All you need to know about PTA exam

You have probably obtained your physical therapy degree from an accredited educational institution and eagerly looking forward to practicing as a physical therapy assistant. This you can’t do without obtaining the necessary license – by going through the PTA board exam. The PTA exam will certainly not be new to you but it’s possible that you’ve not fully grasped what it entails. If that’s the case, you need not look any further; just read on to know about it here.

Registration

You can register online for the PTA exam through the portal provided by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT), and also make payment therewith. However, you will need to see to it that you have fulfilled some prerequisites – this is aside from your degree. For one, you must have obtained a licensure application from your State(of practice) licensing authority, and also confirm that you meet the State’s requirements. After successful registration, you’re expected to be sent some sort of acknowledgment email – known as Authorization to Test – by FSBT.

Sitting for the PTA exam

On the D-Day, you will be checked in, with an official looking through your ID to confirm your candidature, and you will also be made to sign into an examination logbook. Also, your fingerprint and photograph will be taken right before you’re led to your workstation where the computer you will be taking the test on is made available. Considering all these, it is incumbent on you to get to the venue as early as possible so that you can be in the right frame of mind – this may be hard to come by where you have yourself rushing in late.

PTA exam proper

Once you settle into your workstation, and just before the exam starts, all the candidates will get some briefing whereby an official intimate them on all that is expected of them during the exam. Thereafter, you can start the exam, and you will have an erasable board to work with, particularly as it concerns note-taking. The examination entails 250 multiple choice questions which are to be completed in about 4 hours – that is, the duration for the PTA exam.

Knowing your scores

You will only get to know your PTA exam score through your state’s licensing authority as they are the one it will be sent to. And, this should be done in about five days after you must have completed the exam.

License acquisition

The next port of call after passing your PTA exam will be to obtain your practice license. This, you can get from your state’s licensing authority. There are, however, certain requirements you will have to meet before the license will be finally handed over to you. The relevant party will put you through on this.

Resitting for PTA exam

In the instance whereby your first attempt at the PTA exam didn’t turn out successful, you can forward to resitting for it in a couple of months. As it stands, students are usually allowed to take the exam up to three times within one year.