Rating: 
Summary: great study guide
Review: has everything you need to know in one book with an easy format
Rating: 
Summary: I could have passed without this book
Review: I have been out of school for 4 years and I needed to take the Nationals, I heard this book was the best. It may have been the best for people taking the Nationals in 2003 but there were only about 5 questions that even resembled what the practice exams in the book were. I know that I could have passed the Nationals without studing for a month and a half with this book and passed. I think they need to revise this book for the 2004 Nationals.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent review with an online study/exam
Review: I highly recommend this review book by Joseph Ashton. It easy to read yet quite comprehensive. The online exam can be taken in study or test mode which is good practice. Great investment!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book to review. Not enough MCQ to practice
Review: I've read someone mentioning that it is not the best book for the National. I absolutely agreed. However, I passed my NY State Board and National exams with high marks partially because of this book. Of course you need to have a solid foundation on both Western and Eastern parts. However, a good review/practice book helps to save time and not going for a wrong direction.
As far as I can remember, the NY State Board did ask many questions about Oriental stuff. The information on this book (pp102-105) is a very useful summary but definitly not enough to prepare for either exam.
I could recall such a question from State Board that I took: "which element or meridian is associated with 3-5am? 1. Liver; 2. Bladder; 3. Lung." Alternatively, they can ask you what season associated with Lung meridian.... I have a worksheet summary of the Oriental meridians (in Excel file format). If you're interested, email me with reference to this review, I can send you a copy via email free.
Be honest, you will see some questions on both State Board or National exam that you have no clue what it is about. According to the experience shared with other licensed massage therapists, I found that the best way to deal with these types of exam questions on Oriental medicine is to use your logical way of thinking. We cannot know everything. But we can use our knowledge to find out the "BEST" answer from the question. That's why we need to practicing the MC type questions. Of course, we really need to know our stuff in the real world.
Good luck to you all. Enjoy your new massage therapy career.
Rating:
Summary: Very good reference for NCBTMB
Review: My study group and I used this book to review some facts for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. However, this book is written in a simple style that makes reading an easier task. There were some good information in the book for the test. ...
Rating:
Summary: I PASSES THE BOARDS!!!
Review: Ok guys I flunked the test the first time. I then got serveral books and finding out what they really are this is the book you need to be studing. Every question that is on the test is in this book. It took me only 45 minutes to take the test. Folks get this book, read it well, study it and you will get high in all the areas like I did. ...
Rating:
Summary: Perfect review packed with information
Review: This book gets 5 stars due to the fact it gives you what it says-major review info for national certification. Loaded with information page after page including diagrams, defintions, text and review questions. My instructors were a little surprised to find out the previous 'bible' of certification review "The Guide" is no longer published as it was. This book takes it's place, with all the information the Guide had, updated and condenesd in an easy to take format (compared to many others, including The Guide's large print text and spiral bound text book). This book is smaller, will fit in any bag you tote around so you can study any and all the time. It has earned all the praises of my instructors and has become a major core to our massgae cirriculum. If you want to study for the National exams, or if you are already liscensed and need a simple, highly informative reference book to add to your library this would be perfect...
Rating:
Summary: I could have passed without this book
Review: This book is just the right mix of information and brevity. It covers a lot of material but does not go into unnecessary depth on anything; it simply tells you what you need to know for the national exam. Organization is very good, and it covers all of the basic areas with all of the essential information. Topics that my school didn't cover in enough depth, for instance taxes, were dealt with well in the short sections on business practices. The quiz sections were for the most part accurate depictions of actual exam questions. The book has a couple of minor deficiencies. One, as another reviewer noted, is that there isn't enough information on Chinese medicine, compared to what is actually on the test. Another problem I have with the book is that while it covers a lot of diseases, they are perfunctory descriptions at best. But not much more is needed for the massage exam. I took the massage exam and passed with flying colors. I studied using this book, "Massage National Exam: Questions and Answers," and "Illustrated Essentials of Musculoskeletal Anatomy," along with a medical dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: Densely packed with information
Review: This book is just the right mix of information and brevity. It covers a lot of material but does not go into unnecessary depth on anything; it simply tells you what you need to know for the national exam. Organization is very good, and it covers all of the basic areas with all of the essential information. Topics that my school didn't cover in enough depth, for instance taxes, were dealt with well in the short sections on business practices. The quiz sections were for the most part accurate depictions of actual exam questions. The book has a couple of minor deficiencies. One, as another reviewer noted, is that there isn't enough information on Chinese medicine, compared to what is actually on the test. Another problem I have with the book is that while it covers a lot of diseases, they are perfunctory descriptions at best. But not much more is needed for the massage exam. I took the massage exam and passed with flying colors. I studied using this book, "Massage National Exam: Questions and Answers," and "Illustrated Essentials of Musculoskeletal Anatomy," along with a medical dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: This is the MOST useful NCBTMB book of them all!
Review: This book was GREAT for review. Now that I took and passed the exam, I think that just memorizing the contents of this little book may have yeilded a passing score, except there isn't enough on Oriental Medicine, a meridian chart with some famous points would have made this PERFECT. THere's plenty of room in the margins for notes to fill in the blanks where information is incomplete. Many of the questions in the review did turn out to be on the test.
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