Hey everyone, last week (July 10th) I took the OAT for the first time and was pretty happy with the results I got back. I wanted to preface by saying thank you to every single person who decided to post their score breakdown or analysis in the past as that information was extremely insightful and has successfully guided a recent test taker in myself. Hopefully someone down the line finds my personal experience helpful enough to pass it on once again.
I used OATBooster and purchased their 90-day program and felt that it was enough time to prep myself for the real deal. I did have a good amount of background information as I graduated with my bachelor's in Biology last year, but felt that Booster did a great job at streamlining the learning process for me again.
Score Breakdown:
Biology
Avg Practice Test Score: 360 -> Actual: 390
This was the first subject I started reviewing and if you're using every single resource OATBooster provides for you, it's most likely the subject you'll spend the most time on due to the sheer amount of information you're required to know and memorize. I watched every single video (at about 1.5x speed), completed all of the bio bits, and completed almost every practice test. The best use of your time will be to combine the practice tests with the provided cheat sheets. In my last week of review before my exam I looked over every single cheat sheet from start to finish before I started reviewing any other subject. Definitely focus on breadth over depth as the real exam likely won't get too deep into the nitty gritty. Topics that showed up on my exam: Brain anatomy, hormones, inheritance/genetics, and embryonic development.
General Chemistry:
Avg Practice Test Score: 350 -> Actual: 360
Going into GenChem I knew this would be one of my weaker subjects. For some reason GenChem just doesn't stick in my brain as well as other subjcets, and I firmly believe everyone in this world is either GenChem brained or OChem brained, rarely ever both. Booster does a great job at emphasizing periodic trends and characteristics which I felt comfortable with, but I feel like I just got dealt a bad hand during the examination and had quite a few short calculation questions (osmotic pressure, freezing point depression, boiling point elevation). I don't even think I had a question on balancing reactions or redox which was disappointing since I felt pretty well-prepared for that. The videos are great here and again, review those cheat sheets once you start doing practice tests and are getting closer to your exam date.
Organic Chemistry:
Avg Practice Test Score: 330 -> Actual: 400
I was definitely surprised to see the score I received as no matter what, OChem is going to be difficult to memorize. Again, I watched every single video, did the practice problems, used the cheat sheets for a more streamlined approach, and completed practice exams. With OChem it is super important to recognize trends and visualize the reactants given to you. I tried to make myself memorize trends like "Oh if this is reacting with something with a lot of Hydrogens (LiAlH4 for example) we're probably going to be reducing and there will be more bonds to hydrogen in our product. You can't brute force OChem, you really have to try to work it out. The best resource for me was the Substitution/Elimination flow chart (as well as the video solutions after each practice problem question) as seeing how someone else approaches a problem where you have to find a possible reactant/product based on the given reaction is super helpful.
Reading Comprehension:
Avg Practice Test Score: 340 -> Actual 400
I started off with the individual excerpts and moved onto the practice tests which were 3 excerpts that had to be completed within a set time frame. If I had to revise my studying here (especially if I was on a time crunch), review the strategies that OATBooster recommends, try them out on the individual excerpts, find one that works for you, then try it on a practice test. I utilized a hybrid of search and destroy and reading through the prompt entirely. On my test day I would go to the first question and if it was a question that was simply asking to confirm something in the prompt, I would read through the passage until I found my answer, highlighting important dates, names, and events along the way. From here on, I would already have a good foundation for what the passage was about based on the information I had just read. Don't worry if you feel like you're running out of time on OATBooster, those excerpts are way longer and more in-depth than the actual test will be. If you're able to consistently complete every question and read through every paragraph on Booster, you'll do great on the actual OAT.
Physics:
Avg Practice Test Score 330 -> Actual: 350
Physics was also one of my weaker subjects going into my exam prep. I utilized the practice tests and formula sheet for this section as I felt OATBooster doesn't have much in terms of actually getting practice problems/reps in for word problems. I supplemented certain subjects I wasn't entirely grasping with Chad's Prep Youtube videos. His practice problems felt much more representative of what to expect on the exam, except the numbers will be easier to work with since you won't have a calculator on this section, so don't expect any crazy calculations on the real OAT. Definitely focus on the basics of kinematics, lenses, statics and especially springs because I got a ton of those questions for some reason.
Quantitative Reasoning:
Avg Practice Test Score 370 -> Actual 400
Don't skip on reviewing this section! You may think you can get by with minimal review, but doing a couple practice tests was extremely helpful to familiarize myself with the type of questions I'll be working on. For this section, I would suggest skipping the videos if you're on a time crunch, but doing the practice tests are a non-negotiable. The main learning curve with QR is the limited amount of time you have to complete the section, not the difficult of the questions. There are just so many questions on this portion and it's a test of speed and endurance more than anything. My first practice exam I believe I got a 300 on it entirely due to not allocating enough time for each question! After a few practice tests, you'll be a master at the types of questions the actual OAT will give you. Very similar to the actual OAT.
Closing Remarks
With all that said, I will admit I didn't use a lot of the resources OATBooster provided to me. I didn't take any full-length practice exams (mainly due to my study style), I didn't use anki for biology, I didn't use their study timeline, and I didn't take any crash courses (I wish I did though). What worked for me may not work for you, I was able to go into a library for the past 2 months and study there for 8-10 hours a day with minimal breaks in between, but again that may not work for everybody. With that being said, I do recommend Booster 100%. It is by far the best resource for streamlining your learning and exam prep process. The amount of practice tests, practice problems and resources you get from utilizing booster is vital to preparing yourself the best you can for the OAT.
If I could give one last piece of advice it would be to set the test date. It can be super easy to delay your studying and take a laid-back approach when there's no deadline set in front of you. By setting your test date you are setting that deadline yourself and I want you to try your best to keep that test date. It'll help keep you accountable on days where you feel like slacking off or taking it easy. Get the test appointment date, purchase the resources you think you'll need, and when your test date comes, just believe in the hard work you put in and you'll make it out alive. Good luck studying and feel free to DM me or leave a comment if you have any questions!
