Many times I get asked which study guides I recommend for NBCOT Exam candidates. My response, anything that is written by NBCOT (www.nbcot.org). This is the only place where you will get official information written by the item writers of the real exam. OT Advantage incorporates the NBCOT Official OTR and COTA Study Guides into our examination preparation courses.
So, why is it important to use the NBCOT Official Study Guide? You are doing yourself a huge favor by incorporating these study materials into your exam preparation. Here are a few reasons:
- The actual item writers have written these test questions. Therefore, you are going to get realistic practice of what to expect on exam day, as far as the setup of the exam question, the reasoning process, content areas, and better reliability of your final score(s).
- The difficulty level of your real NBCOT Exam is going to be different on exam day, because the stakes are higher. However, the NBCOT Official Study Guide includes information on the blueprint of the exam, a commonly overlooked area by exam candidates.
- NBCOT has online practice exams and a hard copy practice exam. The NBCOT Official Study Guide practice exam can also be helpful if you are trying to figure out your weak area(s), as the exam questions are divided by the domains they correspond to. Therefore, you can gauge your potential weakness(es) on the real exam.
By participating in the OT Advantage Online Exam Preparation Course or one of our live courses, we will discuss this and more to help you determine your readiness for the exam, how to objectively identify your weak knowledge areas, how do identify what the question is REALLY asking and more. If you graduated from an accredited OT or OTA program, you have the tools to succeed. OT Advantage helps you to understand how to put these tools to use.
Good luck with your exam preparation.
Questions? Contact Alison at examprep@ot-advantage.com
I am a relatively new OTAS and I am not at the of worrying about the state exams yet (just my 2nd semester in the program)..but I wonder if there are resources for students working on developing Activity Analysis as well as Remediation technique guidance for case studies.
I can’t provide a remediation idea if I don’t know what is available or acceptable at this stage of my education. I feel like my school threw me into the river and is saying ‘ok.. swim now..’ and no one taught me how yet. Any suggestions?
Hi Sophia,
Which type of diagnosis/condition are you to provide remediation techniques for?
Hello,
My name is Jacqueline and I have been practicing as COTA for 11 years. However, I completed my OT education at NYIT in 2005. since then, I had taken the exam “6″ times and I just can’t pass it. I need help. Where do I begin to study? I am registering to take the course in may but in the mean time, where do I begin? Please give me some tips. I would love to take the exam and pass it before the summer.
Hi Jacqueline,
Thanks for planning to enroll in the OT Advantage NBCOT OTR Exam Prep Course. I can imagine your frustration right now. As far as where to begin, I would start with a timeline. We discuss self-assessments, how to create a timeline, establish benchmarks, and how to determine your readiness for the exam in the OT Advantage course. Since the May course is a bit off, a couple of tips would be to plan out your studies, practice exam days, study group days, etc. And stick to your timeline! You need structure right now.
Another thing I would do is review the 2010 NBCOT Textbook & Journal Survey. Since you finished your OT program 7 years ago, you may have the dated editions of the OT textbooks. Information changes and is updated. This free resource from NBCOT is a good piece of information to see which books you need to be studying from and which editions the actual item writers plan to use to validate their test items.
Best of Luck,
Alison
Hi Alison,
thank you for responding so quickly. after reading and obtaining the updated book to begin studying how do i start? do i begin with a practice test? Do i begin by reading the case studies in the back of the Pedretti book and answer the questions (for example)? I can formulate a timeline but i just do not know where to begin studying. when reading a chapter from a text book, i become overwhelmed because it’s a lot to remember. i just don’t know how to start after i obtain all the necessary tools/material begin studying. do i read chapter by chapter all the text? help me please.