oatbreakdown
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Hi everyone! I took my OAT last week and wanted to reflect on it. I studied for 3 months, around 5-7 hours a day with frequent breaks. To study for the OAT, I mainly used OAT Booster and practiced with DAT Destroyer the last few weeks. I did all 10 Practice Exams on Booster and 2 full length exams. I strictly followed Booster’s 10-week schedule only for Phase 1 and made my own schedule for the review and practice phases, giving more time for Orgo and Physics, since I took the OAT before taking Orgo II and Physics II. I will do my best to explain how I studied for each section, so I hope this helps! I included the scores I got for each section on Booster’s Practice Exams (the first score is the diagnostic, and the last score is when I repeated the diagnostic exam in the last week). Towards the end, I did a practice exam or full length every 2 or 3 days.
Biology (380):
Booster Exam Scores: 300, 300, 340, 330, 340, 350, 340, 350, 350, 350, 370
I watched all the videos on Booster and used the Feralis notes as the main source of studying. The summary sheets for Taxonomy were helpful, and the new cheat sheets are amazing to use on your last few weeks. I also used Anki to study the Structure and Functions of Systems, which was a little overwhelming, but was helpful to study the details on the Feralis notes. I would also recommend watching the taxonomy videos and screenshotting them because the visuals on them made it easier for me to study. I also answered all the Extra Questions, which I found representative. Most of the Bio questions on my exam were systems, and very few were taxonomy and evolution questions.
General Chemistry (360):
Booster Exam Scores: 340, 370, 360, 360, 350, 340, 340, 360, 370, 370, 360
I would say that this was not my main focus because I have a solid background in Chem from taking AP Chem, which was really helpful. I still watched all of Booster’s videos, read all the notes, and answered all the Extra Questions. Some of the questions on the exam were time-consuming or hard to approach.
Organic Chemistry (350):
Booster Exam Scores: 250, 320, 340, 330, 360, 360, 330, 340, 340, 340, 360
As I mentioned before, I had to self-study the entirety of Orgo II, which was a little challenging. Again, I watched all of Booster’s videos, read all the notes, and answered some of the Extra Questions. I printed all of the Study Sheets on Booster and tried to look at all of the reactions at least twice a week after Phase 1. Making someone else quiz me on the reactions was also very helpful. Make sure you know the electron donating and withdrawing groups and if they are ortho/para or meta directors.
Reading Comprehension (350):
Booster Exam Scores: 320, 320, 350, 330, 370, 390, 390, 390, 380, 390, 380
For this section, I watched the videos for strategies and did all of Booster’s Extra Practice and Practice Exams. I practiced reading the passage in 5 minutes and answering the questions in 15 minutes. When reading, I tried to read almost every sentence, but not necessarily the entire sentence. For example, I would read the beginning of every sentence and highlight the key words, without completely reading every word. With practice, you will get a better idea of what to highlight and the questions that can be asked. It’s important to understand and highlight what each paragraph talks about, so that you can easily go to the specific paragraph you need to read for a question. Once I got the hang of it, I did good on Booster’s exams, but I think the structure of the passages on the actual exam was slightly tricky in that the information was scattered rather than having a specific main idea in every paragraph, which made me get a slightly lower grade. Most of the questions are directly from the passage, but the idea of this section is to answer all questions within the given time.
Physics (360):
Booster Exam Scores: 270, 290, 240, 270, 290, 310, 290, 300, 310, 280, 350
Don’t get discouraged if you don’t do so great on Booster’s exams! I would say that this is the section that was least representative by Booster. The conceptual questions involved simpler concepts than on Booster’s exams. Again, I had to self-study Physics II on my own. The Extra Questions were helpful, but not all chapters had them before I took the exam, but I think all chapters have them now. I did not have much practice to do, so I kept repeating the Practice Exams. Most importantly, I had a formula sheet from when I took Physics I, and I added all the formulas for Physics II and any new formulas I encountered when practicing. It’s also important to be able to identify the equation you need for each question, and how to manipulate it to answer the question.
Quantitative Reasoning (330):
Booster Exam Scores: 290, 310, 290, 330, 380, 370, 340, 380, 380, 400, 330
I was a little disappointed by my score for this section, as I was doing a lot better on Booster’s Practice Exams. I partially blame my test anxiety for this because there were questions that I knew how to answer, but I just blanked on. Practice and time management are key in this section. Make sure that you practice with the Extra Questions until you get the hang of it and then move on to the timed Practice Exams to get used to the time restraint.
