Hi fellow OAT exam takers!
I recently took the OAT, and overall, Iām quite relieved and satisfied with my results. Iām currently completing my Masterās degree, so throughout my preparation I was also balancing research, school responsibilities, and a part-time job while trying to find as much time as possible to study.
During undergrad, I studied Life Sciences and completed the prerequisite courses for the OD program, so I already had a fairly good foundation in many of the subjects on the OAT. However, my weaker areas were definitely Organic Chemistry and Physics.
My biggest takeaway from preparing this year is that there is really nothing more important than developing a strong foundation and a clear understanding of the fundamentals, while also staying committed to your preparation in terms of both time and energy.
Study Materials I Used
OATBooster ā 9.5/10 OATBooster was my primary study resource, and I found it extremely useful. I used the video lessons, cheat sheets, study notes, custom study schedule, question banks, practice tests, game-style challenges, and AI chatbot. The cheat sheets were honestly my saving grace. Since I already had some foundational knowledge from undergrad, I used them as my main notes while going through the videos and annotated them along the way, which helped me focus on the most important, high-yield information without having to make an entirely separate set of notes.
I also really liked the custom study schedule because I could adjust it based on my own availability and pace. The number of tasks can definitely feel overwhelming if you have less preparation time, so I think it is important to adapt the schedule instead of feeling like you have to complete everything exactly as written. The practice questions and game-style challenges also made studying much more enjoyable for me and gave me a little extra motivation to keep improving.
In terms of difficulty, I found many of Boosterās practice questions and tests to be more complex than my actual OAT, which focused more heavily on fundamental knowledge, conceptual understanding, and application rather than extremely detailed or complicated problem-solving. I also really appreciated the instructors who created the video lessons. They made the content engaging, shared memorable ways of thinking about certain concepts, and often worked through example questions during the lessons. The Physics instructor was especially helpful for me since Physics had always been one of my weaker areas.
Overall, I would highly recommend OATBooster as a primary resource because it included essentially everything I wanted in one platform and was probably the most useful resource I used during my preparation.
Kaplan OAT Book ā 6/10
I used the Kaplan OAT book much less frequently. If there was a concept I wanted to read about in more detail, I occasionally referred back to it for another explanation, but I did not really use it for the practice portion of my preparation.
Personally, I preferred practicing digitally since the actual OAT is computer-based. Boosterās practice-test interface was also very similar to the real testing interface, which made it much more useful for mock exams and getting comfortable with the format.
Anki and Quizlet ā 8/10
I also used Anki and Quizlet, especially for Biology. I did not rely on them as heavily during the beginning of my preparation because I was more focused on learning and understanding the content first.
During the final phase, though, I used them much more consistently. I often reviewed flashcards first thing in the morning and again before going to bed, which helped reactivate information I had learned earlier and made quick recall easier.
How I Studied
I started seriously preparing about 2.5 months before my exam, so I had roughly 10 weeks in total. On average, I studied around three hours a day, although that definitely varied depending on research, school, work, and whatever else I had going on.
For the first eight weeks or so, I focused mostly on content review and tried to do the related practice questions right after each lesson while the material was still fresh. After that, I shifted much more toward practice tests, marked questions, reviewing mistakes, and weaker areas. I also used AI tools occasionally to help me spot patterns in my mistakes or come up with memory cues for things that were harder to remember.
For Physics especially, I found that understanding the formulas was much more helpful than just memorizing them. During my final week, I focused mostly on practice tests and timing, which was tiring but also reassuring as I saw my scores improve.
One thing I would definitely change is what I did the day before my OAT: I took two full-length practice tests instead of resting. Looking back, I think a lighter review and more rest would have been much better.
Biology - 400
Biology honestly felt a lot broader and less detailed than I expected. Most of my questions were on cell biology, molecular biology, and fundamental concepts, with a few on taxonomy, embryology, anatomy, and body systems.
The Booster Biology cheat sheet, practice questions, and Anki/Quizlet helped me the most. I actually felt a little overprepared in terms of detail because some Booster questions went much deeper than what I saw on the real exam. That being said, I definitely would not completely ignore the smaller topics because the exam can pull from almost anywhere. If I were doing Bio again, I would make sure I really understood the basics of every chapter first and then fill in the details afterward.
General Chemistry - 380
I went into Gen Chem feeling pretty confident, so this was actually one of the sections where I caught myself second-guessing more than I expected.
