By Shannon Corcoran
It’s no secret that taking the NBCOT® Exam is stressful in countless ways. Without a proper plan, studying for the OT and OTA test can be overwhelming and daunting. Between the time commitment required to prepare, the sacrifices that are inevitably made while studying, and the financial stress that comes with buying review materials and high exam fees, it often feels like the NBCOT® Exam journey is a really long dark tunnel, where some fear they may never reach the light.
When students don’t pass they are often not only heartbroken but also strapped for the appropriate funds to pay for adequate study prep. Students study for many months using study preps such as Therapy Ed® and AOTA ® Online, which their school has either provided or recommended. With each failure, they lose $550 to exam fees as well as miss 2 months of potential employment which can be worth anywhere between $8,000 and $12,000 per failed attempt. It is not uncommon for students to fail three or more times, tripling that potential loss. I have even heard of students that have taken this exam as many as nine times.
In addition to the financial hardships, some students are up against other major life issues which impact their ability to study and properly prepare for the NBCOT® exam.
Some recent examples include:
- Students in Puerto Rico who don’t have consistent electricity due to the recent hurricane
- A mother who just lost her 1 month-old baby girl to Sudden Infant death syndrome (SIDS) one week after she found out she had failed for the fourth time
- A husband who just lost his home due to not being able to afford his mortgage when his wife lost her job and he failed for his third time
- A mother who failed twice because she did not have adequate time to study because she was providing round the clock care to her special needs child
- A son who failed for his first time because he is taking care of her ailing father with severe lung cancer
- Pass the OT recently launched the “Reward a Deserving Student” project to help deserving students, who are not only struggling to pass the exam but, who are struggling with major issues and need financial assistance.
For each dollar that is donated to the fund, Pass the OT will match dollar-per-dollar to provide tutoring and web courses to those in need, to help achieve their dreams of becoming licensed occupational therapists or occupational therapist assistants. Once these students pass and are back on their feet, they will pay it forward by giving future students access to the most effective study prep for the NBCOT® exam.
Additionally, Pass the OT will be rewarding 7 deserving students from colleges and universities around the country with a free web course.
If you have a deserving student in mind, please email jshane@passtheot.com, their name, email address and why they deserve access to Pass the OT. Additionally, your students can read more about the program and apply to be a reward recipient at the link below:
https://passtheot.com/donations/reward-a-deserving-student/
The 10 deserving students will be rewarded on May 1, 2018.
