I applied through the outercol.org website and this is the story of what happened...
I tried to contact two other organisations via email at the time but they both came back with an automatically generated email failure notice.
I posted a copy of my "student task and oath" form on 12th June 2010 and received a confirmation email on the 6th August 2010.
Despite not having done all the studying I requested the exam via email on 8th September 2010 and received an email back with the exam on the 15th September 2010.
I finished the student reading probably towards the end of 2010 and took a look at the exam. It was very daunting looking and after drafting a few responses/ideas for a few questions I left it for a bit.
I attended an OTO meeting on the 3rd June 2011 and that inspired me to actually get my arse in gear and sort out the exam. After about a month working on it full time, I finally sent the completed exam back on 14th August 2011.
My Neophyte instructor got in touch via email on 21st November 2011, although I have not yet initiated as I currently cannot afford the journey from England to Norway.
Hope this helps anybody wondering/worrying about the timescale of things through this lineage.