OAT advice needed!

cmathieu

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Hey guys,
I am a third year student studying biology. I have taken the OAT twice now and just really don’t understand where I’m going wrong. I do well in school and don’t usually struggle with tests.

The first time I took the OAT I studied for 2 months while working full time. I finished the test with an AA of 260. I only used the Kaplan OAT book to prepare.

The second time I took the OAT I studied for a month and a half during holiday break. I finished the test with an AA of 280. This time around my scores increased drastically in certain areas and decreased in areas that I was extremely surprised about. I used chads videos and the OAT destroyer but did not have enough time to get through the entire OAT destroyer.

Now I’m feeling totally defeated and I’m not sure where to go from here. I was extremely confident going into the second test believing that I was going to achieve an overall of atleast 300 but clearly that did not happen. Would any of you have advice on where to proceed from here?

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I would suggest focusing on schoolwork first and then taking a gap year and studying for the OAT one last time during the summer after you graduate.

It appears undergraduate work is hindering your OAT studies??

Definitely take as many practice tests as possible and finish all of Chad's videos and his quizzes before your next exam date.

I'd suggest reaching out to some schools and scheduling counseling sessions so they can see the rest of your profile. Do not rush to take the test a third time.
 
I would suggest focusing on schoolwork first and then taking a gap year and studying for the OAT one last time during the summer after you graduate.

It appears undergraduate work is hindering your OAT studies??

Definitely take as many practice tests as possible and finish all of Chad's videos and his quizzes before your next exam date.

I'd suggest reaching out to some schools and scheduling counseling sessions so they can see the rest of your profile. Do not rush to take the test a third time.

Thank you for the advice! I was trying to avoid taking a gap year but it is definitely something I’ve been thinking about recently. I thought about taking it again in the summer and give myself more time with appropriate resources. Since last time I took it during the summer I didn’t use a great resource. I really appreciate your reply!
thank you!
 
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When I studied for my OAT, I did not do any timed-practiced exams. I focused more on the concepts and building a strong foundation of all the subjects.
 
When I studied for my OAT, I did not do any timed-practiced exams. I focused more on the concepts and building a strong foundation of all the subjects.

this is interesting... do you think that if you had extra time and we’re able to do timed practice tests that it would’ve benefited you?
 
Everyone's studying habits and test taking abilities are different. What works for one person might not work you for. Take a step back and reflect on what you think might be your problem. Some questions to consider are:
  • Are you struggling with the material/concepts, the timing, or both?
  • Did you have enough time to study and were you studying efficiently?
  • Did you use your time efficiently on Test Day?
Compare each section between the first and second test to see what you need to work on. Ask yourself why you did worse on this section the second time around and how you can do better next time.

I personally took the OAT 2 times, but they were 4 years apart and my scores were similar. Like you, some areas drastically went up, while some lowered. Both times I only used the Kaplan 2015-2016 edition and my old textbooks for OChem and Physics for study material. I also did at least 5 timed-practice tests to prepare me for test day. The first time I used practice tests from my school's pre-optometry club (5 tests) and the Kaplan online tests that came with the book (2 tests). The second time I basically re-typed 3 of my old practice tests, bought the Mometrix OAT questions (2 tests), and the DAT sample test items for extra practice questions since it didn't have a physics section.

The first time I studied for just under 4 months (3 months study, 1 month practice and review, no job) during my summer break before 4th year, and my second time I studied for 10 months (8.5 months study, 1.5 month practice tests and review, part-time jobs 3-4 times per week) to re-learn everything I had forgotten. I reviewed what I did poorly on after each practice test and reviewed the material for those sections again. However, I should mention that I'm the type of person that can sit for 6+ hours and self-study from a book. I also used Khan Academy to review some magnetism concepts that were hard to visualize (i.e. the right-hand rule). Final scores for each time I took the OAT: TS 370/AA 380 and TS 360/AA 370

And remember, the OAT isn't going to test you on everything. Look at the test breakdown and see which concepts are weighted the most for each section and focus on those. For example, if you are struggling with nomenclature for OChem, and it's only 2/30 of the OChem questions, just have a foundation to make an educated guess and focus your energy on another aspect of OChem that is worth more points.

I hoped this helped and good luck on your next test date!
 
this is interesting... do you think that if you had extra time and we’re able to do timed practice tests that it would’ve benefited you?
Maybe it would have. I think that I could have done a lot better on it, I got 320 TS and AA. Maybe one month is not enough time, take it slow.
 
Last edited:
Everyone's studying habits and test taking abilities are different. What works for one person might not work you for. Take a step back and reflect on what you think might be your problem. Some questions to consider are:
  • Are you struggling with the material/concepts, the timing, or both?
  • Did you have enough time to study and were you studying efficiently?
  • Did you use your time efficiently on Test Day?
Compare each section between the first and second test to see what you need to work on. Ask yourself why you did worse on this section the second time around and how you can do better next time.

