I recently took the OAT and I am very happy with my score. I know the process of studying for the OAT can be very overwhelming and tiring, so I wanted to share my experience in case others are looking for a little bit of guidance.
Some background, I am a rising senior majoring in neuroscience and psychology. I had completed all my pre-requisites at the time of taking the OAT as well. I chose to take it the summer before my senior year so that I could really focus on the OAT. I was also working, but my main priority was studying. I took about 8 weeks to study before the exam, starting right at the end of my junior year.
Study Materials:
OAT Booster-10/10
This was the main resource that I used for studying for all sections. I chose to use OAT Booster because I liked how many practice questions/tests were available, and cost was a big factor for me. I did not want to break the bank on test prep service after paying a significant amount for the test. I read up on service a lot and explored the free version prior to purchasing. I also am the President of my pre-optometry club, and one of their representatives hosted a zoom meeting with our club and raved about her experience with OAT Booster. I found the practice questions to be really on par with the actual exam. I had read a lot saying that people found the actual OAT Physics and QR sections to be easier than OAT Booster’s practice. I found the physics section to be a lot easier, but QR was pretty on par to me as well. I wish that OAT Booster had finished updating their physics section before I started to study with it. The physics videos would’ve been really helpful, but all the questions just said, “video coming soon.” So, if you are studying later, I’m sure these videos will make it an even better resource.
Chad’s Physics Videos-7/10
I supplemented studying for the physics section with Chad’s Videos. I only used the free videos on the YouTube page. They were well organized and there was a wealth of information and example problems. I found his videos on mechanics and forces to be more helpful than the later chapter videos, like the ones on electrical fields and circuits. Overall, I think it helped me review some things, but I think I could have sufficed without it.
ADA Practice Exam-6/10
I took the 2006 ADA official practice OAT about a week and a half before my test. I wanted to check to see how the OAT Booster practice exam scores I was getting compared with another practice test. This practice exam was slightly easier than the OAT Booster exams. I found it to be a decent representation of the actual OAT, although it is very old now, so it doesn’t include a lot of the updated information.
Preparation:
The first two weeks of my studying, I reviewed everything. I took about a week to go through all of the biology notes, then about a week to go through general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics. I made flashcards along the way for all of the key vocabulary (especially for biology) and the key equations and formulas. After I completed this, I took my first practice exam to see where I was at. I identified my weakest points-organic chemistry, physics, and the very specific things I needed to review for QR. I reviewed the videos I needed to for QR, as this seemed the easiest place to start. I then buckled down on organic chemistry and physics. I practiced my organic flashcards for the reactions at least 4 times a week. I wrote out all the physics equations with the defined variables and taped them to my wall above my desk so I could always see them. While doing this, I tried to stay fresh on biology too, reviewing my vocab flashcards every day, a few sets a day. I worked through all the extra practice questions for physics and organic. This took about 3 weeks. I also tried to take a full-length practice exam at least once a week for those 3 weeks. I reviewed Chad’s physics videos and took some notes over the practice problems in those videos. In the last three weeks, I took the individual practice exams for organic chemistry and physics. I did every physics practice exam and almost every organic chemistry one, while also keeping up on my flashcards.
Something I found helpful was separately organizing the questions I missed. I created an excel document for each section subject and different tabs with where the question came from (which practice exam). After I took any practice exam or went through extra practice questions, I would go back through all the questions that I missed and put them into the excel document. I categorized them by topic, put the question, the correct answer, and the reason why it was the correct answer. This organized all the questions I missed really well so I could revisit them later. I looked over these documents the week before my exam.
Scores:
Biology 360
Really focus on breath, not depth, like OAT Booster says. I found it really helpful that I had already taken an anatomy and biochemistry course. You could not have taken these and do just fine, but it meant less energy I had to put into studying those topics. The biochemistry was pretty basic. I would highly, highly recommend taking anatomy. It was a huge portion of my test and all my practice tests, and I had to study it a lot even though I had taken an anatomy course already. It’s just a massive amount of information. Taxonomy and plants appeared on my exam, and I was honestly not super familiar with those topics. The basic studying and vocab review that I did helped with this anyways, questions were not too in depth.
