~Please Help I am Desperate~

[chachi2579]

First off who ever reads this please respond to it. I have taken the OAT for the 2nd time on January 16th-07. I took the Kaplan class last summer and took the oat and did not score above 300! Now with my Kaplan OAT book, along with the Kaplan lesson book I studied over the Christmas break for over 5 weeks intensely. I put aside the gym, my friends, and family. I worked minimum hours and dedicated myself to this test. I still was unable to get above 300. My dilemma is that my score was only 10 points higher with all this studying. I felt that the OAT test was not representative of the material I studied. Biology: This section I studied the most. I had that Kaplan book memorized. But the test was so odd, not one question on cells, muscles, anatomy, hormones etc. The questions were so weird. I only scored a 280 in this section. Also I ran out of time on the Reading Comp and had to Christmas tree the last 10. I did well in Organic scoring a 330. But my overall score was 280. I have been a licensed optician for 9 years. I now have every class that I need to get into Optometry school. All I want in life is to be and O.D. my GPA is a 3.0. I need to someone to give me advice on how to study or what im doing wrong…I’m so exhausted from this test. I am just really bummed out about this. If anyone thinks they can lend me some good advice, or some study tips or anything I am willing to listen. I do not want to be an optician my whole life. PLEASE HELP ME!!!
THANKS Chachi

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[100895]

i'm taking the oat for the second time in feb and honestly im afraid of that happening to me as well. i did horrible the first time and as much as i study now im scared i wont improve by much which really sucks. how did you study the second time around?

GOODLUCK!

 

[vc84]

First off who ever reads this please respond to it. I have taken the OAT for the 2nd time on January 16th-07. I took the Kaplan class last summer and took the oat and did not score above 300! Now with my Kaplan OAT book, along with the Kaplan lesson book I studied over the Christmas break for over 5 weeks intensely. I put aside the gym, my friends, and family. I worked minimum hours and dedicated myself to this test. I still was unable to get above 300. My dilemma is that my score was only 10 points higher with all this studying. I felt that the OAT test was not representative of the material I studied. Biology: This section I studied the most. I had that Kaplan book memorized. But the test was so odd, not one question on cells, muscles, anatomy, hormones etc. The questions were so weird. I only scored a 280 in this section. Also I ran out of time on the Reading Comp and had to Christmas tree the last 10. I did well in Organic scoring a 330. But my overall score was 280. I have been a licensed optician for 9 years. I now have every class that I need to get into Optometry school. All I want in life is to be and O.D. my GPA is a 3.0. I need to someone to give me advice on how to study or what im doing wrong…I'm so exhausted from this test. I am just really bummed out about this. If anyone thinks they can lend me some good advice, or some study tips or anything I am willing to listen. I do not want to be an optician my whole life. PLEASE HELP ME!!!
THANKS Chachi

I'm sorry it didnt go well ...hopefully someone has some advice on what to do differently b/c I myself am going to be taking it soon for the first time and now im actually really worried b/c I took the Kaplan class and I am studying from only those materials as well. also did u take the practice kaplan tests/subject tests?

 

[chachi2579]

Well I studied for 5 weeks. I did about 12 hrs straight for 4-5 days on one subject. Then moved on to the next subject. Then I did practice tests and note cards provided by Kaplan. That was my stratigy but dont follow obviously it failed me. Hope you have better success. Wish you all the luck.

 

[pienfoo]

hello!

i believe that a big factor in oat is luck too, of course u can't really count on that, but perhaps you got the tests that didn't test you on stuff you know well. maybe you're so nervous you forgot your info. i was sorta shaking and felt like barfing before I went in, but i ate fruit.. maybe... it's the fruit. best of luck to you!!!

ps. people got in with 300s... i would apply anyway esp when you've been doing 9 years of optometry related work.

 

[Insomnia23]

I just took the test and improved in almost all sections. 1/12/06
and took it today well yesterday 1/18/07

http://www.testprepreview.com/dat_practice.htm
The DAT is very similar to the OAT.
I used these to help me learn material... basically studied the bio stuff (not much help) and practiced Math, RC, and chem.
I looked at the answers with the questions and went through fairly quickly.

