OAT RETAKE experience dec 22 2010

[physicslover]

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So I took taking the OAT for the 2nd time. NOT happy with my scores 🙁

I dunno if it is just me but I did so much worse on the actual OAT than I did on Kaplan or my ASCO practice test. I really don't understand why and my scores are so random, that I believe this test is partially luck based on the pool of questions you receive.


My old scores

Bio 290
chem 320
physics 340
reading comp 300
qr 290
orgo 280
ts 310
aa 300

NEW SCORES

bio 300 /kaplan score 320/ asco score 320
rc 320 /kaplan score 330/ asco score 400
orgo 330/ kapan score 300/ asco score 300
qr 300/ kaplan 330/asco 350
chem 310 kaplan 290/ asco 300
phys 280 kaplan 300/ asco 300

aa 310
ts 300

as u can see there is such a great inconsistency in my scoress....which was why i was so disappointing when I was seeing my scores. Heres my 2 cents about each section

Bio
- very random questions, a picture of cells to identify, lots of taxonomy, and nothing on cell respiration/ecology/

Chem
- seemed straightforward, nothing stood out to me
- not a lot of acid base


Orgo
- cant remember this
- I thought I would totally bomb this section, I think luck was really on my side for this part

RC
- was pretty straightforward
- I definitely thought I would score higher than I did, I thought I got all the answers right :S :S but I guess not so who knows
- I actually had time left over to check over my answers too, the passages were not too bad

QR
- this was CRAZY!!
- I was guessing for sooooo many questions
- was definitely nothing like any of the practice tests I've done
- so many logs, graphing, complex alebra stuff
- there was only a few easy questions, the rest seemed more complicated
- this sections was the hardest out of all of them for me!

Physics
- i got NO kinematic questions
- all my questions were from magnetism/current/units
- I guess this is why i did poorly because I didnt focus too much on that, sighz


Anyways, what do you guys think I should do? Do you think because the section I scored under 300 in (physics) will be compared to my old score which I got 340? Or will they not care... I definitely do NOT want to retake this test because really I donnno how to study for this test. I thought I did all I could with the Kaplan materials, but it obviously was not enough or maybe I was just feeling very tired during the test itself.

Do you think my scores will allow be to get in this cycle with a 3.02 GPA 🙁 ? I'm feeling down because I really tried hard to improve myself, and I failed.

Advice to all you oat takers out there, make sure you feel ALERT during ure test, I thought i felt alert but found myself lazing out during the physics/qr part. also dont take ure practice test scores for granted :| ( although i think i may be an exception, since everyone else seems to have a consensus that they do correlate)

Any advice on next steps would be appreciated. GDLUCK TO YOU ALL

 

[iiis]

Get your application in asap if you haven't already. It just depends on the school, but I personally wouldn't worry too much about physics. I made a 280 on physics (300 the first time) and still got 4 interviews. My OAT scores were pretty mediocre and my gpa is lower than yours.

I know what you mean though. When I was taking practice tests with kaplan, I was making 330-350. My scores were definitely lower on the real test. I was really disappointed but everything worked out in the end. Good luck!

 

[opti413]

I did somewhat horribly on my second OAT as well. I managed to improve my scores in RC, QR, and Chem but Bio and physics went down a lot (Physics went from a 320--> 290). In both cases my TS was a 320 and AA was 310. It totally depends on the questions they pull because on the second test I got some weird electron micrograph image and told me to describe where I would find this kind of cell. And physics definitely had more calculation based questions than conceptual questions the second time too which is probably why my score went down.

But on the upside, I have 5 interviews lined up but I have a feeling that acceptance will depend on how well I do on the OAT. I was going to take it in a few days but decided to push it back since I managed to get sick and studying wasn't moving along very well.

So don't be too bogged down. As long as you have your application out and they know you might take it again, you might be okay. If all else fails, just call the schools and ask what they think. I called them after my first and got mixed reviews so decided to take it again, got the same TS and AA, and again got mixed reviews... so here I am again spending hours everyday on top of work and school to study and hopefully get higher scores.

Good luck!

 

[physicslover]

i really would not want to take it a third time, not because of the time and effort, but because i feel so discouraged with the unpredictability of this test, that I'm afraid i might get a lower score - _ -. Im going to call the schools and find out wt they think :| very scared..gd luck on ure OAT!