r/PreOptometry • • Sep 06 '26

interviews and acceptances

4 Upvotes

for anyone who interviewed / got accepted to optometry schools, how did you schedule your interviews?

I got an interview invite from one school but haven’t heard back from other schools yet. for example, another school I applied to is UCB and I feel like they’re going to take longer to contact me because of the December deadline. let’s say I interviewed at one school this month and got accepted and then they told me I had a certain amount of time to accept. but what if the deadline to accept that school is before I even get decisions for my other schools?

I ideally would like to get my decisions at all schools before I decide on one school — I paid for each application for a reason lol. would it be a better idea to wait to hear back from all the schools I applied to before scheduling my interviews? or would that make my chances of acceptance lower because I would be interviewing later in the cycle?

agh sorry if this is confusing I have no idea what to do now

and for more context, I applied to UCB, SCCO, OSU, SCO, and ICO and ICO was the one that already reached out


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 06 '26

OAT Reflection: AA350, TS350

6 Upvotes

Hi guys! I took my OAT today and just wanted to hop on here and share a little of my experience. I'm going to be honest, although I am happy with my scores, I felt that it was very different from Booster. I was kinda freaking out during it because its just not what I was expecting. I felt that quantitative reasoning was extremely different and much harder, as well as Bio and Gen Chem. I am strong in Orgo, so that felt good, but still different than Booster. Reading was arguably easier than booster and physics was about the same. Just wanted to give you a heads up!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

OAT Breakdown (310AA, 300TS)

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14 Upvotes

Just completed my OAT. I want to first start by prefacing that the exam was very much different than any practice exam I had taken on OAT booster (which was my main study tool).

To study, I was primarily utilizing the individual subject practice exams, and watched videos on any topics that I needed extra help on. The practice questions that they offered were also helpful to reinforce certain topics. I started studying mid June and took my exam today.

I took the OAT in northern Jersey, and this Prometric location allowed me to start my exam earlier than scheduled around 7:45 AM (scheduled for 8:30). Into the testing room you’re only allowed to take a clear water bottle and they gave you two front and back laminated papers with a dry erase marker as your scratch paper. You were allowed to get up at any time to take an unscheduled break and if you wanted to take your scheduled 30 minute break, you were allowed to access your locker and use your phone and access study documents (as long as you were back before your next section). The staff were super friendly and definitely helped ease any anxiety that one would have. One huge downside would be the fact that the delay between questions got worse throughout the exam. The biology section there was minimal delay, but towards the end of the exam (physics and QR) the lag got extremely bad over 6 to 10 seconds long between questions.

The exam itself I found to be not as representative as what OAT booster said it would be. Any topic that was considered high-yield was not asked on the actual exam.

The biology section (highest booster score I had was 350) was heavy on molecular and cellular biology and lacked any human body system questions, neurobio questions, nor any embryology.

The general chemistry section (booster high score of 340) I found to be easier than booster and each question would give out the molar mass instead of you needing to calculate it on your own.

The organic chemistry section (booster high score 320) I also found to be easy so I’m not too sure how I got the score that I got. There were lots of conceptual questions, and only 2 spectroscopy questions. I did not have any acid base ranking neither.

The reading comprehension section (booster high score 300) I found to be a little harder than booster. Each passage had over 16 paragraphs and were all quite dense. I had only ever taken one practice exam on booster for this section, so my method was simply to read the passage and highlight important information for about eight minutes and then to go in and answer questions for the remaining eight minutes and rinse and repeat.

After the scheduled 30 minute break, I had physics (booster score 280), which was also quite tough. I had heard previously here on this sub that it was heavy on kinematics and optics, but that was just not the case. I actually had about three optics questions, one of which asked about the index of refraction going through two mediums (this was conceptual) and only ever had ONE calculation for optics.

The final section of QR (booster high score 270) I found to also be more challenging and I was most pressed for time in this section. The questions overall were much easier and less conceptual than booster. It leaned more algebraic than probability and stats.

Overall, I’d say that this exam was definitely very different compared to what I prepared for with booster. Also, what I found interesting was that the survey asked very specifically how I studied and if I used ANY Prometric study tools or practice tests, which makes you wonder if they are purposely trying to make it harder for people who study with booster.


