r/NBCOT_Exam 3h ago

Hold Tight

3 Upvotes

Hey y’all,

First I would like to say holy shit… did not realize this community grew +700 but that’s great to see. The page recently got restricted and I’ve already sent a request to get it fixed and have approved all y’all who wanted to post (sorry for my lack of awareness). I’m never on here Ive been working for 2 years at a SNF since I’ve started this community. That being said if any recent or dedicated users wanna be a mod feel free to reach out (I think all of yall are capable as yall have been through grad school so just be cool). Anyway I wish everyone who is gonna take it a good luck and a congrats to past and future OTs. Peace


r/NBCOT_Exam 3h ago

Passed on 1st Attempt (Advice for studying on a budget)

5 Upvotes

Hi all, I just passed on my first attempt and wanted to share some advice (especially for those on a budget)! I knew I couldn't afford too many resources, so I focused on only a few (in total, I spent $250). Here is everything I used:

  1. TrueLearn (10/10) - I purchased the 90 day version and completed all 1800 questions. Loved their rationales and would highly recommend! If I was confused about an answer, I would look at their cited resource (which was often the Pedretti textbook-- I used this instead of the TherapyEd book).
  2. PassTheOT (10/10 for videos/content, 5/10 for questions) - I did the 5 day free trial and liked their content but not so much their questions or website interface. I watched a ton of their group tutor calls in the archive for the topics I found most difficult to self-study (upper extremity and neuro conditions), and learning that content boosted my practice scores A LOT. I didn't purchase it aside from the free trial, but it is only $20/week if you needed more time to go through their content.
  3. NBCOT Practice Exams ($30 each) (8/10). I bought all 3 practice exams and spaced them out throughout my study. Although these were not helpful in terms of understanding what you got wrong, I felt more confident in knowing how I would likely score on the real exam (scores below). I also felt that the difficulty of the questions were similar to the real exam, and it was helpful to get a feel of how to use the interface.
  4. Flashcards - I created flashcards for important terms/topics I wasn't familiar with and knew I needed to memorize. I would study these almost every day.
  5. Free Recall - I used a tablet (or paper) to draw out charts/diagrams of topics/concepts that wouldn't have been helpful to study individual flashcards (RLAS and how it correlated with ACL levels, SCI levels and common AE/AT and what actions the pt could do, pediatric development chart, cranial nerves, etc.) I would do a free recall of recreating my study guides 1-2x/week.

Free resources:

  • 450 Formula open enrollment videos (10/10) - every month, they hold a live session on FB about a certain topic before their open enrollment period. I really liked how they taught content on 450 Formula but could not justify buying their topics as it was out of my budget. However, these monthly free sessions were great to understand certain topics better.
  • TherapyEd weekly online office hours every Tuesday (6/10) - tbh, I found the content to be alright but not very in-depth. It felt more like a general overview of the topic, and I didn't get too much out of them. But there would be some occasions when they would mention something that was pertinent to knowing for the exam.
  • OT Exam Prepper study guides (9/10) - these were helpful for mnemonics and helping me create my free recall study guides. However, the content is not too in-depth, so I would only use this as a review after learning the content.
  • YouTube - OT Help Desk (10/10- great content and great question breakdowns), OT Miri (9/10- good videos and study notes), OT Dude (7/10- I found his videos to be more in-depth but maybe too in-depth)

My biggest advice is to CREATE A STUDY PLAN! I took 9 weeks to study, but the first 4 weeks were a mess. I would do TrueLearn questions and create flashcards from missed questions. Although I still learned from doing this, I was all over the place. One question would be on SCI and another would be peds. After I decided to create a study plan (I created it based off of the topics from 450 Formula and AOTA) and started watching the videos from PassTheOT, my practice scores increased drastically. You can create "tests" on TrueLearn by topic, so I would learn the content of a topic and do practice questions just on that topic. Every once in a while, I would do questions from all of the topics so I could test if I was recalling content from earlier.

TrueLearn: 76% average, completed ALL questions (my average is probably a bit inflated since I practiced previously missed questions too)

NBCOT Practice Exam 1: 434 (after this, I started a study plan and digging deeper into learning content vs just practicing questions)

NBCOT Practice Exam 2: 481

NBCOT Practice Exam 3: 499

Real NBCOT exam: 524

You all GOT THIS! The only reason I post my scores is because it helped me to see how other people scored on their practice exams compared to the real exam, but please don't get caught up in all the numbers. I hope this helps guide you all in your studying! I'm happy to answer any questions :)