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- Jul 11, 2009
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I just want to share some of my thoughts on the test. I bother a lot of people with questions, and people nonetheless helped me a lot! From my experience, reading about it really helps. The more you know about the test, the better.
Biology
It wasn't as random as I thought it would be. However, I major in biology so everything tested I encountered already in my undergraduate studies. Like vandal's post, a lot of similar topics came up. I got asked about the pill also, and a picture of a cell and where it can be found. Brain function, cell functions, can't remember much but it was nothing really challenging I felt like. NO plants! I got lucky
Nothing on evolution/ecology/animal behavior either, which is good because I didn't really look over those topics too much. Surprisingly I didn't really get much on hormones/endocrinology, which is something I put a lot of emphasis on. Also a couple of embryology which made me kind of mad, considering how little my Kaplan DAT book even went into this. But like I said, stuff you learn in you biology classes really pays off in this section.
General Chemistry
Easy. WAY easier than Kaplan that's for sure! Simple stoichiometry, ideal gas relationships, periodic rules, simple balancing equations, resonance, etc. Nothing that I haven't encountered in Kaplan review notes. Things I don't remember seeing on my test are nuclear phenomenon, and solubility product.
Organic Chemistry
Easy peasy again. Even more easy than GC I think. No complex reactions that's for sure. Actually I don't even remember seeing my reactions. I actually didn't get asked on names of reactions, aside from if it is "elimination/substitution/etc." (which made it even more piece of cake). There was one NMR question, which I had no clue about. In theory, it's easy and I've done practice on it, but on the test I just couldn't figure it out.
Reading Comprehension
Alright. The hardest part is getting through all questions in time. If you are a slow reader, I suggest trying to increase your reading speed while at the same time make sure you actually UNDERSTAND what you read. At the last passage I was having like a panic attack because I was trying to read the passage really quickly and I didn't even understand anything I read, so I forced myself to slow down; I rather get 5 out of the last 10 questions RIGHT instead of rushing and getting most of the 10 wrong. My strategy (works for me, maybe not for you) is read the whole (or most) of the passage. I tried search-and-destroy method and it really doesn't work for me, except for some obvious questions. I just don't understand things well when they're out of context or I don't know what's going on as a whole. BECAUSE of this, I have most of the article and i have to do it fast. I made little notes along the way but overall you should be doing minimal writing for this if you want to get through.
Some questions include truth/false statements, tone of author, what does this quote mean, etc. Be careful of the usual traps. ex. "What is the decrease from x to y?" I almost fell for the trap because somewhere in the passage it'll go "the increase for x is 293231" but you actually have to subtract y from x or something. I know it's obvious now but it's easy to forget when you're in a rush. The last passage is also a killer - but then again maybe it was because I was panicking. It was the longest and the questions were more harder to understand. But if you are a good reader you should be fine. I know some people start at the last passage, but for me I just didn't want to mark all the questions in between.
Physics
I barely got through physics with time to spare. Luckily, they threw a lot of calculation questions at me at the beginning, so I was left with a lot of concept questions at the end. I would still say there are MORE calculations than concepts though, but maybe only like 6 out of 10 times. Most calculations were kinematics and force. There's stuff like friction which from the question format seems like it's asking you to do a calculation, but if you know the concept you can pick out the answer right away, hence making it a non-calculation question. Know position-time graphs. No torque, no nuclear/atomic things like photoelectric effect, thermal expansion, no magnetism. One circuit problem but it was concept. Lens/mirrors but nothing you can't solve with 1/i + 1/o = 1/f. Actually not even, because it was conceptual but if you forgot, you can just make up values to put in there. There was also 1 relationship question, if you change one variable what happens.
Edit: I got a question about whether or not if I need to know constants. For the questions that came up on my test, no, for all of the calculations. However, I was scared I'll be caught off guard so i went ahead and memorized every possible constant anyway. It wasn't hard as I was already using them when I was studying, but I guess i went overboard with memorizing stuff like mass of electron etc.
