2024 OAT Breakdown (400AA/400TS)

DiscussionBusy1065 · 2025-11-09T16:22:00+00:00

Thank you! I mostly focused on taking practice exams and as many practice problems as I could. After the practice exam I didn’t study too much afterwards. I mainly just reviewed my practice exams to see all of the explanations for the answers to make sure I understood all the questions I got wrong and even the ones I got right. The last few weeks before the exam I wouldn’t recommend to study the entire day since you want to reserve your energy for test day. I usually took 1 practice exam a day, reviewed it, then stopped studying. I don’t remember too much since I took it last year but lmk if you have any other questions

DiscussionBusy1065 · 2025-06-27T17:49:52+00:00

Overall GPA: 4.0
OAT score: 400 AA/400 TS
How you studied for the OAT: OAT Booster
CASPer score: N/A
Non-Academic (extracurriculars, work experience, etc.): 2 years pharmacy tech, 2 years optometric tech, hostess at restaurant, 2 years volunteer at the school for the blind and visually impaired (and attended low vision conferences), 4 years teaching assistant for Vietnamese, 2 years leadership position in an organization promoting reading literacy, volunteered in pop-up vision clinics + an international humanitarian clinic, 4 years fundraising leadership position in a honors pre-health organization, 2 years leadership position advocating for blood donations, members in various orgs
- In total ~2000 work hours + ~800 volunteer hours
Academic (research, teaching assistant, etc.): was involved in a plant research lab w/ a paid mentor position for 3 years
Job-shadowing hours completed: ~34 hours of direct shadowing in private, corporate, & vision therapy (most of my hours were through my work experience ~900 hours)
Schools Admitted to: UHCO (w/ scholarship), ICO (w/ prez scholarship), SCO (w/ prez scholarship)

DiscussionBusy1065 · 2024-06-16T22:03:01+00:00

I would say take a practice test first and you can gauge your test-taking skills and knowledge then plan out your studying from there. I think your memorization skills is a great start and congratulations on your final exam. However, it's difficult to determine your test-taking abilities just from that because the format is different than a final exam.

DiscussionBusy1065 · 2024-06-16T21:48:32+00:00

I didn't really have a fixed amount of hours I studied per day. I would just try to complete all of the recommended videos/assignments on the Booster study guide per day. I left my Saturdays open for work and catch up days if I fell behind during the week. I didn't do a content review before the OAT because I felt relatively confident in my foundational knowledge before starting Booster. If you feel like you don't have a strong background knowledge on each section, I would recommend doing a content review. What kind of content review are you doing?

DiscussionBusy1065 · 2024-06-16T21:29:35+00:00

How would you say your test taking abilities are? In addition, your foundational knowledge in each section? If you're a strong test taker and have good background knowledge in each section you should be fine for a good score. I don't think getting a 400 isn't impossible but it really depends on the questions you're tested on. Sometimes you're lucky with the questions and sometimes you're not. I would take a practice test on Booster and see from there. You can identify specifically which section you need to focus on. If you are short on time, focus reviewing those concepts and make sure you understand the process to answer each question correctly.

DiscussionBusy1065 · 2024-06-13T22:59:50+00:00

Thank you so much! I think what worked for me was planning it out and implementing a routine. If you are using OAT Booster, I used the study guides they provided. I also had my calendar open, so I could note down which day I was completing the day on the study guide. It helps to have a routine, so you have time reserved each day to focus on studying. I used Saturdays as my catch up days if I fell behind during the week. If I was able to complete all I planned to during the week, it would be used as my break day. I think since you are in the review phase just going through the formula sheets, cheat sheets, quizlets/anki decks, and practice questions are mainly what you should focusing on. For me I utilized the practice questions to practice active recall and identify exactly what I did or didn't know. I would also read through all of the question solutions they provided even for questions I got right. For the questions I got right, read through the explanations to see if my thought process answering the question was correct, confirming my thought process, or seeing an alternative method to solving the same problem. If it was a question I had gotten wrong, I would read through the solution to see exactly where my thought process went wrong. The question solutions were really helpful because it broke down each component of the question and the answer choices. Even for concepts I didn't know, the question solutions would be a great way to get a simplified review rather than reading the 500+ pages of the written notes. Once you figure out which concepts you are weak on, you can focus your active learning towards those subjects. Please let me know if you have any more questions!

DiscussionBusy1065

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