NPTE preparation recipe

Are you taking NPTE soon and struggling in your practice exams. Is musculoskeletal conditions and interventions your weakness? I am posting this as an attempt to help people struggling with passing the NPTE.

Before I dive deep into my story, let me go back a bit and talk about where I came from….

I graduated with a Bachelor in Physical Therapy from Mumbai, before pursing my Masters from Coventry University, United Kingdom. I arrived in US on 7th February 2017(7 months ago) and started looking for tutors who can guide me through what I thought will be the toughest exam of my life, NPTE. I joined @NPTE-Final Frontier (Dr. Bhupinder Singh) in March and went through their specified 81-day study schedule. It gave me an idea which topics are important and which categories to focus on, and helped me explore topics I knew and I didn’t knew. I started their live classes in May 2017 and attended all lectures till July.

I took the exam on July 19, 2017 (happens to be my birthday, yes I feel awesome to be licensed on my birthday). I simply followed what was told to me, literally everything!! The timetable had practice exams in every phase and my confidence was shaken a bit after the blue book practice exam but I stuck to the schedule and instructions and passed my NPTE on the first attempt.

I was not very good at understanding questions related to other systems (especially ethics and delegation questions) as I had not practiced in States. Eventually, I figured that I should prepare for the exam in a ‘old school style’, which means focus on musculoskeletal as it has the highest percentage of questions, and make it the strongest.

The master plan was to focus on basics and application of the concepts to conquer MSK. It worked wonders and I started getting high scores on practice exams, including a perfect 800/800 on my first Retired PEAT attempt.

I am posting a quick read through these work smart techniques, which should help you cross this bridge, the way it helped me clear NPTE in my 1st attempt. Firstly, don’t believe in magic or any sort of luck when it comes to this exam. And secondly, the only way to work through this is working hard, really hard, because there are no short cuts…!!!

1. Know your basics:

Yes, there is no way out. Basics will act as pillars to the empire of  the NPTE content. For e.g., In MSK, I did not know the detailed origins/insertions of each muscle but I surely know every muscles actions and nerve supply. This further helped me relate pathologies and became a strong foundation for many MSK questions. This helped me achieve a high score in practice tests, PEAT and NPTE.

1. Give it time:

Most people rush through their 1st attempt, since they know they can take this exam multiple times, but I would advice instead to understand the crux of this exam and its process, how it works, what is expected to know?

1. Relate and Remember:

Yes, there is a lot to remember, which is why I understood each and every fact instead of simply memorizing them. I found patterns and tried revising them often. I made tables, diagrams, flow chart and mnemonics which helped me retain more information and for long time.

1. Solve practice tests smartly:

There are many practice tests online both paid and unpaid. I knew I had to choose them wisely. I wanted to solve between 8 to 10 practice tests before appearing for an actual one. I spent quality time on analyzing the test results, studying every question thoroughly including the correct ones. Some of the questions I asked while analyzing were… When would other options be correct? What if the answer to this question, was asked as a question itself? This prepared me to face at least 2000 different kind of questions (200Q’s x 10 tests). I DID NOT MEMORIZE THEM.

1. Practice tests are for practice only:

I did not let the practice test scores affect me in any way. I did not let a bad score scare me instead it pushed me to work harder and a good score dint’ make me over confident instead motivated me to maintain the same or better, because end of the day, its nothing but a practice exam.

1. Attitude matters:

I gave NPTE with absolutely positivity. I thought of this as my last attempt. I knew thinking of having more chances would make me feel less passionate towards achieving it. I believe that if you know somewhere in your head you have additional chances you’ll be laid back. This will unknowingly not let you give your 100%. So, give this attempt as if this were your last.

1. It’s a mind game:

While I was nervous and feeling pressured to pass, I knew it was very important to keep my calm. Staying strong headed and positive not only while appearing for the exam but also during preparations helped me keep my anxiousness at bay.

1. Do not study alone:

Some people are comfortable studying alone but I quickly realized that studying with a study partner or in a group is very beneficial. I’ve personally had many “aha-aha” moments due to discussions over various questions. Special thanks and congrats to all my study partners who passed with me.

1. You don’t have to know everything:

It’s a myth; I learned this early during my initial months of preparation that this exam has specific weightage for specific topics. It tests you on defined areas like examination, evaluation, interventions and so on, as specified in the review books. Hence, I organized what is important and it’s worth before I started studying.

1. You are your best judge:

Self-analyzing is the best way to become better. I spent time on understanding why did I scored less? If I did, which topics were volatile for me? What was not clear or weak when I appeared for my last test? I worked on them and re-tried the questions.

1. Make your strong, stronger:

As it gets closer, with limited amount of time that I had to prepare for this exam, especially near the end, I dint waste time struggling to work on my weaker areas, instead, I revised my stronger topics and made them stronger. I converted a good MSK to a very strong MSK rather than worrying about other systems or 5 research questions.

1. Motivate yourself:

There will be many ups and many more downs through the entire process. But you have to hang on and keep motivating yourself. Know your motive for appearing and clearing this exam, have a vision and keep reminding that to yourself in bits everyday. Write motivating quotes on sticky notes, books or anywhere where you can see them often. I did that around my study area.

Every time I fumbled, I kept reminding myself that ‘very few foreign trained PT’s pass on the first attempt, and those who do are well respected’. I used those lines as a motivation and promised myself that I will do it.

Yes, this is a difficult exam and needs a lot of hard work, but it was one hell of an experience. Its greener on the other side and it’s a beautiful feeling to have tasted success. I wish everyone who reads this can soon taste it too.

To continue the story, my amazingly supportive husband planned a trip to Paris-Amsterdam-Belgium literally flying the day after the exam. One can imagine how it feels to receive your result in Amsterdam that too a positive one.

Sorry for posting late as I wanted to finish my law exam in the first attempt (whose pass rate for foreign trained PT’s is also less than 50% for California state). It feels good to pass it, My next post ‘Life after NPTE’ describes it. I will be happy to provide any notes, strategies or help to anyone who needs that extra push.