Prepare for the NBCOT^®‘s OTR^® exam

“I wanted to let you know that I worked with the lovely Toni Thompson on the last leg of my NBCOT journey to address some key topics I was still struggling with. Toni was so helpful. She was able to cut through the overwhelming amount of information I was struggling to process and provided several tips that made it much easier to understand. I am so grateful for Toni and for her expertise in helping me get to the next stage.”

“Every year we revisit what test prep we want to include for our incoming students, and we keep coming back to TherapyEd. I have used it for over seven years, and students continue to rave about how helpful it is. They feel more confident, more prepared, and less anxious going into boards. TherapyEd is truly a staple in our program.”

“Year after year, there continues to be more products and resources related to the NBCOT exam, but Therapy Ed remains one of my top favorites and I always suggest it to students whether I’m in class, speaking engagement or in the most recent event, OTAC conference presenting to students. Therapy Ed uniquely stands out for its ability to really challenge the students to improve their critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills, and I appreciate the opportunity to choose and utilize Therapy Ed book as the main (and the only) course textbook year after year. With the advancement in AI and other digital tools, I feel like students are relying more and more on instant feedback and quick results, but I think Therapy Ed forces you to slow down and really go through the necessary process of building your capacity to think and reason. All this to say, I love Therapy Ed!”

“TherapyEd’s prep course was a game changer for my NBCOT exam preparation. The resources gave me a great foundation for content review and the practice exams with rationales were extremely valuable resources. In addition, they educated on strategies for studying and test day to ensure I was prepared for the logistics of the exam. I would recommend TherapyEd resources and prep courses to any student getting ready to take the NBCOT!”

“The TherapyEd course and book were crucial in helping me pass the NBCOT exa.”

“The TherapyEd book was my primary resource when studying for the NBCOT exam and I passed on my first try. My advice: read the content in the book then take each exam and then review ALL of the possible answers and the rationale of why they were correct/wrong. Once you’ve finished this process for each exam, repeat the process again as you will not only learn the content but how to clinically reason during the exam. Good luck!”

“The most helpful part of the TherapyEd course was receiving the Review & Study Guide book, which was a great place to find concise information about a variety of topics and cross-reference with other study materials as needed. The prep class was helpful for getting me into the studying mindset as well. ”

“My name is Rebecca Mitchell, and I had Paula Carey as a TherapyEd tutor from June 26, 2023 to October 2nd, 2023. At that point in time, I had failed the exam twice and felt like I exhausted all options from: receiving Pass the OT tutoring to studying AOTA, NBCOT StudyPack, TherapyEd, 450 Formula Videos, and OT Miri Videos. My tutor through Pass the OT would show up late, and end the sessions on time often making me feel like I was just a paycheck. Then I met Paula. She showed up on time, improved my critical reasoning, listened when I needed it, helped me develop a time management plan, catered each session to strengthen my problem areas, helped me develop confidence, pushed me to work on my mental health, and believed in me even when I didn’t. She never made me feel like my questions were stupid, and would always answer them even if it was close to the end of our session. She was tutoring so many people, but always made me feel like I was a priority. Before meeting Paula, I was studying 8-10 hours a day, overthinking questions, reading too much into details, spiraling when I couldn’t find answers, and constantly stuck on questions that haunted me from past exams. My third attempt I increased 20 points, but didn’t pass by 9 points. I was absolutely devastated because I was so adamant in my mind that I past. After this, I had hit one of the lowest points of my life, and began questioning if I still wanted to become an OT. I broke down to Paula during a tutoring session. I explained to her how I was grieving a family member, navigating planning a wedding and helping close friends plan their weddings, and going through big life changes. I told her my reservations about becoming an OT, lack of motivation, and how the fear of failure was consuming my life. Paula didn’t charge me for that session, but listened to me and showed me grace. That session became a pivotal point in changing my mindset, and the trajectory for the weeks to come. She helped me realize it wasn’t the content, but essentially my mental health. Every test I took I missed it by a couple points, but never walked away thinking I didn’t know enough content. When people would quiz me I knew it, and when I did questions I had the right critical thinking. I would pass every time I took practice tests, because I didn’t have anxiety or the fear of failure while taking them. My anxiety would get so bad the weeks leading up to the exam that I wouldn’t sleep for days. By my 4th attempt the only thing I had done differently was work on my mental health. I attended therapy once a week, strengthened my relationship with God, met with Paula once a week, but only studied/reviewed the content for 2 weeks for a couple hours a day leading up to the exam. I didn’t study the two days prior to the exam for the first time ever, and engaged in occupations I enjoyed and relaxed. The 4th time I passed with flying colors. This showed me that even if you have all of the right study tools and know all of the content if you aren’t in the right headspace you won’t pass. I’ve grown more over this year than I have my whole life, and Paula was a crucial component in that. She made a huge impact on my life both professionally and personally, and I will be forever grateful that we met. If you need a tutor, please don’t hesitate choosing Paula Carey!!!”

“I am writing regarding Paula, my tutor, to pass on to you how great I think she is. I think she is an incredible motivator, she holds people accountable, and most importantly instills confidence in her students.

I am still on quite a high from learning I passed. I sort of can’t believe it still, I was going through all the ones after the test I was certain I didn’t get and assumed that cost me the test. BUT, it didn’t!

I’d like to thank you for being the biggest reason I passed this test. I know you’ll say it was Me who was the biggest reason but I think it was Paula’s approach, attitude, motivation, and willingness to help that propelled me over the hump. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me pass and really think you are very good at what you do. I hope we stay in touch or our paths cross again. Thank you, Paula!
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“As a new OTD program, our faculty has been anxious and excited in anticipation for our inaugural cohort to meet all of their educational milestones with success. Then, this inaugural Class of 2021 was met with challenges, barriers, and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We had always planned to integrate the Therapy Ed preparation course into our curriculum in the 8th semester as a component of the professional competency seminar. This course has learning outcomes around NBCOT exam preparation and professional transitions from student to practitioner. For this Class of 2021, these objectives became more important and challenging after experiencing delays in fieldwork and adjusting to hybrid communications and learning. Therapy Ed could not have been more accommodating and supportive. They were able to offer a virtual preparation course for our students on the timeline that worked best for all of them. There was flexibility for students who had a conflict and superb follow up from the staff and the course instructor. Our students reported back that the instructor was engaging, helpful, and seemed to truly care about their success. Therapy Ed and Dr. Fleming-Castaldy went above and beyond by scheduling an online “refresher” course for our students (and others) after they completed their Doctoral Capstone placements to review and prepare them for intensive exam studying. All of our inaugural graduates who took the exam in 2021 have passed on the first attempt and the rest of the cohort are showing great success as well! We look forward to a return to in-person Therapy Ed courses but feel confident that our students will be prepared in any format!”