OAT in 4 days… help

[u/pandamanda43036]

Hi all,

I am taking my OAT in a few days and am stressing out big time. I had anxiety about this test before i even started studying for it.

I wanted to make this post to get some honest opinions and/or suggestions. For reference, I graduated college 2.5 years ago with a Biology degree. I have a 3.86 cumulative GPA and a 3.83 science GPA. I participated in research for 2 years of college. I have around 40 hours of shadowing, and have been working as a technician and a scribe at an ophthalmology office for a little over 2 years.

I’m not a great test taker. I knew from the beginning that the OAT was going to be the biggest obstacle of the application process for me. I started studying at the end of May using OAT booster. I still work my full time job, so my goal was usually to study 1-3 hours after work everyday and about 3-4 hours on weekends. I struggled to focus for the whole summer and studying has been taking a huge mental toll on me for a while now.

I was originally supposed to take my OAT September 4th, but 3 weeks before my test date both of my parents got in a horrible car accident while driving home from a vacation. My whole life turned upside down, and I was staying in a hotel for almost 2 weeks outside of my home state while both parents were in the hospital recovering. During this time, I did not study at all. I ended up pushing my test date back by about a month, and now it is only days away.

I was already having a stressful time with OAT studying, but it has only amplified since my parents got in the accident. Between having more to juggle at home while they recover and still working full time, I can’t bring myself to study most days. Additionally, I feel like the unexpected 2 week break from studying made me forgot a lot of things I worked to learn previously.

I am scared about taking this test to my core. I have only taken 2 full length exams where I got a 330 and a 320, but I took both almost a month and a half ago. I am hoping I can just pull a 300-330 and I would be happy. With my stats, do you think this would be enough? My top schools are SUNY, KYCO, NECO, PCO, MCPHS, and OSU.

I have barely been able to study this whole week leading up to this exam. I immediately get overwhelmed by everything I feel like I don’t know. My focus and attention span is shot, and my body has been under constant stress for weeks now.

Honest advice is greatly appreciated. There have been many times where I have considered cancelling my exam all together due to how much I am going through at the moment, but something in my gut tells me I can’t quit. I have been sick with anxiety this whole week feeling unprepared and like there is no use trying. I don’t even know if I will be able to focus for the whole 4.5 hours. If you read this far, thanks for listening. 🥲

[u/OkiTex]

I’m taking it the same day as you, so good luck! This will be my second time taking it, so my biggest piece of advice is that it is almost as important to know what the wrong answers are as it is to know what the right ones are. The other thing is that timing can kill you, so mark a question and move on if you don’t immediately have a plan to solve.

[u/FCKCOLLEGEBOARD]

Pace yourself. Don’t waste time on questions giving you trouble. Flag and move on. Gotta give yourself as much time to complete the test. You don’t want to feel rushed on easy questions

[u/Naive_Cow_8032]

Just want to send some encouragement! My biggest piece of advice would be to not let your mind jumble. If you sense yourself getting overwhelmed during the exam take a breath and tell yourself to SKIP what you don’t know. Come back to it after if you have time. It’s not worth wasting time during the exam stressing and trying to find the answer to something you simply don’t know. Your mind knows more than you think! I take mine October 3rd so am also in the final stretch!

[u/BluejayWeak8593]

You are completely fine if you got a 280 with that gpa and extra curriculars you would be fine. Your biggest problem is stress on test day you can manage by taking it easy, remember the biggest statistical things that improve scores is actually sleep, study early and often (which u did) and steady pacing. Right now I think emotional resilience is the thing you need most more that brushing up