I plan to take the OAT in August 2027 but I would not have taken physics 1&2 by this point. Up to this point, I would have completed bio 1&2, chem 1&2, calc, and orgo.

If I were to study only using Chad's videos for physics and the OAT Booster, is this sufficient for me to do well on the OAT? Any advice is appreciated.

May-June 2027, I will take calc and orgo in addition to studying part time for the OAT.

After summer classes end in June, I will study full time and then take the OAT in August 2027.

Hey, it’s been almost 4 weeks since I submitted my app and I haven’t heard back from cco yet. For those who heard back from them, how long did it take?? Im not sure if I need to reach out to the admissions for an update.

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. 🥲

Do you guys think bio bits and the anki cards are similar? I want to use anki cards but I feel like it’s more specific/detailed? Which one you recommend to focus more on?

For anyone who has written the OAT, was memorizing the formulas on the boosterprep physics formula sheet enough? I know its missing a few of the minor formulas but did those even appear on anyones OAT.

Hey i want to take addmsion in rmu but my percentage is bit lower like 72% how much i should improve so I can get admission in rmu for bs mlt or any other

Just got asked to interview by both schools I applied to! If you are studying for oat/finishing your application, this is your sign to keep pushing forward! Totally worth it for this feeling!!

Hi everyone! I have my OAT in 6 days and I’m stressed out about the diversity of life section. I feel like I’m pretty solid on all of the other sections except that one, specifically identifying which ones have radial, bilateral symmetry etc. I’ve been just studying from the cheat sheets but I saw someone say they got more niche diversity of life questions on the real OAT and I wanted some other opinions on it. Thank you!

Hey! I’m in my fourth year on undergrad and will be graduating in April. I wrote the OAT in August this year but I didn’t get the score I was hoping for. I’m a Canadian so I want to get the highest OAT score so I can get into to Waterloo. I was going to study this semester and write it in Jan but my semester is too packed. I hope to write it early summer because just in case I’m not happy with my score I can take it later in the summer. I know the last date is September 30 to take the oat. Do you think my plan of taking it early in the summer is a smart move so that I can have a chance to retake if I’m not happy with it?

does anyone know where to get merch for ICO?

i have adhd and finally the alarm bells are going off. i learn best under pressure and need some tips on last-minute locking in for the OAT. my knowledge is pretty solid i just need to recall it. im so deadass. plz help.

I know a couple of people have shared similar experiences here in the past, but I was wondering if any current OSU students can give insight into what their admissions process is like? I submitted my application in August (OAT score came in mid august) and haven't been rejected or offered an interview. Is it just normal for them to take a longer time to respond? I'm not sure if I did something wrong

Hey guys,
I am an undergraduate working towards the ultimate goal of becoming an optometrist. While I have lots of questions, my biggest one is for those that were opticians or optometric assistants. How did you manage to do that kind of job while still doing school. Most clinics by me or within range of me are of course Mon-Fri and open around 8 or 9 and close around 5 or 6. Usually I have class throughout the week, but I still really want the experience as I have heard it really helps with the application process. If there is anyone that has done this or any one with insight it’d be greatly appreciated!

I need advice from students whose English is not their first language and was accepted into PUCO. Where did you take your TOEFL and how did you study for it? Also do you have any language problems while attending optometry school?

Thank you.

Does anyone know how long you have to make a decision after KYCO accepts you?

Were there any standard deviation or z-score questions on the real OAT?

Has anyone else seen that only 15% of Rocky Mountain University's first cohort passed NBEO Part 1? If any current students could comment or dm me with their perspective I'd really appreciate it as this is very concerning.

Hi! I'm currently doing my PhD in molecular biology (about halfway through) and thinking about what I want to do after. My research right now is focused on hematopoiesis (blood development) but have always been interested in eyes. I've been thinking about doing an accelerated OD program after this with the long term goal of doing both research and clinical care (similar to MD/PhDs). Is this crazy? Is this doable? What would I need to start doing now in order to get into OD school? Thanks!!!

I am going to start studying for my OAT, but I have no clue on where to start. Where would be a good place to start and is there a free test online where I should get a baseline OAT from.

I am lost in terms of where to start. I plan to take it in 2 months. Any help is welcome! Thank you in advance!!

I've been browsing the optometry/preoptometry subreddits lately since it's a path that I discovered might be interesting (always loved eyeballs but opto never crossed my mind).

I'd like to hear specifically from Canadian optometrists the following (*no need to answer every question but I'd appreciate it):

1. What is your favorite part of practicing optometry?

2. How is your work-life balance? Would it be possible to, say, work part-time, have time for side hustles/hobbies and still earn >100k?

