@TheOncoPT – Dr. Elise K Cantu (00:20)
Hey Onco PT and welcome back to this episode of the Onco PT Podcast. I’m gonna start this episode off being really real with y’all. ⁓ June happened and I watched it go by. It was so crazy, busy, wonderful. ⁓ there like I started off, I’m not gonna lie to you, I was recovering from a procedure. It was planned, it went exactly as planned, it was all good, but I just felt like I needed more time to kind of breathe.

And so I put the podcast on hold and I just said, you know what? With case report writing workshop really ramping up because we just saw the July 1st deadline pass. I had a lot of really cool stuff that was happening over there. And I needed to devote my full attention to the case report writing workshop. And said, the podcast will be there when I get back in July. So here we are. It is now July. And I am so happy to report that for what I think was the earliest I’ve ever heard.

from ABPTS Oncology on releasing exam scores. We had so many case report writing workshop and oncology specialist boot camp alum who have who are now board certified clinical specialists who have passed, who reached out and getting to read those testimonials was like next level excitement and just really kept me going through the month of June. And I’m so gracious, I’m so I’m so grateful, excuse me.

To everybody who reached out and let me know that they passed many, many, many congratulations. This is incredible work that you have done. I am so proud of you. And you should be proud of yourself. And please know that everyone here who is an Onco PT, who has ever considered themselves an oncology physical therapist is cheering you on because that is tremendous. It is a tremendous amount of work to get through that process to do that.

And we’re so excited for you. We’re so proud of you because we also know that when you are improving cancer rehab in your area, it improves cancer rehab for all of our patients. I like to talk about this as elevating the expectation of excellence in cancer rehab. And there’s other ways to talk about this. Like if you think about a rising tide, if you’ve ever heard that phrase before, a rising tide lifts all ships. When we get better, when we individually get better, we in we

Collectively in cancer rehab get better and provide better care for our patients. And that is what matters at the end of the day. So again, congrats. I’m so excited for you. I’m so proud of you. And I hope you are taking this time to really celebrate yourself. On that note, we’re gonna get back into this. So what I’m experimenting with for the month of July, because I am starting this Christmas in July promotion that I will talk about a little bit over the next few minutes, and you’ll hear about more.

You know, on social media and whatnot. So I in 2025, in November, I did a Black Friday special that did really well. But I also realized it was the complete wrong timing for what I was trying to do. So you might know that, of course, I have my signature programs, Case Report Writing Workshop, and Oncology Specialist Bootcamp. And so I bundled them together for Black Friday. And I was like, this is a great idea. And then I realized.

That was a complete wrong time of the year. So this year I am trying the Christmas in July because that’s going to actually help more people when they’re actually preparing for their case report, their application, and ultimately going to start the oncology specialty prep ⁓ process. So, you know, July is all about experimentation. I’m really excited about this. I’ve got some really cool stuff that I’ve been working on that I’m really excited to share with you. So know that that is coming down the pipeline.

I also have links in your podcast players with all of this information. But with part of that experimentation, what I’m doing is I am recording videos that I post on YouTube every week. And what I’m doing for these next four episodes in July is that I am bringing them over to the podcast because I think more people need to hear it. More people need to listen to this information. And so instead of trying to recreate the wheel,

I’m gonna repurpose the wheel here. And so I’m bringing that YouTube video over. You will still be able, of course, to watch this on YouTube when it releases on Thursdays. But like I said, experimentation phase. And I’m really, really looking forward to it. So, with that said, today’s podcast is all about how to create a sustainable study plan for your oncology specialist exam. This is probably what most onkoPTs attribute.

Their their failure to. So when most oncology physical therapists are preparing for this, I find that they fall into kind of one of two camps. They either don’t devote enough time to preparing and they’re cramming, or they have devoted too much time to this process. And it it stretches into like infinity. It’s it’s way too much time. People get burned out. And so by the time that they actually get to the exam, there’s no motivation. They’re just trying to be.

Done with it more than anything, and they end up shooting themselves in the foot. There is a sweet spot, and I’m gonna talk more about that here in just a little bit, but this is why it’s so important to really have a plan and to have a guide in this process. Many of us have gone through this oncology specialty certification preparation on our own, and it sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work so well.

