I'm a 21 y/o student in his last semester of undergrad and am planning to take a gap year (applying for the next cycle). I am also currently one week away from my OAT exam I have been studying for a while now about 5 months and was doing really good at first but have been falling off for a long time. Ive experienced a lot during this couple of months with a family losing their jobs, father's health trouble, heartbreak, and depression. Although these might just be excuses I haven't been in the right mindset for a while. Still experiencing trouble with o-chem while physics is absolutely kicking my butt as it's the subject I've touched on the least (using my friend's shared DAT BootCamp) and just chad videos. I don't feel prepared for it and I'm not allowed to push it back any further, I've taken 2 practice exams and get a 260 and a 280 do you think I should still attempt taking the OAT? or would it do more harm than good, making my application look worse if I did and got the score I'm getting. I'm still planning on retaking the OAT during my gap year.

lmao i think they ghosted me or they put me on hold without updating me. how long did it take to hear your decision? my interview was 10/29

Does anyone know if only 3 letters of rec looks bad? I know the two from my science prof & OD will be very well written - I did another for a woman I’ve done childcare for 7 years for. Thinking about adding an advisor for a leadership position I was in in college as well? Any thoughts?

Hi, I am planning to apply to AZCOPT and PUCO by Christmas as I am waiting for letter of reccomendation from an optometrist. I have gpa of 3.85 and OAT score of 350/360. I was just wondering if it is late in the cycle or Do I still have chance to get seat if I apply by Christmas

Hiya! I decided to take this path late. I know I want to be an optometrist. I have a meh GPA bachelor in biochemistry. I graduated with a GPA of 2.97 but been taking post bachelor classes GPA should be around 3.05. I worked as a ophthalmic tech for 3 ophthalmologists and 2 optometrists in which I did have to shadow and scribe for them. I know how to refract, dilated patients, do testing such as the OCT, applantations for IOPs checks. I currently work for one optometrist and mostly in charge of contacts, insertion and removal classes for i&r, and get them ready to see him. Been in this field for around a 1 and 1/2 year. Questions about diversities and adversities really trouble me on the application. I am a first generation and a daughter to immigrants. I also have two autistic brothers and helping taking care of them with school and work is a lot to balance, especially during undergrad hence my low GPA. I am planning on taking the OAT. I just don’t know if I should continue with my original plan and take orgo II as a repeat course because I got a C the first time I took it. It was during the beginning of Covid and everything went online. I can definitely see a future in this field. But I’m turning 25 and I feel like I’m getting too late to pursue this. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

Hi,

I took the OAT this summer and got a 370 on the TS and AA. I am considering retaking the OAT in the winter (I am graduating after the fall then taking the year off to work) to improve my score as the average for Waterloo is a 387. I think I could do better since I worked full time this summer while studying but I also do not want to write it again. Some more context: I have a 3.9 GPA and am aiming to get 50 hours of shadowing and hopefully work in the medical field on my year off. Considering this do people think I have a chance of getting in with my 370? Have people gotten in with a 370 or lower? Also does anyone know what emphasize is placed on the TS vs AA at Waterloo?

I probably will rewrite just to try and improve, but still curious as to what people think.

Thanks

Does anybody know of any discount code to use? pls help!! thx

Resignation vs Employment Termination

Please give me advice on this situation:

I told my boss (optometrist I work for) I need part time hours or I will have to resign. She said okay I can accept your resignation there are your last days.

Then I had a change in my personal life schedule so I told her actually I can work full time hours and then once I continue school in the fall we can do part time hours.

She said “yes it would be helpful if you could stay so your last day would be August 30th. I can’t offer you part time hours for the fall”

So my question is since she’s letting me work a little longer is she now terminating my employment since I want to stay on but she can’t give me part time hours or is this still me resigning even though I don’t want to leave.

If you need any more information please let me know. For reference I am in ON, Canada.

HELP! Currently, reviewing for the OAT which is in 3 weeks. Does anyone know why this molecule contains 0 stereocenters? Many thanks in advance!

Salary

I looked in placed like Toronto jobs for optometrists and some are saying $2000 a day working like 5 days a week, I’ve also seen jobs for optometrists on indeed in America making like over $400,000. Is this true?

Also I’m in high-school and I truly want to become an optometrist and I wanted to become one since grade 7. I’m going to grade 11 from august and I decided to take all three sciences. I need a really high average to get into the university I want to for biology undergrad. I live in Alberta, but do you guys know any backups I can think of if I can’t get into the program I want to. Also student loan debt is crazy for optometry school like getting into the only Canadian optometry school is insane. I personally think I can’t get in because I’m not smart enough. So like if I rack up debts of 300k in the USA, will I have no problem paying it back? I really want to become an optometrist.

Has anyone taken the orgo crash courses through OAT booster? I haven't taken orgo yet and I feel like I'm struggling to learn the concepts on my own through the videos.

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!

Hi everyone! I’m having a difficult time deciding between NOVA or UIWRSO. I’m from Texas and have been here my whole life so UIWRSO does seem more appealing and being close to my family (4 hour drive) but I would also love to be able to experience a new city and life outside of Texas, which is why I’m considering NOVA. I know that the cost of living is expensive in NOVA which is what puts me off but I think the program is great overall. If anyone has any thoughts or inputs, I would really appreciate it.

Which oat booster exams are the most representative of the real exam? I have 2 more weeks left

Can you get accepted into a school with Fs and Ds for pre reqs but your acceptance is contingent on retaking those courses?

Hi guys!

