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- Optometry Student
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Hi everyone!
So I took my OAT today and I wanted to share my experience and some insight, hopefully to help you all with your studies.
First off, I'd like to say that my main focus was the chemistry. I am absolutely TERRIBLE at chemistry! I don't know what it is, I just don't get it at all. I struggled a lot through gen chem as well as organic, so for me facing the chemistry on this test was a real challenge.
I studied for about 2 1/2 months. My study materials included:
-Kaplan OAT book (blue one) with a bunch of practice questions and 2 full length tests
-Cracking the OAT by Princeton Review (along with 2 full length online tests)
-Cracking the DAT by Princeton Review - the DAT is identical to the OAT except for the physics section
-All of my textbooks from undergrad including bio, chem, organic, physics, math, etc.
-OAT achiever
-ADA test available online
I would also like to say that finding time for me to study was very hard because I am in grad school. My program is very rigorous and demanding, not to mention that I graduate this semester and I have to submit and present my thesis in November
However I did the best I could and managed to get it done!
Starting from last night - the night before the test - all I really did was review my notes a couple of times, just to make sure I had my formulas and stuff down. I didn't get much sleep because I always have trouble sleeping the night before a big event. Plus everyone kept telling me to relax and not think about it which only made me more nervous. My test was at 8am so I woke up at about 6:30am, had breakfast/got ready, and was out the door by 7am. I had driven down to the testing center yesterday so I knew it was about a 30 minute drive, but with morning traffic I ended up making it there at 7:45am. I walked in nervous as heck but the prometric people were super friendly and nice. They got me situated and it was time to begin.
The first section was the natural sciences. During my studying, I went over bio the least because like I said I am a grad student (microbiology/molecular biology) and so I am a TA for a bio I lecture. A lot of the material on the OAT was similar to material that I teach my students, so I didn't think it would be too bad. I thought the bio was going okay, some questions harder than others, however I kept going while watching the clock. Next was the gen chem and organic which I was super nervous for because I've always been bad at chemistry. I studied these subjects extensively, much more than the rest of the subjects. Thinking back now, the chemistry questions were all a big blur to me, it went by really fast as I kept answering the questions. I didn't really know how I was doing, except that I was answering questions to the best of my ability. I finished the section with about 7 minutes to spare, and so went back to the questions I had marked just to double check my answers.
As soon as the natural science section was over, the new timer began and it was time for reading comprehension. RC was another subject that was kind of hard for me while I was studying because the times were killing me. I ran out of time on ALL of the practice tests that I took prior to the real test, however the OAT RC was a lot easier than any of my practice tests. I'm not sure if I was just more focused, or if the questions were easier or if the passages were more interesting, however I finished the section with about 2 minutes to spare.
Next came the 15 minute break (which is optional). I took this time to walk outside a bit and go to the restroom. When I came back I had about 8 minutes left of my break and so I wrote down the kinematics formulas for the physics section on the dry-erase board that they gave me. As I began the physics section, it was pretty hard. A lot of the questions I was like 😕 .. I knew I wasn't doing as hot, however I kept trying not to think about it because every time I did, I kept thinking back to the previous sections, and wondering how I did on those. I tried my best to stay focused and work forward. However I did end up running out of time on the physics 🙁
Finally came the quantitative reasoning section. Out of all the subjects, this was probably the section that I was least worried about because I'm really good at math. However as I did the problems, there was A LOT of trig on it, all the SOH CAH TOA stuff, inverse trig functions, trig rules .. a lot of stuff that I didn't cover in detail, a lot of specific rules that if you don't know, there's no way you can get to the answer (without a trig function calculator, at least). So I worked through the math as best I could, but I did run out of time.
After, I answered a quick survey mostly about the testing center and how I liked it. Then after a few nerve wrecking seconds, my scores appeared:
GC 350 🙂
OC 340 🙂
BIO 370 😀
RC 340
PHY 280 🙁
QR 300
AA 330
TS 330
and so I'm glad to say that I'm pretty happy with my scores (except physics). My physics was below 300 but I was kind of expecting it because I devoted the majority of my studying to chemistry since I've always been so bad at it. I was happy to see that my studying (at least for chemistry) did pay off and I did good in both the gen chem and organic chem. I was expecting to do the best in bio because like I said, I teach it. If I could go back, I would definitely go over the physics in more detail, and I would also go over my trig functions and formulas. Overall I'm happy, in a good mood, and hoping on hearing back from schools soon. I've already interviewed at PCO (where I was provisionally accepted granted I take my OAT) and ICO (who are waiting on my scores to accept/deny), I also applied to a few more schools and so hopefully I'll be hearing back from them after they get my scores (I faxed them my unofficial scores which I was given at the testing center). If I don't get any more interviews, then I'll be happy that I've at least already had a couple and that I've been accepted somewhere 🙂
I should also add my stats:
bachelor's GPA: 3.35
master's GPA: 3.62
Plus a bunch of shadowing, volunteering, leadership positions, on campus involvement, etc. etc.