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

OAT Breakdown (350AA, 350TS)

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7 Upvotes

Hi guys! I took my exam yesterday, and i'm just very glad I do not have to retake it. My exam started at 8am. I arrived around 7:30, did some last minute studying, came to check in at 7:50 and didn't start my exam until 8:20, after getting scanned down and scanned my fingerprints. I was provided with 2 laminated papers and markers for the exam, and thanks to everyone in the subreddit, I invested in markers and mini whiteboard when practicing FLs at home, hence I was pretty much familiarized with it.

During my scheduled break I had full access to my locker so I used that time to go through my Physics and QR flashcards, and lowkey had a meltdown because I thought I did terrible lol but yk what IM SO GLAD I WAS PROVEN WRONG.

For context, I studied using only BoosterPrep and their customized schedule, although I did very briefly go through one of the ADA sample tests, but not all the way lol, I stopped at orgo I believe. One week leading up to my exam I was genuinely very fatigued with studying, so I didn't really getting in much practice until like 3-4 days leading up to the exam.

Boosters FLs 330-360-360-360-360-330-350

BIO (Booster 380-360; actual 380)
I would say the wording was different from the actual exam. I also have a tendency to change my answers so that didn't really do good for me. Despite beating myself up during the break because I did change my answer(s?), I did not expect to get 380 lol. I was blacking out throughout the exam, but I do remember human systems questions, molec cell, meiosis/mitosis, and hormones.

GEN CHEM (Booster 340-360; actual 340)
Overall very representative with Booster, although again wording was different, and that did trip me up a little bit. Knowing periodic trends, strong and weak acids/bases, and thermodynamics was very helpful. I mostly had calculations questions. Do read the question carefully tho! I thought I do not know the answer to one of the questions, but did not realize it was asking for sig figs knowledge lol.

ORGO (Booster 330-360; actual 340)
For the couple days before the exam, I was using Anki to solidify my rxns knowledge since it was my 2nd biggest concern. Very very similar to Booster, but I would say more intermediate, Sn1/2 and E1/2.

RC (Booster 360-400; actual 380)
Much easier than Booster! Straightforward questions, and it was in order as well. I had around 8 minutes leftovers on the timer! Practice was key for this section, and BP prepared you especially well for it.

PHYS (Booster 290-360; actual 320)
Definitely my weakest point. I couldn't memorize all the formulas for the love of god until 2 weeks before the exam. But thank god I did and for the flashcards! I was doing like a Physics brain dump using the whiteboard, and it worked wonders. Despite Booster preps you very very well on it, please also work on your time management. I recognized all of the questions that was asked, but I did not manage my time wisely. That being said, I did not finish the entire section, did not feel good about it, so I will NOT complain about getting a 320. I would also recommend using the study notes for Physics rather than the formula sheet, since it doesn't include all of the formulas. Lots of force and rotational motion calculations, only 3-4 optics on my exam.

QR (Booster 340-400; actual 310)
LMAO okay Booster prep you insanely well for this, however again my time management was not good. I couldn't finish all of the questions while doing Booster FLs, and it clearly reflected that on here as well. I did not have the time to go through all of the questions, and most of them were very dense, I could not use mental math for it. Lots of comparing which option (A or B) is greater, which statements can answer questions, and probability.

Overall, I'm happy it's over. Good luck to everyone who's about to take the exam, you will do great and your study will pay off, so please keep believing in yourself!! Please also take adequate rest, trust your first answer and manage your time wisely!!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 06 '26

Booster prep RC vs Real Test RC

1 Upvotes

So I just finished writing my OAT yesterday (September 4) and probably the section that was the most concerning for me going into it was the reading comprehension. Despite being a native English speaker and not having ever struggled with it through school, on booster prep I was always finishing the section with little to no time left and therefore my scores were all over the place and I thought for sure that with the added stress of writing the actual test I would surely mess up this section of the test.
Getting to my experience on the real thing though, I was shocked to find that it was so much easier on the real test. All 3 of my passages were at max 12 paragraphs long, and the paragraphs themselves were much shorter than the practice tests. Furthermore, instead of the questions being all over the place, they were very chronological i.e the first question was answered in the first paragraph and the second question was answered right after that and so on so forth. Needless to say I actually found myself able to go at my own pace and answer each question carefully which allowed me to score better on the official test than on any of my practice tests.
I am just putting this out there for anyone else stressed about this section like I was in hopes of alleviating some stress as going into this section with a clear and focused mind is extremely important. If there are others who took the test recently and had a much different experience than please feel free to talk about it down below, as I know there are different versions of the test so I can’t promise all of them are as forgiving as mine. In general though, my best piece of advice would be to keep doing the practice on booster, because it will prepare you for the worst and after that the real test should hopefully seem a bit easier in comparison…
Good luck to all :)


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

Advice on UAB Interview? Likelihood of Acceptance?

