REtaking OAT

[physicslover]

Hey guys,
I will be taking the OAT for the 2nd time in a month and want to make sure im prepared this time. Last time I studied only with the Kaplan materials and their online course. I still have the Kaplan materials and thats it. I did bad in the orgo, QR and bio sections.

I don't really have any other studying materials. Can I use DAT studying questions for OAT? Should I buy the OAT achiever or destroyer?

I'm soo nervous because I feel like this is my final straw and want to make sure to do amazing on it!! Any advice is appreciated

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[cde8]

The OAT and DAT are very similar. The Kaplan course combines the two in the classroom and teaches the same material, except for physics and pat. I have a few friends that actually scored very high on the OAT by only studying the DAT material.

 

[TNgal21]

Hey guys,
I will be taking the OAT for the 2nd time in a month and want to make sure im prepared this time. Last time I studied only with the Kaplan materials and their online course. I still have the Kaplan materials and thats it. I did bad in the orgo, QR and bio sections.

I don't really have any other studying materials. Can I use DAT studying questions for OAT? Should I buy the OAT achiever or destroyer?

I'm soo nervous because I feel like this is my final straw and want to make sure to do amazing on it!! Any advice is appreciated

I retook the OAT in a similar fashion as you- used Kaplan online course only as study material. The second time I used the review book to learn all the material again, but purchased OAT Achiever as well for more practice tests. Those are HARD! They prepare you to think on harder problems and really pinpoints what you're weak on. I'm not sure how much it helped me, but I did like having more practice questions. OAT destroyer helped me with the Physics section but since you don't have trouble with that, I'm not sure how useful the other subjects would be. It is more expensive than Achiever though.

For organic, I would learn the reactions from Kaplan. Notice what reagents do similar actions such as what changes primary alcohols? And what do they change into? Good luck!

 

[kiwi5frog]

I really do beleive that if you EXHAUST all your Kaplan materials, you can do well. I pretty much only used the Kaplan course and got 380 in QR and 360 in o-chem.

I dabbled in the DAT destroyer (still have mine for sale if anyone wants it). I felt that the ochem and gchem sections for that was worthless. The questions are a thousand times harder and nothing on the OAT. It does not ask similar questions.

However, I did run through all 400 or so biology questions in the DAT destroyer because i was concerned about that section. I ended up getting a 400 in bio. the destroyer bio questions are fair game in my opinion

I also dabbled with maybe a hundred QR questions in the destroyer, but really didn't utilize it much since I wasn't too worried about QR

Lastly, there IS an element of luck on the OAT. Sometimes the question pool will just work against you and you'll get tons of questions that nail your weak topics. Other times you can get lucky and not have so many plant questions. ^_^ But anyway......good luck on your second try. getting the timing down helps.

If you took the kaplan course, call up tech support and ask them to wipe out all your scores from your practice exams. That way you can re-do them to get your timing down. Leading up to my test I was taking a practice exam every 2 or 3 days in the last 3 weeks. I think this was very helpful in making me move VERY fast on the exam itself.

good luck

 

[physicslover]

I took the Kaplan online course last summer, so it has expired. Is there any way of letting them give me access to it for free or something or do I have to repay the entire 1300 bucks?!

 

[cde8]

I took the Kaplan online course last summer, so it has expired. Is there any way of letting them give me access to it for free or something or do I have to repay the entire 1300 bucks?!

From my understanding, you have to pay again unless you did the whole "guarantee" thing. If you did that, you may be able to take it again for free. If I were you, I would simply call Kaplan and find out.

I know people that just bought the Review Notes (Big Kaplan book) used and did relatively well. I've also heard of people buying the Kaplan books used and then using Achiever or Destroyer. I would look into both and pick your favorite. You can see what they offer, see how much money you have available, and then purchase what you feel would benefit you the most. I wouldn't recommend using ONLY Kaplan's review notes though. It's not a magical book with everything you need to know to ace the OAT.

 

[kiwi5frog]

call kaplan and make a tantrum. Kaplan is really big on making sure their students are happy so if you are really clear that you not pleased with your score and really need to retake the practice tests, they'll probably do it. the kaplan guarantee is very subjective when you read through it. so long as you don't ask them for a refund, you can pretty much study with them again. paying that much for the practice tests again woulndt be worth it

and cde8 is right in that the review book doesn't have all the info you need. since you took the actual course, you know there were a bunch of exclusive workshops online that include topics the book didn't include. this might be one of kaplan's ways of justifiying the huge price tag on their course. someone buying just the review notes off a student doesn't have access to study topics that they leave out of the book and put online for only those who pay for the course. (and of course, the quizzes, tests, and practice exams that drill the timing)

but yeah, the kaplan program as a whole does give you everything you need to be ready for the exam. you just have to use every last bit of it and i know that most students in the course do not complete all the homework assignments. a month is a good amount of time to drill drill drill and drill some more

 

[Mewcakes]

I did the kaplan class, got a 300 and then studied for 2 more weeks and got a 330 the second time, which somehow was enough. The kaplan material, I feel, IS enough to get yourself a very strong score, you just have to utilize it well. Know the exam and how it works. Know that Bio is fact based and it's really just about knowing bio facts. Know that RC is about speed reading, practice reading random/boring articles and retaining as much info as you can while using the note-taking that kaplan teaches you, know that orgo is the most ridiculous subject ever and spend a lot of time practicing synthesis and what not.

Now that you know what to study, you must now just learn HOW to study it.

 

[physicslover]

mewcakes, did you only just use the kaplan review books? what practice tests did you use?

thanks for all the advice everyone!

 

[cde8]

Mewcakes and kiwi nailed it. If you do get Kaplan to let you retake the class, which I'm sure you can if you complain to the right people, use every resource. I, like most of those that take the Kaplan course, didn't use all of the workshops and practice materials. I ignored the things I was good at, and those scores fell without notice until the test. Just focus, take note of what you do wrong, then correct your mistakes. That goes for the subjects you score high in as well. Good luck!