3 Must-Know Study Strategies For The NPTE
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Author: Will Crane PT, DPT, OCS
Do you have what it takes to pass the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) and dominate on exam day? Passing the NPTE is daunting, and a failed NPTE attempt is a devastating blow to future clinicians. I’ve been training students to absolutely crush the NPTE for over a decade, and here are three must-know study strategies you should utilize.
1. Quality Over Quantity
I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve had students reach out to me after a failed NPTE attempt to report that they failed the exam despite studying like crazy. They put in the hours, and used the core textbooks, yet they still failed.
What went wrong? In cases like this, I focus on changing their study habits from a quantitative approach to a more high-quality one. This mainly means the number of hours at the desk is less important than their quality.
My main suggestion is to study in short batches of 30-60 minutes. Several evidence-based techniques have been published to help you study in highly focused batches interspersed with other activities such as exercise and outdoor time.
2. Use Bullet Points and Flashcards
Reading and re-reading textbooks is one of the least effective and least efficient ways to retain academic information. Rather than see the words on the page, you must interact with the content actively if you want it to stick. Conventional wisdom indicates that information takes 8-30 repetitions to move into our long-term memory. I suggest that when you study, you summarize complex topics into short, bite-sized bits of information to help it stick. This makes it much easier to review critical content.
3. Take and Review Low-Stakes Quizzes
Low-stakes quizzing is a critical aspect of any study plan. But the key is not just in seeing the quiz questions—rather, it comes from learning the content, especially in the questions you got wrong. I recommend taking short quizzes or regularly to find gaps in your knowledge. At the beginning of your studies, quizzes should be focused on an individual topic and gradually progress to include more randomized questions. When you run into a difficult question, make a flashcard or bullet point about that topic so that you can come back and review that critical content.
Ideally, you’ll take a combination of full-length practice exams in addition to shorter quizzes during your main study window, but as you get within about three weeks of test day, you’ll want to focus on shorter quizzes each day.
Get Ready to Crush Your NPTE
By following these three must-know NPTE study strategies, you’ll improve your study quality and continue to climb your practice test performance.
Will Crane PT, DPT is the founder of PT Final Exam and is a Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy.
www.PTFinalExam.com
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