actually applying and writing a thread about my OAT! lol soo i took my OAT this morning and... I think the previous posts were exactly what my test was like so you can refer to those for the details. My scores aren't great like theirs though. Actually they are very avg but I will still give my input since I enjoyed reading all the posts on these forums.
RC 380👍
QR 370
Bio 300
Ochem 310
Genchem 310
Physics 290 🙂thumbdown)
TS 300
AA 330
YAY soo I'm just glad to be done! Soo I did well in RC and QR which is funny because those are the 2 I didn't study for -_- but then again people say QR is like SAT math and I got 800 on that so if you did well on your SAT math, this should not be as hard as some people say. Just like the other posts, just make sure you remember your trig identities. I think I know one of them I got wrong haha it was this weird system of equations one. it wasn't like regular systems of equations, it was so weird i don't even remember how to explain it. I think it was like a function of this equals a different function of that. (two equations like that) and then you have to find one of the variables. but now that i think about....I think you should just substitute the weird functions with x and y -_-...yea that's probably it. haha dunno. but yea math is math. just know your triangles and know how to translate words into equations. 🙂
reading comp. this was really easy. I was really scared for this one because people said (posts that I've read) that it was difficult and you run out of time but I had time left to look everything over. I think one of the reasons it wasn't that hard is cuz i like science and I'm pretty curious about everything so I google stuff and read articles and they're usually science related lol not sure if that's exactly why but here was my strategy. So I would read one question and then start reading the passage until i found it. (only in some cases because the questions don't really go in order for the articles that ask the "overall meaning" questions.) i also wrote keyterms about what each paragraph was about. Yup, that's it. haha. I actually thought I was gonna get a 400 on that cuz I looked over everything and it seemed good but that just shows that some questions are a little more difficult that what you first perceive. Advice for this section? Just like when you read or "have" to read for school and it's not fun, make yourself think that it is fun. BECOME interested in the material and passage and trust me you will get more out of it. if you just read it as words and trying to find an answer, you won't be able to get the full jist of what the writer wants you to get. And mainly the passages are pretty interesting. :]
bio. iono what happened here. haha it wasn't bad at all. just didn't remember every little detail about everything :/ but really if you just know the stuff from General Bio classes, it should be good. I think it was because I thought I knew things ( like when you study and you read some info and you're like yea I know that but when someone asks you about it, you can't remember) but I really didnt have it drilled to my long term memory. I only thought I remembered it cuz I learned it in the past. So basically, when you're going over stuff for bio, make sure you memorize it with mnemonics and talk about it or think about the facts you learned daily. Applying bio info daily really helps to actually make the words come to life. I did that for my bio classes but that was a long time ago and that is why I didn't do so hot. I shouldve freshened up a little more. but all in all, not that bad of a section.
ochem. oh man i thought i was going to do terribly for this section. i didn't do so well but compared to what I thought i was going to get, its pretty good. haha for some reason I got reactions that I didn't remember! I know my reactions pretty well and did well on the opted test but iono maybe it was bad luck haha. some of the reactions just blanked for me. I think the reason why i didn't fail terribly is because even though i didn't know the reactions, i was able to guess what would happen and that's kinda what you have to do sometimes. the hard part is know whether it will attack a 3' carbon or methyl or which double bond would it rather reduce. Iono Just make sure to know the preference of each reactant/solution (what would it want to react with). that will help a lot if you dont know a specific reaction. also know acidity well. That will come in handy for a handful of questions. and resonance. and hnmr. and orbitals. and IUPAC naming. and products of reactions of course 😛 If you know those you'll prob be good to go! 🙂
Genchem: I honestly dont remember this section much...after writing that ochem paragraph, I'm blankly on genchem...you just have to know the basics.
i recommend the outline that Kaplan gives that's laminated. Covers everything you gotta know and if you dont' really a topic, you can just go wikipedia more about it. (p.s. wikipedia works well when studying. ochem included. say you're studying and then you think wait what was that reaction again..just type and search and your memory is refreshed...instead of looking through all your books. everyone probably already knows this but i dont think many people do it. you can learn everything on internet without paying a cent if you know what topics to search. my biochem teacher said we can just wikipedia if you dont want to buy the book. haha i mean everyone's prob gonna buy the book but it's still haha 🙂) oh i also bought the chemisty outline for quickstudy but its very similar to Kaplans.
