OAT Content

[ndnutmeg]

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Ok, I just have a few questions:

Is the difficulty of the practice OAT on their website comparable to the actual exam, or is it somewhat deceptive?
In the explanations of the exam content in the guide book, it outlines the main categories for each science discipline that you should study (ex. under gen chem, it lists stoichemistry, periodic properties, etc). Do they ever throw in any questions based on a topic that they don't specifically indicate on those lists?
Which physics equations do you recommend memorizing?
If I have a 3.2 overall GPA and a 2.9 science GPA from Notre Dame, what do you honestly think that I should try to score on the OAT so I can have a legitimate shot at admission into PCO, NECO, SUNY, or Illinois? I'd like to go to Berkeley, but I don't really think I would make it.

I am really nervous about taking the test...I think I'm going to shoot for July...so any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 🙂

 

[Andy785]

I just took the OAT on Tuesday. It is not a difficult TEST... it just encompasses a lot of material. The questions themselves are very straightforward and the writers of the test are really not trying to trick you. I found that individual tests at my university were much more difficult because of the difficulty of the way the questions were written. If you understand BROAD, GENERAL topics, you should be fine. For example. in the Chem section, you don't have to SOLVE for anything, you just need to set up the work the way it can be solved. The O-Chem section is basic, and I only got maybe 6 or 7 reaction questions out of 30. The hardest section was the Bio. No matter how much you study for that section, there are so many different topics and questions they can ask you that you are almost certain not to be able to cover everything in your studies. But you will study so much stuff for biology and most of it won't even be on it. For example, I studied lots of details about hormones... not one hormone question. I studied lots about the Kidney, muscles, the brain. Nothing on any of that. If you do the Kaplan tests, you won't do as well as you will on test day because the questions are much more specific...but don't be discouraged. I couldn't get higher than a 310 on Kaplan in ANY section and I wound up with a 340 AA on the real OAT!

 

[WoodyJI]

The practice tests are usually harder than the real test. Don't be discouraged! When I took it, I was constantly scoring around 300 on the practice tests...even as low as 270 on one of them. I tried to comfort myself going in that the real thing wouldn't be as hard, and that hopefully my score would be closer to 340 or at least above 300 on every section...I ended up with a 360AA/380TS (So maybe I got lucky, but the point is, you're scores on the real test will be higher). Good luck!