OptEd test

[SCTROJANS]

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First of all I was wondering how many semesters of Ochem are needed to do well on the Ochem section of the OAT. I kind of want to take it over winter break, but will have only have taken one semester of Ochem.

I actually just took two parts of the OAT (Biology and QRT) blindly with no studying. I took a year of biology this year and it covered almost every question on the Opted test, sadly I forgot a lot of it and ended up with a 23 raw score which converted to a 310 (can anyone confirm if the opted conversion chart is correct - it seems lenient since even though I sucked i managed to get what the old average was).

For the QRT I got a 37 raw score and apparently that was good enough for a 400. I'm kind of confused as although I did not study and did really bad I ended up with half way decent scores.

My most urgent question is if I will be alright if I for the most part self study for the other 3 Science sections and RC. Has anyone done this and done well? If so how did you study? I just bought Examcrackers for the MCAT and the Kaplan OAT book as I heard both worked well for people on SDN.

Thanks!

 

[mvd]

I was in a similar situation as you when I was preparing for the OAT. I was actually only 1/2 way though OChem 1 and hadn't taken Bio 2 yet. As for General Chem 1 and 2, I took those 2 years ago.

I spent about 3 weeks self-studying after work in the evenings. I used examkrackers Chemistry, Physics and Biology, and the 1001 Questions that goes with them. I thought the 1001 Questions books were good preparation for the multiple choice questions on the OAT. I hadn't taken covered any of the human systems (circulatory, respiratiory, etc) yet, but relied primarily on the information in the Examkracker Biology book and the DAT review book(this book reviews the science topic in addition to practice tests, unlike the Kaplan OAT book). Keep in mind that there are a few topics on the OAT that aren't covered in on the MCAT, so you won't find them in the ExamKrackers books. Also, I think the DAT Organic Chemistry review was more helpful than the examkrackers one.

In addition to reviewing these books, I also used the OAT Achiever software, which was very helpful, and helped me see where I was making progress, and where I still needed refinement. To me the OAT Acheiver tests seems quite a bit harder to me than the actual OAT, but they definetly provide good preparation.

Anyway, like I said, I spent about 3-4 weeks preparing, and was in the same situation as you and scored TS 370 and AA 360. As for Organic Chem, I scored a 390 with mostly self-study so it can definitely be done. Good luck!

 

[SCTROJANS]

Thanks!!!

In addition, I was wondering how not taking a good amount of the pre-reqs prio to applying to optometry school will affect my shot of getting in. I will probably have a 3.45 Overall GPA and a 3.4 Science GPA. As for the OAT, I feel confident I can get at least a 330-340 AA.

Thanks again!