finally physics. oh dreaded physics. haha. this is probably the easiest section if you're good at physics. I mean physics just deals with a different way of thinking i think. either you think that way or not. I'm still in the process of learning to think like a physics person or engineer but not there yet. Honestly this section is REALLY easy. like i know if my structural engineer friend saw this section he would laugh at me for being so stupid loll you just need to know the basics! the hard part is applying all those basic equations, thinking about the situation and choosing the right equation to use. i had a lot of questions on acceleration. which is terrible cuz it's so basic. I know the equations, i know what acceleration is, but when it's asked in a diff way, in a diff angle/perspective, im like clueless. lol also there was tension, density, velocity graph. gah seriously easy stuff haha. it's silly how im saying its so easy when i did badly but i only say this because when i look at similar problems and see the answer...im like, it's that easy? yet I dont get it right. best advice for physics. DONT LOOK AT THE SOLUTIONS UNTIL YOU ABSOLUTELY GIVE UP. you really have to learn to use your mind to visualize the situation and the variables. if you look at the answer, you think "oh hey this is easy" but you're not learning the technique of how to get the answer. because physics isn't plug in chug, it's application. [[edit: also i had like 3 mirror questions! and we didn't learn about mirrors in my physics class, only lenses so just in case you guys don't study it, remember to review it. its not hard but if you don't know the material, you cant really guess)
oh my. i was just going to write a little bit but it came out to be very long. My descriptions/advice aren't as fabulous as other posts but just wanted to share my experience and thoughts. Overall, remember these posts are just personal experiences. I psyched myself out by reading how RC and QR was so hard but it wasn't in my case, showing that everyone is diff. So even though people say it's hard, it might not be for you. like everyone says, know your strengths and weaknesses. MY ADVICE is not to go too far into hard material. Yes some people say if you over prepare its good but honestly, drilling the basics is a WAY better strategy in my opinion. this test really just tests on the basics and your understanding of them.
a little about my stats and how i prepared. I'm a third year and I took anatomy and history for the first part of summer and then for the second part i took my last physics class of the series while taking the KAPLAN class. MY OPINON. DO NOT TAKE SCHOOL CLASSES WITH KAPLAN CLASSES. because your school grades are important and it's very difficult to study fully for the OAT when you have homework and tests to worry about. all in all, i wasn't able to study much for the OAT while taking my summer class. I just studied biology but i basically forgot everything i studied because i wasn't fully into what i was studying. [[[about kaplan class. i actually don't recommend it. this is just my opinion. but it's because it's the kind of learner i am. I don't like reading a whole mess of material and then going to a class for 3 hrs and listen to someone just repeat what i just read. that's basically what it felt like for me. It's good if you have questions but there aren't many questions you can have when all you're doing is memorizing bio facts/ochem rxns/and basic chemsitry. if you get me. unless you like things just repeated to you, i felt like it was a waste of my time. only because i know i could spend those 3 hrs studying what i really need to study, what i PERSONALLY need to concentrate on, not what a class needs. also i found it a little annoying how I was in a DAT class (they combine OAT w. DAT) esp with only one other OAT girl, the teacher only gave tips about dentistry and always said DAT. just didn't feel right for some reason. its like when you're in a group of gentlemen and you're a girl and someone walks up saying "why hello gentlemen!". lol i dont even recommend the big kaplan book. loll its just too much! i can say from going through it, that it's not really the smart way to study because it's just too much and you eat all that info. even if you do eat it all, it like comes out a week later lol and only partially digests]]] I also went through the exam krackers for mcat physics/genchem/ochem. this i can say is pretty good stuff but then again you always have that feeling of "am i studying the right stuff" since it is for mcat not oat. also got the oat destroyer which IS A VERY GOOD INVESTMENT ONLY IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TIME. this is the kind of material that is "over preparing" but in a good way. not the big kaplan book way. it is good because it drills the basics even though it seems difficult. I only had it for a couple of days to study so i really wish i got it earlier. i bet if i just started with the destroyer and went through all the problem 2 or 3 times i would have done very well on the oat. but that's what sucks about the oat. so many different ways of studying and materials to study and you only find out when you take the test what was really beneficial. i regret spending all that time on kaplan stuff (ps remember this is only me. some ppl do very well with just kaplan! 