Navigating the OAT on the computer

[PreOptometryKid]

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I've never done a computer based exam before so I'm a little nervous about that. Does the OAT let you flip back and forth between questions regardless of whether or not you've answered them? Or is it just like a go through it once and then you're allowed to check marked questions one time? Is it like a page you can browse with a scroll bar or does it present questions in a sequential order where it's hard to see the other questions?

 

[99Janna]

Hello,
Yes you can flip back and forth between questions, so you don't have to worry if you don't know an answer- you can go back to it later. (You can mark it to return later) It isn't a scrollbar-type test, so you actually have to click an arrow button to change between pages.
Oh, and you can go back and check as many times as you want, you can go through the test for an unlimited amount.

Hope that helps! Don't worry too much about the computerized part, I found it quite easy to use. Good luck! When are you scheduled for?

 

[PreOptometryKid]

i'm taking it mid january...
is there anything on the screen that indicates which ones you've answered or do you have to go through every individual question to see what you have and have not answered? and is there like a timer that shows how much time you have left?

i've been doing the kaplan practice exams and have been running out of time on the math and physics so im just trying to get a gauge on how much time i would need to go through and randomly click guess on the ones i don't have time to do haha. ive been able to do like 60% of the math questions before needing to just guess on the rest of them...

 

[99Janna]

There's a "summary" screen that you can click onto anytime, and it shows you which ones you've answered in list form with just the question number. There's even a feature that allows you to go through the whole test but only on the questions you still need to answer. And yes there is an on screen timer for you.

Haha oh I know! The math section is especially brutal for finishing on time. Although Kaplan's math stuff is definitely much more time-consuming than the real OAT, so work hard on learning to be quick at it for sure- but be aware that the real thing likely won't be as bad. (I found the real OAT to be a lot like the one they have on Opted- timings and everything) Hope that helps!

 

[PreOptometryKid]

Thanks for the info, that's helpful to know.

Yeah it's just so much hand calculating with the Kaplan practice exams. I'm probably going to do the Opted practice exam as my last runthrough at the end of December/early Jan.

I heard they give you like a plastic sheet with markers... can you erase the plastic sheet like a dry erase board? Also is the computer calculator useful at all?

 

[99Janna]

Oh you're welcome. Yeah there is a lot of hand calculating on the Kaplan ones for sure.

The plastic sheets they give you are basically laminated sheets of thick construction paper. (I got two for my exam) I found them fairly hard to erase properly, but otherwise they were much better than I expected. (The reverse side has a graph paper-like print on it)

I didn't find the calculator to be helpful at all- I think I used it a max of 2 times throughout the exam. It's just a very simplistic microsoft calculator- and in a lot of cases it's easier math wise to go without it. A lot of the OAT stuff is in fractions anyways, so it's much better to leave your numbers in fraction form as long as possible.