I'm not going to sugarcoat it — I failed the AOTA certification exam twice before I finally passed last month, and both times I thought I'd studied enough. The first time I just read through the OTPF and figured that'd be enough. It wasn't. The second time I bought a random study guide that covered like half the content domains and spent 3 weeks on it. Still failed by 4 points.
What finally clicked for me was actually doing timed practice questions instead of just reading. I found an AOTA practice test that simulated the real exam format and started tracking which domains I kept missing — for me it was always the occupational analysis and activity demands sections. I did about 20-30 questions every morning before work for 6 weeks.
Anyone else here studying for the AOTA exam right now? Happy to share more about my timeline or specific exam tips that helped me close the gap those last few points. It's a tough test but it's definitely passable with the right prep.