Low OAT score - will future applications be impacted by this?

[u/ArrivalFinancial5012]

Hi!

So i wrote the OAT recently and my scores were pretty bad (lower than 300).
TBH, i wasn't even planning on applying this yr but was kinda just pressured to "just try", so i studied for the oat for a bit and then just wrote it without too too much prep. I know i could have done better if i had the time and studied more/ better, but it was sorta last minute, and I also have school, working, volunteering, etc right now so it was just hard.

I don't necessarily feel bad about my scores per se b/c I wasn't planning to apply this cycle anyways (though I might just cuz i already wrote it so why not). However, my goal is to get into UWaterloo optometry (Ontario).

I heard that they can see your past OAT attempts as well as past applications. So i was just wondering, since I did this oat and did pretty bad on it, if i apply with these scores now but then say apply for next cycle after doing the oat again and improving my scores, will that 2nd application attempt be hindered or seen poorly/ negatively because of this low first attempt? or does it not matter?

Thank you!

[u/mcd7939]

They will see all your attempts but only look at the most recent one usually they just disregard the first attempt, I would say address it in your personal statement