Last Minute Study Tips for the NPTE

In a few days, another group of soon-to-be physical therapists will take the NPTE again. I already have an in-depth post about how to study for the National Physical Therapy Exam, but with the test coming up, I wanted to share some last-minute study tips.

1. Use the obvious test-taking tips. Dress in layers, bring a good snack for your break and read through every possible answer before selecting your choice. You’ve taken multiple choice and standardized tests previously, so don’t psych yourself out. You’ve done this before. Make sure to read everything the NPTE tells you about test day so that you go in fully prepared.
2. Expect at some point to feel like you’re failing. A co-worker told me before the test that at some point during the boards, everyone feels like they’re bombing. This advice was invaluable during the bleakest moments of the exam. As your eyes glaze over while you’re stuck on a difficult question contemplating what eight more weeks of studying might feel like, take a deep breath, remember the feeling is normal, because …
3. Keep in mind that 85% of DPT students pass the first time. The odds are in your favor. Unlike licensing tests for many other professions, you have a great chance of passing your first time around.
4. Remember that no one has ever gotten 100%. NO ONE. People can get perfect scores of 800 because the test is curved. As someone who works for Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy told me via email, “… no one gets a perfect score on the NPTE. It’s just not that kind of test – there is too much judgment involved. We do top out our scoring scale at about 800, which usually equates to a little above 90% correct. We don’t see much value in differentiating among people much over 600, so we cap the scale.” So don’t sweat the question about blood pressure that you don’t quite remember. It’s just one of a couple you’re bound to get wrong since perfection isn’t even on the table. The goal of taking the test is NOT to get 100% — it’s to pass, get your license, and start your career. I don’t even remember what I scored on the boards and no one has ever asked me all these years later.
5. Consider 50 questions don’t count. Fifty questions are in development, and don’t count towards your score, so every time you encounter a ridiculous question, tell yourself that it is a development question that won’t count anyway. The NPTE has questions that, put plainly; you just aren’t going to get right. If you run into a question that you don’t know the answer to, or a series of questions for which you are not confident, that’s ok! Move on, and concentrate on the challenge in front of you. Keep your focus on the present moment, on the one single question that you need to answer at any given time and you will do great! Between the 50 questions that aren’t scored and a few that you have to get wrong (since there’s no such thing as perfection), you have a good 75 questions or so to be unsure about before you even need to worry.
6. Take a good picture. At the beginning of the test, the testing center will take your picture for ID verification purposes. Little did I know that this picture would pop up again and again every time I started or ended a break. If you’re frowning and looking annoyed like I may have appeared in my picture, it can be quite a downer every time your face reappears. Instead, as I have told numerous people who took the test after me, smile and look happy to cheer yourself up at breaks. It may sound silly, but it works.
7. Celebrate afterwards. Since I had already started working on a temporary license, I had to go to work the following day. And because I had returned home to take the test in the same spot where I’d taken the GRE’s (I wanted to use a familiar testing location), I had a five-hour bus ride waiting for me right after the test. After sitting for five hours to take the test. I wouldn’t recommend that day to anyone, so instead, go out to dinner and pat yourself on the back for having studied so well for the past several weeks.

Good luck on the NPTE!