Kyle_P4-14
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Hi everyone! I took my OAT April 17th, and I am here to breakdown what I did! Before I say the breakdown here are my score reports:
Quantitative Reasoning: 390
Reading Comprehension: 340
Biology: 380
General Chemistry: 380
Organic Chemistry: 360
Physics: 340
Total Sciences: 370
Academic Average: 370
Study Material:
I used OAT Booster and Chad’s Videos. I say that I used booster 95% of the time and Chad’s video for only 5%. I only used Chad’s video on the optics portion for physics because Booster did not provide a video lesson for that portion.
OAT BOOSTER:
Quantitative Reasoning: Booster does an excellent job explaining, breaking down and teaching you how to do the QR section. They have good, well explained step-by-step videos on how to solve each question type. They also provide a video on how to solve the problem if you get it wrong. 10/10 Rating
Reading Comprehension: During the practice test, I would score 380-400 so it was quite shocking to see how poor I did on the real exam. I think that the questions on Booster are easier and are very blatant on what is being asked. I found that on the exam, the questions required a bit more thinking as you would have to read and interpret the question and then decipher which answer best solved the question. I also found that the practice exam is the best way to study (once you’ve gotten the hang of which strategy to use), because it makes you go through three passages all at once. It simulates the real OAT the best instead of doing the extra questions. 8/10 Rating
Biology: When it comes to the biology section, I think Booster does a good job at breaking down this section. They have PLENTY of questions for each topic and are VERY in depth with all of the information that you need to know. I even noticed that some of the questions on the real OAT were similar if not the same as Boosters. 9/10 Rating
Biology Quizlet: I would definitely recommend getting Quizlet Pluz (that is if you like
typing out the answer) because it honestly helped a lot with my retention of biology topics. Reading and taking notes are great, but I learn best by continuously writing. I found that the quizlet not only satisfied my learning need, but also had all of the information necessary for the exam 10/10 Rating
General Chemistry: The questions that Booster provides are super similar to the ones on the real. That being said, I think that they do prepare you well for it. They have videos for each topic and even additional videos for questions that you got wrong. They also have questions linked at each video that I would recommend doing after you have watched it. The questions are just a good way to solidify your knowledge. The main issue that I found with booster is that some questions have heavy math calculations with big numbers that are difficult to do without a calculator. I would always think to myself “well if i had a calculator, I would have gotten it right”. On the real exam the numbers are not hard to calculate. 9/10 Rating
General Chemistry Quizlet: Don’t recommend the quizlet, I found that the questions
were mostly definitions, but the questions on the real were more about problem
Solving. Don’t waste your time on it. 5/10 rating
Organic Chemistry: Booster does a good job at organizing the videos and mechanisms/reactions needed. There are also PLENTY of practice questions too. 8/10 rating
Physics: Bad, Booster is notoriously bad, but not terrible, for the physics portion. They focus a lot of your time on equations and number relating problems. I found that on the real exam there were some equations and number-related problems but a lot of conceptual and deep understanding questions. I would honestly defer to Chad’s Videos whenever there was an area of confusion. They also did not have all of the videos posted for all of the topics, so I had to rely on the readings to get me through it. They also do not have videos for the extra problems, so you have to read instead of watching a tutorial on how to solve the problem. 6/10 Rating
Chad’s Videos:
I only used Chad’s videos for the optics portion for physics because the booster explanations did not make any sense to me. I found that the videos were great because they break everything down and are easy to understand. 10/10 Rating
Notes about Booster Program:
So I followed Booster’s 12 week program and I am glad that I did. There were times where I would spend 3-4 hours a day completing the checklist. I really like the checklist because I am terrible at making my own schedule, and it ensured that I would learn everything for the exam.
When it came to the practice test, the highest that I would score was a 350, and most of the time I scored a 330… I am confident to say that the booster questions are harder than the real ones. For the practice test after each section, there is a little break where you can adjust the time delay to on and off, just hit continue until your real 30 minute break starts to best simulate the real exam. On the real exam, the minute you end one section the next one starts until your break or the end. Only my QR was the same on the practice and the real.
Final Advice:
My advice is to start studying for the biology section ASAP! There is SOOOO much information that we are required to know for the OAT. That being said, if you are struggling to memorize all of the information, I would just know the bare minimum of each topic and then you can use the process of elimination and better your odds at selecting the right option.
My other piece of advice is to study for it as if you’re only going to take it once. While this sounds super obvious, you want this mentality and not give yourself slack because studying for the OAT SUCKS! So you might as well give it your all the first time and not have to do it all again a second time.