I personally took the OAT 2 times, but they were 4 years apart and my scores were similar. Like you, some areas drastically went up, while some lowered. Both times I only used the Kaplan 2015-2016 edition and my old textbooks for OChem and Physics for study material. I also did at least 5 timed-practice tests to prepare me for test day. The first time I used practice tests from my school's pre-optometry club (5 tests) and the Kaplan online tests that came with the book (2 tests). The second time I basically re-typed 3 of my old practice tests, bought the Mometrix OAT questions (2 tests), and the DAT sample test items for extra practice questions since it didn't have a physics section.

The first time I studied for just under 4 months (3 months study, 1 month practice and review, no job) during my summer break before 4th year, and my second time I studied for 10 months (8.5 months study, 1.5 month practice tests and review, part-time jobs 3-4 times per week) to re-learn everything I had forgotten. I reviewed what I did poorly on after each practice test and reviewed the material for those sections again. However, I should mention that I'm the type of person that can sit for 6+ hours and self-study from a book. I also used Khan Academy to review some magnetism concepts that were hard to visualize (i.e. the right-hand rule). Final scores for each time I took the OAT: TS 370/AA 380 and TS 360/AA 370

And remember, the OAT isn't going to test you on everything. Look at the test breakdown and see which concepts are weighted the most for each section and focus on those. For example, if you are struggling with nomenclature for OChem, and it's only 2/30 of the OChem questions, just have a foundation to make an educated guess and focus your energy on another aspect of OChem that is worth more points.

I hoped this helped and good luck on your next test date!

Thank you for the information! Congratulations on the great scores! I will definitely assess those questions the next time around. This is really helpful!
 
Hey guys,
I am a third year student studying biology. I have taken the OAT twice now and just really don’t understand where I’m going wrong. I do well in school and don’t usually struggle with tests.

The first time I took the OAT I studied for 2 months while working full time. I finished the test with an AA of 260. I only used the Kaplan OAT book to prepare.

The second time I took the OAT I studied for a month and a half during holiday break. I finished the test with an AA of 280. This time around my scores increased drastically in certain areas and decreased in areas that I was extremely surprised about. I used chads videos and the OAT destroyer but did not have enough time to get through the entire OAT destroyer.

Now I’m feeling totally defeated and I’m not sure where to go from here. I was extremely confident going into the second test believing that I was going to achieve an overall of atleast 300 but clearly that did not happen. Would any of you have advice on where to proceed from here?

What is your GPA? I've seen some cases where they accept students that have high GPA & low OAT scores as well.
 
What is your GPA? I've seen some cases where they accept students that have high GPA & low OAT scores as well.

Well since I'm canadian I don't have my GPA in a 4.0 scale. I currently have an 80% GPA which I think is 3.0 (not quite sure if that's right). But I still have a year and a half left to go to try and bring it up. I don't know if that's considered mediocre or high haha
 
Well since I'm canadian I don't have my GPA in a 4.0 scale. I currently have an 80% GPA which I think is 3.0 (not quite sure if that's right). But I still have a year and a half left to go to try and bring it up. I don't know if that's considered mediocre or high haha

I'm also Canadian and an 80% is 3.7 on the Canadian 4.0 scale (I used this chart for conversion OMSAS - Undergraduate Grading System Conversion Table | Ontario Universities' Application Centre ).
It will be slightly lower than 3.7 after your marks are converted to the American GPA scale through OptomCAS, but overall an 80% would be competitive.

If Waterloo is your top choice, definitely bring that up to an 85% and score 370 or better on total science of the OAT to be competitive. But even with great stats, if you mess up the CASPer, Waterloo won't offer you an interview (happened to me) :(
 
I'm also Canadian and an 80% is 3.7 on the Canadian 4.0 scale (I used this chart for conversion OMSAS - Undergraduate Grading System Conversion Table | Ontario Universities' Application Centre ).
It will be slightly lower than 3.7 after your marks are converted to the American GPA scale through OptomCAS, but overall an 80% would be competitive.

If Waterloo is your top choice, definitely bring that up to an 85% and score 370 or better on total science of the OAT to be competitive. But even with great stats, if you mess up the CASPer, Waterloo won't offer you an interview (happened to me) :(

Thank you for the conversion table that’s very useful! And yes so that’s my issue I feel like Waterloo is way to difficult for me to get into. Obviously I will try my best to achieve the best possible marks but it doesn’t look very promising haha. And thank you for the CASPer advice I didn’t know that it was viewed as highly as you are saying. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you end up going?
 
Thank you for the conversion table that’s very useful! And yes so that’s my issue I feel like Waterloo is way to difficult for me to get into. Obviously I will try my best to achieve the best possible marks but it doesn’t look very promising haha. And thank you for the CASPer advice I didn’t know that it was viewed as highly as you are saying. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you end up going?
No problem! Waterloo replaced MMI with CASPer, so now that seems to be their only method for assessing interpersonal skills. It doesn’t hurt to apply though :) I’ve been accepted to SCCO and will be starting this August. Feel free to DM me if you have any other questions!
 