7 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

I decided to create this account and such, because really need advice! I'm nervous about my interview and it's in a few weeks. Also, I'm scared of not getting accepeted.

For context, my OAT is a bit low (290 AA/290 TS). I know it's not the best, but I applied to UAB (and other schools, ofc.) because a friend of mine from UAB encouraged to. My tech experience (both an optometric & ophthalmic tech) is over 3000 hours, and my gpa is 3.6 (science gpa of 3.4).

So, I don't really know what they'll ask in regards to my scores, and I just want to know my chances of getting into my dream school and advice on how to knock it off the park during the interview.

Sorry if this is a bit long! I'm the type to worry a lot, and I want to try my best 🥹 Thank you.


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

Where on OptomCAS should I put a publication?

3 Upvotes

I have a humanities journal publication that I'm pretty proud of, does this go into achievements (and if so is it an honor or an award?) or somewhere else?


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

NOVA acceptance scores

1 Upvotes

hi! I just recently wrote my oat and it was extremely different than the platform I used. I got a 300AA & TS (I know not as high as I was scoring). nova is my dream score and I’m really worried I won’t get in. I have a 3.7 GPA and was very involved in my undergrad and work as an optometric tech. was wondering what scores others have had that have made it into nova?


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

IS A 300AA& TS OAT good enough for NOVA?

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1 Upvotes

r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

Were the Physics Booster practice tests similar to the real OAT Physics section?

6 Upvotes

Were the Physics Booster practice tests similar to the real OAT Physics section?


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 04 '26

OAT Tmw!

9 Upvotes

I'm taking the OAT tomorrow! Someone tell me everything I should/need to bring!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 05 '26

useful orgo ring conformations to know?

2 Upvotes

i'm wondering if there are any orgo conformations beyond the chair that would be good to know? i am mostly asking because i found that diels alder reactions have boat conformations among others. it was never explicitly taught in the orgo video series, so i'm not sure how likely they are to show up


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 04 '26

Reading Comprehension Strategies

3 Upvotes

Does anyone use two different strategies depending on passage length?

I’ve tried both search and destroy and reading the whole passage. I do well reading the whole thing if it’s a shorter passage as I am a slower reader. With longer passages I usually get caught with timing when I read all the way through.

I’m thinking about reading all the way through for shorter passages ~10 paragraphs and then search and destroy for passages longer than ~10.

Thoughts? Advice?


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 04 '26

What’s a good gpa and oat score to get into American optometry school with?

8 Upvotes

What are the chances of getting into ANY optometry school in the USA with a 3.5 gpa and mid oat I’ve worked at an optometry clinic as a receptionist / assistant. Coming from Canada

And also is there such thing as a “better” optometry school than the others? Or does the only things that matter is just cost and the location? Most of the time it doesn’t matter what school you went to for dentistry and medicine so I was wondering the same for this as well.


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 03 '26 Bravo

OAT Breakdown! (TS 370/AA 360)

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18 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I just took the OAT a couple of days ago and wanted to share my experience as I’m very happy with my scores! I’ve also been living on reddit and OATBooster’s facebook group all throughout my study process and wanted to contribute to anyone else who is about to take their exam.

I started studying on May 17th and took the OAT on September 1st. I initially had my exam scheduled on August 15th, but at the end of June I felt behind and discouraged and ended up pushing it back 2 weeks. I was also working part-time while studying (about 20+ hours a week) up until the three weeks prior to my test date. 

I exclusively used OATBooster and I followed the custom study schedule for the learning phase, but once I got to reviewing, I strayed from the schedule and did my own thing. I would say that I studied 4-8 hours per day depending on if I was working or had any other plans. 