So the test starts out with Biology section and basically that section is the toughest... you either know it or you don't. Simple as that. You have to stick with your first answer... I remember the very first question when did Earth first begin or something like that. I had no idea so I totally guessed and guessed right according to wikipedia it began 4.55 billion years ago. Anyways don't waste time guessing or whatever just keep moving. I agree they had totally random, non representative questions but hey can do anything about it so keep moving on. 320 (improved 30)

Gen chem was exactly as expected which was the only section I didn't improve on. Sadly enough its my major so I didn't study much either. I would like a review of the test to tell me which questions I missed and stuff but thats not going to happen. I will say these test are designed to provide answers that may seem correct with a slight error. I make sure to look at all the options and pic closest to my predetermined (if not present) answer. 340

Ochem was pretty typical but with some review of the reactions and a solid chem background it wasn't too bad. Look over your text and do sample problems from the website and kaplan book. 350 ( improved 30)

I had a break so I relaxed for about 15 min before I went on to the RC. I suggest never going back and checking previously answered questions unless it was a total guess and you marked them. Don't look at unmarked questions.

So Im ready and pumped for the RC section and use a much better strategy. Before I actually read the entire thing and had very little time to answer. This time I went straight to the questions and then looked for the answers. Reading the first paragraph gave me an idea but the first sentence of each paragraph is what they talk about throughout the rest of the paragraph. So I took the major words from the question and tried to find them in the article. After finding the word/s I did read a little enough to answer the question then moved on. The questions which required to read the entire article I marked and guessed then came back after all other questions. Sometimes I was confident in my guess so i didn't feel like marking the question. (what sounded the best) RC is the section were background and interest comes into play. I had one essay about crocks so I was very interested. 320 (improved 40)

TAKE advantage of your break. I walked around and chatted with the test administrator lady. Then returned after 10 min.

I felt like the test was over. Very happy about my RC. so I returned with Confidence.

THe physics section had so many questions about friction with the ground and F=ma and simple velocity acceloration problems.

A bungy jumper bounces back up after diving toward the ground. What was his velocity at the bungy cords furthest displacement from normal (when the fully stretched). ZERO he's not going down or not headed up yet

pretty easy phys questions. SOME were incredibly difficult which i totally guessed. 350 (improved 20)

The quantitative reasoning was much easier. WAY LESS WORD PROBLEMS; compared to a year ago. Many advanced algebra questions. Know your algebra and use the answers to solve for the answer. KNOW how to estimate.
360 (improved 30)

TS 350 (im 20)
AA 340 (im 20)


Good luck.

 

[chrissystar]

Hey! Wow... Its an hour to my test and I just saw your post. Thanks!! I wrote the DAT a few months ago as well, so I'm hoping some of the stuff is still in my head.

I feel the butterflies!!!!!

Thanks again!

I just took the test and improved in almost all sections. 1/12/06
and took it today well yesterday 1/18/07

http://www.testprepreview.com/dat_practice.htm
The DAT is very similar to the OAT.
I used these to help me learn material... basically studied the bio stuff (not much help) and practiced Math, RC, and chem.
I looked at the answers with the questions and went through fairly quickly.

So the test starts out with Biology section and basically that section is the toughest... you either know it or you don't. Simple as that. You have to stick with your first answer... I remember the very first question when did Earth first begin or something like that. I had no idea so I totally guessed and guessed right according to wikipedia it began 4.55 billion years ago. Anyways don't waste time guessing or whatever just keep moving. I agree they had totally random, non representative questions but hey can do anything about it so keep moving on. 320 (improved 30)

Gen chem was exactly as expected which was the only section I didn't improve on. Sadly enough its my major so I didn't study much either. I would like a review of the test to tell me which questions I missed and stuff but thats not going to happen. I will say these test are designed to provide answers that may seem correct with a slight error. I make sure to look at all the options and pic closest to my predetermined (if not present) answer. 340

Ochem was pretty typical but with some review of the reactions and a solid chem background it wasn't too bad. Look over your text and do sample problems from the website and kaplan book. 350 ( improved 30)

I had a break so I relaxed for about 15 min before I went on to the RC. I suggest never going back and checking previously answered questions unless it was a total guess and you marked them. Don't look at unmarked questions.

