How to score TS: 400 AA: 390
I really enjoyed reading OAT breakdowns while preparing for the OAT, so here's what I did to score in the 99th percentile!
I studied ~20 hrs a week with OAT booster for 3 months (May - August) while working parting time. I also took at least 2 weeks off for vacation, which helped prevent burnout. Initially, I considered using Booster's ridiculous, neurotic "custom schedule", but quickly realized that was going to be a massive waste of time. Unless you've never taken a science course before in your life, I promise you don't need to watch every single video or do every single practice test. Be extremely honest with yourself about what your strengths and weaknesses are, and devote your time accordingly.
BioloIgy 400: EVERYTHING you need to know is on the cheat sheets!! I exclusively used those to learn content and reinforced it with bio bits/practice tests, but like everybody says, biology on the real OAT is so much more straightforward. They will never ask you the niche garbage you see in bio bits. I personally made Anki decks out of the cheat sheets and spammed those, but as long as you find a way to memorize the information they contain, you too will score a 400 in bio
Gen Chem 400: also much simpler than booster's question banks, with acids & bases, electrochemistry, periodic trends, kinetics, thermodynamics, and le chatelier's principle well represented. An interesting question format I didn't encounter on oatbooster was one that would seemingly require extensive calculations to solve... but when I looked at the answer choices, I realized they were all the same number written in different ways (ex. 0.394, 400*10^-3, etc) and all you had to do was identify the correct number of sig figs.
Orgo 400: I ended orgo with a C in undergrad, so if I scored a 400 on this section, so can you!! I watched every single orgo video and made flashcards for all the reactions. This turned out to be complete overkill, because, after all, they can't quiz you on every single rxn from orgo 1 & 2 in just 30 questions. As others have said, know SN1/SN2/E1/E2, carbocation stability, acidity/basicity rankings (I actually got more basicity questions on my version of the exam), as well as basic lab skills such as IR spectroscopy, C-NMR, H-NMR, and solvent rules. I saw people saying the real exam likes to give reactants and products in the form of IUPAC nomenclature, but I only saw one of those questions. The rest featured booster-style pictures of products and reactants. I also SUCK at identifying enantiomers/diastereomers, but I only had 2-3 questions on that and they were laughably easy.
Reading Comprehension 380: I honestly can't say if this section was similar to booster or not because I took exactly one practice test in May and never touched it again. I knew I had bigger fish to fry lol
Physics 370: Hands down my worst subject. I was scoring 290s (the lowest score oatbooster gives!) on the practice tests, so I sat down and watched Chad's free physics 1 & 2 video series and spammed the practice tests. DO NOT BOTHER WITH ALL THE NICHE BOOSTER EQUATIONS!!! The only ones I ended up using were the kinematic equations, forces, friction, pressure, and of course optics. Optics was by far the most heavily represented unit on my exam, both conceptually and calculations-wise.
Quantitative Reasoning 400: As long as you passed SAT math and understand how dice work (lol), you'll be fine. Do be prepared for lots of statement I/statement II questions, which are the hardest thing you'll encounter here. Please don't bother with the videos - completing the question banks will teach you how to solve the problems, and solve them QUICKLY.
In conclusion - the OAT feels like one hell of an undertaking, but if you focus on key concepts and are honest with yourself about what you do and don't know, you will be perfectly fine! I am no genius (like I said, I almost failed orgo I), and I still dropped some 400s! If I did it, so can you :))))