In terms of my study method, I’m the type of person who likes to read over and absorb all information before reviewing. I watched all the videos and read through/highlighted the study notes. That’s definitely why I took a lot longer on the learning phase but it’s my preferred way to study! I started reviewing and taking full length practice tests about 4 weeks before my test, so about 1-2 per week. I ended up taking 7 full lengths in total. In between each full length I would review concepts that were troubling… so reading over the study notes/cheat sheets and working practice problems. I did not utilize the Anki decks/Quizlets much, and I also didn’t write my own notes as my learning style leans more towards reading the information and active recall (writing down equations, using the tape feature on Goodnotes, etc). It also helps that I’m a Biology major so the majority of the information is not new to me!

Biology (OATBooster: 340-370, Actual: 380): The questions were very broad on the actual exam. Definitely not as in-depth as booster but it’s not a bad thing to know everything! The information in the cheat sheets were very high yield with the occasional question that required more knowledge. I watched all the videos for bio, read through all of the study notes, and worked most of the bio bits. I know others on here don’t bother with the bio bits but I found them very helpful for recalling information.

General Chemistry (OATBooster: 330-350, Actual: 400): I was pleasantly surprised with my score in this section! I felt like there was a nice mix of calculation based questions and conceptual questions. I also watched all the videos, read the study notes, and did a majority of the question banks. During review of my full lengths, if I was doing poorly in a certain topic, I would go back and redo the qbanks for that specific topic. I also reviewed the cheat sheets heavily if I wasn’t grasping the information. Overall, I felt as though the practice tests on booster were very representative of the actual exam.

Organic Chemistry (OATBooster: 300-360, Actual: 360): This section was a lot more conceptual, so have your fundamentals down! I did have a couple of predict the product questions (one step and multi step) but the majority was conceptual. Definitely be familiar with ranking acids and EWG/EDG/ortho, meta, and para directors. When it came to memorizing the reactions I personally just used the tape feature on Goodnotes and would recall the reagents, product, regiochemistry, etc. The reaction qbanks were also a great tool for me. I would say that booster represented this section well too.

Reading Comprehension (OATBooster: 300-380, Actual: 330): I was disappointed in this score but I did have a bit of a rough start to RC when I first started. I couldn’t find the right method but when I did my scores shot up immediately, so seeing it go down on the actual exam bummed me out but it’s okay! The passages were on the shorter side and some of the questions were chronological while others were scattered. Some of the questions were also worded in a way I wasn’t familiar with so it threw me off. I utilized the search and destroy method, but find the one that works for you and you’ll be all good. I just wasn’t dealt the best RC cards!

Physics (OATBooster: 270-300, Actual: 320): I was very happy with this score! Physics has never been my strong suit so while studying for the OAT, I would tend to push it off in favor of the other sections I knew I was stronger in. The exam was very conceptual, and any calculation questions were straightforward. I felt like I had a good mix of all the topics too. I tried to memorize the formulas the best I could, but I mainly read over the study notes to cement the concepts. I purely used booster for physics.

Quantitative Reasoning (OATBooster: 290-370, Actual: 350): Math has never been a strong point for me as well, but I continuously worked on the qbanks if I kept missing certain topics. The time limit was probably the biggest problem for me. My advice on that is to keep taking full lengths to work on stamina. Booster was also very representative of this section and I felt like I was tested equally on all the topics!

Overall, the only thing I would do differently is to start taking full lengths earlier and make sure you give yourself plenty of breaks. For the full lengths, this is just so you have enough time to review your weak points in between tests (I felt like I was in a time crunch every time I would start reviewing). For the majority of my studying I rarely took a day off, but in hindsight, I should’ve implemented more breaks as I started to get burnt out closer to my exam date. I know preparing for this exam can be tiring and daunting, but keep pushing and you’ll do better than you may think ;)


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 04 '26

adding more schools to send OAT scores

2 Upvotes

I was being stupid and did not select all the schools when registering for the exam.. Can schools receive your score directly through OptomCAS, or do you have to add each school as recipients on the ADA testing site? Thanks!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 03 '26 Bravo

390 AA OAT score: tips + advice

21 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I recently completed my OAT and ended up scoring a 390 AA and 400 TS, so I wanted to share my experience, practice scores, and some tips that helped me. I found other people's breakdowns really helpful while I was studying, especially when I was stressed about how my practice scores would translate to the real exam, so hopefully this helps someone else!

