How to Find out If You Passed NBCOT – Before it comes in the mail weeks to months later
Unlike other professions such as nursing, which has “tricks” such as the “Pearson Vue Trick“, new grads who took the NBCOT has no such luxury.
You may be wondering if you passed or not. NBCOT does notify you via e-mail, but there is a significant delay to find out this method.
You may have tried googling yourself. Google results show a top search facebook post by NBCOT from 2010, “You can view your unofficial pass/fail results online now at”:
http://www.nbcot.org/scorereporting/canlogin.asp <- But this is a DEAD LINK.
You may also be wondering if a friend/classmate passed or not, but this requires specific user credentials on the NBCOT website (which you obviously do not have).
NBCOT’s official website will tell you if you passed, but there is no guarantee of how quickly you may find out, and links may go dead. This method will work no matter what, and what is there to lose, if the result does not show up, you only wasted 30 seconds of your life.
Score Transfer Process
When you registered/paid for the NBCOT exam, you may remember being asked to pay for a score transfer:
“Order a Score Transfer if you would like NBCOT to send an electronic copy of your score to the state regulatory board(s) of your choosing. A state board will NOT automatically receive your score unless you order a Score Transfer.”
Based on my anecdotal and my classmate’s experience, I am not sure if it affects the speed of notification, but this trick will still work for sure if it gives you a positive pass result. My guess is that when NBCOT scores your exam, then immediately transfers your scores to the state regulatory board (allowing you to view your results quickly), perhaps the same time or even before it shows up NBCOT.
Whether this affects the speed at which you find out if you passed through DCA or not, it is worthwhile to do a score transfer. Your state’s regulatory board will require the results anyways, and doing a score transfer will expedite your licensure process, especially if you are looking to work as soon as you can (student debt sucks).
Paying for NBCOT Score Transfer (At any time)
If you did not pay for Score Transfer, NBCOT actually allows you to do so anytime during the process!
“You can order Score Transfers through your MyNBCOT account before, during, and after the exam process.”
To me, the $40 score transfer fee is a great convenience and is worth much more than the stress surrounding pass/fail and licensing anxiety, especially when your peers pass before you and you are feeling left out. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Your State’s NBCOT “DCA License Lookup Trick”
So you paid for the score transfer. You took the NBCOT X number of days ago. You looked up the scoring calendar. Now how do you find out if you passed?!
(NBCOT only score on certain days, so be sure to plan your testing date to reduce the days until your exam is score – if you are reading this before you take your first NBCOT!)
When I took the NBCOT, I actually skipped all the NBCOT website business and checked via DCA (because I knew I paid for the score transfer). The DCA is a government website for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which feature license lookup for many professions, including nursing. So this trick also works for nursing as well, in addition to the Pearson Vue Trick. In fact, you can use this trick to verify someone’s license for their profession to see if they are still in compliance with their licensing. Pretty cool.
My wife found out she passed her NCLEX using the DCA, as well as looking up her friends. Passing etiquette: If you look up for your friend if they passed their boards (whichever exam it may be), please DO NOT spoil the surprise/opportunity and tell them congratulations BEFORE they get a chance too look it up themselves. Kindly troll them and ask, “hey did you find out if you passed?” instead. =)
TLDR; Instructions
- Locate your state’s DCA website. Enter in google: ‘YOUR STATE + dca license lookup’
e.g. ‘california dca license lookup’
For example, the direct license lookup site in California is: https://search.dca.ca.gov/?BD=14 - Select occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant or the permit option if you registered for that.
- Enter the legal name you registered for the NBCOT process.
- If your name appears, you know that you passed! Congratulations!!!
Do not be discouraged
If your name DOES NOT appear, it does not necessarily mean that you did not pass, you may have still passed, but NBCOT has not submitted your results to the DCA. Log in to NBCOT’s website and check their. Check your inbox. Then do something fun, wait a bit, and check again.
Sidenote – After Passing the NBCOT: My state’s (California) official license notification actually ended up in my Spam e-mail. So after you passed out that you passed the NBCOT and submitted all your documentation to the state regulatory board, remember to check your Spam box too and look out for your state’s confirmation before you can practice.
Good luck everyone!