So Im ready and pumped for the RC section and use a much better strategy. Before I actually read the entire thing and had very little time to answer. This time I went straight to the questions and then looked for the answers. Reading the first paragraph gave me an idea but the first sentence of each paragraph is what they talk about throughout the rest of the paragraph. So I took the major words from the question and tried to find them in the article. After finding the word/s I did read a little enough to answer the question then moved on. The questions which required to read the entire article I marked and guessed then came back after all other questions. Sometimes I was confident in my guess so i didn't feel like marking the question. (what sounded the best) RC is the section were background and interest comes into play. I had one essay about crocks so I was very interested. 320 (improved 40)

TAKE advantage of your break. I walked around and chatted with the test administrator lady. Then returned after 10 min.

I felt like the test was over. Very happy about my RC. so I returned with Confidence.

THe physics section had so many questions about friction with the ground and F=ma and simple velocity acceloration problems.

A bungy jumper bounces back up after diving toward the ground. What was his velocity at the bungy cords furthest displacement from normal (when the fully stretched). ZERO he's not going down or not headed up yet

pretty easy phys questions. SOME were incredibly difficult which i totally guessed. 350 (improved 20)

The quantitative reasoning was much easier. WAY LESS WORD PROBLEMS; compared to a year ago. Many advanced algebra questions. Know your algebra and use the answers to solve for the answer. KNOW how to estimate.
360 (improved 30)

TS 350 (im 20)
AA 340 (im 20)


Good luck.

 

[chachi2579]

Im taking all this in from everybody. Thanks so much, I am going take everyones advice and try to retake this damn test!!! I hope it works out better this time.. Oh by the way I had the same test with the age or the earth question I put 40 billion, I had no idea. Also had the croc passage. Unreal!

 

[chachi2579]

bio

 

[aarlan]

what state were/are you a licensed optician? Just curious.

My advice is apply anyway. If you are motivated, that will come out in an interview. You don't have to have a 400 OAT and a 4.0 to get in.

I was a licensed optician for 12 years before OD school. It doesn't help much. Your Bio degree will do more to help you in the first year than any amount of opticianry. You may have a small advantage in Optics, or if you are a contact lens fitter, you may have a small amount of ocular anatomy/background, but other than that OD is MUCH different than opticianry. I thought that my opticianry background would allow me an advantage, but it has not been the case.


Good Luck and keep with it.

AA

 

[JeffChou]

Im taking all this in from everybody. Thanks so much, I am going take everyones advice and try to retake this damn test!!! I hope it works out better this time.. Oh by the way I had the same test with the age or the earth question I put 40 billion, I had no idea. Also had the croc passage. Unreal!

I got that dumb croc passage as well!! I also got the floating pontoons passage. That was a tough one. That passage was the one that killed my score.

It must be horrible luck. Anyone who studies like that deserves a higher score. Did you feel a lot more prepared this time around? How were you doing on practice tests?
It most definitely will be harder to study for, however, if you have been out of school working for a while. More time must be spent relearning as opposed to just reviewing. My advice, just start taking full length practice tests (like oatprofessor, etc.) and pinpoint your weak areas. Just as important as knowing what you know is knowing what you don't know.
Keep studying until your practice test scores are up to your standards and then sign up for the OAT.

(also, on a side note--and may I add that I have no idea how this works--you might be able to request a regrade if you sincerely believe there is an error in grading. I hear that the chances of it are very slim and may be different now with the automated grading of the test on computer. You also have to pay for that unless they do find an error)

 

[rani82]

Oh man - now I'm getting worried - what is so difficult about this pontoon passage? Someone clue us in please

 

[Insomnia23]

The passage that killed my score was title Prions.. about PrP and scrapie disease.