Math
If i had to describe how i felt one word, it'll probably be "horrified". Way harder than opt test and probably same difficulty as Kaplan. I was so distraught that I couldn't even focus on simple algebra problems and had to do them twice to get the answer, which was a big waste of time. There was one triangle problem, polygon angles, money problems, a lot a lot of word problems, coordinate systems, and like 4 trig questions. Know the 3-4-5 triangles etc. There was a simple probability problem, I think picking cards. As far as statistics go, it was just finding average. I really felt like given up at the 25th question or so because I was getting so mentally drained and there was like 15 minutes left for 15 questions. Don't give up. I wouldn't have passed this if I didn't tell myself to KEEP PUSHING FORWARD and do the ones I can handle! And believe me, there are some really easy ones mingled between the hard ones. DO THOSE! I shudder to think what would have happened if I gave up and just guessed (but do it if you absolutely have to). Probably right now I"ll be signing up for the next OAT. >_>
Note: Yes, there was a calculator, which didn't lag for me at all but sometimes I click a number and it'll show up twice and then I have to clear it. I'm so bad at math that the windows calculator actually helped me when I was at home doing practice tests. However on the actual test, there was only one question that I found useful and other times it slows you down. It's all a matter of getting the right questions for it; if you have a bunch of fractions or word problems, the calculator is useless.
Overall
The sciences are pretty easy if you studied. There's really no surprises at all. Everything that came up I studied. The part that I think held me back was the test conditions: I was really nervous. At home, I would read the question and pick the answer like I was some natural, but at the test, I found myself reading it twice and then being too cautious about what I picked. Which is okay but all that doubt made me nervous (and it wastes time). The board/marker also annoyed me. The marker ran out of ink during GC. They give you another marker, which was a fat tip one (which also smells). For science sections it's okay, but during the math it really started to get to me because I was doing some mad calculations and half the time I couldn't see my writing as well as I can because the numbers just get jumbled up if you're writing so fast. I compensated for this by writing bigger, but that just means erasing more often.
During break, I wrote down all the physics formula. I don't know if I will do this again if given the chance, because it was a waste I think, for ME anyway. I didn't refer to any of it. And probably because by then I already knew it well. It's like one of those things: a professor allows you to bring a formula sheet to the test, but you never use it anyway, because you learned everything already during the duration you studied.
How I studied
Studied from end of June til now but bulk of studying is in September after I finished working. When I had work I probably shoved in 4 hours on a good day, but it was mostly fooling around with *cough* facebook breaks in between. During september I studied maybe 7 hours a day and breaks at night. During the last 2 weeks I've been doing full length tests everyday to work on timing. I think math is really difficult for me to study for, because I'm innately bad at math. There are so many types of problems out there, but the only thing you can really do is keep finding problems and tackling them.
Biology, I didn't really study for this actually. I took the practice opt test and it was mostly a joke (what is an autotroph?). I knew it was getting a bit arrogant because of my biology major though. GC/orgo = Kaplan prepares you quite well. I would say it's not any harder than the things Kaplan throws at you and in some cases, it's easier. Reading comprehension, hardest to study for, so I didn't (LOL). I just didn't really want to I guess. To me, reading is just about reading fast and accurate. To be fair, I've read quite of few research papers at my leisure, and I read a lot (okay I read a lot of comics/manga, but I also read a lot of newspapers and novels).
Materials
For people who are starting in the near future with their studying. I got half of these for free, which is really good considering I'm so poor lol. I used ebay to get the DAT review for cheap, but if you plan on studying SOON I would just order from these forums. Ebay is so unreliable =/ The examkracker books are really good for reviewing because of their tests at the back. Their physics book is especially good - I thought I knew all about projectile motion until I read their notes and it helped me understand it better. I also used my own textbooks that I saved from undergrad, but it's way more in depth than needed, but I used it for practice problems. I also wrote out my own flash cards, which I NEVER TOUCHED again - but the 'writing' part helped me remember things better. The internet is also a valuable resource for practice questions. I listened to some guy on youtube for physics (it wasn't anyone specific, I just typed in search bar).
-Kaplan DAT review/flashcards (2003 version. Compared with 2009 version and it's exactly the same)
-Kaplan OAT practice tests (I used this the most! Very valuable)
-Examkrackers (online)
-Examkrackers biology flashcards (also online but I do not recommend these because it's full of typos and way too long)
-MCAT books
-Free ADA OAT/DAT tests/pre-optometry club practice tests/free Kaplan events
Day before
I know people say "don't study" to rest your brain, but I just studied anyway, but not as intensely. The thing I learned from test taking is that I tend to forget things when I relax. So I saved the relaxing for after the test. I slept the same time as before so I wouldn't be up worrying about it. I got up next morning, reviewed in the subway (lol) on some minor subjects. Then I went in. Registration is mostly just ID checks and photo taking. Check your markers! Mine ran out. Seriously, the markers suck. Also, I went to the testing center few days before hand because the center was located somewhere in Toronto and I wasn't familiar with the streets.