If you're taking your OAT soon and you've put in the time and effort into studying, don't be nervous! You're going to do just fine 😀
So I took my OAT today and I wanted to share my experience and some insight, hopefully to help you all with your studies.
First off, I'd like to say that my main focus was the chemistry. I am absolutely TERRIBLE at chemistry! I don't know what it is, I just don't get it at all. I struggled a lot through gen chem as well as organic, so for me facing the chemistry on this test was a real challenge.
I studied for about 2 1/2 months. My study materials included:
-Kaplan OAT book (blue one) with a bunch of practice questions and 2 full length tests
-Cracking the OAT by Princeton Review (along with 2 full length online tests)
-Cracking the DAT by Princeton Review - the DAT is identical to the OAT except for the physics section
-All of my textbooks from undergrad including bio, chem, organic, physics, math, etc.
-OAT achiever
-ADA test available online
I would also like to say that finding time for me to study was very hard because I am in grad school. My program is very rigorous and demanding, not to mention that I graduate this semester and I have to submit and present my thesis in November
However I did the best I could and managed to get it done!Starting from last night - the night before the test - all I really did was review my notes a couple of times, just to make sure I had my formulas and stuff down. I didn't get much sleep because I always have trouble sleeping the night before a big event. Plus everyone kept telling me to relax and not think about it which only made me more nervous. My test was at 8am so I woke up at about 6:30am, had breakfast/got ready, and was out the door by 7am. I had driven down to the testing center yesterday so I knew it was about a 30 minute drive, but with morning traffic I ended up making it there at 7:45am. I walked in nervous as heck but the prometric people were super friendly and nice. They got me situated and it was time to begin.
The first section was the natural sciences. During my studying, I went over bio the least because like I said I am a grad student (microbiology/molecular biology) and so I am a TA for a bio I lecture. A lot of the material on the OAT was similar to material that I teach my students, so I didn't think it would be too bad. I thought the bio was going okay, some questions harder than others, however I kept going while watching the clock. Next was the gen chem and organic which I was super nervous for because I've always been bad at chemistry. I studied these subjects extensively, much more than the rest of the subjects. Thinking back now, the chemistry questions were all a big blur to me, it went by really fast as I kept answering the questions. I didn't really know how I was doing, except that I was answering questions to the best of my ability. I finished the section with about 7 minutes to spare, and so went back to the questions I had marked just to double check my answers.
As soon as the natural science section was over, the new timer began and it was time for reading comprehension. RC was another subject that was kind of hard for me while I was studying because the times were killing me. I ran out of time on ALL of the practice tests that I took prior to the real test, however the OAT RC was a lot easier than any of my practice tests. I'm not sure if I was just more focused, or if the questions were easier or if the passages were more interesting, however I finished the section with about 2 minutes to spare.
Next came the 15 minute break (which is optional). I took this time to walk outside a bit and go to the restroom. When I came back I had about 8 minutes left of my break and so I wrote down the kinematics formulas for the physics section on the dry-erase board that they gave me. As I began the physics section, it was pretty hard. A lot of the questions I was like 😕 .. I knew I wasn't doing as hot, however I kept trying not to think about it because every time I did, I kept thinking back to the previous sections, and wondering how I did on those. I tried my best to stay focused and work forward. However I did end up running out of time on the physics 🙁
Finally came the quantitative reasoning section. Out of all the subjects, this was probably the section that I was least worried about because I'm really good at math. However as I did the problems, there was A LOT of trig on it, all the SOH CAH TOA stuff, inverse trig functions, trig rules .. a lot of stuff that I didn't cover in detail, a lot of specific rules that if you don't know, there's no way you can get to the answer (without a trig function calculator, at least). So I worked through the math as best I could, but I did run out of time.
After, I answered a quick survey mostly about the testing center and how I liked it. Then after a few nerve wrecking seconds, my scores appeared:
GC 350 🙂
OC 340 🙂
BIO 370 😀
RC 340
PHY 280 🙁
QR 300
AA 330
TS 330
and so I'm glad to say that I'm pretty happy with my scores (except physics). My physics was below 300 but I was kind of expecting it because I devoted the majority of my studying to chemistry since I've always been so bad at it. I was happy to see that my studying (at least for chemistry) did pay off and I did good in both the gen chem and organic chem. I was expecting to do the best in bio because like I said, I teach it. If I could go back, I would definitely go over the physics in more detail, and I would also go over my trig functions and formulas. Overall I'm happy, in a good mood, and hoping on hearing back from schools soon. I've already interviewed at PCO (where I was provisionally accepted granted I take my OAT) and ICO (who are waiting on my scores to accept/deny), I also applied to a few more schools and so hopefully I'll be hearing back from them after they get my scores (I faxed them my unofficial scores which I was given at the testing center). If I don't get any more interviews, then I'll be happy that I've at least already had a couple and that I've been accepted somewhere 🙂
I should also add my stats:
bachelor's GPA: 3.35
master's GPA: 3.62
Plus a bunch of shadowing, volunteering, leadership positions, on campus involvement, etc. etc.
If you're taking your OAT soon and you've put in the time and effort into studying, don't be nervous! You're going to do just fine 😀