***Look it up and study it a little in case you get this article on you RC section.

 

[lesset01]

haha I got the passages about the pontoons and the crocs too!!! I also had one about some neurotransmitter inhibitors....I did really well on the reading comp section though, it was my best score...380.

 

[chrissystar]

Hey - i think everyone wrote the same test. lol.

don't you think they'd be smart enough to change the questions? People can make lots of money selling OAT questions j/k

Yeah, I had the croc and prions passage too (boring!)

Im a double major in Physiology and Pharmacology. I wrote the MCAT last summer, and then the DAT in November, so a lot of the stuff was still in my head.. I got 350TS and 330AA. I know I could have done better if I had spent some more time studying (I only started two weeks before the exam)... but oh well.

I first started with practice exams, so I knew what material I had to go over/study. I would make note of everything I didnt understand and then go back and study that material. If you get something wrong, read the solution at the back of the book..... figure out why you went wrong. Spend most of your time on the topics you dont understand/need time memorizing.


GOod luck everyone!

 

[luckyfool]

Hey - i think everyone wrote the same test. lol.

don't you think they'd be smart enough to change the questions? People can make lots of money selling OAT questions j/k

Yeah, I had the croc and prions passage too (boring!)

Im a double major in Physiology and Pharmacology. I wrote the MCAT last summer, and then the DAT in November, so a lot of the stuff was still in my head.. I got 350TS and 330AA. I know I could have done better if I had spent some more time studying (I only started two weeks before the exam)... but oh well.

I first started with practice exams, so I knew what material I had to go over/study. I would make note of everything I didnt understand and then go back and study that material. If you get something wrong, read the solution at the back of the book..... figure out why you went wrong. Spend most of your time on the topics you dont understand/need time memorizing.


GOod luck everyone!

just out of curiousity, howd you do on the mcat?

 

[shirazyterp]

I am just starting to study for OAT's. I don't know how to start. Anyone have any good suggestions on what books to get? Or What courses to take? Is Kaplan the only class that offers OAT review? I heard for MCAT's it's not that usefull but what do you guys think?

A little bit about my background. I was a bio major coming out of community college with AA degree so I took pretty much most of my pre-req's there which was a while ago then I transfered to UMD and after the 1st semester of beign a NeuroPhys and my evil biochem prof who did not care to help me as I went to get help from her I was very dissapointed from the department and out of anger changed majors to public health! (maybe a stupid idea but i realized you know if I dont' do med school or optometry school well i do not wanna be a reseracher). Anyways, all these science classes I took a while ago which was about 2-3 years ago so I feel like i have forgot everything! I don't know where to start to study. I am taking physics II this semester after putting it back for about a year trying to take required classes for public health. I want to take a class but i'm not sure how good kaplan is. Can anyone tell me who has taken the class?? Is there a book or practice book i can get online to just start practicing and studying? I have most my books from biology and chem classes except general chem should I just start digging out old notes and books and study them?

Any help would be great.

B

 

[chrissystar]

just out of curiousity, howd you do on the mcat?

hey luckyfool,

i did ok on the MCAT, just average scores. (got killed in verbal though) the experience as a whole was very exhausting. i spent 4 months of my summer studying for it, and got really sick right before the exam - fever and everything. i did a lot better when i wrote the DAT.

 

[luckyfool]

hey luckyfool,

i did ok on the MCAT, just average scores. (got killed in verbal though) the experience as a whole was very exhausting. i spent 4 months of my summer studying for it, and got really sick right before the exam - fever and everything. i did a lot better when i wrote the DAT.

That's interesting. I also took the mcat and I thought it helped me a lot for the OAT. Seems like you are not sure which direction you want to go because you took 3 of the most difficult standardized exams. Have you made up your mind yet?

 

[chrissystar]

That's interesting. I also took the mcat and I thought it helped me a lot for the OAT. Seems like you are not sure which direction you want to go because you took 3 of the most difficult standardized exams. Have you made up your mind yet?