Academic Background
I graduate with biology major. I've taken maybe over 10 courses in biology, 2 in biochemistry, 2 orgos, 2 gen chem, 2 physics, and 2 english courses. Pretty standard, but the biology bit definitely helped if you paid attention in class. The less you have to learn for OAT, the better.
Scores
Subject | OAT scores | ADA test/Kaplan FL
Biology: 400 | 400/400
Gen.Chem: 370 | 360/340
Orgo: 400 | 370/350
Reading: 370 | 400/370
Physics: 330 | 350/280 (-.-)
Math: 320 | 400/350
TS: 390
AA: 370
*Didn't calculate TS/AA for practice tests.
Final thoughts
Start studying early. People tell me I spent my entire summer studying which is an overkill but that's because I know my own study habits: I retain things better overtime. So if you can do it in a month or few weeks, don't listen to me - you know yourself best. It's just that if you find yourself rusty for a subject, then you have time to learn it and not mad rush it. You should find yourself doing less as the test date approaches because you know it by then.
My Advice now
I don't want to pretend to be some expert or anything especially my scores aren't perfect, but this is what I feel now: There is something I would do differently if given the chance and I want to pass this insight to others. From my scores, one can assume I'm alright with sciences but bad at physics/math. This is true and correlates well with my GPA: good grades with bio/chem etc but really bad with physics/math (bad meaning I nearly failed). So look at your GPA, which is a good indicator of what you need to work on. I think deep down I knew I wasn't good at physics/math but I was just too scared to face reality, and this limited me severely. I'm not going to complain about my overall scores but the imbalance with some of the scores shows that I didn't focus on my weaknesses. I reinforced my strengths but what if I was given harder physics/math questions that day? It could have been a downfall.
Good luck with studying and hope this will help at least one person out there. No matter what happens during the test, "keep calm and carry on".
Biology
It wasn't as random as I thought it would be. However, I major in biology so everything tested I encountered already in my undergraduate studies. Like vandal's post, a lot of similar topics came up. I got asked about the pill also, and a picture of a cell and where it can be found. Brain function, cell functions, can't remember much but it was nothing really challenging I felt like. NO plants! I got lucky
Nothing on evolution/ecology/animal behavior either, which is good because I didn't really look over those topics too much. Surprisingly I didn't really get much on hormones/endocrinology, which is something I put a lot of emphasis on. Also a couple of embryology which made me kind of mad, considering how little my Kaplan DAT book even went into this. But like I said, stuff you learn in you biology classes really pays off in this section.General Chemistry
Easy. WAY easier than Kaplan that's for sure! Simple stoichiometry, ideal gas relationships, periodic rules, simple balancing equations, resonance, etc. Nothing that I haven't encountered in Kaplan review notes. Things I don't remember seeing on my test are nuclear phenomenon, and solubility product.
Organic Chemistry
Easy peasy again. Even more easy than GC I think. No complex reactions that's for sure. Actually I don't even remember seeing my reactions. I actually didn't get asked on names of reactions, aside from if it is "elimination/substitution/etc." (which made it even more piece of cake). There was one NMR question, which I had no clue about. In theory, it's easy and I've done practice on it, but on the test I just couldn't figure it out.
Reading Comprehension
Alright. The hardest part is getting through all questions in time. If you are a slow reader, I suggest trying to increase your reading speed while at the same time make sure you actually UNDERSTAND what you read. At the last passage I was having like a panic attack because I was trying to read the passage really quickly and I didn't even understand anything I read, so I forced myself to slow down; I rather get 5 out of the last 10 questions RIGHT instead of rushing and getting most of the 10 wrong. My strategy (works for me, maybe not for you) is read the whole (or most) of the passage. I tried search-and-destroy method and it really doesn't work for me, except for some obvious questions. I just don't understand things well when they're out of context or I don't know what's going on as a whole. BECAUSE of this, I have most of the article and i have to do it fast. I made little notes along the way but overall you should be doing minimal writing for this if you want to get through.
