We Are Beyond Proud to Announce Our First NPTE Success Story,
Amanda Thomas PT, DPT
For the last year (2014-2015), I have been pouring work into building our program, our new website, practice quizzes and our practice NPTE. I knew we had some high quality people and products here at PhysicalTherapyEd, but they were untested and unproven. We had helped some students prepare for the NPTE, but we had never had someone officially enroll in our class. Then, 3 months ago, we had our first ever NPTE review course inquiry.
Needless to say we were a bit nervous.
Not because we thought we weren't ready, but because we weren't sure how to show someone just how ready we were unless they saw for themselves.
Well, after some emailing back and forth between myself and our first inquiry, we decided to set up a phone call. You can imagine my relief when a genuinely kind and down to earth NPTE candidate answered the phone, her name was Amanda.
Amanda wanted to know why she hadn't heard of PhysicalTherapyEd.com before.
I explained that we were a new company, and were just starting out in NPTE education. She sounded skeptical. Behind the skepticism I realized there was something else. Then I realized that I had been telling her all about us and why we were the best, instead of listening to her story.
So... I asked her, have you taken the NPTE before?
"8 times," she replied. "With the new rules, this next attempt will be my last".
I paused, trying not to betray the fact that I was feeling anxious. I knew we had great material. I had spent the last year planning, prepping, and tweaking our practice questions and review program. Still though... the gravity of her situation hit me pretty hard. Call it insecurity, but I had to ask,
"Why did you choose us?"
"Well, I don't know." she said. "I guess I've tried everything else and this is my last shot. I took another class, and I just felt like they were trying to make money. I didn't receive any personal attention at all, I just listened to a teacher talk to a big group of students, but I didn't feel like they were talking to me."
Her voice gave away more than what she was actually saying. She had prepared for the NPTE 8 times. Her hope and anticipation had taken a hit with every failed attempt. Now she had arrived at her last shot, and had came to us with what little hope she had left.
I knew right then and there that Amanda was going to be more than just our first customer. She was going to define PhysicalTherapyEd.com. She was why we put this site together, and she was why we were going to succeed.
I called my lead instructor Alex right away. You can imagine that he was pretty nervous himself about his first student, especially one in such a high stakes situation. Alex had teaching experience of course, but this was somehow different.
"What if we can't help her?" he asked. "I mean I'm really proud of this site, but what if she doesn't pass?"
I didn't admit that I was thinking the same thing. I asked him how he felt after he failed the NPTE on his first attempt.
"Well, terrible." he said.
"After how much I had put into PT school I felt like a failure, I felt embarrassed."
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Alex is a good friend of mine. One of the reasons I asked him to be our lead NPTE review course instructor was that he had failed boards, and then learned from his mistakes and experienced an overwhelming success the second time he took the NPTE.
He went on to explain how he had taken an NPTE review course and had been let down. He finished feeling like he had been put through a cookie cutter program that didn't care about him.
Alex and I talked for about two hours after I had hung up with Amanda. I could tell he was ready, but he still sounded apprehensive. We ended the conversation with me giving him Amanda's number and saying "just call her".
Two hours later, my phone rang.
It was Alex.
"We can do this," he said. "She can do this."
He sounded invigorated. He went on to tell me that he really identified with Amanda. He felt like he had been there before and wanted to help her so badly. He said he knew that the things he had to share with her were going to make a difference. He went on to tell me that he knew she could pass, and that she just needed to rethink how she was studying.
Well, he was right.
Ten 90 minute sessions later, The October 28th NPTE test date had arrived.
Amanda had come a long way. She went from not passing any of her practice tests, to passing every single one she attempted along the course of our program.
She sounded different too. Amanda was always humble, but she was sounding more confident everyday.
Alex and I were nervous wrecks. I don't think we were that nervous when we took the NPTE ourselves.
By this point, we had several students in our 1 on 1 review program and we had some real momentum, but no one had actually sat for the NPTE yet. We talked back and forth about whether we should call her or not. We had already emailed her about a 100 times wishing her luck, and just wanted her to pass so bad!
Amanda thanked us for all of the support, and told us that she was ready.
Well... she was.
On her 9th attempt, Amanda Thomas became Amanda Thomas PT, DPT
and Amanda Thomas PT, DPT became
Our First NPTE Success Story
We hope you liked our first blog post! We feel that this is a story worth telling and hope that you come away believing that YOU CAN PASS THIS TEST. Stay tuned for new posts each weekend. I look forward to sharing more and more NPTE success stories, study tips, NPTE study games, and more with all of you!
Trevor Lohman PT, DPT
Owner, PhysicalTherapyEd.com