Thinking about becoming a board-certified oncology physical therapist? The ABPTS Oncology Specialty Certification is a powerful way to showcase your expertise, elevate your career, and make a greater impact in cancer rehab.
But before you can take the exam, you need to navigate the application process—and that’s exactly what we’re covering in this episode.
(This is the second episode in our multi-part series on specialization in oncology PT, so if you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, be sure to check it out here.)
In today’s episode, we break down the key components of the application, from documenting your professional experience to understanding the case report requirement.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure about whether you qualify, this episode will give you the clarity and confidence to move forward.
Tune in now and take your first step toward becoming a board-certified oncology PT!
Breaking Down the ABPTS Oncology Application Process
Eligibility Requirements:
Let’s start with who can apply. To be eligible, you’ll need:
- A valid PT license in the U.S.
- A minimum of 2,000 hours of direct patient care in oncology, with at least 500 of those hours occurring within the past three years.
- Or, completion of a residency in oncology PT.
- If you’re unsure whether your experience qualifies, I highly recommend reviewing the ABPTS requirements early:
Key Deadlines & Timeline:
The application window opens in the spring.
- In the past, two deadlines: end of June/beginning of July & end of September.
- Start gathering materials as early as possible.
- After submission, expect several weeks (if not a couple months) before approval. The exam itself is offered the following year in early spring.
- So if you submit in summer 2025, you will sit for the exam in spring 2026.
Components of the ABPTS Oncology Application
Applying for the Oncology Specialist Certification requires careful documentation and planning. Here’s what you’ll need to prepare:
Professional Experience Documentation
The application will ask you to provide a detailed breakdown of your oncology patient care experience. This includes the number of hours you’ve worked with oncology patients and the settings in which you’ve treated them.
Be thorough—this section demonstrates your depth of experience and eligibility for the exam.
As part of the process, you’ll need a supervisor or colleague to verify your oncology PT experience.
Choose someone who is familiar with your clinical work and can confidently endorse your expertise. Give them plenty of notice so they have time to complete their portion of the application.
Case Report Requirement
This is one of the most critical—and often most daunting—parts of the application. Your case report showcases your clinical reasoning, patient management skills, and ability to integrate evidence-based practice. It’s not just another assignment—it’s an opportunity to demonstrate how you think and practice as an oncology PT. We’ll dive deep into the case report process in our next episode, so stay tuned!
Fees & Submission
The application fee is an investment in your professional growth, but don’t let cost be a barrier. Many workplaces offer continuing education or certification reimbursement, so check with your employer about potential financial support.
Lastly, be mindful of submission deadlines—don’t wait until the last minute to complete your application!
Common Application Challenges & How to Overcome Them
Applying for board certification can feel like a big undertaking, but breaking it down into manageable steps can make all the difference. Here’s how to tackle common challenges:
Feeling Overwhelmed? You don’t have to do everything at once. Instead of looking at the application as one massive task, break it into smaller steps. One day, review the application requirements. Next, start gathering documentation. Taking it one step at a time will make the process feel much more manageable.
Worried About Qualifications? Many PTs question whether they have “enough” experience, but you might be more prepared than you think! If you’re working toward the 2,000-hour patient care requirement, start tracking your hours now. If you’re unsure whether you qualify, review the ABPTS guidelines and talk to colleagues who have already gone through the process.
Struggling with Time Management? Between work, life, and this application, it’s easy to feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. The key is consistency over intensity—you don’t need huge blocks of time. Instead, set aside 15-30 minutes a few times a week to chip away at the application. Small, consistent progress adds up quickly!
By taking it step by step, you’ll move from “thinking about applying” to actually hitting that submit button with confidence!
Strategies for a Strong Application
Review the Requirements Early: The more familiar you are with what’s needed, the easier it will be to stay on track.
Start Gathering Documentation Now: Don’t wait until the last minute to request experience verification.
Seek Guidance: Reach out to past test-takers or mentors who have gone through the process – join TheOncoPT Specialization Community at https://TheOncoPT.com/specialization!
Avoid Common Mistakes: Missing deadlines, incomplete paperwork, and rushing through the case report are some of the biggest reasons applications get delayed or denied.
Your Next Steps
The application is a big step, but it’s completely doable with the right approach.
Start by reviewing the requirements and making a checklist of what you need.
In the next episode, we’ll focus on the case report requirement—arguably the most challenging part of the application process. I’ll walk you through how to tackle it step by step.