No problem! Waterloo replaced MMI with CASPer, so now that seems to be their only method for assessing interpersonal skills. It doesn’t hurt to apply though :) I’ve been accepted to SCCO and will be starting this August. Feel free to DM me if you have any other questions!

Oh I see. And for sure! You'll never know unless you try. Congratulations, that's a great school! All of your hard work paid off! I'll definitely take you up on that offer if I end of having any questions.
 
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Everyone's studying habits and test taking abilities are different. What works for one person might not work you for. Take a step back and reflect on what you think might be your problem. Some questions to consider are:
  • Are you struggling with the material/concepts, the timing, or both?
  • Did you have enough time to study and were you studying efficiently?
  • Did you use your time efficiently on Test Day?
Compare each section between the first and second test to see what you need to work on. Ask yourself why you did worse on this section the second time around and how you can do better next time.

I personally took the OAT 2 times, but they were 4 years apart and my scores were similar. Like you, some areas drastically went up, while some lowered. Both times I only used the Kaplan 2015-2016 edition and my old textbooks for OChem and Physics for study material. I also did at least 5 timed-practice tests to prepare me for test day. The first time I used practice tests from my school's pre-optometry club (5 tests) and the Kaplan online tests that came with the book (2 tests). The second time I basically re-typed 3 of my old practice tests, bought the Mometrix OAT questions (2 tests), and the DAT sample test items for extra practice questions since it didn't have a physics section.

The first time I studied for just under 4 months (3 months study, 1 month practice and review, no job) during my summer break before 4th year, and my second time I studied for 10 months (8.5 months study, 1.5 month practice tests and review, part-time jobs 3-4 times per week) to re-learn everything I had forgotten. I reviewed what I did poorly on after each practice test and reviewed the material for those sections again. However, I should mention that I'm the type of person that can sit for 6+ hours and self-study from a book. I also used Khan Academy to review some magnetism concepts that were hard to visualize (i.e. the right-hand rule). Final scores for each time I took the OAT: TS 370/AA 380 and TS 360/AA 370

And remember, the OAT isn't going to test you on everything. Look at the test breakdown and see which concepts are weighted the most for each section and focus on those. For example, if you are struggling with nomenclature for OChem, and it's only 2/30 of the OChem questions, just have a foundation to make an educated guess and focus your energy on another aspect of OChem that is worth more points.

I hoped this helped and good luck on your next test date!
Hi! I know this thread is a couple of months old but I was googling mometrix practice exam for the oat and this thread came up. I was just wondering whether they were representative of how well you did on the OAT. If you don't mind me asking, how did the scores on those two mometrix practice tests compare to actual scores? Thank you!
 
Hi! I know this thread is a couple of months old but I was googling mometrix practice exam for the oat and this thread came up. I was just wondering whether they were representative of how well you did on the OAT. If you don't mind me asking, how did the scores on those two mometrix practice tests compare to actual scores? Thank you!

I would say every section (except QR) was similar to my actual OAT score (approximately +/- 10 to 20 points in every section). QR was way too easy in mometrix compared to my actual OAT. I recommend getting it if you need extra resources to practice timing, especially for reading comprehension. The book includes detailed explanations for each question/answer after each test. Compared to the Kaplan practice test, mometrix was definitely easier.

Keep in mind that the mometrix practice exams booklet doesn't include a scale to convert your raw score into the standardized score out of 400. I used the ADA OAT conversion scale that I found somewhere else on this forum.
 
I would say every section (except QR) was similar to my actual OAT score (approximately +/- 10 to 20 points in every section). QR was way too easy in mometrix compared to my actual OAT. I recommend getting it if you need extra resources to practice timing, especially for reading comprehension. The book includes detailed explanations for each question/answer after each test. Compared to the Kaplan practice test, mometrix was definitely easier.

Keep in mind that the mometrix practice exams booklet doesn't include a scale to convert your raw score into the standardized score out of 400. I used the ADA OAT conversion scale that I found somewhere else on this forum.
Ok great. I was so worried that It would be either overly complicated or simple and I would just waste my time with it. I actually already have it but the only thing is, it's from 2013. I guess I'm just kinda hoping that they don't change much with their new editions. My exam is less than 2 weeks from today and I want a good representation of where I stand but I hear mixed reviews on all of the other practice tests out there so I'm glad I found this one. I'll keep in mind the QR subject! Thank you :)
 
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Ok great. I was so worried that It would be either overly complicated or simple and I would just waste my time with it. I actually already have it but the only thing is, it's from 2013. I guess I'm just kinda hoping that they don't change much with their new editions. My exam is less than 2 weeks from today and I want a good representation of where I stand but I hear mixed reviews on all of the other practice tests out there so I'm glad I found this one. I'll keep in mind the QR subject! Thank you :)
No problem! Keep in mind that everyone's actual OAT is a different set of generated questions, so there will always be mixed reviews on which practice test is more reflective to their actual scores. Good luck on your OAT! :)
 
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