Some questions include truth/false statements, tone of author, what does this quote mean, etc. Be careful of the usual traps. ex. "What is the decrease from x to y?" I almost fell for the trap because somewhere in the passage it'll go "the increase for x is 293231" but you actually have to subtract y from x or something. I know it's obvious now but it's easy to forget when you're in a rush. The last passage is also a killer - but then again maybe it was because I was panicking. It was the longest and the questions were more harder to understand. But if you are a good reader you should be fine. I know some people start at the last passage, but for me I just didn't want to mark all the questions in between.
Physics
I barely got through physics with time to spare. Luckily, they threw a lot of calculation questions at me at the beginning, so I was left with a lot of concept questions at the end. I would still say there are MORE calculations than concepts though, but maybe only like 6 out of 10 times. Most calculations were kinematics and force. There's stuff like friction which from the question format seems like it's asking you to do a calculation, but if you know the concept you can pick out the answer right away, hence making it a non-calculation question. Know position-time graphs. No torque, no nuclear/atomic things like photoelectric effect, thermal expansion, no magnetism. One circuit problem but it was concept. Lens/mirrors but nothing you can't solve with 1/i + 1/o = 1/f. Actually not even, because it was conceptual but if you forgot, you can just make up values to put in there. There was also 1 relationship question, if you change one variable what happens.
Edit: I got a question about whether or not if I need to know constants. For the questions that came up on my test, no, for all of the calculations. However, I was scared I'll be caught off guard so i went ahead and memorized every possible constant anyway. It wasn't hard as I was already using them when I was studying, but I guess i went overboard with memorizing stuff like mass of electron etc.
Math
If i had to describe how i felt one word, it'll probably be "horrified". Way harder than opt test and probably same difficulty as Kaplan. I was so distraught that I couldn't even focus on simple algebra problems and had to do them twice to get the answer, which was a big waste of time. There was one triangle problem, polygon angles, money problems, a lot a lot of word problems, coordinate systems, and like 4 trig questions. Know the 3-4-5 triangles etc. There was a simple probability problem, I think picking cards. As far as statistics go, it was just finding average. I really felt like given up at the 25th question or so because I was getting so mentally drained and there was like 15 minutes left for 15 questions. Don't give up. I wouldn't have passed this if I didn't tell myself to KEEP PUSHING FORWARD and do the ones I can handle! And believe me, there are some really easy ones mingled between the hard ones. DO THOSE! I shudder to think what would have happened if I gave up and just guessed (but do it if you absolutely have to). Probably right now I"ll be signing up for the next OAT. >_>
Note: Yes, there was a calculator, which didn't lag for me at all but sometimes I click a number and it'll show up twice and then I have to clear it. I'm so bad at math that the windows calculator actually helped me when I was at home doing practice tests. However on the actual test, there was only one question that I found useful and other times it slows you down. It's all a matter of getting the right questions for it; if you have a bunch of fractions or word problems, the calculator is useless.
Overall
The sciences are pretty easy if you studied. There's really no surprises at all. Everything that came up I studied. The part that I think held me back was the test conditions: I was really nervous. At home, I would read the question and pick the answer like I was some natural, but at the test, I found myself reading it twice and then being too cautious about what I picked. Which is okay but all that doubt made me nervous (and it wastes time). The board/marker also annoyed me. The marker ran out of ink during GC. They give you another marker, which was a fat tip one (which also smells). For science sections it's okay, but during the math it really started to get to me because I was doing some mad calculations and half the time I couldn't see my writing as well as I can because the numbers just get jumbled up if you're writing so fast. I compensated for this by writing bigger, but that just means erasing more often.
During break, I wrote down all the physics formula. I don't know if I will do this again if given the chance, because it was a waste I think, for ME anyway. I didn't refer to any of it. And probably because by then I already knew it well. It's like one of those things: a professor allows you to bring a formula sheet to the test, but you never use it anyway, because you learned everything already during the duration you studied.
How I studied
Studied from end of June til now but bulk of studying is in September after I finished working. When I had work I probably shoved in 4 hours on a good day, but it was mostly fooling around with *cough* facebook breaks in between. During september I studied maybe 7 hours a day and breaks at night. During the last 2 weeks I've been doing full length tests everyday to work on timing. I think math is really difficult for me to study for, because I'm innately bad at math. There are so many types of problems out there, but the only thing you can really do is keep finding problems and tackling them.