General Chemistry 400
I tutored general chemistry for 3 semesters and that is definitely what helped me the most in this section. I barely studied for this section, but make sure to review periodic trends and the equations. This section of the OAT was not bad and some of the calculations you don’t even have to do, just set them up.
Organic Chemistry 310
This section is incredibly reaction heavy. If you know your reactions and the basic concepts, you will do super well. I was a little rusty on my reactions because I spent too much time focusing on physics. I would suggest reviewing the reactions extensively, no matter how tiring, and review lots of different examples of the reactions too, not just the ones off the reaction sheet that OAT Booster has.
Reading Comprehension 400
The passages were really straightforward, the questions were really straightforward. I found the actual OAT passages to be easier than the OAT Booster passages as well. I was short on time taking OAT Booster practice exams but finished early on the actual OAT.
Physics 380
I was really shocked by this score, physics was not my favorite STEM course, and I especially struggled in physics II. The OAT had a lot more physics I information (mechanics, forces, vectors) and a lot less of physics II (electric fields, circuits). The biggest physics II topic was light and optics. If you know lenses and light equations, you will be fine here. Know your equations and be good at manipulating equations to get other equations with variables, like with forces and analyzing free body diagrams.
Quantitative Reasoning 380
There were several questions I had never seen examples of before. I flagged those and did everything I could first. I was able to bank some time and go back to the harder problems and do trial and error. It took way more time than if I knew the direct way to solve the problem, but it worked out fine. I finished this section with only around a minute to spare. I’m not sure if it was just my computer, but this section of the exam was lagging a lot, it took a lot of time to advance to the next question, especially if I didn’t close out of the calculator window first.
Extra Advice
I was incredibly burned out by the end. I did not study 8 hours a day for 8 weeks, but I hit it really heavy at the beginning and got really tired at the end. Try to space things evenly, you will feel the burnout at some point. I took a few days off, and would feel guilty for not studying, but the days off are necessary. Additionally, I was expecting to be given paper and a pen or pencil for the exam, but I got laminated pieces of paper and a dry erase marker. It was not a huge deal, but I was not expecting it and I wasn’t allowed to erase anything off the pages.
Some background, I am a rising senior majoring in neuroscience and psychology. I had completed all my pre-requisites at the time of taking the OAT as well. I chose to take it the summer before my senior year so that I could really focus on the OAT. I was also working, but my main priority was studying. I took about 8 weeks to study before the exam, starting right at the end of my junior year.
Study Materials:
OAT Booster-10/10
This was the main resource that I used for studying for all sections. I chose to use OAT Booster because I liked how many practice questions/tests were available, and cost was a big factor for me. I did not want to break the bank on test prep service after paying a significant amount for the test. I read up on service a lot and explored the free version prior to purchasing. I also am the President of my pre-optometry club, and one of their representatives hosted a zoom meeting with our club and raved about her experience with OAT Booster. I found the practice questions to be really on par with the actual exam. I had read a lot saying that people found the actual OAT Physics and QR sections to be easier than OAT Booster’s practice. I found the physics section to be a lot easier, but QR was pretty on par to me as well. I wish that OAT Booster had finished updating their physics section before I started to study with it. The physics videos would’ve been really helpful, but all the questions just said, “video coming soon.” So, if you are studying later, I’m sure these videos will make it an even better resource.
Chad’s Physics Videos-7/10
I supplemented studying for the physics section with Chad’s Videos. I only used the free videos on the YouTube page. They were well organized and there was a wealth of information and example problems. I found his videos on mechanics and forces to be more helpful than the later chapter videos, like the ones on electrical fields and circuits. Overall, I think it helped me review some things, but I think I could have sufficed without it.
ADA Practice Exam-6/10
I took the 2006 ADA official practice OAT about a week and a half before my test. I wanted to check to see how the OAT Booster practice exam scores I was getting compared with another practice test. This practice exam was slightly easier than the OAT Booster exams. I found it to be a decent representation of the actual OAT, although it is very old now, so it doesn’t include a lot of the updated information.
