OAT Scores 2026: The 200 to 400 Scale, Averages, No Pass Mark

How OAT scoring works

Your raw score on each test is the number you got right. The OAT Program converts it to a scale score through equating, so results from different versions of the test can be compared fairly. A scale score isn’t a percentage or a percentile, and the OAT isn’t scored on a curve. Wrong answers cost nothing, so guessing is never penalized. Some items are unscored experimental questions, and they look the same as scored ones.

Total Science comes from your raw scores on the 100 natural science items and the 40 physics items. The Academic Average is the mean of your Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Physics scores. A test you don’t take scores 200.

OAT score range and 2025 averages

Score	Items	2025 mean
Biology	40	309.4
General Chemistry	30	305.5
Organic Chemistry	30	298.8
Reading Comprehension	50	329.1
Physics	40	282.2
Quantitative Reasoning	40	316.6
Total Science	140	296.9
Academic Average	230	307.8

These are the OAT User’s Guide figures for the 3,581 administrations in 2025. The program aims for a mean close to 300 on every test, and has used a scale with a mean of 300 and a standard deviation of 40 since May 1, 2009. Scores from before that date aren’t directly comparable with later ones.

In 2025, 0.6% of Academic Average scores were 400, the top of the range. For Biology, 8.1% were.

What is a good OAT score?

The OAT Program doesn’t define one. Each school decides what score is acceptable, and the Candidate Guide points you to the percentile tables in the User’s Guide to see where a score stands. The clearest guide to what schools accept is the average of the students they admitted. The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) publishes these each year, and its 2026 entering class figures are in the next table.

Average OAT scores at optometry schools, 2026 entering class

AA is the average Academic Average and TS the average Total Science of each school’s 2026 entering class, from ASCO’s Profile of the 2026 Optometry Entering Class.

School	AA	TS
University of Alabama at Birmingham	325	326
Arizona College of Optometry	333	325
Southern California College of Optometry	344	343
University of California, Berkeley	360	370
Western University	303	291
Nova Southeastern University	325	320
Chicago College of Optometry	318	309
Illinois College of Optometry	330	324
Indiana University	Not listed	Not listed
University of Pikeville	300	283
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy	313	305
New England College of Optometry	334	329
Michigan College of Optometry	328	322
University of Detroit Mercy	308	296
University of Missouri-St. Louis	317	308
State University of New York	350	350
The Ohio State University	358	361
Northeastern State University	326	318
Pacific University	327	318
Pennsylvania College of Optometry	310	300
Pennsylvania College, Scholars	359	356
Inter American University	300	278
Southern College of Optometry	340	335
University of the Incarnate Word	305	300
University of Houston	339	334
Rocky Mountain University	309	295

ASCO’s averages leave out students admitted on other test scores, such as the GRE or DAT. Indiana University’s class entered without an exam requirement.

Which schools admit on the MCAT, DAT or GRE →

Getting your OAT results

The test center gives you an unofficial score report when you finish, unless you tested over more than one day. If you don’t get one, email the OAT Program at oatexam@ada.org within five days.

Official scores go to your OAT personal identification number (PIN) account and to the schools you picked within three to four weeks of your test date. If you picked any school, they also go to the Optometry Centralized Application Service (OptomCAS). After that, three rules apply:

Scores can’t be voided once you’ve taken any part of the test.
If you’ve tested more than once, schools see the history of every attempt.
You can’t choose which attempt schools get.

Sending more score reports and asking for an audit

When you apply, you can send scores to as many schools as you like, and to your advisor, at no extra charge. That list can’t be changed afterward, so the OAT Program suggests picking every school you might apply to. Reports to schools you add later cost extra.

Every result is audited before it goes out. If you want a second check, request an audit in your PIN account within 30 days of the reporting date on your official report. It takes about four to six weeks. An appeal about your results must also be made within 30 days of receiving them.

Score report and audit fees →

Sources: OAT Program · ASCO and 2 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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