So consider this my love letter to you, the future specialist who is starting your own journey. On these are what I would do if I could go back and do it all over again, because I sure made every mistake in the book when I was sitting for and preparing for my own exam in 2020 and 2021. So without further ado, I am going to introduce you to my brand new video ⁓ in audio form for you just here on the podcast called How to Schedule a Sustainable Study Plan.

For your oncology specialist exam.

@TheOncoPT – Dr. Elise K Cantu (06:29)
Let’s be brutally honest. Most oncology physical therapists don’t fail their specialty certification exam because the content is too hard. They fail because they’re treating this exam like it’s a sprint.

They cram for three months, they then totally burn out, and they’re left exhausted and second guessing everything when it comes to exam day.

But preparing for something like your ABPTS oncology specialty certification exam is not a sprint. It’s an ultra-endurance event.

based on my experience, it takes most oncology physical therapists between six to twelve months to properly train for this. it takes resilience, and it definitely requires stamina.

My name is Dr. Lise K. Ken too. And as a board certified clinical specialist who helps other PTs navigate this specialization process, I’ve seen where the burnout happens and where the best intention study plans fall apart.

And it’s almost always a structural problem rather than a motivation problem.

In this video, I’m going to walk you through the sustainable study framework that is going to get you across the finish line without blowing your life up in the process.

We’re not just talking about what to study, but how to study so that you retain that information, so you manage your energy, and so that you also have a life outside of your specialization prep and all the time that you’re spending at your clinic or at your hospital.

Before you even start thinking about a calendar or a textbook, you have to get your head on straight. If you go into this process thinking that it’s all about who can log the most study hours, then you are starting this process off on the complete wrong foot.

This is an endurance event.

You need to think like a marathon runner, not a 100 meter dash runner.

A marathon runner doesn’t just go all out every single day. They have structured training phases. They plan for their recovery and they know that nutrition and sleep are non-negotiables as part of this training process. They get that rest is not a luxury, but in fact a very necessary critical part of the training.

your specialization prep is exactly the same.

Your success comes from the quality of your study hours, not the quantity.

Which means that two hours of focused active learning are worth way more than five hours of exhausted passive page flipping.

This whole framework is built on that one idea. Structure is what gets you to the finish line, but the right mindset is the fuel to actually get you there.

So let’s build that structure.

Step one is the macro plan, aka your roadmap over the next six to twelve months.

You cannot wing a marathon. And likewise, you cannot wing this exam.

The first thing we need to do is actually zoom out and create a macro big picture timeline of all of this.

In my experience coaching other physical therapists going through this process, six to twelve months seems to be the most sustainable time frame. Some people need a little more time, some people need a little less time, but anything outside of this either gets to be not enough prep time or too much prep time to the point that you burn out before you even get to the exam.

As a general guideline, this might require between ten to fifteen hours of focused studying per week.

This pace helps prevent burnout and also allows for real deep retention of some pretty complex topics that you’ll encounter as you prepare.

Now, if you’ve got some flexibility or a ton of prior oncology rehab experience, a six-month timeline is aggressive, but it might be doable for you.

This would likely demand more study hours per week, more like twenty to twenty-five. Again, these are just some examples, some logistics, some numbers that you might work with to help you plan, not necessarily rigid rules that you have to adhere to.

Regardless of the timeline that you choose moving forward, we’re gonna break it down into four phases.

Phase one is the foundation.

The goal in this phase is a really high-level review of the entire description of specialty practice or the DSP as you might have seen it abbreviated previously. The DSP is the official document from ABPTS that outlines what exactly is going to be on the exam. It’s kind of the blueprint of topics that you should know when you’re moving forward in your preparation.

Your job in this phase isn’t to actually master anything, but to get really honest with yourself about what you know and identify your strengths and most importantly your weaknesses when it comes to this topic list.

If you’re shaky on certain topics that are listed on the DSP, you need to know that now. And these topics that might intimidate you, that you’re less comfortable with, do not dare skip those. Those are actually gonna go to the top of our list.

Phase two is mastery and application.