Preparation:
The first two weeks of my studying, I reviewed everything. I took about a week to go through all of the biology notes, then about a week to go through general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics. I made flashcards along the way for all of the key vocabulary (especially for biology) and the key equations and formulas. After I completed this, I took my first practice exam to see where I was at. I identified my weakest points-organic chemistry, physics, and the very specific things I needed to review for QR. I reviewed the videos I needed to for QR, as this seemed the easiest place to start. I then buckled down on organic chemistry and physics. I practiced my organic flashcards for the reactions at least 4 times a week. I wrote out all the physics equations with the defined variables and taped them to my wall above my desk so I could always see them. While doing this, I tried to stay fresh on biology too, reviewing my vocab flashcards every day, a few sets a day. I worked through all the extra practice questions for physics and organic. This took about 3 weeks. I also tried to take a full-length practice exam at least once a week for those 3 weeks. I reviewed Chad’s physics videos and took some notes over the practice problems in those videos. In the last three weeks, I took the individual practice exams for organic chemistry and physics. I did every physics practice exam and almost every organic chemistry one, while also keeping up on my flashcards.
Something I found helpful was separately organizing the questions I missed. I created an excel document for each section subject and different tabs with where the question came from (which practice exam). After I took any practice exam or went through extra practice questions, I would go back through all the questions that I missed and put them into the excel document. I categorized them by topic, put the question, the correct answer, and the reason why it was the correct answer. This organized all the questions I missed really well so I could revisit them later. I looked over these documents the week before my exam.
Scores:
Biology 360
Really focus on breath, not depth, like OAT Booster says. I found it really helpful that I had already taken an anatomy and biochemistry course. You could not have taken these and do just fine, but it meant less energy I had to put into studying those topics. The biochemistry was pretty basic. I would highly, highly recommend taking anatomy. It was a huge portion of my test and all my practice tests, and I had to study it a lot even though I had taken an anatomy course already. It’s just a massive amount of information. Taxonomy and plants appeared on my exam, and I was honestly not super familiar with those topics. The basic studying and vocab review that I did helped with this anyways, questions were not too in depth.
General Chemistry 400
I tutored general chemistry for 3 semesters and that is definitely what helped me the most in this section. I barely studied for this section, but make sure to review periodic trends and the equations. This section of the OAT was not bad and some of the calculations you don’t even have to do, just set them up.
Organic Chemistry 310
This section is incredibly reaction heavy. If you know your reactions and the basic concepts, you will do super well. I was a little rusty on my reactions because I spent too much time focusing on physics. I would suggest reviewing the reactions extensively, no matter how tiring, and review lots of different examples of the reactions too, not just the ones off the reaction sheet that OAT Booster has.
Reading Comprehension 400
The passages were really straightforward, the questions were really straightforward. I found the actual OAT passages to be easier than the OAT Booster passages as well. I was short on time taking OAT Booster practice exams but finished early on the actual OAT.
Physics 380
I was really shocked by this score, physics was not my favorite STEM course, and I especially struggled in physics II. The OAT had a lot more physics I information (mechanics, forces, vectors) and a lot less of physics II (electric fields, circuits). The biggest physics II topic was light and optics. If you know lenses and light equations, you will be fine here. Know your equations and be good at manipulating equations to get other equations with variables, like with forces and analyzing free body diagrams.
Quantitative Reasoning 380
There were several questions I had never seen examples of before. I flagged those and did everything I could first. I was able to bank some time and go back to the harder problems and do trial and error. It took way more time than if I knew the direct way to solve the problem, but it worked out fine. I finished this section with only around a minute to spare. I’m not sure if it was just my computer, but this section of the exam was lagging a lot, it took a lot of time to advance to the next question, especially if I didn’t close out of the calculator window first.
Extra Advice
I was incredibly burned out by the end. I did not study 8 hours a day for 8 weeks, but I hit it really heavy at the beginning and got really tired at the end. Try to space things evenly, you will feel the burnout at some point. I took a few days off, and would feel guilty for not studying, but the days off are necessary. Additionally, I was expecting to be given paper and a pen or pencil for the exam, but I got laminated pieces of paper and a dry erase marker. It was not a huge deal, but I was not expecting it and I wasn’t allowed to erase anything off the pages.