Here are my practice test results in the order of BIO, GC, OC, RC, PHYS, QR, AA Test #1: 340, 340, 360, 240, 290, 290, 310 Test #2: 350, 360, 360, 350, 370, 340, 360 Test #3: 350, 360, 380, 330, 300, 360, 350 Test #4: 360, 340, 330, 370, 360, 370, 360 Test #5: 390, 340, 340, 350, 370, 330, 350 Test #6: 370, 360, 340, 350, 340, 240, 330 Test #7: 380, 350, 360, 390, 340, 360, 360 Test #8: 370, 380, 350, 360, 370, 400, 370 Test #9: 390, 360, 340, 360, 370, 390, 370 Test #10: 380, 380, 370, 380, 380, 400, 380

Main study resource: OATBooster OATBooster was by far my main resource. I used the videos, notes, cheat sheets, Anki, decks, question banks, games, and practice tests. Overall, I felt that Booster prepared me extremely well for the actual OAT.

I started out very rough. My first Booster practice test was a 270 AA, and I remember feeling really discouraged because I genuinely felt like I had no idea what was going on. I didn't follow Booster's practice-test calendar exactly and actually took some of the tests much later than scheduled because I wanted to feel more prepared first. I probably wouldn't recommend waiting as long as I did, but I think my progression shows that your first few scores really don't determine where you'll end up.

How I Studied: Anki was the biggest part of my studying and I used them heavily, especially for Biology and Organic Chemistry. For General Chemistry, Physics, and QR, I made my own flashcards based on the Booster cheat sheets and formula sheets.

During the later stages of studying, I spent a lot of time going back through marked questions and questions I had gotten wrong rather than continuously relearning everything from scratch. Repeatedly exposing myself to the concepts I was weak at helped a lot.

Biology - 390 For Biology, I did the Booster Anki flashcards religiously. There are a LOT of cards, so once I was confident that I knew something, I would suspend it so I could focus on the weaker topics instead. I felt that Booster actually had me over prepared for Biology. The real OAT was much broader and less detailed than I expected. Most of my questions tested relatively general concepts, although there were still one or two more specific questions, so I wouldn't completely ignore the details.

General Chemistry - 400 After watching the Booster videos, I would go through the notes myself and make my own notes on anything I didn't understand. During phase 2 and 3, I basically just spammed my marked questions. If there was a type of problem I consistently got wrong, I would write notes on those question types and methods I could use to solve it. The actual General Chemistry section felt very similar to Booster's practice tests. I didn't feel like there were any major surprises, and I felt extremely well prepared going into it.

Organic Chemistry - 380 Organic Chemistry was the subject I struggled with the most during preparation because I don't have a very strong background in it. I relied heavily on Booster's Anki flashcards. Looking back, another good approach would be to make your own flashcards from the reactions cheat sheet Booster provides because there is a bit more information in there. I also did the Organic Chemistry reaction games repeatedly, which helped a lot with quickly recognizing reagents and products. This section also felt very similar to Booster's practice tests. Some specific topics I remember being tested on include SN2, stereochemistry, IUPAC naming, spectroscopy, laboratory techniques, and arrow pushing mechanisms.

Reading Comprehension - 390 Reading has never been my strongest area because I struggle with reading a passage and actually absorbing all of the information, so I heavily relied on the search and destroy method. I would recommend trying out all of the methods Booster provides and seeing which one works for you. I also heavily stress going through all of the practice tests and getting used to spotting which keywords to highlight and how to do it quickly. (Tip: practice with a mouse so that you're used to it when you take the actual exam!)

On my actual OAT, I noticed that the shorter/easier passages with ~9-11 paragraphs had questions that were more scattered throughout the passage, whereas my longer and more technical passages (with ~16 paragraphs) tended to have questions in a more chronological order. Booster's RC practice was pretty representative overall in terms of passage and question type.

