Mind Mapping Use the space available below and/or on the back of the page to map some or all of the aspects of the domain of occupational therapy. OCCUPATIONS CLIENT FACTORS PERFORMANCE SKILLS Activities of daily living (ADLs)* Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) Rest and sleep Education Work Play Leisure Social participation Values, beliefs, and spirituality Body functions Body structures Motor skills Process skills Social interaction skills PERFORMANCE PATTERNS Habits Routines Rituals Roles *Also referred to as basic activities of daily living (BADLs) or personal activities of daily living (PADLs). CONTEXTS AND ENVIRONMENTS Cultural Personal Physical Social Temporal Virtual Exhibit 1. Aspects of the domain of occupational therapy. All aspects of the domain transact to support engagement, participation, and health. This exhibit does not imply a hierarchy.
Study Tips 1. Learn Everything You Can About the Certification Exam. A. Go to the NBCOT website: http://www.nbcot.org/certification-candidates. i. Get a copy of the current NBCOT Certification Exam Handbook and learn about the exam format, content, and scoring. Review all the resources that NBCOT provides on its site. ii. Be sure you understand the requirements and how to register for the exam. iii. If you need an accommodation, leave plenty of time to pull together the paperwork. B. Go to the NBCOT Roadmap sessions i. Student Conclave ii. AOTA Annual Conference and Expo C. Understand why the NBCOT exam is so different from other exams you have taken. i. In a course exam, you know what the professor wants you to have learned. You have context on which to base your answer. The NBCOT exam presents questions without any frame of reference. You could have a question on older adults in long-term care immediately followed by a question on school-based occupational therapy. ii. The exam is based on entry-level practice: what an entry-level OTR or COTA should know, as determined by NBCOT s surveys of entry-level practitioners. The focus is on applying what you know to clinical situations, not simple recitation of facts. iii. It s a high-stakes exam! A lot depends on success! 2. Prepare to Study. A. Determine your knowledge gaps. Learn what you need to study. NBCOT has an Entry-Level Self-Assessment Tool that can help you determine your strengths and weaknesses. B. Determine what textbooks and other study materials to use. NBCOT surveys OT and OTA programs every few years and determines the most commonly used texts. The exam questions are written with these sources in mind. Don t worry if you don t have those books, though; the test is based on what entrylevel practitioners say they do in the course of their work, and it s unlikely that the material hasn t been covered in your program. C. Decide whether you want to create a study group. i. How large should it be? Who should join? ii. How will you work together, and how often? What are the members responsibilities? D. Think about what helps you learn. i. How do you learn best? Reading? Watching videos? You may need to spend some time converting some of your study materials into a format that works best for you. ii. Making flashcards and creating outlines (putting material in your own words) can be useful. iii. Remember that the exam is online, so it can help you to work with materials on the computer. Copyright 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, contact www.copyright.com. 1
E. Know how to approach the exam questions. i. The Certification Exam is based on the process and practice of occupational therapy, which NBCOT divides into 4 domains for OTRs and 3 for COTAs. Understanding the domain to which a question is oriented can help you figure out how to answer it. ii. The exam is about the ability to gather information about a client s occupational performance, formulate conclusions into a treatment plan, and select occupational therapy interventions. It also is about understanding standards of practice and ethics. It is not about regurgitating facts; it is about applying clinical reasoning. 3. Make a Study Plan. A. Decide when you want to take the exam, and map out a study plan, working back from that date. i. Many students begin to study in their last semester before graduation. ii. Depending on when you want to test and how much review you need, 2 to 3 months of steady, consistent effort should be enough. B. Create a study routine, and stick to it. i. Look at a calendar and set aside time each week for studying. You know what time of day is most productive for you, so try to schedule your study sessions during that time. ii. Short, intense study sessions generally produce better results; you want to be able to remember what you studied. Several 30- to 45-minute sessions per week tend to work better than one or two long blocks of study time. iii. Write down your study appointments in an actual calendar. If you have to break an appointment, reschedule it for within a week. iv. Decide what you are going to do in each session. For example, people using AOTA s Exam Prep sometimes take a short practice test on a specific topic, review the areas that seem weak, and then take another test on the same topic to see how their score changes. v. Take shorter practice tests so that you can absorb the information better. Practice tests that are 100 or 200 questions long will just tire you out. Remember, you don t train for a marathon by running 26 miles every time you go for a run. 4. Be Prepared for the Day of the Exam. A. Create a strategy for dealing with questions you cannot answer. i. No matter how well you prepare for the exam, a few questions will cause you to scratch your head. You ll look at all the answer options and still have no idea how to answer. Planning ahead for such cases can reduce anxiety. ii. A simple approach is to always pick the same answer (e.g., D), then mark the question for review so you can come back to it if there is time. Unanswered questions are unscored; any answer, even a wild guess, is better than none. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so picking an answer gives you a chance to earn credit for a correct answer. This approach also saves time. B. Prepare for the day of the exam the night before. i. Pull together everything you ll need at the testing center two forms of ID, your authorization to test letter, directions to the center, etc. Double check any instructions you have received. ii. Eat a good dinner, and get a good night s sleep. Trying to cram the night before will stress you out. Being well rested and able to think clearly is most important. iii. Remember that many people before you have taken the test and passed. It is likely that you will, too. Be optimistic! Copyright 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, contact www.copyright.com. 2
Weekly Time Management Hours Per Day Activity Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Classes Studying Sleeping Exercise Work, internship, fieldwork Family Personal care and grooming Meal preparation and eating Commuting Leisure Other Total 24 Total = Hours Left for NBCOT Exam Prep Source. Landsberger, J. (n.d.). Time Management Series My weekly schedule: Time management exercise. Study guides and strategies. Retrieved from http://www.studygs.net/schedule/weekly.htm. Used with permission.
Managing Test Anxiety Source of Anxiety Coping Strategies