Health ProfessionsTest + Skills

Occupational Therapy

A 50-question test on the OT profession and conditions it treats, then five-minute patient-teaching skills such as one-handed dressing, sock aids, floor transfers and body mechanics for the top scorers.

The AI judge does not score skill stations. Use the practice test for Round One.

About this event

Occupational Therapy is a solo two-round event for the Secondary and Postsecondary/Collegiate divisions, sponsored by Why Choose OT. Round One is a 50-question multiple-choice test in 60 minutes written from Introduction to Occupational Therapy (O'Brien) and Conditions in Occupational Therapy (Atchison and Dirette). Sixty percent of the test covers OT for physical conditions, for wellness and mental health, and across the lifespan; the rest covers the profession, models of practice, activity analysis, and ethics and safety. Top scorers advance to Round Two, where the secret scenario names the patient's weaker side and draws from eight five-minute teaching skills taken from the Occupational Therapy Toolkit: putting on a shirt with one hand, using a sock aid, transferring from floor to standing and from standing to floor, taking a heart rate before and after activity, stretch-break exercises, demonstrating good body mechanics by lifting two textbooks, and proper seated posture. Points are lost if the skill is coached on the wrong side. No special equipment is required beyond photo ID and pencils. A 70 percent skill score is required to place; test and skill scores are added and ties go to the higher test score.

Test day

What to expect

Round One test, then skill stations

Round One is a 50-question test in 60 minutes; the top scorers advance to Round Two, the skill stations. Official format: 50-question test, 60 minutes, then Round Two skill scenarios of 5 minutes each for top scorers.

Written from the test plan

Questions follow the event's published test plan, section by section, and are written from the listed reference texts. Practice questions here are drawn in the same proportions.

How you advance

How many advance from regionals to states and on to the International Leadership Conference (ILC) depends on your association's rules. Study the official test plan: it lists each section and its share of the test.

What judges score

Skill I: Instruct Patient How to Put on Shirt with One Hand (5 minutes)Skill II: Instruct Patient How to Use Sock Aid (5 minutes)Skill III: Instruct Patient How to Transfer from Floor to Standing (5 minutes)Skill IV: Instruct Patient How to Transfer from Standing to Floor (5 minutes)Skill V: Instruct Patient on How to Take Heart Rate Before and After Activity (5 minutes)Skill VI: Instruct Patient on Stretch Break Exercises (5 minutes)Skill VII: Demonstrate Good Body Mechanics (5 minutes)Skill VIII: Instruct Patient on Proper Posture, sitting in chair (5 minutes)

What's on the test

Profession of OT · 10%Occupational Therapy Models of Practice · 10%Activity Analysis and Occupation-based Activities · 10%Occupational Therapy for Physical Conditions · 20%Occupational Therapy for Wellness and Mental Health · 20%Occupational Therapy Across the Lifespan: Children, Adults, Older Adults · 20%Ethical and Safety Considerations · 10%

Study resources

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