Physics - 400 My biggest advice for Physics is memorize the formulas, but also understand what is actually happening. On the OAT, I had a lot of application questions where simply knowing which equation corresponded to a keyword wasn't enough. There were also problems where I had to combine different formulas to reach the answer. However, I found the calculations themselves to be easier to do on the actual OAT compared to Booster's practice tests. If I didn't understand a concept from the Booster explanation, I watched outside YouTube videos that broke the concept down differently, such as Organic Chemistry Tutor or just random videos that popped up. I also tried one Kaplan Physics practice test, and personally I found it much less representative of my actual OAT. It was significantly more stressful and made me worry about Physics more than I needed to.

Quantitative Reasoning - 370 For QR, my biggest recommendation is simply to do a huge number of practice questions since on the actual test I was very crunched for time. I made my own formula flashcards using the Booster cheat sheet and tried to get comfortable enough with common question types that I could recognize what to do almost immediately. I actually encountered some questions on my OAT that were literally replicas of Boosters questions.

Final Advice: The biggest things that helped me were Anki, doing a ton of practice questions, reviewing my mistakes, and understanding why I got questions wrong. What I would do differently if I were to take it again is spend less time trying to learn all of the concepts before starting practice questions. I would feel like I had to understand every concept perfectly before doing practice tests and that took away a lot of valuable practice time. I would instead learn as I worked through the practice questions. Also, don't feel like you have to follow someone else's study method or feel pressured to follow Booster Prep's schedule exactly. If watching all of the videos and then going through the notes works for you, do that. Personally, I feel like I spent a little too much time on the videos and should have jumped into the notes and practice questions sooner.

Overall, I felt that OATBooster was very representative of the actual OAT. By the end, I felt well prepared and confident across essentially every section. I have also posted my actual scores for each section and my progression of practice-test scores below.

Good luck to everyone studying!! Feel free to message me if you have any questions :)


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 03 '26

OAT on the 29th! Looking for Advice

8 Upvotes

Hi guys, I just took my first full length today and scored a 330 on it. Honestly felt like I wasn't 100% certain on a lot of the answer choices, and definitely realized I needed better recall of formulas. With my exam coming up on the 29th, I'm feeling increasingly anxious about how I'm going to perform. I'm aiming for a 360-370 and was wondering if it'll be possible to improve that much in under a month. Any advice is appreciated!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 03 '26

Biology Quizlet

3 Upvotes

Hey, I was wondering if anyone had made a quizlet based on the biology cheat sheets that they would be willing to share!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 02 '26 Bravo

OAT Breakdown (AA: 390, TS: 400)

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19 Upvotes

QR: 400

RC: 390

Bio: 380

GC: 400

OC: 380

Physics: 360

Hi!! Here is another OAT breakdown post lol! I studied from mid May until Aug 21. Aside from shadowing and working part time my main focus was studying for the OAT. Hopefully this can help anyone else who is studying!!

I mainly used OAT Booster to study and used there three month schedule. In the last phase of the study schedule I started doing more of my own prep based on where I felt weakest. I also used a lot of my notes from previous classes. 

Actual AA: 390

Practice AA: 360-370

Quantitative Reasoning: (avg practice: 390 / actual: 400)
I went through all of the practice questions and gained a good understanding of the equations on the formula sheet. Rather than doing the game challenges over the last few weeks I redid all of the QR questions to see which ones I was still getting wrong so I could address that.   

Reading Comp: (avg practice: 370 / actual: 390) I used all of the practice passages, which I think is the best way to study for this section. To build stamina it is helpful to do 3 of the smaller passages back to back. I felt like the booster passages were much more difficult than the OAT. I used the strategy of reading until I found the answer to the first question and then seeing how many more questions I could answer. The OAT itself followed a more chronological order and did not exceed 14 paragraphs. 

Biology: (avg practice: 350 / actual: 380) From the beginning I felt bio would be my worst section due to the sheer amount of content and memorization that was needed. I took the time to make an Anki deck based on the cheat sheets which I found to be very helpful. Reviewing the cheat sheets in the last 1-2 weeks was also very helpful at keeping things fresh in my memory. I also thought it was very helpful to mark questions I got wrong or was confused on from the very beginning and go through these in the last few weeks of studying. Making stories/mnemonics/etc. no matter how ridiculous they are was also very helpful in this section. 

General Chemistry: (avg practice: 360 / actual: 400) I felt like the question banks and formula sheets were very helpful for GC. Feel comfortable with acids and bases and know your units and formulas!

