badgerberg
New Member
Hey everybody. Took just the OAR part this morning. I'm 22, just graduated college with a degree in International Studies and a 3.9 GPA. Going for Intel/SWO. I have been reading this thread for the past week or so and studying using the practice tests in the drives. I watched a few YouTube videos from the Organic Chemistry Tutor for simple machines, etc but mostly studied using the answer keys and tons of practice.
My score was a 50. Lower than I wanted, but about what I was expecting for not having studied anything STEM-related for the last few years. I just made the cut for Intel/SWO but I'm hoping my GPA and other information will help me out. Here's what I saw on the test:
Math: Tons of factorization, exponents, FOIL, etc. I think math was my worst section by far so I didn't get into anything more complicated than algebra and geometry. However, there were some basic shapes, word problems, mathematical thinking questions, probability, ratios, and systems of equations. The hardest part of math for me was having to study every single concept and not knowing what was actually going to be on the exam. I was incredibly nervous, shaky, and it was hard to think. I ended this section with a ton of time left, so I recommend keeping a tally of how many questions you've done as you go because I flew through them and probably made silly mistakes. If there's anything you KNOW you can't get, make an honest guess. Dwelling and stressing over tough questions slowed me down and made me less confident for the rest of the test. I wish this section was last instead of first so I could focus on it a bit better. Honestly my best advice is to take timed practice tests.
Reading: The passages could NOT be more boring. Every single question was related to Navy regulations, training, institutional design, or other military-related stuff. Some of the passages I got were almost written like laws. I found that when a passage was really losing me I could read it out loud a bit and break it up. Sometimes reading the answers ahead of time helped, but both parts will be confusing on first read. I noticed the importance of small words and transition words in both the passages/answers making a huge difference. You can't really study for this section, but get good at reading with distractions in the background. I also ended this section early so make sure to keep your tally.
Mechanical Reasoning: This section went way better than expected. Like a lot of people have been saying, it's more ideas and concepts than it is calculations. Any of the calculations involved were easy to do in my head, like 10/2 or 5x5 or whatever. I think watching videos and understanding the absolute borderline basics of simple machines (especially levers, it was all levers) was the best for this part. I literally learned this stuff yesterday while studying and felt confident on this section today. You only have 15 minutes so fly through the simple ones (what is the formula for torque?) and have time to think out the valve/bucket ones, gear ones, etc.
Takeaways: Math is the hardest part if you have a word brain. You can kind of educated guess/basic concept your way through mechanical reasoning, but math kicked my ass. I think calming your nerves, going in confident, and knowing how much time approximately to spend on each question is the most important. I finished the whole entire thing in less than an hour (!). That was dumb. I am okay with my score and most likely not going to retake it, but definitely made some silly errors.
Dealing with some medical stuff but really hoping to get my package together soon! Thank you to everyone in this forum for your help and support from a ghost reader.
My score was a 50. Lower than I wanted, but about what I was expecting for not having studied anything STEM-related for the last few years. I just made the cut for Intel/SWO but I'm hoping my GPA and other information will help me out. Here's what I saw on the test:
Math: Tons of factorization, exponents, FOIL, etc. I think math was my worst section by far so I didn't get into anything more complicated than algebra and geometry. However, there were some basic shapes, word problems, mathematical thinking questions, probability, ratios, and systems of equations. The hardest part of math for me was having to study every single concept and not knowing what was actually going to be on the exam. I was incredibly nervous, shaky, and it was hard to think. I ended this section with a ton of time left, so I recommend keeping a tally of how many questions you've done as you go because I flew through them and probably made silly mistakes. If there's anything you KNOW you can't get, make an honest guess. Dwelling and stressing over tough questions slowed me down and made me less confident for the rest of the test. I wish this section was last instead of first so I could focus on it a bit better. Honestly my best advice is to take timed practice tests.
Reading: The passages could NOT be more boring. Every single question was related to Navy regulations, training, institutional design, or other military-related stuff. Some of the passages I got were almost written like laws. I found that when a passage was really losing me I could read it out loud a bit and break it up. Sometimes reading the answers ahead of time helped, but both parts will be confusing on first read. I noticed the importance of small words and transition words in both the passages/answers making a huge difference. You can't really study for this section, but get good at reading with distractions in the background. I also ended this section early so make sure to keep your tally.
Mechanical Reasoning: This section went way better than expected. Like a lot of people have been saying, it's more ideas and concepts than it is calculations. Any of the calculations involved were easy to do in my head, like 10/2 or 5x5 or whatever. I think watching videos and understanding the absolute borderline basics of simple machines (especially levers, it was all levers) was the best for this part. I literally learned this stuff yesterday while studying and felt confident on this section today. You only have 15 minutes so fly through the simple ones (what is the formula for torque?) and have time to think out the valve/bucket ones, gear ones, etc.
Takeaways: Math is the hardest part if you have a word brain. You can kind of educated guess/basic concept your way through mechanical reasoning, but math kicked my ass. I think calming your nerves, going in confident, and knowing how much time approximately to spend on each question is the most important. I finished the whole entire thing in less than an hour (!). That was dumb. I am okay with my score and most likely not going to retake it, but definitely made some silly errors.
Dealing with some medical stuff but really hoping to get my package together soon! Thank you to everyone in this forum for your help and support from a ghost reader.
