The Best Study Tips for Taking Your BOC Exam

While some of you have completed your Board of Certification exam and are gearing up for finals, many of you will take them in May and June. The Board of Certification exam is the culmination of all of your hard work–and one of the last steps before you can officially call yourself an Athletic Trainer (and start working!). But don’t you wish you had the best study tips for taking your BOC exam?

We polled the knowledgeable AT veterans on #attwitter, and added a few of our own, to come up with the best study tips for taking your BOC exam.

Pick the ones that work for you and go crush it!

The top tips:

Relax . . . you’ve spent the last few years learning the material, you’ve put in the work. Get a good nights sleep, breathe and go with your gut.

—

If you fail it’s not the end of the world, plenty of people retake it and resumes don’t ask how many attempts you took. An ATC is an ATC.

—

Survive. Get a lot of quality sleep.

—

Pace yourself through #studying

—

Exercise – it will help with retaining information

—

Drink plenty of water and focus on your diet.

—

Don’t cram your studying, it simply doesn’t work.

—

Enjoy this time because you’ll remember it forever.

—

Make a 3×5 card of everything you want fresh in my mind and review it right before you walk in. The night before  keep yourself busy but relaxed–have some good dinner, relax with friends, tv and chill!

—

Take the practice tests. AND DON’T OVER-STUDY! 3-4 hours a day is PLENTY!

—

Don’t study the night before. Sleep will benefit you more and you will NOT retain anything that you read after 7 PM.

—

Relax, do something not AT related, sleep early. Eat a good breakfast before you go in to the test.

—

Take some B12 instead of caffeine. Good luck guys!

—

Time management – study what you are weak in and spend quality time reviewing all of your material. Set aside specific blocks in your schedule.

—

Check with the testing center to see if breaks are allowed. If you’re able, step outside for a few breaths then come back in to finish.

—

Study hard. Take the day before off and do NOTHING AT related.

—

Pray. Trust God and your training. Then go crush it.

—

If you study for a test, it will be the hardest test you’ll ever take. Study for a career, the test is no problem.

—

Don’t touch any study materials the day before.

—

I’m sure some tears will be shed. That’s ok too.

—

ACES Prep Course. Target those weak areas with the prep tests!

—

Flash Cards. Flash Cards. Flash Cards.

—

Before you know it, you’ll be saying: “It’s done. It’s over.”

—

If you don’t know the answer to a question after reading it twice, don’t panic. Flag it and come back to it.

—

You don’t need to answer every question! If you truly don’t know, leave it blank. This goes for the “choose 3/5 correct answers” as well–it won’t hurt you as much as a wrong answer would.

—

Stick with your normal routine. If you have coffee in the morning, have some coffee. Don’t over caffeinate yourself or break your exercise routine on test day!