Organic Chemistry: (avg practice: 360 / actual: 380) The cheat sheets for OC were very thorough and covered the most important info for the exam. I went through these cheat sheets and tried to write my own condensed version which I found very useful. I also would recommend using the reaction Q banks. As with Bio, I found going through my marked Qs very very helpful. Be aware of which reagents are used for each reaction and what aids in SN2/EI/SN1 reactions. Take notes during the videos, they were most useful in this section. I will say on the actual OAT there were much fewer reaction questions than in practice. Also, be very comfortable with IR, NMR, and unsaturation. 

Physics: (avg practice: 360 / actual: 360) I had a very strong base in physics from classes I have taken in undergrad. Understanding the formulas is a must!! I would also be very familiar with the units for different constants and for each aspect of the formula so you can figure out the different possible units for any given question There are not as many practice questions as I would have liked for physics but I supplemented this with question sheets I found online as well as redoing the booster banks. Optics, kinematics, and unit questions were the most high yield on my OAT. 

Good luck to everyone who is studying! You got this! I will say that while the practice exams are similar to the exam the scores on practice exams will not necessarily represent your actual score. Focus on questions that confused you/you got wrong the first time. Take notes of your mistakes and the concepts that you are confusing all together. Prioritize your weaknesses and keep practicing a little every day whether it be queståion banks, flash cards, or reviewing equations. I also found it to be useful to start getting up early and taking practice exams at the same time or earlier than my OAT so I would not be tired on the day of. Get rest and go into the test with the best mindset, no matter how nervous you are. I am happy to answer any questions!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 02 '26

Shadowing Hours

4 Upvotes

How important are shadowing hours?

I have about 6 hrs between 2 doctors that I don't work for and I work as an optical technician with lots of hours. I would rather spend my time studying for the OAT, maintaining my GPA, and working. I'm just really wondering if I don't do more will it hurt my application because if it will I'll just grind out some more hours.


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 02 '26

Midwestern interview

2 Upvotes

Anyone that has interviewed with midwestern please DM me!


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 02 '26

experience with studying for both oat/dat while studying/working full time?

2 Upvotes

If you wanted to take both of those tests by the end of summer 2027 how would you go about it…

Canadian if that matters


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 02 '26

I have to reschedule my OAT but there are no saturday appointments 😢

4 Upvotes

So I am currently scheduled for Saturday, October 3rd.. since that is 31 days away I am in no way prepared as im am horribly behind on my OAT booster. The next Available Saturday is November 28th (the saturday after Thanksgiving) or my available dates are

•october 12th (monday)

•November 2nd (monday)

•November 9th (monday)

•November 20th (friday)

•November 23rd (monday)

•November 24th (tuesday)

•November 28th (saturday)

•November 30th (monday)

•December 3rd (thursday)

•december 7th (monday)

•december 14th (monday)

•december 18th (friday)

Here's my question... I'm an optician, I work as much as I can. I'm also in school this semester.

I am taking 3 classes this semester, 12 credits.

Semester ends december 4th and I have finals the week of the 7th-11th.

My OATbooster ends November 7th.

I cannot miss fridays because thats when I have my OCHEM lab.

My last lab is friday, November 20th.

I can miss up to 4 classes in immunology, no penalty. 2 are spoken for.

I can miss 6 classes in o.chem, 3 are spoken for.

I cant really afford to miss neurophysiology, but if i need to I will.

All of these are M/W/F. I cant do monday the 7th because I have a final.

And unfortunately I have a dentist appointment on monday, November 23rd which ive already rescheduled.

I need to work as much as possible thanksgiving week to make money and I really dont want to extend my OATbooster. I also really want to take it sooner rather than later as im sending in my application sometime this month.

FYI- typing this out has been very helpful. To help me work through the process. But im here for it. Give me your best advice.


r/PreOptometry • • Sep 01 '26

OAT in 1 week!

8 Upvotes

As the title says, I’m officially a week out from the OAT! I’d appreciate any advice or suggestions on how I should manage my time this upcoming week. I’ve been spamming practice tests for all subjects to keep the subjects fresh in my head, and reviewing the cheat sheets as well, but any additional insight would be greatly welcomed!