New Exam Seeks Takers

The organization creating a new national massage-licensure exam has launched a pilot test in order to set the exam’s passing standards.

The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards’ exam will be available in October. Between now and then, recent graduates may take the pilot exam at locations nationwide.

Test-takers’ results will be valid indefinitely in states that use the exam, “unless the state puts a statute of limitations on it, which I wouldn’t expect,” FSMTB Executive Director Debra Persinger, Ph.D., told MASSAGE Magazine.

According to Persinger, Arkansas’ board of massage recently voted to adopt the FSMTB exam exclusively. “They’re not even using their own state exam, and that’s the first time since 1951,” she said, adding that Oregon and Iowa are working toward adoption of the exam as well.

Takers of the pilot test must have graduated from an accredited or state-approved massage-therapy or bodywork program after June 1, 2006. For more information, visit www.fsmtb.org.