Hi, I just took the OAT and am happy to share some tips.
Study materials I used
OATBooster 10/10
This is truly all you need in order to do well on the exam. The tests are highly reflective of what you'll find on the OAT. I went through all of their videos and their written notes. I only did some of the extra questions and flashcards. I also cannot comment on the cheat sheets because I made my own. I personally struggled with the unconventional topics like taxonomy, plant biology, evolutionary biology (which actually do show up on the real exam) and so the biology notes on these topics were very helpful, although many times being unnecessarily dense. Make sure to do ALL of their practice tests. I started by scoring 300-350 on the first 5 tests and was scoring between 350-370 on the last 5.
Chad’s Videos 7/10
I only purchased his practice tests. They are good practice but I still would say OAT booster is more reflective. His physics questions were too easy. Also not a very user-friendly platform. Once you do a practice test of his test and leave the link, you cannot come back and re-check where you went wrong. You have to do re-do the entire test which is super annoying. But I also only paid 20$ for them so you get what you pay for.
Kaplan Book 6/10
Really was not helpful. Very difficult to digest the content from the book and definitely NOT comprehensive. It does not go through all of the material you need to know. The only benefit I got from it were the 2 online KAPLAN tests it provides. While they were VERY difficult compared to the real OAT exam, it's great preparation. My scores for the KAPLAN tests were 310 and 350.
Some tips for each section:
Biology (scored 400): Pretty much a knowledge dump. It's a pretty overwhelming section given you can be asked about absolutely anything and there are so many chapters. I would say start with this section FIRST, then come back to it as you go through the other sections so that the information actually STAYS in your head and your brain has time to memorize it over time.
Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Physics (scored 400): Not much to say here apart from making sure you practice.
Reading Comprehension (scored 390): Ok, so I kept running out of time for this section during my practice tests. The strategy that really worked for me that I was very hesitant to try because I was so skeptical about it, was going over the questions FIRST before reading through the passage. This was a game changer. I spent 4 minutes going over the questions and making QUICK notes so I would remember. Then I spent 10 min going over the passage and highlighting anything that related to the questions. Then I spent 6 min going over the questions. Altogether 20 minutes, which is pretty much how much time you have for each passage, given 3 passages, hence 60 min. I was still pretty tight in terms of timing during the real exam, but at least I was able to reduce my stress over looking for the right answers.
Quantitative Reasoning (scored 400): I was also running out of time for this section on the practice tests. Timing is everything here so in order to speed up, keep doing practices. Also, learn to SKIP the question if you cannot solve it in 1 minute. Guess it and skip, come back to it if you have time. This is something I really had to learn to do as odd as it may sound because I am someone who does not like to give up but I found that when you come back to it, you might see it differently and realize that there is an easier way to approach it. Trust yourself to skip it.
ADA 2007 practice exam: You may have already found out that it is on the easier side of things by reading other posts, and I would agree.
Final Tip: This is critical. I refused to do this in the beginning of my prep because of how much work it felt like it would take but ended up doing it at the last minute. Make an excel of the questions you got wrong and why you got them wrong. Trust me. It might look like a lot of work but it makes the BIGGEST difference in actually IMPROVING your test scores, because you actually train your brain to not make the same mistake twice.
Some context about myself: I am not a recent grad. I graduated from my bachelors many years ago so had to literally re-learn the subjects. Anyway, if I can do it, trust me, you can too!
Study materials I used
OATBooster 10/10
This is truly all you need in order to do well on the exam. The tests are highly reflective of what you'll find on the OAT. I went through all of their videos and their written notes. I only did some of the extra questions and flashcards. I also cannot comment on the cheat sheets because I made my own. I personally struggled with the unconventional topics like taxonomy, plant biology, evolutionary biology (which actually do show up on the real exam) and so the biology notes on these topics were very helpful, although many times being unnecessarily dense. Make sure to do ALL of their practice tests. I started by scoring 300-350 on the first 5 tests and was scoring between 350-370 on the last 5.
Chad’s Videos 7/10
I only purchased his practice tests. They are good practice but I still would say OAT booster is more reflective. His physics questions were too easy. Also not a very user-friendly platform. Once you do a practice test of his test and leave the link, you cannot come back and re-check where you went wrong. You have to do re-do the entire test which is super annoying. But I also only paid 20$ for them so you get what you pay for.
Kaplan Book 6/10
Really was not helpful. Very difficult to digest the content from the book and definitely NOT comprehensive. It does not go through all of the material you need to know. The only benefit I got from it were the 2 online KAPLAN tests it provides. While they were VERY difficult compared to the real OAT exam, it's great preparation. My scores for the KAPLAN tests were 310 and 350.
Some tips for each section:
Biology (scored 400): Pretty much a knowledge dump. It's a pretty overwhelming section given you can be asked about absolutely anything and there are so many chapters. I would say start with this section FIRST, then come back to it as you go through the other sections so that the information actually STAYS in your head and your brain has time to memorize it over time.
Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Physics (scored 400): Not much to say here apart from making sure you practice.
Reading Comprehension (scored 390): Ok, so I kept running out of time for this section during my practice tests. The strategy that really worked for me that I was very hesitant to try because I was so skeptical about it, was going over the questions FIRST before reading through the passage. This was a game changer. I spent 4 minutes going over the questions and making QUICK notes so I would remember. Then I spent 10 min going over the passage and highlighting anything that related to the questions. Then I spent 6 min going over the questions. Altogether 20 minutes, which is pretty much how much time you have for each passage, given 3 passages, hence 60 min. I was still pretty tight in terms of timing during the real exam, but at least I was able to reduce my stress over looking for the right answers.
Quantitative Reasoning (scored 400): I was also running out of time for this section on the practice tests. Timing is everything here so in order to speed up, keep doing practices. Also, learn to SKIP the question if you cannot solve it in 1 minute. Guess it and skip, come back to it if you have time. This is something I really had to learn to do as odd as it may sound because I am someone who does not like to give up but I found that when you come back to it, you might see it differently and realize that there is an easier way to approach it. Trust yourself to skip it.
ADA 2007 practice exam: You may have already found out that it is on the easier side of things by reading other posts, and I would agree.
Final Tip: This is critical. I refused to do this in the beginning of my prep because of how much work it felt like it would take but ended up doing it at the last minute. Make an excel of the questions you got wrong and why you got them wrong. Trust me. It might look like a lot of work but it makes the BIGGEST difference in actually IMPROVING your test scores, because you actually train your brain to not make the same mistake twice.
Some context about myself: I am not a recent grad. I graduated from my bachelors many years ago so had to literally re-learn the subjects. Anyway, if I can do it, trust me, you can too!
