Key Tips for Passing the NPTE

Feb 20

If you are reading this, CONGRATULATIONS! You have survived years of schooling, and now you have what is quite possibly the biggest test of your life ahead of you!

We know how you feel…. and that’s why I am writing this post! I wanted to share with you the biggest tips that helped us study successfully and pass the NPTE on our FIRST try so that you can DO THE SAME THING!

Let’s jump right into it!

STEP 1: Take the Scorebuilder’s Review Course!

First stop! TAKE THE SCOREBUILDERS ON CAMPUS COURSE! We know what you’re thinking…. great, more money out of my pocket! I mean, you’re already paying a boatload to take the NPTE. That’s exactly how we felt; however, we also knew we didn’t want to blow a hole in our pocket twice by failing the test the first time. That just wasn’t a risk we were willing to take. For us, the review course ran right at $125 per person, however this number changes based on how many people attend the class!

(KEEP READING TO SEE HOW YOU CAN HOST A COURSE AT YOUR CAMPUS!)

Thankfully we do not regret taking this class AT ALL! This class gave us the tools we needed to successfully set up a study plan that we knew we could be successful at. Without giving away all their secrets, I’ll tell you why it’s so good!

It gives you a way to measure your readiness level for the test
You get a content outline with all of the areas you need to make sure to review before the test
You have the chance to establish your strengths and weaknesses
And in general, this class really boosts your confidence and positive outlook!

Again, we can’t say enough about this course. We know you will love it! In addition to the course and all of the excellent tools it equips you with to kick the NPTE in the butt, they also include 30-day access to their study tool called Basecamp. This is an awesome new tool that switches up your study approach when you start falling asleep at your book ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You can use this link to find out more about the course and learn how to host one at your school!

STEP 2: Get a study plan!

This is not the fun part…. if there is a fun part to studying…. But you have to PLAN YOUR STUDY TIME! Literally, get out that calendar and write it in! Doing this not only prevents you from losing study time to social gatherings that you would rather attend. It also gives you the freedom to really enjoy your time spent not studying! If you’re anything like us, we struggle with really enjoying our free time when we are worried about whether or not we are neglecting our studies and our future success. With a study plan, we feel confident in our success and free to enjoy the moment fully!

STEP 3: Don’t change your study style now

ALERT! Now is not the time to change your study style! If you know what works for you, what has helped you be successful over the past 6-7 years of school, don’t fix it! It isn’t broken :) For me, this looks like taking notes of the important or hard-to-remember things as I am reading. Things like lab values, vitals for pediatrics, ADA requirements, and so on! Anything important that I would like to have a list of so that I can quickly glance back at it and be reminded is what I write down! One the other side of the coin, if you’re used to passing tests without studying, DON’T DO THAT NOW. This is THE BIGGEST test of your life! Don’t leave your chances of passing to chance.

STEP 4: Plan multiple study locations

Studying gets monotonous, and it definitely gets monotonous when you do it in the same place over and over again! Find a few different study locations that help you stay focused and plan which location you’re going to be at the next day so that you don’t end up getting stuck at home. We have definitely studied at home, but if we do this too often, we end up getting distracted with other household chores, errands to run, or we feel lousy from staying in so much. Talk about cabin fever! A few places we have utilized are the library, an excellent resource, our parent’s house when they are at work and the house is quiet, and Bread Co., although restaurants can be noisy and distracting. Find what works for you!

STEP 5: Take practice exams….. take a lot of them

Although this is probably the last thing you want to hear, this has perhaps been one of the MOST IMPORTANT aspects of our study plan. Taking practice exams has so many benefits. This simple act prepares you for the type of content that will be on the test, you have the chance to familiarize yourself with the testing format, you get a feel for how well you are testing, and you are training your mind and body to be able to sit for 4-5 hours straight. Rough, I know. I can’t imagine walking into the real exam without this practice. YIKES.

HINT: SCOREBUILDERS CAMPUS REVIEW TELLS YOU WHERE TO FIND THESE PRACTICE EXAMS AND HOW TO INTERPRET THEM TO DETERMINE IF YOU ARE ON TRACK FOR SUCCESS!

In our preparation, we took 5 practice exams. That’s right, that adds up to at least 20 hours of exam time with a 4-hour test-taking average. Even though that sounds like a lot… cause it is a lot… taking this many tests really helped us evaluate how we will perform on the real exam. By taking so many, we didn’t have to worry if we did really well on a practice exam by chance, or if doing poorly on a test meant we were going to do poorly on all of them. This is definitely the time to be disciplined so that you can walk into the NPTE feeling confident!

That’s it guys! Thanks so much for reading! I hope you found this helpful for your preparation on the NPTE! If you have any study tips that you find useful, please share them in the comments!