AA Booster Scores: 300, 320, 320, 330, 350, 350, 340, 350, 360, 360, 360
Don’t worry about the structure of the exam because features such as the highlight option, reviewing unmarked questions, the time remaining indicator, etc. on the exam were all very similar to Booster’s. Overall, give yourselves breaks and don’t panic! If you put enough effort and time, you will get the results you want. Best of luck and let me know if you have any questions.
Biology (380):
Booster Exam Scores: 300, 300, 340, 330, 340, 350, 340, 350, 350, 350, 370
I watched all the videos on Booster and used the Feralis notes as the main source of studying. The summary sheets for Taxonomy were helpful, and the new cheat sheets are amazing to use on your last few weeks. I also used Anki to study the Structure and Functions of Systems, which was a little overwhelming, but was helpful to study the details on the Feralis notes. I would also recommend watching the taxonomy videos and screenshotting them because the visuals on them made it easier for me to study. I also answered all the Extra Questions, which I found representative. Most of the Bio questions on my exam were systems, and very few were taxonomy and evolution questions.
General Chemistry (360):
Booster Exam Scores: 340, 370, 360, 360, 350, 340, 340, 360, 370, 370, 360
I would say that this was not my main focus because I have a solid background in Chem from taking AP Chem, which was really helpful. I still watched all of Booster’s videos, read all the notes, and answered all the Extra Questions. Some of the questions on the exam were time-consuming or hard to approach.
Organic Chemistry (350):
Booster Exam Scores: 250, 320, 340, 330, 360, 360, 330, 340, 340, 340, 360
As I mentioned before, I had to self-study the entirety of Orgo II, which was a little challenging. Again, I watched all of Booster’s videos, read all the notes, and answered some of the Extra Questions. I printed all of the Study Sheets on Booster and tried to look at all of the reactions at least twice a week after Phase 1. Making someone else quiz me on the reactions was also very helpful. Make sure you know the electron donating and withdrawing groups and if they are ortho/para or meta directors.
Reading Comprehension (350):
Booster Exam Scores: 320, 320, 350, 330, 370, 390, 390, 390, 380, 390, 380
For this section, I watched the videos for strategies and did all of Booster’s Extra Practice and Practice Exams. I practiced reading the passage in 5 minutes and answering the questions in 15 minutes. When reading, I tried to read almost every sentence, but not necessarily the entire sentence. For example, I would read the beginning of every sentence and highlight the key words, without completely reading every word. With practice, you will get a better idea of what to highlight and the questions that can be asked. It’s important to understand and highlight what each paragraph talks about, so that you can easily go to the specific paragraph you need to read for a question. Once I got the hang of it, I did good on Booster’s exams, but I think the structure of the passages on the actual exam was slightly tricky in that the information was scattered rather than having a specific main idea in every paragraph, which made me get a slightly lower grade. Most of the questions are directly from the passage, but the idea of this section is to answer all questions within the given time.
Physics (360):
Booster Exam Scores: 270, 290, 240, 270, 290, 310, 290, 300, 310, 280, 350
Don’t get discouraged if you don’t do so great on Booster’s exams! I would say that this is the section that was least representative by Booster. The conceptual questions involved simpler concepts than on Booster’s exams. Again, I had to self-study Physics II on my own. The Extra Questions were helpful, but not all chapters had them before I took the exam, but I think all chapters have them now. I did not have much practice to do, so I kept repeating the Practice Exams. Most importantly, I had a formula sheet from when I took Physics I, and I added all the formulas for Physics II and any new formulas I encountered when practicing. It’s also important to be able to identify the equation you need for each question, and how to manipulate it to answer the question.
Quantitative Reasoning (330):
Booster Exam Scores: 290, 310, 290, 330, 380, 370, 340, 380, 380, 400, 330
I was a little disappointed by my score for this section, as I was doing a lot better on Booster’s Practice Exams. I partially blame my test anxiety for this because there were questions that I knew how to answer, but I just blanked on. Practice and time management are key in this section. Make sure that you practice with the Extra Questions until you get the hang of it and then move on to the timed Practice Exams to get used to the time restraint.
AA Booster Scores: 300, 320, 320, 330, 350, 350, 340, 350, 360, 360, 360
Don’t worry about the structure of the exam because features such as the highlight option, reviewing unmarked questions, the time remaining indicator, etc. on the exam were all very similar to Booster’s. Overall, give yourselves breaks and don’t panic! If you put enough effort and time, you will get the results you want. Best of luck and let me know if you have any questions.