Quantitative Reasoning: 390
Reading Comprehension: 340
Biology: 380
General Chemistry: 380
Organic Chemistry: 360
Physics: 340
Total Sciences: 370
Academic Average: 370
Study Material:
I used OAT Booster and Chad’s Videos. I say that I used booster 95% of the time and Chad’s video for only 5%. I only used Chad’s video on the optics portion for physics because Booster did not provide a video lesson for that portion.
OAT BOOSTER:
Quantitative Reasoning: Booster does an excellent job explaining, breaking down and teaching you how to do the QR section. They have good, well explained step-by-step videos on how to solve each question type. They also provide a video on how to solve the problem if you get it wrong. 10/10 Rating
Reading Comprehension: During the practice test, I would score 380-400 so it was quite shocking to see how poor I did on the real exam. I think that the questions on Booster are easier and are very blatant on what is being asked. I found that on the exam, the questions required a bit more thinking as you would have to read and interpret the question and then decipher which answer best solved the question. I also found that the practice exam is the best way to study (once you’ve gotten the hang of which strategy to use), because it makes you go through three passages all at once. It simulates the real OAT the best instead of doing the extra questions. 8/10 Rating
Biology: When it comes to the biology section, I think Booster does a good job at breaking down this section. They have PLENTY of questions for each topic and are VERY in depth with all of the information that you need to know. I even noticed that some of the questions on the real OAT were similar if not the same as Boosters. 9/10 Rating
Biology Quizlet: I would definitely recommend getting Quizlet Pluz (that is if you like
typing out the answer) because it honestly helped a lot with my retention of biology topics. Reading and taking notes are great, but I learn best by continuously writing. I found that the quizlet not only satisfied my learning need, but also had all of the information necessary for the exam 10/10 Rating
General Chemistry: The questions that Booster provides are super similar to the ones on the real. That being said, I think that they do prepare you well for it. They have videos for each topic and even additional videos for questions that you got wrong. They also have questions linked at each video that I would recommend doing after you have watched it. The questions are just a good way to solidify your knowledge. The main issue that I found with booster is that some questions have heavy math calculations with big numbers that are difficult to do without a calculator. I would always think to myself “well if i had a calculator, I would have gotten it right”. On the real exam the numbers are not hard to calculate. 9/10 Rating
General Chemistry Quizlet: Don’t recommend the quizlet, I found that the questions
were mostly definitions, but the questions on the real were more about problem
Solving. Don’t waste your time on it. 5/10 rating
Organic Chemistry: Booster does a good job at organizing the videos and mechanisms/reactions needed. There are also PLENTY of practice questions too. 8/10 rating
Physics: Bad, Booster is notoriously bad, but not terrible, for the physics portion. They focus a lot of your time on equations and number relating problems. I found that on the real exam there were some equations and number-related problems but a lot of conceptual and deep understanding questions. I would honestly defer to Chad’s Videos whenever there was an area of confusion. They also did not have all of the videos posted for all of the topics, so I had to rely on the readings to get me through it. They also do not have videos for the extra problems, so you have to read instead of watching a tutorial on how to solve the problem. 6/10 Rating
Chad’s Videos:
I only used Chad’s videos for the optics portion for physics because the booster explanations did not make any sense to me. I found that the videos were great because they break everything down and are easy to understand. 10/10 Rating
Notes about Booster Program:
So I followed Booster’s 12 week program and I am glad that I did. There were times where I would spend 3-4 hours a day completing the checklist. I really like the checklist because I am terrible at making my own schedule, and it ensured that I would learn everything for the exam.
When it came to the practice test, the highest that I would score was a 350, and most of the time I scored a 330… I am confident to say that the booster questions are harder than the real ones. For the practice test after each section, there is a little break where you can adjust the time delay to on and off, just hit continue until your real 30 minute break starts to best simulate the real exam. On the real exam, the minute you end one section the next one starts until your break or the end. Only my QR was the same on the practice and the real.
Final Advice:
My advice is to start studying for the biology section ASAP! There is SOOOO much information that we are required to know for the OAT. That being said, if you are struggling to memorize all of the information, I would just know the bare minimum of each topic and then you can use the process of elimination and better your odds at selecting the right option.
My other piece of advice is to study for it as if you’re only going to take it once. While this sounds super obvious, you want this mentality and not give yourself slack because studying for the OAT SUCKS! So you might as well give it your all the first time and not have to do it all again a second time.
