Finally passed my MBLEx after failing twice — here's what actually helped

I don't even know where to start. I failed the MBLEx in October and then again in January, and I was seriously questioning whether I should just give up on massage therapy altogether. Both times I thought I was prepared — I read through my school notes, watched some YouTube videos — but the actual exam was way harder than I expected, especially the anatomy and physiology sections. The questions weren't just "name this muscle," they were asking about how systems interact, contraindications, clinical reasoning stuff that felt way beyond what we covered in school.

What finally worked for me was treating it like a real study plan instead of just reviewing. I gave myself six weeks, studied about 90 minutes every day, and leaned heavily on practice tests to find my weak spots. The Massage Therapy Anatomy & Physiology practice tests were genuinely eye-opening — I was scoring in the 60s at first, which told me exactly where I needed to dig in. By week four I was consistently hitting 80+.

Anyone else here who had to retake it? I'm happy to share my full study guide breakdown if it helps. What topics tripped you up the most?