Optometry Admission Test, for optometry school applicants.
230items across four tests
100science items in 90 minutes
40physics items
4tests in one sitting
The OAT is the optometry equivalent of the DAT, and the two overlap heavily. The Survey of the Natural Sciences is the same shape: 100 items in 90 minutes, split 40 biology, 30 general chemistry and 30 organic chemistry. The difference is what sits beside it. The OAT has a physics test and no perceptual ability test, so a student moving between the two exams trades spatial puzzles for mechanics and optics.
The 6 sections
What each one asks of you, and how much practice QuizNucleus has for it.
Biology
Inside the 100-item science survey: cells, genetics, systems, diversity and ecology. 40 questions.
Both formats, as they appear in practice. QuizNucleus accepts an answer typed in your own words.
Fill in the blank
A limb withdrawal reflex is fast because the signal can be integrated in the ______ without waiting for the ______ to generate a conscious response.
Show answer
Answers: (1) spinal cord, (2) brain
The answers are the spinal cord and the brain. In a withdrawal reflex, sensory input is integrated through spinal interneurons and activates motor neurons before conscious cortical processing occurs. The signal still ascends to the brain, producing awareness of pain after the protective movement has already begun.
Multiple choice
Transmission across an electrical synapse is faster than transmission across a chemical synapse. What best explains the difference?
Thicker myelin covers the membranes on both sides of the synapse
Calcium enters the terminal sooner and speeds vesicle fusion
Ions pass directly between cells without neurotransmitter release
Neurotransmitter diffuses faster across a narrower synaptic cleft
Show answer
Answer: C. Ions pass directly between cells without neurotransmitter release
At an electrical synapse, gap junctions connect the cytoplasm of two neurons, so current flows directly from one cell into the next with almost no delay. A chemical synapse must open calcium channels, fuse vesicles, let neurotransmitter diffuse across the cleft and open receptors, which adds a delay. The trade-off is that electrical synapses cannot easily amplify a signal or convert it from excitatory to inhibitory.
