Nervous About the NPTE?

Are you nervous for the NPTE?

One of the challenges of being a physical therapist is acquiring a license to work for the United States of America. To be able to practice your profession, it is important to take the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE). The NPTE is an exam that should not be taken lightly by any physical therapist. As a matter of fact, a lot of physical therapists study religiously for this examination. However, there are still some that feels nervous and anxious during the examination. What could be the possible reasons for this?

When you feel anxious, there could be things that you have done in your review that makes you feel uneasy for the examination. Here are some possible reasons of your anxiety.

• Cramming – You have heard really great books for your NPTE review. What you did is buy all these books and started reading from cover to cover in just a matter of weeks before your exam day. No matter how fast you finish reading these books, your comprehension is totally compromised. If you stress yourself into reading a lot of books a few weeks before the exam, you will find yourself exhausted and feeling confused about all the things you have read.


• Lack of organization of topics to cover – There are quite a number of topics to be read for the examination. The best thing to do is to list the common topics in the NPTE, and organize them according to importance or to your strength and weaknesses. With the books and reviewers that you have, find these topics and mark pages to be studied. In this way, you will be able to come up with a good schedule on when to review specific topics for the examination.


• Not enough practice exams – Why are practice tests important? These practice tests actually make you feel how it is to sit for 5 hours answering all the questions in the NPTE exam. During the NPTE review, you can answer exercises; however, this is really not enough. With practice tests, you will be able to measure your progress with your NPTE review. There could be topics that you have not learned or cases that you need to understand more. Practice tests can also be your gauge in determining how ready you are for the examination.


• Lack of coaching – Since the examination is pretty difficult, a lot of physical therapists prefer enrolling in a NPTE review center. These centers provide intensive training to their students to refresh their knowledge in physical therapy, as well as introduce new information about their field. These review classes cover all the topics for the NPTE and a weekly assessment is done. Further, there is coaching provided to help students who are having trouble understanding some concepts.

The feeling of anxiety happens when you feel that you are not ready for the examination. Being nervous is a normal feeling; however, this can be lessened or be totally eliminated through rigid training and preparation for the NPTE. A good NPTE review program will surely make you feel confident for the exam.