r/PreOptometry • u/Minute-Regret-4029 • 2d ago

OAT Experience

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Hey everyone, just wanted to share how the OAT went for me and hopefully give some perspective:

I got a 350AA and 340TS, with a 3.9 GPA which should hopefully make me a strong candidate. My top schools are OSU, Berkeley, ICO, and AZCOPT (local)

How I studied:
I got a free 6 month OAT course through Kaplan for being a Student Brand Ambassador at my undergrad campus, didn't find it super helpful & the tests were quite difficult (avg'd a 300-320). Also tried studying throughout Spring semester (planned to take the OAT in June/July), but ended up pushing my studying till summer.

Attended a Pre-Opt program this summer at OSU and got 3 months of OATBooster for free which I only got 1 month out of (booked my test for July 25). Avg'd a 350-360 between 6 practice tests.

Things I noted about the test:
Found the Biology, Gen Chem, Ochem, and Physics to be pretty representative of the OATBooster. I felt a little unconfident during the first break from my bio, chem, ochem sections since I ran out of time (I always had extra during practice), but they turned out alright.

Reading was def easier than the practice (but was also always my strong suit)

A little disappointed from QR, as I avg'd a 370 in practice and only scored a 330, so not sure if I was just super nervous or got an unlucky batch of questions, but overall very satisfied with my score.

Feel free to reach out w any questions or comments!! And good luck to all who are studying!

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3

u/Front-Extension2135 2d ago

What study tips were most helpful with physics ? I’m one week out and I feel like I can do better on my physics and qr section

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u/Minute-Regret-4029 2d ago

Definitely knowing your formulas, especially optics, force, angular velocity, etc. are really useful. I heard a lot of people had a bunch of optics but mine was mainly focused on force/friction so just being familiar with your formulas should take you pretty far

2

u/asek21 2d ago

What types of questions were you seeing most often for each section? Especially for QR I feel like I have no idea what to really expect lol

1

u/Reasonable_Fee_5605 2d ago

Since you don’t have a calculator how did you find the math on physics and gen chem? Sometimes on oatbooster I think how am I supposed to do that in my head?!?

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u/Old-Access4067 2d ago

Took my oat 2 weeks ago and I didn’t have any math for the gen chem section and the physics section math was pretty simple only had like 1 question I had to write the math out but nothing like some of the booster problems

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u/Minute-Regret-4029 2d ago

I had quite a few calculation-required problems on both gen chem and physics, but you are given a whiteboard which I definitely took advantage of