You may have felt relief to know that both April NPTAE and NPTE will have a window to test throughout the month of May. However, many candidates have had difficulty during the past week in scheduling or getting a spot at a local Prometric site. Recently, the FSBPT announced that the exam is considered an essential service program; that would help increase the number of spots for testing.
Scheduling the NPTE
Even with the Prometric sites increasing the number of spots for taking the NPTE, scheduling can still be tricky. To keep with the social distancing, the number of available spots for testing is reduced by 50 percent. This will mean that finding a spot to test at the local Prometric site can be difficult.
Being Flexible
With the limited spots available, you may need to be flexible when scheduling the location, date, and time of the NPTE. This means you’ll want to plan ahead if the Prometic site is farther than 50 miles away from you. If you haven’t already, be sure to schedule your exam date to have something in place. With the stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order, you’ll want to check with your state whether you can still take the exam as extensions may keep changing.
Keep Checking Periodically
If you didn’t get an ideal Prometic site, date, or time for taking the NPTE, check the Prometric site periodically. Avoid the tendency to check more than once an hour. Checking more than 3 times a day (morning, afternoon, evening) can be very disruptive to preparing for this important exam. You are allowed to reschedule without any additional fees. Once you get a better exam scenario situation, then stop checking and switch gears back to getting ready for the exam.
Unable to Find Anything
What if after days or even until the end of April you are not able to find a spot at a Prometric site? Well, you can continue checking in May; however, finding a slot to test especially your ideal exam scenario could be difficult. Or you can cancel your April NPTE exam and reschedule for the July exam dates. At the moment, the spots are filling up for July as well and FSBPT would address concerns for this exam soon.
Being Proactive Before the NPTE
Before sitting for the NPTE, you’ll want to be proactive for the day by wearing a face mask (surgical or cloth) for several hours as it will be required. You’ll want to take into account any discomforts that can distract you and practice taking full-length NPTE practice exams. If you show up at the Prometric site with no face mask, you’ll be marked as a “no show” and will have to pay for rescheduling fees.
For safety precautions, you can also take and practice wearing medical rubber gloves and earplugs. These will be checked at the Prometric site before you are seated for the exam. Here’s a list of other permissible items that are already approved. Keep in mind that calculators are not accepted for the NPTE.
Refocusing on Studying
Whether you have a week or a month to prepare for the NPTE, treat each day as if it’s your last chance to study. Remember that you won’t be able to cover everything at this point in time, so choose a few areas to focus on. It may be hard to have the motivation to study during this uncertain time; however, know that you are preparing yourself to treat patients. At the Prometric site, you’ll be given 2 laminated pages or whiteboards, so practice writing out brain dumps to use for the exam.
Receiving Your NPTE Results
Usually, after taking your NPTE exam, the wait for the results is 6 days for them to be revealed to you. However, for this unique situation of testing throughout May, the results will vary based on the date. You could wait as little as 5 days or up to 12 days. You can learn what goes on behind the scenes in getting your score report.
Here’s the schedule:
| Test Dates | Planned Score Release | Free Score Report Available |
| 5/1-5/6 | 5/11 | 5/18 |
| 5/7-5/13 | 5/18 | 5/26 |
| 5/14-5/20 | 5/26 | 6/1 |
| 5/21-5/27 | 6/1 | 6/8 |
| 5/28-6/3 | 6/8 | 6/15 |
Remember, No Talking
After taking your NPTE exam, remember to not talk, discuss or reveal to anyone anything about the questions on the test. There are different NPTE exam versions out there with various degrees of difficulty. It’s tempting to look up information; however, just take the time to decompress after this NPTE journey.