Yeah, Im heading towards optometry. I took the MCAT just because I awnted to challenge myself - and to say that I tried it.

I took the DAT.. but after I did some shadowing I realized it wasnt for me.

Both of them helped me a lot on the OAT - which is probably why I felt the best after writing the OAT.

 

[Canadian26]

I took the OAT 08/20/05 so i'll let you know what I remember. I took it on the computer. I spent maybe about 1 month on off studying for it... i made me own notes from my text books following what specific topics they covered for each section. I found that bio was more application based, where you had to integrate info, I did farely well in this section w/o taking phisyology or anat (350).

For RC and QR my only advice is practice. Im a fairly fast reader so I finished with time left in this section, if your not a fast reader and find your self pressed for time I would quickly skim the questions that are being asked first noting key words then go to the passage and read it looking for answers. Its much faster cause your primed to look for the answeres (I got a 360). QR i ran out of time, the only thing I can suggest is practice, didnt practice enough for this section I got a 330 in it believe.

I never used much of my break.. i got some water for about 5 mins thats it. I like to keep going.. but thas just me.

I did alot of practice problems... I ordered some stuff offline ( i dont remember what now), you can google practice exams. I also used my MCAT practice questions to prep. IMO more than memorizing facts, doing these practice problems really helped me. So I would encourge you to do as many as possible, espically in your weakest areas.

 

[OptoEE]

I did a lot of things that Canadian26 did. I just retook the OAT last week and improved most of my scores significantly from when I originally took it last September. When I took the OAT the first time I got QR340, RC330, BIO320, GC330, OC290, PHY330, TS330 and AA320. This last time I got QR370, RC380, BIO290, GC330, OC320, PHY380, TS330 and AA350. So all of my scores improved except that general chemistry and total sciece stayed the same and biology dropped a bit.

The most helpful tool I found this time around was called TopScore Pro for the OAT. You can find it online; it costs $50 and is comprised of 3 full exams. You can choose to take the exams in full or in parts and with or without a timer. You can also go back and review what you missed and print out the questions. This program was very helpful on physics, math and reading; moderately helpful on chemistry and organic chemstry; and not very helpful on biology. My strategy was to take the tests and look up everything that I missed or guessed at. It was pretty time consuming, but it seemed to really help. I studied for a little less than two weeks between 4 and 8 hours per day.

For both math and reading this program was very helpful in establishing a pace-setting strategy. The strategy that worked very well for me in reading was looking at the first question before starting the passage and once I came upon the answer in the material I immediately went to the next question before I continued the passage. It worked well and I even had a little time to spare. For math, pace is also a big issue. Definitely review your algebra and trig functions and when you come across a question that seems very involved, guess at an answer and mark it for later. I think there were about 5 that I guessed on throughout the test and I didn't have enough time to go back. So if I had tried to work through those, I would have sacrificed some easy questions at the end.

For physics the program was helpful also. Definitely know your kinematic equations, statics and dynamics. There were only a few electrical questions and a few thermodynamics questions and they were pretty simple (i.e. resistors in parallel, etc.). The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone on this or any physics test is to look at the units. Many times, even if you can't remember the equations, if you look at the units of the answer you can manipulate the other numbers to get those units.

For chemistry remember the thermodynamics laws, pH, Gibbs free energy, solubility product constants and 0 - 2nd order equations/half life. There were also some simple questions regarding molarity, molality and electron shells.

For organic chemistry understand isomerism and most importantly reactions. OSU has a website with e-flash cards which were very helpful. Most of the reactions seemed to be with aromatics. Also, have a basic understanding of aromaticity and resonance (4n + 2 pi electrons, etc.). There will probably also be at least on question on spectroscopy.

For biology, the TopScore Pro was not very helpful. It asked a lot of questions about different phyla which were not on the OAT. So I spent a lot of time studying things which were basically useless for this test. I agree with Canadian26 that it was more application based. Just read through the problems and eliminate what you know it can't be. Also, as people have already stated in this thread, be sure to know about the creation of the earth.

