Congratulations and welcome to the 2015 AOA COPM Study Group!  This on-line study group is designed to allow you to read the postings at your convenience.  Over the next 12 weeks, the COPM Advisory Board will post daily and by the topics outlined in the grid below.

The purpose of this on-line forum is to help jump start you to prepare for the certification AND to interact with each other.  This is a great place to ask questions, share what you learned, or to just throw out what you might be confused about.  Don’t hold back – take advantage of this virtual learning experience!  While we typically find that most folks come here to read the questions and participation is pretty limited, we do encourage you to feel comfortable and ask the team questions – this is your opportunity so please feel free to post questions and/or comments.

I would like to introduce you to the AOA COPM Advisory Board who will be posting daily for the next 12 weeks.  These folks are a great resource for you so take advantage of this!

Please be sure to visit the COPM page on the AOA website at http://www.aoanow.org/?page=COPM for all of the resources, applications, and more. 

COPM Chair: Joanne Gauthier, COPM

Now, let’s move on to the test and some hints to help you to prepare for the certification.  Remember, we can’t share testing questions with you but we will be helping to get you thinking about the areas you may need to focus on.  Let’s face it, for some, it may have been some time since you sat for an exam or perhaps your office outsources, let’s say, Payroll, so you may not be as up-to-date in this area.  No worries though, that’s what this forum is designed to help you with.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q.       How many questions are on the exam? 

A.       There are 150 multiple choice questions on the exam.

Q.  How long will I have for the exam?

A.  We allow 4 hours for the examination.  Now, since this is at your own pace, you need to realize that some people may finish quickly.  Don’t focus on the time, especially when other people finish.  Stay focused on the questions and follow you gut!

Q.  What is a passing score?

A.  Well, we can’t tell you this exactly and anyway, we don’t want you to focus on how many you need to get right – focus on what you know!  When the tests are graded, every question is reviewed to ensure the question is “good”.  For example, if everyone answers the same question incorrectly, then that question is thrown out.  As a result, this can have an impact on the number of total questions. 

Q.  If I don’t know the answer to the question, should I leave it blank?

A.  No, take an educated guess.  It’s better to try to answer than to leave a question blank.  You are not penalized for guessing.

Relax and remember, you manage your practice every day and have a great deal of knowledge and experience so keep calm and take advantage of the next 12 weeks!

I realize that my post is not showing up correctly (cutting off words) and we are working on fixing this.  In the meantime, you can click on the document that I have attached which is the same as the posting text.  

Thanks!