Biology, I didn't really study for this actually. I took the practice opt test and it was mostly a joke (what is an autotroph?). I knew it was getting a bit arrogant because of my biology major though. GC/orgo = Kaplan prepares you quite well. I would say it's not any harder than the things Kaplan throws at you and in some cases, it's easier. Reading comprehension, hardest to study for, so I didn't (LOL). I just didn't really want to I guess. To me, reading is just about reading fast and accurate. To be fair, I've read quite of few research papers at my leisure, and I read a lot (okay I read a lot of comics/manga, but I also read a lot of newspapers and novels).
Materials
For people who are starting in the near future with their studying. I got half of these for free, which is really good considering I'm so poor lol. I used ebay to get the DAT review for cheap, but if you plan on studying SOON I would just order from these forums. Ebay is so unreliable =/ The examkracker books are really good for reviewing because of their tests at the back. Their physics book is especially good - I thought I knew all about projectile motion until I read their notes and it helped me understand it better. I also used my own textbooks that I saved from undergrad, but it's way more in depth than needed, but I used it for practice problems. I also wrote out my own flash cards, which I NEVER TOUCHED again - but the 'writing' part helped me remember things better. The internet is also a valuable resource for practice questions. I listened to some guy on youtube for physics (it wasn't anyone specific, I just typed in search bar).
-Kaplan DAT review/flashcards (2003 version. Compared with 2009 version and it's exactly the same)
-Kaplan OAT practice tests (I used this the most! Very valuable)
-Examkrackers (online)
-Examkrackers biology flashcards (also online but I do not recommend these because it's full of typos and way too long)
-MCAT books
-Free ADA OAT/DAT tests/pre-optometry club practice tests/free Kaplan events
Day before
I know people say "don't study" to rest your brain, but I just studied anyway, but not as intensely. The thing I learned from test taking is that I tend to forget things when I relax. So I saved the relaxing for after the test. I slept the same time as before so I wouldn't be up worrying about it. I got up next morning, reviewed in the subway (lol) on some minor subjects. Then I went in. Registration is mostly just ID checks and photo taking. Check your markers! Mine ran out. Seriously, the markers suck. Also, I went to the testing center few days before hand because the center was located somewhere in Toronto and I wasn't familiar with the streets.
Academic Background
I graduate with biology major. I've taken maybe over 10 courses in biology, 2 in biochemistry, 2 orgos, 2 gen chem, 2 physics, and 2 english courses. Pretty standard, but the biology bit definitely helped if you paid attention in class. The less you have to learn for OAT, the better.
Scores
Subject | OAT scores | ADA test/Kaplan FL
Biology: 400 | 400/400
Gen.Chem: 370 | 360/340
Orgo: 400 | 370/350
Reading: 370 | 400/370
Physics: 330 | 350/280 (-.-)
Math: 320 | 400/350
TS: 390
AA: 370
*Didn't calculate TS/AA for practice tests.
Final thoughts
Start studying early. People tell me I spent my entire summer studying which is an overkill but that's because I know my own study habits: I retain things better overtime. So if you can do it in a month or few weeks, don't listen to me - you know yourself best. It's just that if you find yourself rusty for a subject, then you have time to learn it and not mad rush it. You should find yourself doing less as the test date approaches because you know it by then.
My Advice now
I don't want to pretend to be some expert or anything especially my scores aren't perfect, but this is what I feel now: There is something I would do differently if given the chance and I want to pass this insight to others. From my scores, one can assume I'm alright with sciences but bad at physics/math. This is true and correlates well with my GPA: good grades with bio/chem etc but really bad with physics/math (bad meaning I nearly failed). So look at your GPA, which is a good indicator of what you need to work on. I think deep down I knew I wasn't good at physics/math but I was just too scared to face reality, and this limited me severely. I'm not going to complain about my overall scores but the imbalance with some of the scores shows that I didn't focus on my weaknesses. I reinforced my strengths but what if I was given harder physics/math questions that day? It could have been a downfall.
Good luck with studying and hope this will help at least one person out there. No matter what happens during the test, "keep calm and carry on".
Last edited:
thanks, you gave me excellent tips and such! It really helps to know as much as I can before test day. Was so nervous...
