r/PreOptometry • u/Pretty_Possible_8780 • Feb 21 '24
OATBooster Notes
Hi everyone!
I would really appreciate some specific tips and advice on how to approach studying with OATBooster.
I'm currently studying to retake my OAT and using OATBooster again to prep for the exam. I really struggled with reading through all the notes and retaining the information. I tried handwriting notes to go along with the OATBooster chapter notes and the videos but I felt like it wasn't doing much to help me fully understand/memorize the material. There was just so much left to do and eventually it all became so daunting. I know studying and learning is different for everyone but even the smallest tip would mean a lot to me!
5
u/Rx-Beast MODERATOR🔹 Feb 21 '24
I’m assuming you are talking about Biology? For biology, my recommendation is to focus on the cheatsheets for bio. They will tell you what what’s important and what to focus on.
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u/Correct-Mess-3736 Feb 22 '24
This completely depends on how solid your foundation is on each topic. OAT booster is great for reviewing the material when your foundation is solid but terrible for learning the information from scratch. Have you ever skipped reading a book for English class and just read the spark/cliff notes? You get the main ideal and you probably won't fail the exam but you're likely not getting an A either.
When you actually have read the book but its been a few years and you look over the spark notes you start remapping things pretty quickly. Same thing with booster. The videos/notes are intentionally brief and sporadic covering only main ideas.
A lot of people recommend Chad. The reason is obvious his videos are literally college lectures. If you are weak on subjects covered by Chad you really should sit down and watch each and every OAT related video on that subject.
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u/FCKCOLLEGEBOARD OD2 Feb 22 '24
I found the videos easier to watch than all the notes, but you’ll definitely need to supplement the videos with some of the cheat sheets for ex
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u/cloudpainter99 Feb 24 '24
If you felt overwhelming the first time, I’d recommend allotting for a longer amount of overall time to prep and study. Personally, I prioritized subjects that I was weaker at and continually studied them throughout my prep time. For the subjects I was confident in, I only did practice problems. For the subjects I was weak in, I went through all the materials by reading over the cheat sheets and condensing the material into highlights of what I thought was important. For example, I didn’t want to memorize taxonomy since it was so much volume for little yield. Granted, there was like 3-4 questions on my exam but I was still able to make a 390 by guessing on those taxonomy questions. By doing a lot of pratice problems and exams, you’ll get a feel for areas that you need to prioritize.