May 19, 2026 update: AMFTRB issued refunds and free retakes to hundreds of examinees who failed the National MFT Exam between January and April 2026. We believe our research and advocacy contributed meaningfully to that decision. Read more about our advocacy process on this issue here. The original post follows.
Tonight (March 22, 2026) I downloaded the AMFTRB candidate handbook for those preparing to take the National MFT Exam. That’s pretty routine. At High Pass Education, we’re working on a prep program for the national exam, and of course we want to make our content and our practice exams consistent with what examinees might see on the actual test.
According to the National MFT Exam handbook that I just downloaded, here’s the breakdown of exam content:
I just took the California MFT Clinical Exam and the National MFT Exam within a month of each other. When scheduling both of these exams, my hope was that I could study once, and then ace both. Here, I’ll outline the similarities and differences I noticed between the two exams.
Back in May, I wrote about how pass rates on the California MFT Clinical Exam for licensure had ![Golden gavel 1, By walknboston (Flickr: Gavel) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/www.psychotherapynotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/256px-Golden_gavel_1.jpg?resize=256%2C230)
California’s licensing exam restructure for marriage and family therapists (MFTs) takes effect January 1, 2016. Here’s how the new exam process will affect you.