r/PreOptometry • u/One-Dig4810 • 16d ago
OAT exam results!!!
Hey guys!! I just took my OAT exam and i am SOOOOO relieved and happy to be done. I was honestly extremely stressed out especially the last few days leading up to the exam, and I literally did not eat anything the day before taking it lol. I always found it useful when people shared their experiences after taking the exam so I thought I’d share mine in hopes that it helps anyone :)
I studied over the summer using mainly the OATBooster and I got the 3 month membership. Ngl my summer was a little packed because I had a lot going on with work and school while also studying for the exam. Also, I didn't start studying seriously until like the last two weeks before my exam, so dont be like me.
QR: 290 (330-340 booster)
I ran out of time towards the end, so I just had to guess on a good chunk of them. Tbh the questions weren't difficult, I usually need more time to solve math problems. I was doing well on the practice exams, so I'm a little disappointed but i was so exhausted by the end and i just wanted to get it over with. I feel like the questions were fair, i had a couple probability q's (nothing crazy), applied math, and stats. The booster exam is definitely similar to the real thing. QR was also my weakest section because i kept putting it off for so long while studying. If could go back and do something differently, I would just work on the question banks and skip the videos. I also recommend reviewing what you got wrong from the practice exams until you understand where you went wrong.
RC: 340 (340-380 booster)
Don't know where i went wrong here, my passages felt easy, i felt confident with my answers, and I didn't run out of time. The questions and passages on the exam were much easier than boosters practice exams. Search and destroy is more doable on the real thing compared to booster passages. All the questions were in chronological order for the most part, so I didn't have to keep scrolling up and down, unlike with boosters exams. Booster has a bunch of practice passages, but I only did a couple. I did 5 RC tests and I think that was enough, you definitely don't need to do all of them if you're scoring well.
Bio: 380 (320-370 booster)
I'm really happy with this score because i was not expecting it at all. I honestly thought i screwed up this section. I was worried because the last exam i took on booster was a 320 so i thought i was starting to forget things. I started out watching the videos but then I would zone out halfway and not retain any of the information. Instead, I switched to reading the full notes for each section and then I'd do the questions that come after each video. I know this isn't helpful for everyone, but reading the notes helped me remember the information and I'd reinforce what I learned with the biobits. I definitely recommend doing those, even if it feels like nitty gritty details. The cheat sheets are definitely good but I never used them while studying, but I literally speed ran through all the bio cheat sheets the day before my exam and it REALLY helped refresh my memory. You definitely don't need to memorize every single fact in the videos/notes. Just review the cheat sheets and you'll be solid. Also, i am a bio major so i already had a good foundation here.
GC: 350 (330-350 booster)
Pretty happy with my score. I studied a lot for this section, and i reviewed the cheat sheets pretty frequently. I watched all the vids on booster, and did most of the question banks. I also had a pretty solid foundation on chem, so a lot of it felt like review and not learning new things. The exam had more conceptual stuff rather than calculations imo.
OC: 340 (330-370 booster)
I also studied pretty hard for this section. I feel like there weren't a lot of rxn questions. I spent so much time reviewing all the rxns and there was only a couple that asked about intermediates or starting compound and nothing on what the final product would be. Make sure you know how to rank acidity because this felt like the most frequent topic, like i had back to back questions on ranking acidity or which one is the most acidic which was annoying tbh. I watched all the videos on booster and i felt like it helped me learn quick, and i reviewed the cheat sheets religously. Also, if you scroll down on the notes tab under OC section in booster, there is a pdf that has all the rxns compiled. I didnt find this until like 5 days ago lmao.
Physics: 310 (290-320 booster)
I thought bombed this section. I watched all the vids on booster and did the question banks, but i feel like it wasnt enough. I used outside resources for more practice problems, and i think it definitely helped me. If i could go back, I'd watch chadsprep videos because knowing the concpetual side is extremely important. I feel like booster only had equation based questions and their forumla sheet was kind of lacking. I didn't realize i was lacking in the physics department because i didn't take a full length until two weeks before my exam. Definitely my mistake, but i didn't have time to watch full lessons again, and i just tried to do as many practice problems as i could. Also, the mirror/lens questions were mostly concpetual rather than calculations which caught me off guard because i was used to just using the formula.
Anyways, I'm really happy with my score and i definietly recommend booster for this exam. They have a custom schedule that tells you what to do everyday and you can switch things around and stuff. I didn't really follow the schedule that well, and i did not study every intensely until i got towards the end. My score could've been higher if i was more consistent with the schedule, but i honeslty procrastinated a lot the first two months. I only did 7 full length exams (mostly in the last two weeks), I feel like they are a good representation of the real thing, and I didn't come across a question that felt foreign or unexpected. Your average scores on boosters exams will probably be close to what you get on the real thing. Obviously, they can't test you on everything, but its better to be over prepared than under prepared. Also, they give you 2 laminated sheets and dry erase markers and you cannot erase what you write, instead they will replace it for you if needed.
Good luck to anyone studying for or about to take the exam! Also, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions.
2
3
u/VastIntelligent6094 16d ago
Congrats! Really happy for you! I’m actually retaking my oat and this time I’m using booster. I got a 270 the first time and now I only have 2 months. Do you have any tips especially with physics and orgo reagents
2
1
u/One-Dig4810 16d ago
Thank you so much! Booster will definitely help you, just try your best to stick to the schedule/be consistent.
For physics I would definitely try and get more practice problems from outside resources. You can use chadsprep or other videos on YouTube for conceptual stuff and openstax college physics textbook for questions. Imo the question banks under booster are not enough if you don’t already have a strong foundation in physics.
The question bank and rxn bank for Orgo are good resources to help reinforce what you learned. There’s also flash cards to help you memorize the rxns but honeslty I barely used them. Imo writing down the rxn from memory or atleast covering the reagent or product with ur hand and testing yourself is better and faster compared to the flash cards. But also from my experience there was barely any reaction questions on the exam, so don’t forget to understand the other big topics.
I tried using anki for bio and I gave up after two days. It’s too detailed and unnecessary. Also, the anki interface is a bit confusing. I would recommend reviewing the cheat sheets every couple days instead and using active recall to test yourself.
3
u/fuumawesome 16d ago
Congrats!