If you’re feeling inspired to take the next step toward board certification, I’ve got a free resource to help you get started.
Register for our free workshop, The 3-Step Framework for a Finished Case Report, where I’ll walk you through exactly what’s required for your case report to be accepted—and how to make the entire process more manageable.
Sign up now at TheOncoPT.com/framework, and let’s get your application on the right track!
Want to watch the episode instead?
Watch this week’s episode of TheOncoPT Podcast on our YouTube channel!
Transcript
Elise Cantu (00:19)
Hey, Onco PT and welcome back to this episode of the Onco PT podcast. I am fired up. Now I know time has elapsed since our last conversation here on the Onco PT podcast, but a little behind the scenes information. I’m recording these three episodes, this three episode arc all together and I am so fired up about it. Like if you haven’t already listened to episode 336, make sure you go back.
Listen to that one first. This is part two. This is continuing that conversation. And I am so… Again, I talked about this fire being lit under my butt when I attended the Cowton Oncology Nursing Symposium last week, and it has carried me. And I hope that has communicated through your headphones on how excited I am about this topic, because I know that if we are really going to achieve our goal of making cancer rehab
more available, more accessible for patients in our community. It is through making more clinicians who are confident and competent in their ability to show up for and to care for patients in their own community with cancer. And I believe that this is the process by which we do this. So anyways, go back and listen to that episode. I get super fired up and we are going to continue.
the energy and the excitement today because today we are talking about how to navigate the actual application for the ABPTS oncology specialty certification exam. If you did not know, in order to sit for the exam, you have to complete and submit the application first. And today’s episode is going to talk you through exactly what is that process. I know.
the application process can feel overwhelming. I remember doing it. And I also, this past year, so in 2024, I did my first round of the MOSC or the MOSC I don’t care how you say it, but it’s the maintenance of specialty certification process. So it’s like a mini version of that that you can do every so often to keep yourself on track. Anyways, we’ll talk about that later. Don’t worry about that. But it was, I had post-application stress.
Right? Not full PTSD, but I had post application stress of remembering like, my God, I remember how stressful that application felt when I was doing it. And that’s what really inspired me to start talking about this because I said, I don’t want any other physical therapist to feel as crazy as I felt when doing that application of years ago. So we’re going to break it down today and I’m going to give you the shortlist, the easy button guide to the application process.
So number one, if you are going to fill out the application, we need to determine first if you are eligible to even submit your application this year, or maybe if you have to wait. Okay, that’s not a problem, but there are some application requirements to determine your eligibility for this. So first and foremost, you have to be a physical therapist with a valid license in the United States in order to sit for this exam. Okay, so step one, you need to have
a minimum of 2000 and this is you know as of as of recording this is March 13th 2025 as of the time of this recording you need to have a minimum of 2000 direct patient care hours in oncology over the course of I think it’s the last 10 years with the last with at least 500 of those hours be being within the last three years okay
So there is a component of making sure that those hours are recent and weren’t in like 1985 or whatever, so that you are current. Now, if you did a residency in oncology, that satisfies this patient experience requirement for the application. So it’s kind of like a path A and a path B. So path A, if I’m remembering the, like the
the website correctly. Path A is our hours, doesn’t matter. One path is the hours, again, the at least 2000 hours direct patient care in oncology with at least 500 being within the last three years. Or this other option over here is completing an oncology residency. You have to do either one of those. Once we’ve determined, okay, yep, we have done this,
we can then move forward with the application. Now, if you are unsure if you meet those requirements, if you have some more nuanced questions about what those direct patient care hours look like, I would really encourage you here to check out the ABPTS application. I think it’s the candidate guide. They did a really nice job of compiling all the information that you need to know for preparing for the exam.
and this application process. And so if you go to, again, the 2025 version, so you can go to the ABPTS website, find the candidate guide. If you scroll down, and it’s like on page 75 or something is where the oncology specific section, the addendum is, you can find a lot of really wonderful information, including more specifics on what are these eligibility requirements in case you have any questions whatsoever. Now, once we’ve determined, okay, yep, check.
I meet these requirements, I am ready to move forward with my application. We now need to be aware of some very specific deadlines and then planning your timeline for when you’re going to complete and then ultimately submit this application. Now the application window opens sometime in the spring. The past few years, they usually will launch any updates around early to mid May.