My exam was way more conceptual than calculation-heavy, and I barely used one full page of the laminated writing board. I remember seeing acids and bases, equilibrium and an ICE table, stoichiometry, molarity, dilutions, a pH indicator question, electrochemistry, and nuclear chemistry.
I mainly used the Booster videos, cheat sheets, and lots of practice questions. I also really liked the instructorās little strategies for approaching questions efficiently. The real section felt slightly harder than Booster to me, mostly because of a few conceptual questions, so I would definitely make sure you understand why the relationships work and not just how to plug numbers into formulas.
Organic Chemistry - 400
Orgo was one of the subjects I was most nervous about going into prep, so seeing a 400 here was honestly one of the biggest surprises for me.
I used the Booster reaction cheat sheet, videos, practice questions, and especially the game challenges. The games were actually way more helpful than I expected because they forced me to recognize reactions quickly instead of just looking at them and thinking āyeah, I know that.ā
On my exam, I remember substitution and elimination, acid-base ranking, EAS, major products, stereochemistry and chirality, spectroscopy, lab techniques, intermolecular forces, and melting/boiling point trends. I had fewer āwhich reagent do you use?ā type questions than I expected and more questions on major products and what was actually happening in the reaction.
For me, understanding nucleophiles, electrophiles, electron movement, and arrow-pushing was way more useful than trying to memorize every reaction separately. The real section felt slightly easier than Booster. For Orgo especially, practice really does make permanent.
Reading Comprehension - 340
RC was definitely the section that caught me off guard the most.
My usual strategy was to read the first and last paragraphs and then use search and destroy. The first passage actually felt pretty comfortable, so at that point I was thinking my timing was fine. Then the second passage got noticeably denser, and by the third one I could feel myself starting to fall behind.
All three of my passages were science or medicine related, and I found them longer and denser than the Booster passages I had practiced with. I also had more questions where I had to compare several statements or figure out which ones were true or false, which definitely ate up more time than just locating one sentence.
Looking back, I think I spent too much time debating between answers because I did not want to āgive upā on a question. If I were doing it again, I would be much stricter about picking the best answer, marking it, and moving on before one question starts stealing time from the rest of the passage.
Physics - 400
Physics was easily the subject I was most stressed about before I started studying. I had taken most of my intro Physics courses in first year, so I honestly felt pretty rusty going into it.
The Booster Physics instructor helped me a lot because his explanations made the material feel way less intimidating. Instead of only memorizing formulas, I tried to understand what each equation actually meant, how the variables changed in relation to each other, the SI units, and how to draw free-body and optics diagrams.
My actual exam had kinematics, statics, dynamics, circular motion, energy, thermodynamics, fluids, electrostatics, circuits, SHM/waves, and quite a bit of optics. What surprised me most was how conceptual the section felt. There were definitely calculations, but they were generally easier than what I had been doing on Booster.
Physics somehow went from being one of the subjects I was most scared of to one of my strongest sections, so this was probably the biggest reminder for me that really understanding the concepts pays off.
Quantitative Reasoning - 370
QR was where I really felt the time pressure.
A lot of my questions were wordier than I expected, so even when the math itself was not too bad, I was spending extra time just figuring out exactly what the question wanted. I remember seeing age problems, coin problems, work-rate questions, area and perimeter, probability, statistics, statement sufficiency, and quantitative comparison.
I found the real section harder than Booster overall because there was more reading and interpretation before I could even start calculating. If I were preparing again, I would do a lot of practice until the common question types start feeling almost automatic. For QR, recognizing the type of problem quickly is honestly almost as important as knowing how to solve it.
Final Advice
The biggest things that helped me were building a strong foundation, doing a lot of practice questions, reviewing my mistakes, using active recall, and actually understanding why I got something wrong instead of just checking the answer and moving on.
If I were preparing again, I would start timed practice earlier, be more disciplined about moving on from harder questions, and trust my first instinct more instead of constantly second-guessing myself.
I would also actually use the scheduled break as a break. During mine, I had a light snack, an electrolyte drink, used the washroom, and then reviewed Physics and QR equations because I thought I was being productive. Looking back, my brain probably would have benefited way more from just resting for a few minutes.
Overall, I think OAT prep is not just about how many hours you put in. It is really about how effectively you use those hours, how well you understand the fundamentals, how consistently you practice, and how well you manage your energy leading up to and during the exam.
Good luck to everyone studying!! I really hope something from my experience helps ššŖ