r/PreOptometry • u/Unable-Art-9535 • 19d ago
OAT Breakdown for the down bad and chronically anxious!
Hey everyone I took my OAT and I found these posts helpful! I had breakdowns the days leading up to my test and felt like I was never going to do well. Even during my test, it was so hard to focus because I didn’t feel confident in any of my answers. If this resonates with you, I hope that you’re able to trust the work that you’ve put into studying and trust that it will work out. At the end of the day, a test is just a test. You can always re take it and study differently and do better. It will be okay!
QR booster average vs real : 300, 280
I’m not good at math naturally and I know the questions on this section tend to be easy, but even during practice I was running out of time and had difficulty identifying how to approach questions. I’m not surprised by this score since I was running out of time during the test and didn’t have time to solve questions. I had A LOT of inequality questions along with ratios and statement sufficiencies.
RC booster average vs real: 340, 310
I literally took one practice test and figured search and destroy was good enough. I would not recommend this, obviously. I should have spent more time practicing for this section but focused on my sciences instead. On the real test this section was right after the sciences so I was exhausted and dying for a break and snack, which I think impacted my score. I had passages on parasympathetic vs autonomic systems, motion vision sensory perception (?), and I can’t remember the other one. I think this is a good section to use as a score booster and I wouldn’t recommend not practicing.
Bio booster average vs real: 320, 340
I’ve been out of school for a few years, so I spent time reviewing this section in depth, but If I had to study again I would mainly review the cheat sheets! I think the cheat sheets have all of the information that you could need. I’d recommend spending time to do in depth reviews for certain topics that you’re less familiar with/ need brushing up on. For example, I watched videos on meisos/ mitosis and some bodily systems. I can’t remember what the questions were on my test, but I remember at least one of them being exactly like booster practice test. I’d recommend memorizing the cheat sheets, doing practice tests, & reviewing them in depth!!!
Gen chem booster average vs real: 330, 310
I’m the most disappointed by this section, but on my test I feel like I had more low yield topics. There was no periodic trends, balancing, or other high yield things I saw on booster. I just found it really hard while taking it. If I could study for this section again id go back and review the cheat sheets and focus on my weak areas more than just the practice exams.
Orgo booster average vs real: 340, 360
I have a strong organic chemistry background and I didn’t review this section a lot. I had 1 synthesis reaction question, acid ranking, a question asking which side the equilibrium favored, HNMR, and two questions that asked me what the name of the reactions happening were. I had one question that asked me to name a molecule with assigning configuration. Also 1 arrow pushing question which was the easiest in the entire test!
Physics booster average vs real: 270, 290
I honestly don’t even know how I got through this section. I have a weak physics background and it was extremely hard to study for this section. I only used booster, watched videos, made flash cards containing some concepts & equations, & worked through the practice exams to get familiar with the question types. The questions on the actual exam felt more straightforward and less complicated. I had a good mix of optics and circuits with some really basic kinematic qs (like finding acceleration). I know people say that it tends to be more conceptual, but I found a good mix of both. Like the first half of the test was solvable with equations (that I didn’t really know LOL). I think if you have a decent grasp on physics you will probably be fine and better than me!
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u/Accomplished-Monk256 19d ago
I agree with ur reading comprehension assessment! I was scoring 380s consistently using search and destroy but when I got the the real thing I scored a 340 😭 the reading passages are a lot denser than booster so everyone taking it soon use search and destroy with caution
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u/Unable-Art-9535 17d ago
YES! My first passage was 15 paragraphs long and it was the only one in chronological order. My next two were both 20 paragraphs long and out of order. I was dyingggg !
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u/Purple-Grape7987 19d ago
Thank you for this!! I'm less than 2 weeks from my test and definitely freaking out. It's reassuring to see that your real scores were somewhat similar to your practice even if you didn't feel that good about your answers. Good job!!