Like I said, overall TopScore was pretty helpful for most things and it is pretty cheap (especially compared to a Kaplan course). I hope this has been helpful for everyone.

 

[whacked07]

I got that dumb croc passage as well!! I also got the floating pontoons passage. That was a tough one. That passage was the one that killed my score.

It must be horrible luck. Anyone who studies like that deserves a higher score. Did you feel a lot more prepared this time around? How were you doing on practice tests?
It most definitely will be harder to study for, however, if you have been out of school working for a while. More time must be spent relearning as opposed to just reviewing. My advice, just start taking full length practice tests (like oatprofessor, etc.) and pinpoint your weak areas. Just as important as knowing what you know is knowing what you don't know.
Keep studying until your practice test scores are up to your standards and then sign up for the OAT.

(also, on a side note--and may I add that I have no idea how this works--you might be able to request a regrade if you sincerely believe there is an error in grading. I hear that the chances of it are very slim and may be different now with the automated grading of the test on computer. You also have to pay for that unless they do find an error)

i just took the OAT today for the 1st time and I too had the crocs/pontoons! Sadly, I ran out of time on the pontoons passage and had to guess the last couple of questions.

 

[diams]

Hey chachi,
I hope the advise I am going to give helps you.Well I also started witht he kaplan books...I never took the course...but I felt those books were not covering all the ground and so I bought a few exam kracker books and so when i sat for the test i felt the OAT exam was really easy.Now besides doing those practice books, i also did three online OAT format exams off the OAT software.I am done with the OATs now and quite content with my scores. I hope this helps and yeah if you want i can sell my examcracker books to you , if you want them you can ps me and i will give you the details like price and what kind of books i have and stuff.I totally believe that it was the exam crackers that helped me grasp the physics, gen chem, orgo chem concepts and yeah practice some reading comp too.

 

[whacked07]

Hey chachi,
I hope the advise I am going to give helps you.Well I also started witht he kaplan books...I never took the course...but I felt those books were not covering all the ground and so I bought a few exam kracker books and so when i sat for the test i felt the OAT exam was really easy.Now besides doing those practice books, i also did three online OAT format exams off the OAT software.I am done with the OATs now and quite content with my scores. I hope this helps and yeah if you want i can sell my examcracker books to you , if you want them you can ps me and i will give you the details like price and what kind of books i have and stuff.I totally believe that it was the exam crackers that helped me grasp the physics, gen chem, orgo chem concepts and yeah practice some reading comp too.

I used the exam kracker books as well and the 1001 questions which helped a lot. I know for sure I will take it the 2nd time around since I didn't too well and only if I knew about the exam kracker books earlier, then i think I would have scored much better taking it the 1st time around. I had taken the Kaplan course 2 years ago and felt like i had wasted my $ since it didn't help me much (but at least I got to keep the book). I also studied intensely for 5 weeks and took the test. The problem with me is that even though I studied a lot, I tend to forget things quickly. Anyone has suggestions on how to study and be able to retain information?

 

[DiamondShamrock]

The passage that killed my score was title Prions.. about PrP and scrapie disease.

***Look it up and study it a little in case you get this article on you RC section.

How is this passage compared to the prion disease passage from OAT Achiever? Is there anything similar or they're just totally different from one another?

 

[diams]

I didn't take the MCAT i just preped myself with the MCAT review books for OAT...one of my friends who is in optometry school suggested me of the MCAT books so i bought a few just to prep for the OATs...

 

[100895]

where can i find these exam kracker books?

 

[100895]

i took the oat today and also had the crocs/pontoon passages and ran out of time! it completely destroyed my score

 

[illuminate]

I found that studying with other people really helps to reinforce the information. If you have friends who are also studying for the OAT, fantastic! If you have friends studying for the MCAT, that's great too. I studied with some friends for their MCAT because the science is all the same. But instead of taking practice MCATs I would take practice OATs. It worked out pretty well. Like most people would agree, the RC was tricky. Try to find a computerized RC to practice with because it is completely different when you have a passage in front of you and you can see the whole thing than scrolling through the passage on the computer. I timed myself on practice tests until I felt comfortable with it, then scheduled a test date.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

 

[ICU23]

Illuminate,
What are your stats? (if no don't mind sharing)

 

[DiamondShamrock]

How is this passage compared to the prion disease passage from OAT Achiever? Is there anything similar or they're just totally different from one another?