I would say count on it more being in mid-May because that seems to be what the trend is. If it changes, well, we’ll be surprised together and I will make updates as we need to. But usually, it’s going to be around mid-May when the final application goes live. And I say final being like if they’ve made any tweaks, made any changes from the previous year. So mid-May is when this application will usually go live and then you will, you know, to
to access that, go to the ABPTS website and you should be able to find like, apply now or something like that. So when you get there, you should see that there’s some very clear information on deadlines. Now in the past, this next section has a big asterisk on it. Initially, there was one deadline and it’s like June 30th or July 1st. Okay, it’s one of those two, I can’t remember.
And that is the time point, that is the deadline by which you need to have your entire application submitted. Now, in light of COVID, I know, I know it was five years ago, okay, work with me on this. In light of COVID, they actually made an adjustment, which was actually the year that I did my application. So I applied in 20 and then took the exam in 21. They actually extended,
They made another deadline for September 30th. So they do a beginning of summer deadline and then an end of summer, beginning of fall deadline. And they have done this for the past few years. Now, I have heard that AB PTS is thinking about getting rid of that, is going to get rid of that. I have heard this for several years. That hasn’t happened yet, but that doesn’t mean that it could not.
could or could not happen, okay? So what I would encourage you, maybe they’ll have the September deadline again this year. Cool, amazing. I wouldn’t plan on it if you are thinking of I am going to do this. Because it could be that in mid-May when ABTS publishes their final application, you know, with all the lovely updates that they do, they may say we’re doing away with that September 30th deadline for oncology.
and they just have that beginning of summer deadline. I would move forward thinking and planning to yourself, I am going to submit for that June 30th, July 1st deadline, whatever that is. Don’t plan, at least at the time of this recording, on that September 30th deadline being available. It may not be there. Again, it could be. I’m not AVPTS. I don’t make the rules. I don’t make these decisions. But don’t…
plan on that being an option because the last thing I want for you to be like, I’ve got time. And then all of a sudden it’s beginning of June and you haven’t even started the application process. That would be terrible. So don’t do that. So what I would encourage you to do, plan to submit all of your stuff for that, whatever June 30th, July 1st deadline, just plan on doing that because then you can enjoy the rest of your summer.
You get your application out of the way and you can go on vacation with your family. You can hit the pool and enjoy your favorite summertime read in the sunshine. Make sure that you spend some time this summer enjoying yourself, enjoying your family and the ones that are important to you. Don’t let this application completely consume your summer. That’s a terrible way to live. Don’t do that. We love summer here at the Onco PT.
I would plan on submitting everything for that first deadline because that second deadline may not be there. And once you’ve decided, okay, I’m going to move forward with this. am eligible to sit for the exam. This next exam cycle, I’m going to submit my application. You need to start gathering your materials as early as possible. Now we’ll talk more about the materials here in this next section of this episode, but if you start early, it’s just going to make things easier.
in the long haul of not having to last minute be trying to track down documents and information, like don’t do that. And then once you have submitted your application, you should expect to hear back in several weeks, maybe even a couple months that you’ve been approved or that your application has been accepted.
So when you submit your application, so you will submit your application in summer, for example of 2025, you will then take your exam in spring of 2026. So it’s basically a year long cycle. You submit your application the year before, and then you take the exam the year after. So what does the actual application look like? What does the application actually include? When you apply,
when you submit your application, you need very specific and careful documentation of your experience and what you ultimately bring to the table as, yes, I have knowledge in this area I am going to prepare for and pass this exam. So in the application there is a section where you will need to document your professional experience. And again, that is either I have completed a residency and you submit proof of that, or which is what I did.
Here are my 2,000 hours of direct patient care in oncology. So what this looks like, you will go to the application portal, you’ll log in, you’ll open up your application, and there are spaces where you will put in, okay, I worked at this institution name from this date to this date, or whatever that range of time is that you’re…
you you’re accounting for here. And instead of you going back through, at least this is how it’s been in years past, okay, again, March 13th, 2025 is when we’re recording this episode. Instead of you going back and being like, I worked eight hours of direct oncology patient care on this day and I worked two hours on this day. It’s going to have you put in an average range. So what that’ll look like is you worked an average of
this many hours per week in direct patient care and oncology for this many weeks. So it’s a calculator basically, rather than you logging every single day, which is frankly nice because I could not imagine trying to go back over the last two years of, you know, when even practicing now or, know, when I submitted my initial application of tracking down every single time that I worked with patients. Now I had it pretty easy.
because I worked exclusively in oncology. So frankly, it was really easy for me. That’s not the case for everybody. In fact, I recognize I am a bit of an anomaly in that regard. But it’s nice when you have a calculator like that because it kind of averages out like, generally speaking, because there’s fluctuations, right? But generally speaking, this is on average the number of hours that I worked in oncology over this many weeks. And you may, if you have worked at multiple locations, multiple, you know,
facilities, there are spaces where you can put multiple experience sections, I guess. Now, no matter how many you put in, you always have to have your hours attested to by a supervisor or a manager or somebody who can say, yep, you worked those hours, we’re good to go. Because again, AB PTS does not want you to be lying about things. That is bad. We do not do that.