This is where you do the heavy lifting. You take those areas that you’re maybe weaker in, not as comfortable with, and you are really going to dig into those.

here is to shift from passive reading, like just reading out of a textbook or reading an article, to actually actively applying that knowledge. As you study something, say the cardiotoxic effects of certain chemotherapies, you have to constantly ask yourself, how would this show up in a patient case?

This is so critical because the exam is not just about regurgitating and reciting facts. It is about clinical reasoning through patient vignettes, aka clinical scenarios.

Phase three is integration and testing. That’s right. You are going to practice testing yourself before you get to the actual test day.

In this phase, your focus shifts dramatically to practice questions and mock exams. You’re not primarily learning new information at this phase. You are integrating what you know and also building your testing endurance.

The ABPTS oncology exam is administered 50 question blocks. There’s four of those. And each of those are 90 minutes long. And that makes for quite a lengthy exam. This is why we talk about it as an endurance event, because it really is. Now, I encourage you, always check the ABPTS candidate guide for the most up-to-date information on what the exam is going to look like. This is how it’s been.

I think since the inception of the oncology exam, but again, always check the most up-to-date information from ABPTS to confirm that. Regardless of the time block that it actually is, practicing in these timed blocks that mimic the real exam is a game changer when it comes to building the specific mental stamina that you will need on the real exam day.

And finally, phase four is the final review. This is the last month or so before your exam. The rule here is simple: review and recall. Don’t learn new things. And this is very strategic, this is very on purpose. You should be actually tapering or cutting down on your study load, just like a marathon runner does in preparation for their marathon race or their ultra-endurance race.

Focus only on the high-yield topics and themes and key takeaways that you’ve gathered over the last however many months that you’ve been studying. Because the goal on exam day is to not walk in tired and exhausted. The goal on exam day is to walk in feeling rested and confident, not panicked and sleep deprived.

Okay, so we’ve got the 30,000-foot view. We’re now going to get our hands dirty with the week-to-week grind of the actual how of your study plan here. So this week to week is where you build that consistency over time. The best strategy that I’ve seen when working with PTs preparing for the specialty exam experience is a mix of time blocking and what I call the 50-minute mimic.

Since the exam is often structured in these blocks, we’re going to mirror your study sessions to those timed blocks. So you’re going to schedule your study time in 50-minute focused bursts, followed by a mandatory 10-minute break.

This 50-10 split isn’t just a random set of numbers. This is training your brain for the specific kind of duration, endurance that is required on exam day. And it also helps prevent burnout.

So, what does a real study week look like for an actual working physical therapist? Remember, you do not find time in your schedule. You make time. You schedule time for your studying. And this means you are going to get out your calendar, whether that’s on your phone, whether that is a handy-dandy paper planner like I’ve got over here, and you are actually going to block out this time like a non-negotiable patient appointment. You would not

just skip a patient appointment. So you’re not going to do that with your study time either.

For instance, this might look like on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you are going to block one 50 minute session either right before or right after your your work day.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, maybe you have a 50-minute block of time that you set aside during lunch, for example.

On Saturday, this could be your longer endurance day. So you’re going to schedule maybe two to three hours broken into those same 50-minute blocks, like we talked about, for deeper review and even practice questions with yourself.

And then you need a day of rest. I would really encourage you, have one day a week that is no studying. You need a break, your brain needs a break, away from all of the intensive work that you’re going to be doing over the next several months in preparation for your exam. The exam will still be there. It is necessary that you take that time. Remember, marathon runners don’t view rest as a luxury, it is part of the training process.

As you schedule and start to implement your study sessions, it is crucial to define your start and your stop times. So when the block of time starts, you start. When that block of time ends, you end your study session. Stop. This discipline prevents studying from bleeding into your personal life and guarantees that you have protected time for your brain to recover. It is working during that time. It also needs a break from that very intensive.

So, what about those days when you’re completely wiped from a tough day at the clinic? Or maybe you’ve got some personal stuff happening. On those days, you don’t ditch the plan. You adopt the minimum viable day protocol. You set a timer for 30 minutes, you pick one small topic, and jot down three key takeaways from this mini-study session that you’re doing here. That’s it. This tiny action is going to keep your momentum going and reinforces the study habit.

Without the pressure of a full study session.

Now let’s talk about one of the biggest anxiety inducers, the sheer volume of the material for this exam.

