The OAT consists of 4 sections: Survey of Natural Sciences, Perceptual Ability, Reading Comprehension, and Quantitative Reasoning. The test will take you just about 5 hours to complete.

The average AA for acceptance across all optometry schools is approximately a 320. You can get accepted with a lower OAT score depending on the strength of your application and where you apply.

Each subject is scored on a standardized scale from 200 to 400 points. A score of 300 equates to the 50th percentile in that section. A good OAT score for acceptance is around 320.

Here is a comprehensive list of definitions to start off your Quantitative Reasoning studies.

There are 40 questions in the quantitative reasoning section of the DAT, all with varying difficulty. You will most likely react to each question in one of three ways.

Below is a cheat sheet you can use to study organic chemistry lab techniques tested on the DAT.

A major part of the DAT organic chemistry section is knowing your reactions. I have constructed the following reaction sheet to expose you to every reaction that could possibly show up on the DAT.

Now we need to focus on benzene substituents and how they affect the location of subsequent additions. Here’s a list of the ones you would most likely see.

In an Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution (EAS) reaction, the benzene ring acts as a nucleophile that attacks an electrophile. The reaction mechanism below outlines the flow of electrons that occurs during all EAS reactions.

One of the toughest parts of organic chemistry is understanding the mechanisms behind reactions. Immediately, many pre-dental students want to know if they have to go through the same torture as they did in their college organic chemistry classes to memorize these complex reactions.

Here is a list of formulas you need to know for DAT General Chemistry. However, remember that you have to memorize these formulas and this cheat sheet will not be available on the real DAT.

Here’s a general chemistry concept that frequently appears on the DAT. We’re talking about intermolecular forces, not to be confused with intRAmolecular forces, which bind the atoms within a single particle (i.e. covalent bonds, metallic bonds, ionic bonds).

This is an important issue to address, because I feel a lot of study materials for the DAT sway pre-dental students in the wrong direction.

The DAT general chemistry section expects you to be fluent in chemical compounds. For example, do you know the formula for chromate?

This is a popular method a pre-dental student used to score a 30 on the RC section of the DAT. It is a version of the search and destroy method.

I used on the DAT reading section because it’s what made me feel most comfortable. It’s a very simple method. I would read the passage in full and then answer the questions in order.

Search and Destroy (or S&D) is a method used on the reading comprehension section of the DAT. In brief, the method is to skip reading the passage and to just go straight to the questions.

Often times on DAT and OAT reading passages, certain words and phrases will be used to convey the structure of the passage.

Digestive enzymes is a topic frequently tested on the Biology section of the DAT and OAT. Knowing the function of key enzymes, where they are produced, and how they are regulated will translate to easy points come test day.

Mnemonics are a great tool to memorizing large amounts of information quickly. Here are a couple I used to answer some questions on the DAT and OAT.