OAT scoring scale

[jroberts]

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I thought I read somewhere that the OAT scores are from 200-400 and that 300 is considered "average" or the top of the bell curve, akin to a 100 score on an IQ test. If that's the case, why is the avg OAT score so low for most schools? PCO, Western, and a few others have scores right around 300. Isn't this just "average"?

 

[PinkCupcake]

Not exactly. Most schools use the 300 as a cut-off for viable candidates because it's unlikely a candidate will be able to handle the material in optometry school if they can't manage to meet the 'average' score for the OAT. Achieving over a 300 in each category is a difficult feat and any person who can do this is hardly average.

 

[jroberts]

Maybe I just guessed really well, but I thought the OAT was pretty easy compared to the MCAT I took a few years ago. I have a feeling that undergraduate major has a large influence on OAT scores. I am a chem major with a physics minor so the GC, OC, Phys sections were the ones I thought I'd do best on. It turns out they were my worst (400, 340, 340) and the bio, rc, qr were my best (390, 400, 380).

I have only taken 1 semester of college biology so I really have no idea how that wasn't my worst subject. I wish I could see my raw scores... I think a 340 in physics really means that I got about 70% of the questions right which doesn't seem so good when you look at it that way.

Are most optom applicants biology majors?

 

[Tonometry]

an overwhelming portion of pre-opts are bio majors. In terms of MCAT vs OAT, the OAT is significantly easier than the MCAT. The OAT is comparable to the DAT.

When you finished your exam, did you have a chance to look at unofficial report that they gave to you when you left? It should have the percentile you are in within that OAT, and that will give a better look at where you stand.

In either way, what seems good is how you compare to the other people who have applied to the school your looking for, and with that OAT you better than the most.

Why schools have such low OAT averages? I like to think of it as there are two type of student, one who do really well in OAT and not so good in GPA or one who does really well in GPA and not so good in OAT.

Lastly, compare to Dental and Medical, Optometry is as not as competitive, theres not much interests in our field of healthcare due to 1) Our lower income 2) We are not as needed as say medical drs hence our significantly smaller applicant pool vs the other health fields.

Just my two cents =)