1.1 Current Exam Facts

What NBE Arts Is

The National Board Examination (NBE) is the national competency exam for entry-level funeral service. It has two separate sections:

You must pass both Arts and Sciences to complete the NBE. Each section is scored and scheduled independently. A pass on Arts does not carry Sciences, and failing one does not cancel a prior pass on the other. State licensure boards typically require a completed NBE (both sections) plus any state-specific exams, apprenticeship, and background checks—so treat Arts as half of a national gate, not the whole license.

This study guide covers NBE Arts only. Sciences has its own outline, question bank, and content domains.

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Who Administers the Exam

The International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards—commonly called The Conference or ICFSEB—writes and administers the NBE. Candidate resources, applications, outlines, and score reporting all run through The Conference. Delivery is computer-based testing (CBT) at Pearson VUE test centers, year-round (subject to site availability), not a single national paper date.

Official candidate information lives at theconferenceonline.org/candidates/. The domain names and item counts for the current blueprint are published on the 2023 NBE Outline announcement. Note what is not public: The Conference states that the detailed content outline (the task-statement level document) is confidential and proprietary, and that ABFSE program directors—not candidates—may request a copy. Plan your study from the published domain weights plus the ABFSE Curriculum Outline subjects your program teaches; do not chase a public task list that does not exist. When a handbook, outline, and third-party blog disagree, prefer The Conference handbook and outline.

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Format, Time, and Scoring (2025 Candidate Handbook)

Item count and timing

Critical trap: some third-party sites and even older marketing copy list "1 hour 15 minutes" for NBE Arts. That figure is the optional Practice National Board Exam (PNBE) form (75 items), not the live NBE. For the real Arts section, plan for 170 minutes / 170 items—roughly one minute per item before review time.

Because pretest items are scrambled with scored items, never skip a "hard" question assuming it is unscored. Treat every stem as scored.

Scaled score of 75

The Conference reports a scaled score, not a raw percentage of 150. A scaled 75 is the cut score. You will not see a simple "need 113 correct" public raw conversion; the scale equates difficulty across forms. Practical implication: aim well above the cut on practice banks so form-to-form variance does not drop you under 75.

Day-of extras (not part of the 170 minutes)

At the center you will also encounter:

• Non-disclosure agreement (NDA) — about 3 minutes
• Tutorial — about 7 minutes on how to navigate the interface
• Basic on-screen calculator — available for any arithmetic (useful for simple merchandise/cash-advance math; not a scientific graphing tool)

Do not count NDA/tutorial time as exam thinking time. Arrive early so the clock on scored items is the only clock you worry about.

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Fees, Application Window, and Retakes

Budget for the possibility of a retake: one failed Arts attempt is another full fee plus a mandatory month of waiting. Applications that sit unused still expire at one year—schedule before the window closes.

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Eligibility

You may sit for the NBE when you meet one of the pathways The Conference accepts:

1. Graduate of an ABFSE-accredited or affiliated funeral service / mortuary science program, or
2. State board eligibility submitted to The Conference (your state board confirms you are eligible even if the education path is handled differently under that board’s rules).

Always confirm with your state board what they require beyond the NBE (jurisprudence exams, apprenticeship hours, background checks, age). The NBE is national; the license is state-issued.

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2023 Blueprint Domain Weights (Scored Items)

These weights drive every study priority in this guide. Percentages are of the 150 scored items:

Arranging (34%) + Legal (23%) = 57% of scored points. Cemetery/cremation (16%) is larger than Marketing (14%) or Counseling (13%). Weight your calendar accordingly; later chapters map tasks under each domain.

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Results and Score Reporting

• Immediate unofficial pass/fail appears at the test center after you finish.
• Official results go to your state board (and are available through The Conference’s candidate process).
• Failing candidates receive the scaled score plus feedback on objective areas missed—use that report to target the retake, not generic re-reading of everything.
• NBE results do not expire for Conference purposes; state boards may still impose their own currency or additional requirements for licensure, so verify with the board where you will practice.

Common logistics traps

1. Confusing PNBE 75 minutes with NBE 170 minutes.
2. Studying only embalming/anatomy material that belongs on Sciences, not Arts.
3. Assuming one section completes the NBE—both Arts and Sciences are required.
4. Ignoring the 30-day retake clock when booking a second attempt.
5. Letting a 1-year application expire without scheduling.

Master these facts first so every later chapter’s content maps to a real scored domain under a real seat-time constraint.