My OAT Scores and My Prep (9/18/17)

[deleted833661]

I took the OAT today (9/18/2017) and did better than I thought would have.

Actual OAT scores in order of which they are tested: "Standard Score (Percentile)"

BIO:_____ 400(99) Total Science:_______ 400(99)
GChem:__ 400(99) Academic Average:___ 390(99)
OChem:__ 380(94)
RComp:__ 400(99)
Physics:__ 380(97)
QuantR:__ 380(94)

Kaplan Practice Tests 1&2

BIO:_____ 360(91)/340(82)
GChem:__ 340(81)/350(87)
OChem:__ 300(56)/340(85)
RComp:__ 390(93)/330(59)
Physics:__ 320(87)/300(74)
QuantR:__ 330(85)/320(76)
Total Science:_______ 340(89)/340(89)
Academic Average:___ 340(90)/330(84)

My Study Materials:
• Kaplan's OAT 2017-2018 Review Book
• 2010 OAT Destroyer Organic Chemistry, General Chemistry, Biology, Quantitative Reasoning
• 2010 OAT Destroyer Physics

If you have any specific questions on what I did or what I thought about the test, such as what I expected to see vs what I actually saw, then just message down here. I'm tired and want to sleep haha. Good luck in your studies friends.

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[naz9]

Congrats on the great scores!! Did you do the practice problems from Kaplan and the Destoryer? Also how many times did you do the destroyer and how much did you think it helped? And also (last question lol) , what method did you use for RC?

 

[deleted833661]

Congrats on the great scores!! Did you do the practice problems from Kaplan and the Destoryer? Also how many times did you do the destroyer and how much did you think it helped? And also (last question lol) , what method did you use for RC?

The end of the chapter questions were great for reviewing the basic concepts within that chapter but the question styles were slightly dissimilar to that of the OAT. I looked at those end of the chapter questions a few days out from test day and I tried to see if i could answer them from memory.

I went through the OAT Destroyer several times but more so on the subjects I felt less confident in, such as Organic Chemistry and General Chemistry. The Destroyer questions for physics were leaps and bounds much more difficult than the actual OAT. I probably went through the Physics questions 1.5 times. If you can master physics on the OAT Destroyer level, you should have no trouble earning a good score (for the calculations at least). I didn't think I needed to understand how to calculate physics in the level of detail the OAT Destroyer asked of me so I just set that one aside because it was depressing me haha. The physics questions I was asked on the actual OAT were probably 50/50 on conceptual vs calculations. I can't recall a question that required me to use more than one equation. I felt that as soon as I read the question stem, one equation would pop up in my mind and I would use that.

Destroyer biology was easy for me because I have a B.Sc. in Biology and the fact that I took anatomy as well as physiology recently made it so they were still fresh in my head. I went through the bio portion several times because it covered all topics of bio and the answers went really in depth as to why the other questions were wrong, so you were learning even more. Destroyer bio was good because it covered a lot of topics. But again, i didnt focus too much on it because I just somehow have the info stored into my head.

Destroyer gen chem and organic chem were really good. They are somewhat more difficult than the actual OAT and Kaplan practice tests but if you are able to go through and learn how to do the problems then you should be well off for the OAT. Mechanisms wise, the OAT never asked me to find the product after 2 steps but know the mechanisms (I now know them off the top of my head).

Reading Comprehension was one of the subtests I was most anxious about, that and physics. I was struggling on the Kaplan practice tests in those sections because I initially didnt know how to tackle it. I am a slow reader so I tried the "quickly skim through the text and catch a few keywords and write it down with the paragraph number so you could find it later if it was asked" method. That didnt work out for me while I was taking the practice test so just pressed command+f (or ctrl+f i think for pc) and searched the answers because I wasnt feeling it lol. For Kaplan test 2, I tried slowly reading the text and highlighting key ideas and findings as I went through. This method took much longer to get through the text but the benefit was that I would recognize the questions and I would know where to find what was being asked by memorizing roughly where it was in the text (be it in the first, second, or last third of the text). Come test time, I chose strategy two but I was running out of time. I decided to not even read the last 4 paragraphs of the third text so I could get started on the questions. I was confident in the first two passages because I knew exactly the answer from the text but the drawback is that amount of time it takes. All I can recommend is find which works better for you based on a timed practice test. Questions were similar to practice tests, a lot of detail that could be found within the text and few (maybe 1-2) "what was the author's point of view" kind of questions.

Kaplan Tests were very close to the actual tests. OAT destroyer is great to really nail the computational questions.

 

[skra7]

These are amazing scores!!!! Congrats! How many weeks/months did you study for? I'm currently 3 weeks away from test day, and trying to get through destroyer at least twice lol.

 

[deleted833661]

These are amazing scores!!!! Congrats! How many weeks/months did you study for? I'm currently 3 weeks away from test day, and trying to get through destroyer at least twice lol.

