Occupational Therapy Assistant Preparatory Course to Improve Mock Certification Exam Scores: An Evidenced-Based Intervention

Introduction: The overall goal of educators of occupational therapy is to produce graduates capable of meeting entry-level employment status, which becomes evident when they pass the national certification exam. This evidence-based pilot project investigated an occupational therapy assistant certification exam preparatory course designed to improve mock certification test scores of graduates from an occupational therapy assistant program. Methods: The project was implemented as a pilot study in the fall of 2017 with six participants. The course was delivered using a face-to-face teaching model and designed based on the most recent evidence from the literature. The course content included several key areas of focus, such as a review of testing content, the development of individualized study plans, and completion of sample exam questions with instructions to use content knowledge to improve critical reasoning skills. Results: The results of the preparatory course were examined based on a comparison between participants’ mock certification pretest and posttest scores. Following the implementation of the project, five of the six participants had improved scores on the mock certification test. Discussion: Participants reported feeling less overwhelmed and more prepared by increased knowledge of the test’s contents following the review course. The course design used within this project can be used for future curriculum development.