So they need to have some kind of proof, some attestation from your supervisor, your manager to say like, yep, they did that. So this is why we encourage you to do your application early to gather this information because once you complete your professional experience part of the application, you’ve determined, yep, all the numbers look good. This adds up to 2000 at least, again, hours here.
you are then going to click a button that says send off to supervisor or whatever that language is. That is going to generate an automatic email that gets sent to your supervisor or your manager that you’ve designated for each of your experience sections. And they have to say, yep, and click a button that says, yes, I attest to this. Again, this is all part of that professional experience hours requirement. I would encourage you
that as you’re doing this, you need to tell your supervisor or your manager ahead of time. Like you need to give them a heads up of, you are going to receive this email and for them to be looking out for it in their inbox, in their spam, in their junk folders so that they can make sure and attest to that by the time that you are going to submit your application. And don’t make this a secret. Like tell them, I am going to submit my application by this day. I need you to be keeping an eye on your inbox.
Follow up with them. Be annoying, bother them, make sure that they do this because we don’t want this button not being clicked to be the reason that your application is not accepted. That would be so dumb. That would be a real, real big bummer. So again, you’re going to document your professional experience and then you’re going to have a supervisor or manager attest to those hours. So that is the one big section of your application we needed to talk about.
Now, as with any application, there is a section where you’re going to put in various demographic information. What’s your name? How long have you been in practice? Where did you go to PT school? What other schooling have you had done, et cetera, just to make sure, again, are you a licensed physical therapist in the United States with a valid license, et cetera? That’s a small part of the application. That is not what is going to stop most people.
typically trips most people up is this next part of the case report. Oops, I gave it away. I was going to say next part of the application, but you can tell where I’m already headed. The case report requirement. Now, this is not the case for all ABPTS specialty exams, but in the oncology exam, you are required to complete a case report as part of your initial application. I need you to hear this. I need you to pay attention. If you’ve been
You know, double, double tasking here, come back to me. You have to submit a completed case report that follows the AB PTS guidelines along with your initial application. They must be done together at the same time in order for you to be considered to sit for the exam. If you don’t have a case report, you do not get to sit for the exam.
If your case report does not pass, is not approved, you do not get to sit for the exam. This is one of the most critical and frankly most daunting parts of the application. This is where within your case report, you showcase your clinical reasoning, your patient management skills, and your ability to integrate evidence into your practice. We kind of talked about that a little bit last episode, right? Now,
We are going to spend the entire next episode of the podcast talking all about the case report process, so stay tuned for that. Now, the last part of the application requirement that you have to complete, again, in order for your application to be considered, is a fee. Now, as with anything, there is a fee. I do not have the numbers in front of me, so I’m going to direct you to the ABPTS website to determine that information.
because they also have different rates depending on if you’re an APTA member versus a not APTA member. Check that out. Many workplaces offer like a continuing education or a certification reimbursement. So if you have that, awesome. Maybe you could use that budget towards that fee. I did not have that. I paid for mine completely out of my own pocket, my own money. And, you know, it’s not cheap.
but it’s an investment. It was an investment that I made into myself, into my own professional growth, and into my patients in my community because I knew that this was the next step forward for me to take my own cancer rehab quality of care to the next level for my patients in my community. This is an investment into you, into your community, and into your patients. And so I would really encourage you
Remember this as you are bringing out that old credit card to say, that hurts a little. Now, as we’ve talked about, make sure to be mindful of those application deadlines. Remember, we encourage you here at the OncoPT to have everything ready to go and to submit for that first deadline, because we don’t know if that second deadline is going to be there or not. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t.
I don’t know and I don’t have a nice crystal ball in front of me to where I can say that for sure. But please, please, please be aware of that as you are moving forward with your application. Now, applying for board certification can feel like a really big, bad, scary experience, a really, really enormous undertaking, but breaking it down into manageable steps, you know.
taking one bite at a time is going to make all the difference when it comes to submitting your application effectively, successfully, and by the deadline. So here’s how to tackle some of the common challenges that many of my students encounter as they’re going through this process. So if you are feeling overwhelmed, stop, take a breath, okay? You do not have to do the entire application at once. In fact, we do not encourage that here at the OncoPT.