Haha, thanks! I guess I'll answer this by detailing a timeline of my studying:

I ordered my Kaplan book on New Year's day (1/1/17) but I was much too busy with school and working in a research lab. I had probably read the first three chapters several times before the semester ended. I then enrolled in a 6-week Human Anatomy course with lab for the summer. During those six weeks, I probably spent at most 3 hours per day reading and taking notes from the Kaplan book after classes Monday through Thursday. Once finished with the course(around early July I believe), I started working part-time 2 days a week. I only reviewed my notes and the high yield Kaplan sheets during those work days for about 1.5 hours. For the 5 days I wasn't working, I spent 3-4 of those days dedicated to studying anywhere between 6-12 hours, probably 8 hours on average. This continued for about 2 months. I took the first Kaplan test 2 weeks out from test date and then the 2nd test 1 week out. The two days before test day I was reviewing high-yield notes then working down to the finer details.

Good luck in your studies!

 

[skra7]

Thanks! Really helpful thread. Did you do the roadmaps as well for orgo?

 

[naz9]

Thank you!! I was also wondering how helpful did you think the OAT Destroyer was for the QR section? Is that all you used?

 

[deleted833661]

Thanks! Really helpful thread. Did you do the roadmaps as well for orgo?

If by roadmaps you mean the ones that are hidden in the OAT Destroyer then I only briefly looked at those when I first saw them. I pretty much had the mechanisms nailed before ever encountering the roadmaps but they were a great overview. I mainly used my own personal condensed notes of the mechanisms as well as the Kaplan review sheets(although I did write extra notes on the sheets because I thought they were slightly lacking for my taste of a high yield review sheet).

 

[deleted833661]

Thank you!! I was also wondering how helpful did you think the OAT Destroyer was for the QR section? Is that all you used?

I thought the QR section of the Destroyer was REALLY helpful. However, I can't recall doing any trigonometry on the real OAT like other posts have suggested luckily enough. I think the only way you can get better in the QR section is by exposing yourself to many practice problems and the Destroyer allows you to get that extra practice in. I did briefly look over the practice exam on the ADA website just to see if there was anything I haven't encountered but I mainly utilized the Destroyer and Kaplan review book.

 

[OptoMra]

The end of the chapter questions were great for reviewing the basic concepts within that chapter but the question styles were slightly dissimilar to that of the OAT. I looked at those end of the chapter questions a few days out from test day and I tried to see if i could answer them from memory.

I went through the OAT Destroyer several times but more so on the subjects I felt less confident in, such as Organic Chemistry and General Chemistry. The Destroyer questions for physics were leaps and bounds much more difficult than the actual OAT. I probably went through the Physics questions 1.5 times. If you can master physics on the OAT Destroyer level, you should have no trouble earning a good score (for the calculations at least). I didn't think I needed to understand how to calculate physics in the level of detail the OAT Destroyer asked of me so I just set that one aside because it was depressing me haha. The physics questions I was asked on the actual OAT were probably 50/50 on conceptual vs calculations. I can't recall a question that required me to use more than one equation. I felt that as soon as I read the question stem, one equation would pop up in my mind and I would use that.

Destroyer biology was easy for me because I have a B.Sc. in Biology and the fact that I took anatomy as well as physiology recently made it so they were still fresh in my head. I went through the bio portion several times because it covered all topics of bio and the answers went really in depth as to why the other questions were wrong, so you were learning even more. Destroyer bio was good because it covered a lot of topics. But again, i didnt focus too much on it because I just somehow have the info stored into my head.

Destroyer gen chem and organic chem were really good. They are somewhat more difficult than the actual OAT and Kaplan practice tests but if you are able to go through and learn how to do the problems then you should be well off for the OAT. Mechanisms wise, the OAT never asked me to find the product after 2 steps but know the mechanisms (I now know them off the top of my head).

Reading Comprehension was one of the subtests I was most anxious about, that and physics. I was struggling on the Kaplan practice tests in those sections because I initially didnt know how to tackle it. I am a slow reader so I tried the "quickly skim through the text and catch a few keywords and write it down with the paragraph number so you could find it later if it was asked" method. That didnt work out for me while I was taking the practice test so just pressed command+f (or ctrl+f i think for pc) and searched the answers because I wasnt feeling it lol. For Kaplan test 2, I tried slowly reading the text and highlighting key ideas and findings as I went through. This method took much longer to get through the text but the benefit was that I would recognize the questions and I would know where to find what was being asked by memorizing roughly where it was in the text (be it in the first, second, or last third of the text). Come test time, I chose strategy two but I was running out of time. I decided to not even read the last 4 paragraphs of the third text so I could get started on the questions. I was confident in the first two passages because I knew exactly the answer from the text but the drawback is that amount of time it takes. All I can recommend is find which works better for you based on a timed practice test. Questions were similar to practice tests, a lot of detail that could be found within the text and few (maybe 1-2) "what was the author's point of view" kind of questions.

Kaplan Tests were very close to the actual tests. OAT destroyer is great to really nail the computational questions.

Hi Jeffspnz,
Thanks for sharing your experience and scores with us.
I'm taking the exam this month my scores of Kaplan test are not bad but I'm really freaked out about reading comprehension scores.
I usually read slowly (and also English is my second language) I don't know what to do for improving my reading score.
I read your comment here which you mentioned using Cntl+f, if I could use that that would be great!
Was it possible to use on Kaplan practice test?
How about the real exam? Can we search for the keywords by using Cntl+f as well?

I will appreciate your help.