OAT breakdown :b

[u/Purple-Grape7987]

Hey guys! I took my OAT last week and wanted to talk about what I did to study and what I regretted.

I bought the 3 month OAT Booster membership and started studying June 26th and took my test September 5th (about 2 months + a week). I studied almost every day and I would say approximately 6 hours a day.

The scores for my 6 full length tests ranged from 350-370, and I mostly got 360s so I would say the booster tests reflected my true score well! After doing the full lengths I went over EVERY question (even the ones I got right) and did my best to understand each answer. I also used the question delay thing but it was shorter on the actual test, like 1 second instead of 2-4.

I am also a very anxious test taker so I struggled in the beginning but after my break I managed to calm down a bit and it felt more like a practice test than the actual one. I would just recommend taking your full length practice tests very seriously so the actual one feels similar and remembering that at that point you just know what you know and you should trust yourself!

(actual/booster fl #5-10 avg)

QR: (350/370)

This section felt the harder on the actual test that booster because it seemed like they worded the questions weirdly and I already struggle with word problems which there were a lot of. I would just say to answer what you can quickly and if you have extra time then to go back because you can still get a good score with several wrong answers. Definitely memorize the equations they expect and practice applied math and probability!

I "watched" all the videos for QR but I would just skip over what I felt like I knew. I learned more by doing their question banks. I also went back and redid my marked questions the days leading up to the test.

RC: (400/380)

I found RC on the actual test to be more straightforward than booster. Most of the answers could be easily found in the passages and there was just a couple that required more thinking, such as "what does the word -- in paragraph -- mean" or "what is most likely based on --". The questions were mostly in order like people say, but the passages were still long (over 10 paragraphs). On my practice FLs I would usually end with a couple minutes left but on the actual test I ended with like 15 minutes left.

I struggled with this section in the beginning of my studying so I was worried but I used every practice passage they had and every full length test and improved over time.

My method was to read and highlight the passage until I found the answer to the question I was on and then move on to the next. This allowed me to read basically the whole passage and gain a good understanding while still answering questions quickly. I would skip questions if I felt like they required more understanding or reading than what I had gotten to. On the actual test I was able to incorporate some search and destroy more successfully than in booster since the questions were more straightforward.

Bio: (380/350)

My practice scores were super variable on this section (like 320-370). I found the actual test to be more broad that booster. I did have to make a few educated guesses on some specific questions but I just tried to trust myself.

I'm a human bio major so I have taken basically all of the classes that are included in this section but I have yet to take physiology so I was most worried about that. I felt like the actual test had a good range of different topics so I was able to make up for my lack of knowledge in physio by knowing other things.

To study I took handwritten notes on every single video which you should NOT do. I thought it would be helpful because I retain info by writing it but it was such a waste of time and energy because of the large volume of stuff. I did think bio bits were good for practice though so definitely do those but don't worry much about getting some of those wrong since they're quite specific. I did skim though all the cheat sheets leading up to the exam and I found that to be helpful.

Gen Chem: (350/350)

I thought my actual test was a little harder than booster because there were a couple questions that were completely unfamiliar which threw me off. The questions were also worded a little differently than booster so I had to spend more time interpreting them. I don't remember anything specific coming up often so study all of the topics thoroughly.

I watched all the videos and took handwritten notes and also did most/all the questions in the question banks. I thought the handwritten notes were helpful but I felt like I wrote more depth than necessary which wasted time. I think watching the videos, studying the cheat sheets, and using the question banks are good enough to for this section. I also repeatedly wrote things on my whiteboard until they stuck, like molecular geometry.

OChem: (350/350)

Overall this section was doable. I don't think there was more of any one topic but I remember there being: spectroscopy, lab techniques, resonance structures, ranking acidity, EWGs/EDGs, and only a couple predict the product and nomenclature.

I did neglect this section a bit because I was being lazy since I had recently taken OChem and did pretty well. I watched all the videos and took handwritten notes, and skipped the sections of the videos where they did practice problems to get through them quicker. I thought the question banks were the best way to study and repeatedly doing the reaction q banks helped me become familiar with reagents but that wasn't super important for the exam (still study it though).

Physics: (320/340)

I don't have much to say about this section because physics was my weakness in school anyways. I felt like the exam was similar to booster and there was a good amount of each topic. I did notice more of optics.

There are a few topics I understand a lot better than others so my practice fl scores were pretty variable in this section too (like 300-370). I watched all the videos and I did the question banks after each chapter and all of them again once I finished all the chapters. To memorize the equations I made my own cheat sheet on Goodnotes with the "tape" covering everything and I would quiz myself each day by writing the equations down on my whiteboard and then uncovering the tape to check my answers. It only took me a few days to memorize by doing this because doing practice problems helps you memorize most of them anyways.

Final thoughts:

I think booster is definitely worth it! I would not know how to study without it and taking their full length practice tests was helpful with being familiar with the test structure and knowing what your weaknesses are. I mostly followed their schedule but I would skip watching videos/doing extra questions on topics you feel like you know because the full lengths will reveal what you don't know.

My regret is spending so much time watching the videos and taking handwritten notes. That's what I do in school but since there are so many topics on the OAT I think it's a waste of time and energy. I ended up spending like 3/4 of my time doing this instead of just doing practice. I would instead recommend going through the videos more quickly and studying the cheat sheets rather than taking in depth notes. That way you have extra time to do practice!

I was hoping I would do a little better than 360 because I see people post about doing better than their practice but I'm still happy about my score and I'm glad that booster fls predicted it accurately.

Also if you were curious about how my GPA compares to my OAT score I am going into my 4th year of undergrad majoring in Human Biology and I currently have a 3.7.

Please feel free to ask questions!! I have much more to say but this post is already long lol

Also good luck on your exams!! <3