🙂 im just a diff kind of learner). but it wasn't all a waste of course i got stuff out of it but on a hierarchy of awesome study material, its at the bottom for me ( except for the laminated outlines and flashcards! i think those are very beneficial 🙂). so basically i spent about 3 weeks studying which is very little but i wanted to apply early so that if i dont do well i can just retake it after they receive my application if they want me to. also school started for me the last week of those 3 weeks so it was kinda bad but that's not to say i put a lot of effort in those weeks. my gpa isn't great. its avg because i bombed my first year but did pretty well my second year..and i just started third year so i didnt have much time to raise it. haha i interned for one doctor for a few months and shadowed around others and i have another internship starting soon at another office. i'm applying early because I'm graduating early and i know optometry is what i want to do and so hopefully i will get into an optometry school with these scores. haha
<as if this wasn't long enough> one last thing. if you want it, you can do it. you might fail after trying but never fail to try. and really, the oat is an easy test. haha like really. i said this once and ill say it again. drill those basic concepts and equations. ask what if would happen if i put this equation in a different situation. or why is this happening? you must apply the knowledge in order to solve problems. the material isn't hard at all. you just gotta step back and try looking at it from a different angle and visualize everything that is happening in the situation and what information really matters. don't spend time trying to memorize everything. because with the basics, you can solve difficult problems.
simple example: trig identities. (since you gotta know them)
so you should know sin^2+cos^2=1 right?
but what about all those other identities like tan^2+1=sec^2
or cot^2+1=csc^2..well if you just know the first equation you can see
that if you divide it by cos^2 you get the second equation and
if you divide it by sin^2 you get the third equation.
just gotta know the basics, think about it, and solve.
okay i promise im done. sorry if it didn't help but gluck to all
and hope to see any of you in the optometry field in the future! 😀
RC 380👍
QR 370
Bio 300
Ochem 310
Genchem 310
Physics 290 🙂thumbdown)
TS 300
AA 330
YAY soo I'm just glad to be done! Soo I did well in RC and QR which is funny because those are the 2 I didn't study for -_- but then again people say QR is like SAT math and I got 800 on that so if you did well on your SAT math, this should not be as hard as some people say. Just like the other posts, just make sure you remember your trig identities. I think I know one of them I got wrong haha it was this weird system of equations one. it wasn't like regular systems of equations, it was so weird i don't even remember how to explain it. I think it was like a function of this equals a different function of that. (two equations like that) and then you have to find one of the variables. but now that i think about....I think you should just substitute the weird functions with x and y -_-...yea that's probably it. haha dunno. but yea math is math. just know your triangles and know how to translate words into equations. 🙂
reading comp. this was really easy. I was really scared for this one because people said (posts that I've read) that it was difficult and you run out of time but I had time left to look everything over. I think one of the reasons it wasn't that hard is cuz i like science and I'm pretty curious about everything so I google stuff and read articles and they're usually science related lol not sure if that's exactly why but here was my strategy. So I would read one question and then start reading the passage until i found it. (only in some cases because the questions don't really go in order for the articles that ask the "overall meaning" questions.) i also wrote keyterms about what each paragraph was about. Yup, that's it. haha. I actually thought I was gonna get a 400 on that cuz I looked over everything and it seemed good but that just shows that some questions are a little more difficult that what you first perceive. Advice for this section? Just like when you read or "have" to read for school and it's not fun, make yourself think that it is fun. BECOME interested in the material and passage and trust me you will get more out of it. if you just read it as words and trying to find an answer, you won't be able to get the full jist of what the writer wants you to get. And mainly the passages are pretty interesting. :]
bio. iono what happened here. haha it wasn't bad at all. just didn't remember every little detail about everything :/ but really if you just know the stuff from General Bio classes, it should be good. I think it was because I thought I knew things ( like when you study and you read some info and you're like yea I know that but when someone asks you about it, you can't remember) but I really didnt have it drilled to my long term memory. I only thought I remembered it cuz I learned it in the past. So basically, when you're going over stuff for bio, make sure you memorize it with mnemonics and talk about it or think about the facts you learned daily. Applying bio info daily really helps to actually make the words come to life. I did that for my bio classes but that was a long time ago and that is why I didn't do so hot. I shouldve freshened up a little more. but all in all, not that bad of a section.
