The Big Day

Ok, so I took the board exam today and gosh....what can I tell you...my back ached and my butt went numb. Sitting there for four hours with the time ticking down in front of my face was hard. My colleague said that it's more of an endurance test and I agree with him. For a profession that encourages their patients to take breaks and stretch, the board exam sure does not support that for their soon to be OTs. Sure, they say you can take a break but the time is still ticking away. To go to the restroom or to your locker, you have to sign out, sign back in, provide your 2 forms of identification, and get finger printed again...restroom break anyone? I don't think so. What I recommend is building up the endurance to sit without real breaks for 4 hours by test time. (Of course that is in my opinion...i'm not setting long term goals for you or anything.) I only took several seconds after each hour to stretch.

A lot of people have asked me how I prepared for it and I'll let you know if it worked once I get the results on Friday. I used the following books:
1. Occupational Therapy Examination Review Guide (3rd ed.), by Caryn Johnson
2. OTR Study Guide and Study Guide Supplement, by NBCOT
3. National Occupational Therapy Certification Exam Review and Study Guide, by Rita Cottrell & the Course Manual (this is only provided at the review course)

The Cottrell questions are much harder so don't get discouraged when you score yourself on these. I wish I didn't score myself (it was depressing) on these but just used them to go over rationales. The questions from the study guide from NBCOT and the Johnson book will give you a better idea of how the exam questions are worded.

I took the review course and followed the manual, read the chapters in the Cottrell book (cover to cover...not), ok so I skimmed it cover to cover, and took a week to practice questions. I wish I spent more time studying by practicing the questions and building up my endurance with more test taking simulations rather than reading the Cottrell. I learned more from reading the rationale for the answers than reading the chapters. I started out doing 10 questions in a row at 1 minute each then reviewing the rationale for the answers. Next 20 questions in a row, then 50, and building up to 200 in one sitting. After that, I only did one simulation of 200 question in one sitting without breaks. That was not enough. Do at least 2 simulations. I took the exam 2 months after graduation due to the Christmas holidays and training sessions I went to. So basically, I gave myself some breathing room by scheduling it a little later than most of my classmates but the whole studying process probably took about a month if I subtract my goof off time. Good luck to all who are going to take the board exam! Well, you won't need luck if you prepare really well.