So instead of looking at the application as one big thing that you have to get done all at once, break it into steps, break it into parts. One day, so put this on your calendar, you’re going to review the application. What are the requirements? What are the things that I need to have in order to fill out the application? For example, the different schooling information.
I think it asked about graduation date on mine. I may have made that up, but I think it asked about that. And so like for me, I had to go back and look to see what day I graduated from PT school. It may not, that may have been a different application, but there’s just certain information that you have to have on the application. And so it’s helpful if you sit one day and go through the application and jot down, are the things that I need to fill out the application? So you can go and find those.
And then maybe the next day you come back to the application, you have everything ready to go and you can just type it in. Way less stressful than trying to do the whole application at one time. Don’t do that, that’s way too much. So again, you know, maybe then the next day you’re going through and you’re gathering the documentation you need for your patient experience hours. Awesome. Whatever that looks like for you, break it up into smaller chunks and it’s going to make things
way easier, way more manageable and less stressful overall. Now, if you’re worried about your qualifications, am I eligible for this? Do I have enough experience in order to sit for the exam? You may be more prepared and have more hours than what you think. And this is why we always encourage you look at the AB PTS guidelines.
look at their definition of direct patient care hours. Of course, treating patients is part of that, right? Like I’m spending time with patients doing this. There are also other things that qualify under that. So if you’re like, I don’t know if I have those hours, I would challenge you look at that definition of direct patient care hours. Look at what’s included there. You may have more hours than you think and you may be eligible to
sit for the exam already. So make sure, review those guidelines, talk to your colleagues too. We have a great free online community that is all about specialization called the OncoPT Specialization Community. Again, you can join this for free at theoncopt.com slash specialization and you can ask your questions within our community. And we have other now specialists who has gone through this process who can help answer some of those questions. Now, if you’re struggling,
with time management, right? You have a busy life, because girl, I know you do, between work and life and family and also trying to exercise somewhere in there. This application can feel like the last thing you want to be spending your time on or that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. The key here is consistency over intensity. You don’t need huge blocks of time.
If you can set aside 15 to 30 minutes a few times a week, you are going to chip away at this application and it is going to be done before you know it. Consistent progress adds up quickly. So by taking it step by step, breaking it into manageable chunks like this, you are going to move from the thinking of applying camp to already submitting your application with confidence in no time. Now some strategies.
to make sure that your application is as strong as possible. As we’ve said multiple times in this episode, go back and review those application requirements. Review them early. The more familiar you are with what’s necessary, what’s required, the easier it’s gonna be to stay on track. Number two, start gathering your documentation now. Thinking about, and I think you can even go to, I think the candidate guide on AVPTS has all the information that will be asked about on the application.
even if you can’t get into the portal yet, you can still start gathering that information, which is going to be very, very helpful here. Seek guidance, seek out other specialists who have gone through this process. I’ve already mentioned our free online community, the OncoPT specialization community that is literally designed to gather specialists and future specialists so that we can learn and grow from each other and ask these questions.
and get real life information from professionals who have gone through this process. Avoid common mistakes. Again, great way to do this. Join our community, ask these questions, get feedback from those who have gone through it before. Make sure you are abundantly clear on the deadlines, the requirements, what documentation is required so it’s not frankly silly, stupid mistakes that keep your robust, strong application from being accepted.
The application process is a big necessary step when it comes to starting your journey to become a board certified specialist to preparing for this. But it is completely doable with the right approach. Start by reviewing the requirements and make a list, make a plan for what you need and by when you are going to do those things. I’m a big fan of deadlines. I am a deadline girly here. Now in the next episode,
We are going to talk all about the big, bad, scary in the room, the elephant, if you will, the case report, and how you can ultimately tackle the most challenging step of the application process with ease. I’m gonna walk you through step-by-step how to do this confidently and competently and share some strategies from my students who have done this effectively over the years. Now again, if you are feeling inspired, if you are ready,
to take the jump and say, Elise, I am sold. Let’s go. Then I want you to register for our free workshop called the three step framework for a finished case report where I’m going to walk you through exactly what is required for your case report to be accepted and how to make the process more manageable from start to finish. You can sign up now at TheOncoPT.com/framework and let’s get your application on the right track. Until next time.
This is Elise with the Onco PT. And remember, you are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.