ochem. oh man i thought i was going to do terribly for this section. i didn't do so well but compared to what I thought i was going to get, its pretty good. haha for some reason I got reactions that I didn't remember! I know my reactions pretty well and did well on the opted test but iono maybe it was bad luck haha. some of the reactions just blanked for me. I think the reason why i didn't fail terribly is because even though i didn't know the reactions, i was able to guess what would happen and that's kinda what you have to do sometimes. the hard part is know whether it will attack a 3' carbon or methyl or which double bond would it rather reduce. Iono Just make sure to know the preference of each reactant/solution (what would it want to react with). that will help a lot if you dont know a specific reaction. also know acidity well. That will come in handy for a handful of questions. and resonance. and hnmr. and orbitals. and IUPAC naming. and products of reactions of course 😛 If you know those you'll prob be good to go! 🙂
Genchem: I honestly dont remember this section much...after writing that ochem paragraph, I'm blankly on genchem...you just have to know the basics.
i recommend the outline that Kaplan gives that's laminated. Covers everything you gotta know and if you dont' really a topic, you can just go wikipedia more about it. (p.s. wikipedia works well when studying. ochem included. say you're studying and then you think wait what was that reaction again..just type and search and your memory is refreshed...instead of looking through all your books. everyone probably already knows this but i dont think many people do it. you can learn everything on internet without paying a cent if you know what topics to search. my biochem teacher said we can just wikipedia if you dont want to buy the book. haha i mean everyone's prob gonna buy the book but it's still haha 🙂) oh i also bought the chemisty outline for quickstudy but its very similar to Kaplans.
finally physics. oh dreaded physics. haha. this is probably the easiest section if you're good at physics. I mean physics just deals with a different way of thinking i think. either you think that way or not. I'm still in the process of learning to think like a physics person or engineer but not there yet. Honestly this section is REALLY easy. like i know if my structural engineer friend saw this section he would laugh at me for being so stupid loll you just need to know the basics! the hard part is applying all those basic equations, thinking about the situation and choosing the right equation to use. i had a lot of questions on acceleration. which is terrible cuz it's so basic. I know the equations, i know what acceleration is, but when it's asked in a diff way, in a diff angle/perspective, im like clueless. lol also there was tension, density, velocity graph. gah seriously easy stuff haha. it's silly how im saying its so easy when i did badly but i only say this because when i look at similar problems and see the answer...im like, it's that easy? yet I dont get it right. best advice for physics. DONT LOOK AT THE SOLUTIONS UNTIL YOU ABSOLUTELY GIVE UP. you really have to learn to use your mind to visualize the situation and the variables. if you look at the answer, you think "oh hey this is easy" but you're not learning the technique of how to get the answer. because physics isn't plug in chug, it's application. [[edit: also i had like 3 mirror questions! and we didn't learn about mirrors in my physics class, only lenses so just in case you guys don't study it, remember to review it. its not hard but if you don't know the material, you cant really guess)
oh my. i was just going to write a little bit but it came out to be very long. My descriptions/advice aren't as fabulous as other posts but just wanted to share my experience and thoughts. Overall, remember these posts are just personal experiences. I psyched myself out by reading how RC and QR was so hard but it wasn't in my case, showing that everyone is diff. So even though people say it's hard, it might not be for you. like everyone says, know your strengths and weaknesses. MY ADVICE is not to go too far into hard material. Yes some people say if you over prepare its good but honestly, drilling the basics is a WAY better strategy in my opinion. this test really just tests on the basics and your understanding of them.