The description of specialty practice is huge. And so many candidates fall into the trap of trying to learn everything with equal depth. That is the perfect recipe for burnout. So I’m giving you permission right here, right now. You do not need to master 100% of this DSP content in order to pass the exam. Your goal is to meet the passing standard, not to get a perfect score. And this requires strategic omission. So let’s talk about this.

You did not get to this point as a physical therapist, as an onko PT, as a future specialist of oncology, physical therapy, by just skirting by, right? You expect excellence of yourself. And I love that about you, friend. However, this exam is you either pass or you don’t. There’s no A’s, there’s no B’s, there’s no C’s. There’s either you pass or you don’t pass. You pass or you fail.

We are trying to get to the pass. Now, ideally, you are going to pass with flying colors, and it’s not even going to be a question. But you have to think realistically, and this is the perfect time to have this conversation now in your prep. You need to have the very real conversation with yourself of we are trying to get to pass. And that is, we’re going to require you to prioritize certain content on the DSP.

Now, your guide for knowing what is what, what’s most important on the DSP is actually the outline itself. So if you go again to the ABPTS candidate guide, this document breaks down exactly what percentage of content is going to be on the oncology specialty certification exam. So according to the current outline that I reviewed just before I recorded this video, the patient and client management model makes up

69%, almost 70% of the entire exam. So within that block, you’ve got it broken up into different sections. So the intervention and instruction, the examination, re-examination, and then a couple others that all fall within that patient-client management area, that domain. That is the biggest part of this exam. You know, all those client, those patient vignettes, those clinical scenarios we were talking about earlier in this video.

That’s what we’re talking about here. Now, if you look elsewhere in that same outline, you’ll see that there’s a section for foundational sciences. This is kind of the basic, like the 101 of oncology rehab. This is only 5% of the entire exam. Yeah, it’s important. ⁓ but it’s only 5% of the exam. On the other hand, almost 70% is that patient-client management side of things.

Which one do you think is more important for you to spend your time on? Right? That 70% instead of that 5%. Right over here. So crucially, please make sure to verify that these percentages match the current version of the ABPTS candidate guide and the DSP. They do get updated, they do get revised from time to time, but this is probably pretty standard, even if you’re watching this video down the road. So use the current numbers to guide your study depth, but spend your time.

Where the points are. By focusing on these high yield, really important areas, you can strategically decide as you go through your study plan that you don’t need to go as deep on these topics over here, but you need to spend more time on these topics over here. And this isn’t laziness on your part. This is strategy. This is thinking smarter. This is about clarity of your knowledge over consuming the sheer volume of material that is.

Out there.

We’ve just covered a lot on building your big picture schedule and your weekly schedules and talking about how to discern which content is most important. But you might still be thinking to yourself, I’m not totally sure where I should start with all of this. I have a free tool called the Oncology Specialty Exam.

Readiness Audit. It is a free tool that allows you to go through different topics that are likely going to be on the exam and rate yourself to say how comfortable I am with this. This is going to help you identify where you should start, what are those areas that maybe you’re not as comfortable with or maybe you’re intimidated with, so that you can prioritize those and move those to the top of your to-do study list. You can grab that in the link below in the description box. I cannot wait for you to get your hands on it.

It’s the perfect tool to take this overwhelm of potential content areas to start with swirling around in your head and actually put them into action today.

Now let’s talk about the burnout buffer. Even the world’s most perfect study schedule will crash and burn if you do not build in systems to manage your energy. These are not optional add-ons later in the process. They are a core, integral, central part of your study plan. And I call this the burnout buffer.

First, schedule one full day off each week, like we talked about. And I don’t mean a day where you only study for an hour or you know, a couple hours. This is a day with absolutely zero planning. Zip, nada. your brain needs that downtime, not just from a, ⁓ I just don’t wanna look at a textbook today.

Brain literally requires that downtime to consolidate information. We learn in PT school how the brain works with learning and memory, okay? We are just implementing and leveraging that for yourself, right? You are now the patient in this situation. I know, scary. But skipping this day to cram is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make and is only going to accelerate the pathway to burnout. Now, number two, protect your sleep.