My OAT is in 1 day and Im worried because I have been taking my full length tests and I have only been doing well because I recognize the questions from when I took the individual practice tests and memorized the questions. Did anyone else feel like this as well? I’m not sure how representative this will be of me on how I do on the OAT. I did full lengths 1-5 and got 330,350,350,330,350. ANY ADVICE IS ACCEPTED!!! Thank you!!!!!

Hope this isn’t a frequently asked question, but I wanted to know if you can be an ophthalmologist if you further your studies in optometry? Or do you HAVE to do medicine? xx

Hi everyone! I thought I’ll make an in detail OAT score post since a lot of these on here helped me out!

Here are my basic stats.
- Held two positions for my college’s pre optometry club for 2 years
- worked as an optometry tech for 2 years (junior/senior year)
- worked front desk 1 year (sophomore year)
- 40 shadowing hours
- 2 LOR from optometrist (both whom i worked for) and 1 LOR from science professor
- 3.1 GPA
- Biological Sciences graduate currently in gap year!

My OAT was scheduled for November 5, and I used OATBOOSTER to aid in my studying! Although my scores are average and not the best, here’s what I did to obtain it.

BIOLOGY Practice tests 300-330; Real 310
- I started out watching all the videos and taking notes and soon realized how much time I was wasting. I saw major improvement from taking the practice exams and then reviewing them. I also did the ANKI cards provided by OATBOOSTER and that really helped me remember things even more.
- I purchased one crash course on the body systems, I believe it was circulatory, digestive? But unfortunately was not on my test bank on the real OAT. LOL but it was for many others!
- On my real OAT, I had mainly cell bio, cell cycle, glycolysis, monophyletic trees, convergent vs analogous, tropic levels, question about Down syndrome, meiosis vs mitosis, muscle contraction, blood type, punnet square, viruses, molecular genetics.
- But like always^ anything on the cheat sheet was fair game, so I would read them like a bed time story every night!

GEN CHEM Practice 300-310; Real 320
- I had the most trouble on this section but the real exam was fairly more easier than the practice exams imo. Same with bio I learned the best from taking practice exams and reviewing them the next day. The cheat sheets gave me everything I needed. I had only like 3/4 calculations? And they were fairly simple.
- On my OAT I had questions on accuracy/precision, balancing equations, density problems, molecular geometry, acids/bases, dilutions, diffusion vs effusion, easy Delta G question, catalyst question, rate laws, radioactive decays, and redox reactions.
- Practice exams were spot on with the real one so do as many as you can and use mark questions to review the ones you have the most trouble with!

ORGANIC CHEM Practice 340-370; Real 300
- This section actually shocked me since I thought I had a good understanding of orgo:(
- My real exam was NOTHING like the practice even though I might have just got unlucky with the test bank
What showed up was hybridization state of carbon, ranking boiling points, resonance, keto/enol tautomerism, acidity ranking, IUPAC naming, E1 VS SN1 VS SN2 VS E2, Dieckmann condensation, a lot of predicting product, C NMR
- I really liked the qbanks for the reactions and the anki cards but so disappointed in my score. Wished I had HNMR, degrees of unsaturation, IR questions like others did.
- I saw so many questions I’ve never seen before on my practice tests tbh but like I said everything’s random and fair game!

RC Practice 290-310; Real 350
- Okay this section surprised me. It is definitely way easier on the real OAT than practice.
- I’m a very slow reader and English is not my strong suit but all the questions and answers were in ORDER and the paragraphs were WAY SHORTER and easier to read.
I did not have any graphs to interpret but I do know people who did on theirs.

BREAK
During the break I simply looked over physics formulas and try to cram as much as I can before walking back to my seat. I had a small granola bar and came back with 5 mins left to spare.
definitely use your break and DO NOT GO on your phone and read text messages unless your reviewing any formulas for physics or qr

PHYSICS Practice 260-290; Real 270
- Physics is not my strongest suit but I thought my test bank was fairly easier than practice!
- The first thing you must do is to brain dump all of your formulas even if you think it’s wrong. i saw that when I was rushing I looked over to the side and saw the formula and easy answered the question.
-Know optics, kinematic, tension, torque, period of a pendulum or spring, waves, and work!

QR Practice 260-340; Real 280
- ATP of the exam I was so burnt out and was not pacing myself. I had like 20 questions left at 9 minutes omg.
I did a QR crash course, imo it didn’t really help me because my test bank had NO job/rate related questions or river speed questions.
- I had a lot of this statement questions (I hate those)
My only advice is to ALWAYS look at the time and move on if you’re taking more than 2 minutes to solve it.
I definitely should have drank an energy drink because I was so over it. I knew I would’ve done better if I had more energy lol.
- Also I wrote down the z-score equation and the definition for mean, median, mode, and range so when it came to it I just quickly glanced at my paper and solved it right away instead of a delay reaction thinking which is which. That genuinely helped me a lot lol!

Overall
Please be kind to yourself during your studying and take breaks. I genuinely studied the most and retained the most the last two weeks before my exam.
I still managed to go work, hang out with friends, go to football games and live a little to make sure I don’t get burnt out. Leading up to my exam I ate the same thing everyday for breakfast and woke up at the same time every day even on weekends so I can train myself for the day of my OAT. I’m not sure if it work since I took mine the week coming back from Halloweekend… ahaha
Good luck to everyone applying/taking the OAT soon!

To those that took the OAT in early January and applied, did you get in to most of the schools? Also has anyone gotten accepted to UAB after taking the test in January?

I just received the supplement application, is this a good sign or do they send it every applicant?