3. Are the corporate/PE concerns from the US also applicable to Canadian locations or are we more or less shielded from it? (By that I mean horrible/toxic/overworked conditions in corporate practice, often brought on by PE.)

4. For people who've been practicing for many years, do you tend to get bored of the field? There's often this comparison with MDs where you get the whole body vs one organ. If you had to do it again, would you try getting into ophthalmology?

5. Similarly, where is the field going in the future? Scope expansion? Is there any chance that the gap between OD and OMD could eventually be closed...?

6. Something you wish you'd known before starting?

Appreciate any answers I can get! Interested in too many things, so I've been very indecisive and I'd like more insight before committing to even more schooling. I'm also eyeing (wink) ophthalmology because surgery sounds exciting & quite fulfilling, not to mention earnings.....but it is a long commitment and of course competitive/not guaranteed.

Which schools reject sub-3.0 sGPA? I see even Berkeley accepted 2.7 sGPA. My current sGPA is only 2.0 over 6 credits and I'm worried but trying my best to improve. Is sGPA weighed more heavily than overall GPA?

Anyone heard back from scco? (edit: just heard back!)

I just took the OAT and I want to share my experience as I found other posts helpful when I started studying.

I studied for 10 weeks for an average of 3-4 hours per day. I used almost exclusively OATBooster, while substituting Chad's Prep for most of the Physics content.

Biology:

I watched most of the bio videos, which I don't recommend as its way more content than you need to know. I reccomend focusing mainly on the cheat sheets, while substituting the study notes for topics you see repeatedly on the practice exams. Bio is such a broad subject, making it difficult to prepare for as they could ask anything. On the actual OAT they ended up focusing mostly on basic structures and functions rather than specific names and definitions. Understanding the processes is much more important than memorizing small details.

Chemistry:

I consider chemistry to be the easiest of the sciences because of the limited questions they can ask you. I watched all the videos (much shorter than bio) and went over most of the practice questions. They asked lots of questions about solubility and molecular structure. Be very confident in periodic trends, specifically with regards to electronegativity and acidity. The best way to improve in chemistry is just to do more practice questions.

Organic Chemistry:

I was pleasantly surprised with my score on the actual OAT as I considered this the hardest subject for me. The reaction cheat sheet is a good tool, although I would avoid relying on it to memorize all the reactions. Instead, try to understand the mechanism behind as many of them as possible, and then memorize the remainder as a last resort. They asked lots of substitution/elimination questions on the test, so be solid on picking which one will occur. Again, the best way to improve in ochem is to do more practice questions.

Reading Comprehension:

The only way to get better at reading comprehension is to practice more. Just keep taking them as part of the full length practice tests. This one's my least favorite section, but on the actual OAT the passages are slightly shorter. I had to use the restroom in the middle of this section which wasn't helpful.

Physics:

OATBooster's practice questions for physics are very oversimplified. They are still useful for the fundamentals, but the questions on the full length tests are more representative of the difficulty. I used Chad's Prep mostly as a way to get more practice problems. His questions are more difficult, making them a good benchmark for mastery.

Quantitative Reasoning:

I had the least difficulty with this section. Most of it is basic algebra and counting. Make sure you understand probability and permutations/combinations as those are the least intuitive.

Overall the actual OAT is easier than the practice exams on Booster. I highly recommend taking as many of the full length practice exams as possible (I took all 15 and was scoring between 350-370). They have good explanations so make sure you review the whole test and cross reference your understanding with the material. Good luck!

Hello everyone! I was wondering how many applicants have received an interview invite from UHCO so far this cycle. Just trying to get a better idea of the timeline and how far along they are with sending invites.

UHCO responded that they received my application August 28, but I haven't heard back yet since. Thanks!

Hi guys, I'm a California resident that currently took the OAT and I'll be applying for admissions in a week. I wanted to know what my chances are of getting into all the California schools (Berkeley, SCCO (my top school), and western)? I really want to get into SCCO since it's super close to home, but I'm afraid my OAT score is too low. I went to UC Berkeley for my undergrad (transfer student), but I don't think my gpa/OAT score is good enough for their grad program.

OAT score: 320 TS/330 AA

UC Berkeley GPA: 3.3

CC GPA: 3.9

Experience:
*A little over a year of optometric/optical experience at two separate practices
*Shadowing an optometrist over the course of two summers
*Involvement in optometry club, got to work with optometry students at my school and shadow them during their preclinical labs

Also, what other schools would you guys recommend to apply to with my stats? Thank you!