a little about my stats and how i prepared. I'm a third year and I took anatomy and history for the first part of summer and then for the second part i took my last physics class of the series while taking the KAPLAN class. MY OPINON. DO NOT TAKE SCHOOL CLASSES WITH KAPLAN CLASSES. because your school grades are important and it's very difficult to study fully for the OAT when you have homework and tests to worry about. all in all, i wasn't able to study much for the OAT while taking my summer class. I just studied biology but i basically forgot everything i studied because i wasn't fully into what i was studying. [[[about kaplan class. i actually don't recommend it. this is just my opinion. but it's because it's the kind of learner i am. I don't like reading a whole mess of material and then going to a class for 3 hrs and listen to someone just repeat what i just read. that's basically what it felt like for me. It's good if you have questions but there aren't many questions you can have when all you're doing is memorizing bio facts/ochem rxns/and basic chemsitry. if you get me. unless you like things just repeated to you, i felt like it was a waste of my time. only because i know i could spend those 3 hrs studying what i really need to study, what i PERSONALLY need to concentrate on, not what a class needs. also i found it a little annoying how I was in a DAT class (they combine OAT w. DAT) esp with only one other OAT girl, the teacher only gave tips about dentistry and always said DAT. just didn't feel right for some reason. its like when you're in a group of gentlemen and you're a girl and someone walks up saying "why hello gentlemen!". lol i dont even recommend the big kaplan book. loll its just too much! i can say from going through it, that it's not really the smart way to study because it's just too much and you eat all that info. even if you do eat it all, it like comes out a week later lol and only partially digests]]] I also went through the exam krackers for mcat physics/genchem/ochem. this i can say is pretty good stuff but then again you always have that feeling of "am i studying the right stuff" since it is for mcat not oat. also got the oat destroyer which IS A VERY GOOD INVESTMENT ONLY IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TIME. this is the kind of material that is "over preparing" but in a good way. not the big kaplan book way. it is good because it drills the basics even though it seems difficult. I only had it for a couple of days to study so i really wish i got it earlier. i bet if i just started with the destroyer and went through all the problem 2 or 3 times i would have done very well on the oat. but that's what sucks about the oat. so many different ways of studying and materials to study and you only find out when you take the test what was really beneficial. i regret spending all that time on kaplan stuff (ps remember this is only me. some ppl do very well with just kaplan! 🙂 im just a diff kind of learner). but it wasn't all a waste of course i got stuff out of it but on a hierarchy of awesome study material, its at the bottom for me ( except for the laminated outlines and flashcards! i think those are very beneficial 🙂). so basically i spent about 3 weeks studying which is very little but i wanted to apply early so that if i dont do well i can just retake it after they receive my application if they want me to. also school started for me the last week of those 3 weeks so it was kinda bad but that's not to say i put a lot of effort in those weeks. my gpa isn't great. its avg because i bombed my first year but did pretty well my second year..and i just started third year so i didnt have much time to raise it. haha i interned for one doctor for a few months and shadowed around others and i have another internship starting soon at another office. i'm applying early because I'm graduating early and i know optometry is what i want to do and so hopefully i will get into an optometry school with these scores. haha
<as if this wasn't long enough> one last thing. if you want it, you can do it. you might fail after trying but never fail to try. and really, the oat is an easy test. haha like really. i said this once and ill say it again. drill those basic concepts and equations. ask what if would happen if i put this equation in a different situation. or why is this happening? you must apply the knowledge in order to solve problems. the material isn't hard at all. you just gotta step back and try looking at it from a different angle and visualize everything that is happening in the situation and what information really matters. don't spend time trying to memorize everything. because with the basics, you can solve difficult problems.
simple example: trig identities. (since you gotta know them)
so you should know sin^2+cos^2=1 right?
but what about all those other identities like tan^2+1=sec^2
or cot^2+1=csc^2..well if you just know the first equation you can see
that if you divide it by cos^2 you get the second equation and
if you divide it by sin^2 you get the third equation.
just gotta know the basics, think about it, and solve.
okay i promise im done. sorry if it didn't help but gluck to all
and hope to see any of you in the optometry field in the future! 😀
