Timing Advice

[raleighzia]

I need to know how I can keep up with timing on the OAT. I seem to run out of time on each section. How should I pace myself?

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[Commando303]

I'm not sure what your current strategy involves, but I found the "mark" feature of the exam to be invaluable: mark questions of the answers to which you're unsure, then return to them at the section's end. It goes without saying, if certain topics are taking you longer to get through than are others, devote more time to reviewing them.

 

[lovelydisaster]

Practice practice practice! Review the biology section for concepts and just keep doing practice problems for gen chem/organic/physics. You can improve the math easily just by hitting the problems hard. If you find you're having trouble doing gen chem/organic/physics, then you can go over the concepts of those subjects first, then trying the problems. I hope this helps! Good luck tackling the test!

 

[Mewcakes]

I agree with lovelydisaster. Definitely practice. If you haven't already, get a little whiteboard and practice doing all your work on that. One thing that was hard for me was not being able to write all over the problem and stuff. So especially with math and physics where I needed to figure out what goes where in an equation, it took me extra time to just get used to working with a whiteboard instead of paper. It's probably a difference of seconds for each problem, but at the end it could add up to a precious couple of minutes.

 

[lovelydisaster]

I agree with Mewcakes 100%. I practiced with a whiteboard and despite the fact I felt high and maybe a bit ill during the first couple days with the markers due to strong marker odors P), I was much more comfortable on test day. I couldn't imagine using the whiteboard on the day of the test; you've actually got to figure out the timing of your erasing! lol

 

[Mewcakes]

Oh, and the whiteboard is about 8.5x11in (so regular paper sized). And when you buy markers to practice, make sure you get the stubbiest, most fat tipped marker you can because that's what you're going to get on test day. A small double sided white board and a crappy, crappy, overused, blunt, partially dry marker. Practice deciphering your own writing because taking notes on the RC part will most likely be mostly illegible.

 

[Commando303]

My marker (at the test) wrote like new. If you show up, and you're given a blunt, dry marker, I suggest you speak up and ask for a replacement (one might be unavailable, I suppose, but you ought to at least try).

 

[raleighzia]

I tried OAT achiever. What is a good computer based test I can try that I am timed and is comparable to the OAT material?

 

[raleighzia]

Bump

 

[JennieJoy]

i was given 2 double sides yellow gridlike whiteboards. it was annoying that they were yellow. and my marker was kinda stubby too. the one kaplan sent me was a fine point marker so i thought it would be like that. that was a surprise. i rarely needed to erase though b/c of the 2 whiteboards. I def would have if i was given only 1.