The best NBE prep resources, compared honestly
Every serious option for the funeral service National Board Exam side by side — what it costs, how many questions you actually get, whether answers are explained, and who it's best for. We make one of the products on this list, so we've tried hard to say what the others do better.
At a glance
| Resource | Price |
|---|---|
| Official practice NBE (The Conference) | $60 per section, per attempt |
| Official NBE study guides (The Conference) | $50 each (Arts and Sciences sold separately) |
| Mometrix Funeral Service online course | $99.99 / month |
| Mometrix “Funeral Service Exam Secrets” study guide | $69.99 ebook; about $75–88 paperback on Amazon |
| “NBE Funeral Service Exam Prep” iPhone app | $14.99/week or $34.99/month (longer plans to $119.99/year) |
| Independent question books on Amazon | About $28–$36 for most 2026–27 editions |
| Online question banks (PracticeQuiz, PrepPool) | PracticeQuiz $5.99; PrepPool $39.99 one-time |
| Free flashcard decks (Quizlet, Brainscape) | Free |
| MortuaryPrep (this site) | 30 questions free; $7.99/month (3-day trial) or $29.99 one-time |
Prices and counts are taken from each product's own page or store listing on September 25, 2026 and change often — check before you buy. “Not stated” means the seller doesn't say.
Our short answer
No single product does everything, and the best setup for most candidates is a combination:
- A question bank with real explanations for daily practice — the part that actually builds the skill. Any of the explained banks below will do; what matters is that you read why each wrong answer is wrong.
- At least one full 170-question, 170-minute section under timed conditions, because a minute a question is tighter than it sounds.
- The official practice NBE near the end, as a check in the real format. It's the only thing on this list written by the people who write the exam.
- The official content outline (in The Conference's study guides) if you want the authoritative list of what can be tested.
Watch the billing period more than the headline price. At the extremes, a two-month study plan costs about $200 with a $99.99/month course and about $120 with a $14.99/week app, against $30–$60 for most one-time options.
Each option in detail
Official practice NBE (The Conference)
The only practice test written by the people who write the NBE, ordered through Pearson VUE and taken on your own computer. Nothing else on this list can claim that, and its questions are the closest you can get to the real thing.
The limits are volume and feedback. Each form is 75 questions, each purchase is a single attempt that must be used within 7 days, and The Conference doesn't advertise per-question explanations — you get an overall percentage and feedback by content area. It's a thermometer, not a textbook.
Official NBE study guides (The Conference)
Separate Arts and Sciences guides, in print or digital (VitalSource). The candidate handbook notes that the full NBE content outline — the list of objectives your failing score report refers to — lives in these guides, which makes them the most authoritative map of what's tested.
The Conference doesn't list how many practice questions they include, so plan on pairing them with a question bank.
Mometrix Funeral Service online course
The most complete commercial package: 1,020 practice questions across three full-length tests, 50+ study lessons (20 Arts, 25 Sciences) and 410+ flashcards. If you want reading material and questions from one vendor, this is it.
It is also the most expensive option by a distance — $99.99 a month, billed immediately with no trial, though Mometrix offers a 7-day money-back guarantee. Two months of study costs about $200.
Mometrix “Funeral Service Exam Secrets” study guide
The long-running print review book, and the most-reviewed NBE book on Amazon (4.4 stars from 207 ratings on the edition we checked). It's a content review with a practice test at the back rather than a question bank, and the listing doesn't state how many questions it contains.
“NBE Funeral Service Exam Prep” iPhone app
A well-rated iPhone app (4.6 stars from 28 ratings when we checked) with timed simulated exams, explanations and progress tracking. Free to download; full access is a subscription.
Check the billing period before you subscribe: the headline price is weekly, and at $14.99 a week, eight weeks of study costs about $120.
Independent question books on Amazon
A wave of self-published 2026–27 NBE books advertise 800, 1,000 or even 3,000 questions for around $30. They're the cheapest way to get volume, but most have a handful of reviews at best, and nothing on the listing tells you how the questions were written or checked. Read the sample pages first, and be wary of any answer key you can't verify against a textbook.
An older option, Dynamic Path's 250-question book (2021), sells for about $12 with 65 reviews.
Online question banks (PracticeQuiz, PrepPool)
Two inexpensive options. PracticeQuiz sells 296 explained questions for $5.99 with a money-back guarantee. PrepPool sells a 650-question downloadable set covering both sections for $39.99 with lifetime access, and offers free sample questions before you buy.
Free flashcard decks (Quizlet, Brainscape)
Student-made decks are genuinely useful for vocabulary — restorative art terms, embalming chemistry, legal definitions. They are also unreviewed: nobody checks the answers, and older decks may predate the content outline The Conference introduced in 2023. Use them for recall, not as a measure of readiness.
MortuaryPrep (this site)
Our own product, so weigh this entry accordingly. 900 original questions across both sections, each with an explanation for every answer choice and a textbook citation, plus full 170-question timed mocks weighted to the official blueprint, spaced repetition and a per-domain readiness score.
What we don't have: video lessons or long-form reading (Mometrix and the official guides do), and our questions are not written by The Conference — only the official practice NBE is. Licensed-funeral-director review of the bank is planned but not finished; see our about page for exactly how questions are written and checked.
What to avoid
- Anything claiming real or “recalled” NBE questions. Candidates sign a non-disclosure agreement, and The Conference can invalidate scores and notify licensing boards when exam content is shared.
- Pass-probability promises. No practice product has the outcome data to tell you your odds of passing; a number like “87% likely to pass” is invented.
- Answer keys you can't check. If a question has no explanation or citation, you can't tell a wrong key from your own mistake — and memorizing a wrong key is worse than not studying it.
For the facts about the exam itself — format, the scaled 75, fees and current pass rates — see the NBE exam guide.
Common questions
What is the best way to study for the NBE?
Use the official content outline (in The Conference's study guides) to decide what to study, a large explained question bank for daily practice, and at least one full-length timed section before test day. Finish with the official practice NBE, the only practice test written by the exam's authors.
Is the official practice NBE worth $60?
For most candidates, yes, as a final check. It's the only practice test in the real exam's format written by The Conference. It isn't a study tool on its own: each attempt is 75 questions, single-use within 7 days, and gives a percentage score and content-area feedback rather than explained answers.
Are there free NBE practice tests?
Yes. The Conference publishes a short page of official sample questions, Mometrix has a free online practice test, several question-bank sites offer free samples, and MortuaryPrep has a free 10-question practice test plus 30 free questions with an account. Free flashcard decks on Quizlet and Brainscape are useful for terminology but are not reviewed.
Do any prep resources have real NBE questions?
No legitimate one does. Candidates sign a non-disclosure agreement before the exam, and The Conference treats sharing exam content as a violation. Treat any product claiming to have real or "recalled" NBE questions with suspicion.
How many practice questions should I do before the NBE?
There's no official number. Volume matters less than reviewing why you missed each question; a few hundred questions reviewed carefully per section usually teaches more than thousands answered quickly. What does matter is sitting at least one full 170-question, 170-minute section so the pace doesn't surprise you.
MortuaryPrep is an independent study aid and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to The Conference, ABFSE, Pearson VUE, or any product listed here. We don't earn commissions from any link on this page. Last checked September 25, 2026.