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- Mar 30, 2015
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- Pre-Optometry
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Hello!! I just took my OAT.....literally a couple of hours ago! I was addicted to this forum all the way up until test day so here is my experience!
Cracking (3 days b4)/Actual:
BIO 360/ 360
CHM 310/360
OCHEM 330/340
RCOMP 340/330
PHY 270 D:/310
QR 300/310
TS ---/350
AA---/340
So i was the most anxious person ever for this exam! I struggled with physics, quant, chm, and ochem sections....so i was very nervous preparing for this! I had been enrolled in kaplan course from jan-april......i do not recommend. I didn't really learn anything useful, they just give a good outline of what is on the exam. My study supplies were Chads videos, kaplan book, princeton review and princeton practice tests. I really started studying in May to test day (4 hours a day for 4 days a week) after passively studying from jan-april (like 3 hrs once a week lol). FYI kaplan is harder than the real thing..especially in physics and geh chem, so dont let that discourage you! But i felt the princeton review practice tests were somewhat easier, especially on bio.
BIO:
For biology I didn't do much, I am a bio major so I felt pretty comfortable with most of the material. I read over kaplan book chapters that i was more foggy on. I had more background than most on plants and developmental tho from being an intro to bio tutor...so definitely spend time on that if you arent comfortable! On the actual exam, it was a lot harder than i anticipated! The questions were NOT written in a very straightforward manner which I struggled with. A lot of it I felt like i did not know, but i guess i did! Go with your gut on these! There was everything on there from genetics, developmental, plants, I felt like I had a lot on chromosomes and meiosis/mitosis.
CHM:
Used Chad's videos as my only source of content. I supplemented that with kaplan review questions and and chads quizzes. For exam...know everything that Chad tells you... only advice I can give. I made tons of flashcards off of his videos for this one and studied them daily! It was very conceptual with very little calculations!
OCHEM:
Bleh. I got an A in the class during undergrad by the skin of my teeth..but that was a couple years ago and I never looked at ochem again. I also DID NOT TAKE OCHEM 2!! It is definitely not necessary to understand the concepts but it might be helpful! I used chads videos and supplemented with kaplan review and chads quizzes. I also memorized all the equations on Chad's reactions sheet. This one was easier than i expected, reactions were basic and questions were straightforward. Know what reaction are antimarkovnikov and stuff life that!
RC:
did nothing for this. The writing down one or two words from each paragraph during the exam was really helpful to make an "outline".
PHY:
Another bleh. I had just taking physics I and II the previous year so everything was still somewhat fresh which helped a lot. I used Chad videos at first. But I did not feel good about it so i bought OAT princeton review and felt a lot better!! Everything was on here...like 1 or 2 questions on each topic! Forces and such were really dominant tho. When taking it i thought i would score a lot better than i did! So if you are studying and you think you got it down...study some more!
QR:
This was the worst....I hate math. I dont care how easy it is for some people, it is difficult for me to understand the questions and I seem to get lost trying to figure out where to begin. I spent the least amount of time on this subject and I wish i spent more! Lots and lots of practice problems is the best advice. Chads videos on quant are really helpful too! but just practice and practice so you can see a question and know exactly what you have to do to solve. I guessed on A LOT of these...the time crunch was real pain!
My physics and quant scores arent the best, but i am really happy with the outcome! preparing for this was very nerve racking and I am happy to be done! Definitely do practice tests,those really help you get in the mindset! Feel free to ask any questions!
Cracking (3 days b4)/Actual:
BIO 360/ 360
CHM 310/360
OCHEM 330/340
RCOMP 340/330
PHY 270 D:/310
QR 300/310
TS ---/350
AA---/340
So i was the most anxious person ever for this exam! I struggled with physics, quant, chm, and ochem sections....so i was very nervous preparing for this! I had been enrolled in kaplan course from jan-april......i do not recommend. I didn't really learn anything useful, they just give a good outline of what is on the exam. My study supplies were Chads videos, kaplan book, princeton review and princeton practice tests. I really started studying in May to test day (4 hours a day for 4 days a week) after passively studying from jan-april (like 3 hrs once a week lol). FYI kaplan is harder than the real thing..especially in physics and geh chem, so dont let that discourage you! But i felt the princeton review practice tests were somewhat easier, especially on bio.
BIO:
For biology I didn't do much, I am a bio major so I felt pretty comfortable with most of the material. I read over kaplan book chapters that i was more foggy on. I had more background than most on plants and developmental tho from being an intro to bio tutor...so definitely spend time on that if you arent comfortable! On the actual exam, it was a lot harder than i anticipated! The questions were NOT written in a very straightforward manner which I struggled with. A lot of it I felt like i did not know, but i guess i did! Go with your gut on these! There was everything on there from genetics, developmental, plants, I felt like I had a lot on chromosomes and meiosis/mitosis.
CHM:
Used Chad's videos as my only source of content. I supplemented that with kaplan review questions and and chads quizzes. For exam...know everything that Chad tells you... only advice I can give. I made tons of flashcards off of his videos for this one and studied them daily! It was very conceptual with very little calculations!
OCHEM:
Bleh. I got an A in the class during undergrad by the skin of my teeth..but that was a couple years ago and I never looked at ochem again. I also DID NOT TAKE OCHEM 2!! It is definitely not necessary to understand the concepts but it might be helpful! I used chads videos and supplemented with kaplan review and chads quizzes. I also memorized all the equations on Chad's reactions sheet. This one was easier than i expected, reactions were basic and questions were straightforward. Know what reaction are antimarkovnikov and stuff life that!
RC:
did nothing for this. The writing down one or two words from each paragraph during the exam was really helpful to make an "outline".
PHY:
Another bleh. I had just taking physics I and II the previous year so everything was still somewhat fresh which helped a lot. I used Chad videos at first. But I did not feel good about it so i bought OAT princeton review and felt a lot better!! Everything was on here...like 1 or 2 questions on each topic! Forces and such were really dominant tho. When taking it i thought i would score a lot better than i did! So if you are studying and you think you got it down...study some more!
QR:
This was the worst....I hate math. I dont care how easy it is for some people, it is difficult for me to understand the questions and I seem to get lost trying to figure out where to begin. I spent the least amount of time on this subject and I wish i spent more! Lots and lots of practice problems is the best advice. Chads videos on quant are really helpful too! but just practice and practice so you can see a question and know exactly what you have to do to solve. I guessed on A LOT of these...the time crunch was real pain!
My physics and quant scores arent the best, but i am really happy with the outcome! preparing for this was very nerve racking and I am happy to be done! Definitely do practice tests,those really help you get in the mindset! Feel free to ask any questions!