Your ability to retain new information plummets without adequate sleep. Ideally, you should be aiming for a consistent seven to nine hours per night. And this does mean that you need a hard stop on studying at least 30 to 60 minutes before bed. This allows your mind to actually wind down so you can go to bed and actually rest without letting that mind spiral around, my gosh, there are so many things I didn’t get done today.

Now third, as PTs this should be no surprise. Get some movement in your routine. You don’t have to train for an actual marathon, but daily movement, even if it’s just a brisk walk, releases endorphins that are going to help you fight stress and improve blood flow to your brain. A win-win, am I right?

And finally, use your breaks actively. In those 10-minute breaks that we talked about between the 50-minute locks of time, you need to get up, you need to move around, and you need to get away from your study space, right? Maybe that’s your desk with your computer, wherever that is, you need to get up and move around and change up your environment a little bit. Don’t just switch from scrolling on your computer to scrolling on your phone.

⁓ I am the queen of this, so I am equally calling myself and out of this. This is not a real mental break. We need to take that little break time and actually unplug so we can come back refreshed and get back into that next fifty minute block of study time.

Now, in the final month, this is where we really implement the taper and race day strategy. You’ve made it to the final month, the heavy lifting is done at this point, and the goal now is to arrive on exam day, fresh, sharp, rested, and confident. During this last month, you should be cutting down on your study time, not ramping it up. Your focus should entirely be on reviewing your notes.

hitting practice questions and mentally rehearsing your exam day not use this last month to try and learn new material. It is frankly too late. I say this with love. It is too late to learn new material and this is only going to create panic. That’s the last thing we need.

My strongest recommendation is to actually significantly taper your studying 24 to 48 hours before your exam. A light review of your notes is fine, but you should absolutely avoid any last-minute intense cramming. The night before your exam, your only jobs are to eat a good meal, get your things ready for your next day, actually when you have to get up and go to the exam, and to get a good night’s sleep. Let your brain rest fully before.

Game Day, aka exam day.

And on exam day, it’s all about execution. So you are going to use your schedule breaks. When you get a break, and those are built into the exam day, actually leave the testing room. Go walk around, stretch, go to the bathroom, sip on your, you know, water, for example. This is a physical and a mental reset before you go back in for your next block of the test.

Use the skip and the flag options in your testing software. If a question stumps you, do not get bogged down. Flag it, skip it, and then come back to it when you have gone through the rest of your block. Do not let one tricky question completely derail your progress and your confidence for the other 49 questions in this test block.

And breathe. If and when you feel your anxiety start to creep in, take a few slow, deep diaphragmatic breaths like we teach our patients. This is a simple action that is so, so powerful. It can help reset your nervous system and it can help bring you down to a state of calm focus so that you can get back into the zone and finish this dang test.

Passing your oncology specialty certification exam isn’t a measure of how smart you are. It’s a measure of your discipline, of your preparation, and your resilience. Let’s quickly recap our framework that we talked about today. So number one, you’re going to adopt the marathon mindset. It is always quality over quantity. Number two, build your six to 12 month macro plan.

Broken down in the four phases foundation, mastery, integration, and review. Number three, design your weekly micro plan and use those time blocks and the 50 minute mimic strategy. Number four, practice strategic omission. You’re not going to get to everything equally. And we’re also not trying to do that. So use the DSP to laser focus on that high yield, really important content areas. And number five, integrate your burnout buffer.

With non negotiable rest, sleep, and active breaks.

You are more than capable of earning your oncology specialist certification.

It’s all about having a smart plan and the discipline to execute it consistently. Trust the process, trust your plan, and trust yourself. You’ve got this.

if you’re prepping for your oncology specialist certification exam, I have a free training that I think you’ll find really useful. It’s called From Confused to Confident, and I teach a four step framework for decoding any question that you encounter on the exam. We are going to work through real questions together.

And you’ll walk away with a system that you can immediately use and implement in your own studying process and on exam day.

The link to register is in the description box and it is completely free.

Now, for a lot of PTs, once you make your sustainable study plan, you’re clear on how to study, but not necessarily on what to study. So in my next video, I’m going to walk you through how to study smarter and not harder

so that you can walk into your exam feeling confident.

And if you found this video helpful, make sure that you’re subscribed. I put out new content for oncology physical therapists every week. And I’ll see you in the next one.