Anyone know if the prion passage mentioned by insomnia is anything comparable to the one from OAT Achiever?

 

[NeverGiveUp]

Anyone know if the prion passage mentioned by insomnia is anything comparable to the one from OAT Achiever?

I didn't have this topic on my OATs; but believe Achiever's prion passage is pretty informative, other than the fact that it's pretty subject specific allowing you to be more ready for related keywords like PrP, scrapie, mad cow, MBM, ... Google the rest if need be.

 

[eyedesire]

Hi All,

I haven't read what everyone else wrote above, but this is what helped on the OAT. Know the main points of the concept, and don't worry about the details! You're not going to have a calculator, so just know the main formulas. I used ExamKracker study books and those books outline the MAIN things you need to know (not like Kaplan, which tells you every little detail.) I hardly read the Kaplan MCAT book. However, I read every single word of the Kaplan Organic Chem book and did all the practice questions (only b/c i took ochem 3 yrs ago)

ExamKrackers also have 1001 question books and they are like standalone quetions that you will encounter on the OAT. I also took my own notes on sections that I wasnt familiar with.

Also, know what your weaknesses are and focus on those, not just blindly going in and studying everything all at once. What you're not familiar with, go to your textbooks and read up on it.

I timed myself and did full OAT practice tests (Kaplan OAT), and made sure I finished all sections on time or earlier.

For the real thing, I found it much easier than the practice tests and scored about 20 points higher on the real thing for all sections.

And don't cut out your friends/family and what you normally do (maybe not as much time with them, but still see them). That will keep you relaxed and you'll learn the information thatmuch better.

For those curious, I scored 360AA 380TS.

 

[eyedesire]

I bought my examkracker books through my university, but I think they have a website and you can check out amazon.com

 

[jMoo]

i agree with all those who studied with exam krackers. i felt they were a lot more helpful than the kaplan oat review (borrowed from a friend coz i dont think the classs is worth its money). i used their bks as well as audio osmosis which i listened to while i walk everywhere. its cheesy but it helped. they're actually really expensive but my bf is taking the mcat so i borrowed them, think he got it on amazon. in addition, i took the topscore (only thing i bought), which i agree the bio was not a good representation of the real thing. on the actual, i got a lot of questions (perhaps a third) on mitosis/meiosis, so i recommend knowing that like the back of your hand. i was a bio major and sadly did the worst on that section. i didnt study it much coz i was hitting 370 on most of the practice tests; therefore it shows bio is a hard one to practice for. i also took a lot of princeton review tests since i work for them. i studied most for gchem, ochem, and phys. on topscore, i keep getting below 300 on phys, but the actual was much easier. less math more concepts so i ended up with a 360. i hope some of this helps. my scores were: bio320 gchem 340 ochem 360 phys 360 rc 330 qr 390 aa340 ts340

 

[Optiman]

Chachi, keep working towards your goal. My advice is to take as many practice tests as you can to complement your studying. These standardized tests are about as much about test taking skills as about knowledge. Make sure you do the practice tests in a timed setting. Learn to eliminate incorrect answers as much as choosing the correct answer. (If 4 of 5 answers do one thing and the fourth the opposite, you dont even have to look at the question practically, etc).

Please read my thread (its a bit old now so page down) on test taking skills for the oat in the OAT Discussions section. Look for one by Optiman.

I am also a licensed Optician, however, unlike the other poster I have found my proffessional knowledge to be a huge boost in OD school so far. Optics (a joke for me) and Optometric Theory and Methods classes were much easier for me than my classmates. However, not all opticians are trained equally. Additionally, real world common sense gives you a big plus over the young kids.

Good luck and dont give up.