OAT
OAT Test-Taker Reflects on Experience
What follows is a retrospective from an OAT test taker about the OAT. It was originally posted on SCCO’s Facebook Group for Pre-optometry Students:
Comment: After successfully making it through the OAT last week, I’d like to share some tips that may helpful:
- Start studying well in advance and pace yourself – the huge amount of material that the OAT covers is virtually impossible to cram for. In fact I would recommend spending the two days prior to the test just relaxing.
- I would highly recommend Kaplan’s New MCAT Premier Program 2007 or similar edition as a general resource that makes it easy to look up basic concepts that you need to know. You should be able to get this from your local library.
- In terms of practice material and tools, it’s probably best to use as wide a variety as possible. In addition to Kaplan practice exams, I highly recommend a program like Top Score because it makes you very familiar with the interface used on the real test. This not only gives you a bit of extra confidence but also allows you to develop your own strategies for test day.
- OAT destroyer is also good because the level of difficulty of the questions forces you to become very familiar with the basic concepts you need to know. In summary, I don’t think there is one single resource that can prepare you fully for the OAT so just use everything you can get your hands on.
- One thing I’d like to mention is that when doing practice Kaplan, Top Score, or OAT Achiever tests I believe its best to not worry too much about timing yourself. This is because the questions on these types of practice tests are more in depth than what’s on the Real OAT and they take more time to do, so its not really useful to place OAT time limits when doing them. What you should focus on is being able to complete the questions and really understand the concepts behind them.
- This is NOT to say that time management isn’t important for the OAT… In fact its probably one of the most important things. The best way to get experience with the time limits is by practicing the sample OAT and sample DAT on the ADA website. From my experience, the time it takes to do these sample OAT sections is most closely correlated to the real test from all the other practice exams available (Kaplan etc.). In my opinion, the two sections that require careful timing are QR and RC.
- For the RC section, Top Score provides an excellent simulation both in terms of level of difficulty and timing. You should practice doing 3 articles/40 questions in a row just to get a feel for it. I’ve heard a lot of different strategies for RC but what worked for me was basically speed reading the article and writing down a list of the main topics (in one or two words) of each paragraph while reading. For example, for an article about a certain disease I would make a list like this while speed reading:
- symptoms
- diagnosis
- prevention
- cure, etc.
- This strategy allows you to quickly jump to the necessary paragraph when answering questions that require detailed knowledge of the article.
- For the QR section I also recommend the sample OAT and DAT sections on the ada website so you realize how quick you have to answer the questions.
- If come across a time intensive QR questions, skip it, and come back if you have time. For QR, Physics, and General Chemistry its KEY to be able to quickly manipulate algebraic equations on paper – if you’re not fast you absolutely have to practice this.
- In the Kaplan OAT prep book intro it says something along the lines of “Treat the OAT not as an obstacle to getting into optometry school, but more as your first major test as an optometry student.” This kind of mentality really works.
GOOD LUCK!
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Published by Jane Ann Munroe, OD, Assistant Dean of Admissions, SCCO
I wanted to be an optometrist when I was only 10 years old. Why? I had some kind of geeky fascination with eyeglass frames, and was obsessed with getting a pair of my own. In my situation, having perfect eyesight was a distinct disadvantage, so I had to hatch a plan.
After repeated intense squinting while looking at the blackboard, I approached my teacher and lied with conviction, complaining that I couldn’t see. This report got me first to the school nurse and then finally on to an optometrist for an eye exam, where I tried my best Mr. Magoo impression to no avail.
I would have to wait two more long years until the gods finally smiled on me when, by some miracle, I acquired enough astigmatism to warrant my first bona fide pair of prescription eyeglasses!
Along with my love of people and wanting to take care of them, subsequent visits to the optometrist and shadowing, I sealed the deal—optometry was now officially what I wanted to do with my life.
I made first contact with the Southern California College of Optometry when I was in 8th grade. My older sister had a newly minted driver’s license and so I coerced her into driving me all the way from our home in La Mirada to Los Angeles, SCCO’s then-home. After a master planning effort to plot out our route on a paper map folded in 8 places, we arrived at SCCO where my sister quickly surmised that I didn’t have an appointment with an admissions advisor. She called me a loser, drove me all the way back home and the next day, phoned to help make the requisite appointment.
I entered high school in the late 1960’s (ouch, that hurt) when young females wanted to be anything but what I’d chosen as my newly dedicated pursuit—a science geek. I wore thick horn-rimmed black eyeglass frames (told you I was serious) and hung around chemistry lab after class. This was at a time when women just did not pursue careers in science and being the tomboy that I was, that was fine with me. This trend continued right through into undergrad, attending many classes where I was the only female--bespectacled or not--in the class. At a recent high school reunion, many of my classmates still remember me as the science geek with the blinders on—many envious of my joy and passion for my future profession.
I graduated from SCCO in 1977. Looking back with 40 years of experience as an optometrist, I am awed to know that I chose this wonderful profession way-back-when and with only my juvenile perspective to inform me. In 1977 when I graduated from optometry school, the profession began a series of major changes to its practice scope: securing the rights to use diagnostic drugs (dilating drops), securing the rights to prescribe therapeutic drugs (huge change!), being recognized as physicians by the federal government and treating glaucoma. In some US states, optometry has made even bigger strides into minor surgery, use of lasers, hospital privileges...etc. If I had the opportunity to go back and make another choice and knowing what I do today about health care and my own hardwiring, I’d make the same choice for optometry--nobody loves this profession more than I do. http://www.ketchum.edu/index.php/about/administration-directory
I grew up with optometry and now it’s your turn to inherit its future. That’s what this blog is about—getting you into optometry school and I am just the person to help you achieve this goal. We’re going to talk about the admissions process, how to prepare to take the OAT, how to be a competitive applicant, how to prepare to interview, to name a few. We’re going to talk about SCCO, student life and what it’s like to be an optometric intern. I am very persuasive, motivating and I am completely sold on optometry as the best profession in health care. I speak from experience!
Get ready to dialogue. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and please, chime in on discussions. I want to know what kind of help you need. You got this!
View all posts by Jane Ann Munroe, OD, Assistant Dean of Admissions, SCCO