How I studied for the health coaching NBHWC exam

I took my exam in November of 2023 and passed with high marks in all categories. It did certainly help that I am a healthcare provider, and have a lot of practice taking board exams, however I believe this exam is easily passible with preparation.

As a very quick overview, as of 2024/25, in order to be eligible to sit for the exam you need to have completed an approved training program, have 50 practice coaching sessions, and have either 4000 hours of work experience or an associates degree or higher education. The exam itself is 150 questions, broken into two parts (75 questions each) and you have 4hr 30min to complete it with a 15min break between sections if you choose to take it. For more details see exam packet here.

Exam prep course thoughts:

I did pay for a prep course and did not find it particularly helpful for me. I ended up attending two sessions and did not return. I have colleagues who did find value in taking review courses. There are a number of them out there and I would recommend vetting them well.

Structuring time:

I actually took my health coaching boards and my lifestyle medicine boards within a few weeks of each other because a good chunk of the information overlapped some. I began studying in late Sept/early October. Because I knew the medical related questions, I spent significantly less time preparing for that section, however I would advise at least a few weeks of review for that if you are not coming from a medical background. Many prep courses are 6-12 weeks and that makes sense to me.

Suggestions for study materials:

Using the content outline (found here) from the NBHWC is exceedingly helpful. I broke that down by section and assigned an amount of study time I thought I needed to complete that information. A week or two with each section is generally what is planned in review courses.

I HIGHLY recommend purchasing the Coaching Psychology Manual, as well as borrowing Prochaska’s “Changing to Thrive” and “Motivational Interviewing.” At minimum if you go through the coaching manual closely and “Changing to Thrive” you will have a really good idea about much of the material on the exam. Newer Wellcoaches have a bit of a headstart here because their program uses this manual as a textbook for the course. If there is time, at least taking a skim through “Motivational Interviewing” gives good context for coaching skills. I read half of “Changing to Thrive” and MI and felt like it was enough. Working on practice questions is also always helpful for me when I’m planning to take an exam.

Find a way to memorize the medical data you need to know. A good way to do this is to copy them down a few times at the beginning and end of each study session. That way you practice the numbers 4+ times a day. Then write it out again at the beginning of the exam so you don’t need to remember it, it’s just there. I know these numbers for work, and I did this so I didn’t make a mistake.

I did create a question bank/practice test to use as a study aid and supplement to the NBHWC question bank. It can be found here.

Final thoughts:

A lot of taking board exams is about confidence. Study effectively - ie, plan and stick to your plan as closely as possible. Then have confidence you have done enough to pass. Read the questions well…and read them before jumping to answering. Know what you are answering before you choose an answer. Use the process of elimination if you aren’t sure. Generally one or two options are clearly not true. The tricky part of this exam is the feeling that more than one answer could have been correct. That’s a normal feeling and do your best!

Good luck!