Studying for the ABPTS Oncology Specialty Certification Exam?
In this episode of TheOncoPT Podcast, Elise breaks down everything you need to know—from the exam format and content areas to game-changing test-taking strategies that set you up for success.
But this isn’t just about passing a test. You’ll dive into the bigger picture—why your work in oncology rehab matters and how believing in yourself is just as important as knowing the material.
Plus, you’ll learn essential self-care tips to keep you from burning out during the process.
Happy studying!
Additional resources: Listen to Ep. 305 – Resilience and Growth: Thriving Beyond Your Exam Results
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. My name is Elise and I am your host and I am so excited that you are joining me for today’s episode. And today’s episode is a very, very timely because we are now on the cusp of entering into the window.
for the ABPTS oncology specialty certification exams. And I am so excited. I know that many of you have been working super, super hard at preparing for this exam for a good long while, and you are ready to finally see the culmination of your effort. Now I know I have several oncology specialist bootcamp students who are preparing to take the exam, and they’ve been asking some really good questions in our weekly office hours that we do. So I decided why not take some of that goodness
over and turn it into a podcast episode so that we can get some last minute details down before we actually go into exam season. So welcome. I’m so excited you’re here. And friend, if you are not at the point where you are ready to take that exam, if maybe it’s going to be a next year or even the year after, you can still listen to this episode and have an idea of what you’re getting yourself into when it comes time for you to take your exam. So question number one, what does the exam format look like?
number of questions, time limit, breaks, et cetera. Fabulous question. So first off, per ABPTS the exam is approximately 200 questions and they are broken into four blocks of 50 or so questions that are each 90 minutes long. Now I have all of this spelled out. I’m gonna walk you through here. So if you are like not an auditory, like an auditory learner, which I am not, I am very visual, very kinesthetic.
I totally get that. can follow along on the show notes and the transcript as we’re going through this episode. So in the exam, 200 questions at the very beginning, you have the option to take an optional tutorial that is going to orient you to the computer, to the exam system. I would encourage you to take that tutorial. Even if you have seen those questions before, it’s nice just to kind of feel like, okay,
I know where all of the buttons are for the tools that I’m going to be using during this exam. And then it kind of delays a little bit of the pressure that you feel once you actually start those blocks. So you have the optional tutorial at the beginning, and then you enter block number one. This is our first block of 50 questions, 90 minutes. Now once block one is done, we then have the option to take a 10 minute break. You can take it or you don’t have to.
I would encourage you to take all of the breaks here, okay? Now once that’s done, we then move into block number two. This is our second block of 50 questions, 90 minutes. Now notice with these blocks that you cannot, once you finish a block, like you say, I am done with this block, like block number one, once you’ve entered into block number two, you can’t go back to block number one questions.
So they do this so that they’re almost like four mini exams in one. So I think you should consider it that way of block number one questions are only available during block number one. You can’t go ahead to block number two. I can’t go back to other block questions. So make sure that you have that in mind as you go forward. Now, once you finish with block number two, you can then take a 30 minute lunch break. And as you’ll hear me say multiple times in this exam episode, take your
breaks and I’ll tell you why here shortly. Once lunch is done and you can go back early. I think for me, I took a 23 minute lunch and then I was like, I’m just ready to get back in and go. That’s totally fine. Um, so now we’re into block number three. Again, 50 minutes, um, 50 questions, 90 minutes. You can take an optional 10 minute break between block three and block four. And then it’s time for block number four. This is our last exam block.
Again, 50 questions, 90 minutes. At the very, very end of the exam, if you still have some time left over in that cumulative seven hour time, you can actually take a post-exam survey. It is optional. It does not affect your score. I think it’s useful to take because it does give AB PTS and the exam writers some information on how did the exam go. And they need to know, you know, if things were kind of
crazy about a question or you felt like the DSP, for example, that’s that description of specialty practice. If you feel that didn’t actually match the questions that you got, okay? Or you might say, this was exactly my expectation. This met every single one of my expectations. I felt very prepared for this, et cetera. Whatever that is, I would encourage you to take that optional survey at the end because it does help make the exam better, a better experience for those who are coming after you as well.
So that is the exam format. Now, next question is, heavily is each domain weighted in the exam? Should I prioritize certain topics? Yes. Now, when we look at the ABPTS candidate guide, which you can actually find on the ABPTS website, there is a breakdown of content for the oncology exam. And it’s broken down into three main categories, knowledge areas, professional roles, responsibilities, and values.
and patient and client management expectations. Now 15 % of the exam is knowledge areas. This is kind of our foundational information when it comes to oncology rehab. Next up are professional roles, responsibilities, and values. This is 16 % of the exam. Now you might be thinking right here, okay, 15 plus 16, that’s 31 % of the exam. That’s decent, that’s a good chunk, but where is the other part of the exam?
Well, it’s in the patient and client management expectations. Almost 70 % of the exam is going to be in this area here. Now this, I know that the terminology that they name this section with is a little misleading or maybe not clear. Here’s what it is. The actual encounter that you have with that patient, whether that’s a real patient or a case patient in this exam, this is where the bulk of that exam is going to be pulled from. So,
your examination, your evaluation, your interventions, your outcomes. When you’re actually working with a human being and you know, how do you do, how do you make decisions, how do you plan out certain interventions or whatever, that’s what they’re really looking at in the exam. So the bulk of the exam, which makes sense, are those case-based questions, which is right where we really leverage our knowledge of how do I approach a patient.
and then implement a plan of care that’s going to be successful in achieving both of our goals as much as possible. Now, next question is, these are more kind of test taking tips and mindset for these next few questions. What should I do if I don’t know the answer to a question? This happened to me frequently. And whether it was I didn’t know the answer or my brain could not compute the answer doesn’t matter. Here’s the strategy I would recommend.
If you don’t know the answer to a question, first of all, I’m gonna back up and tell you a strategy that I have found to use for me when taking multiple choice questions. This was something that I was recommended way back in either grad school or undergrad as like a testing center help tutorial or something. I can’t even remember now, but it was so impactful. It has stuck with me to this day.
When you come across a multiple choice question, what I do is I actually use my hand and I cover up the answer choices with my hand. It’s a multiple choice, you know, test. There’s going to be usually four to five answer choices. I cover those up with my hand because what this does is it forces me to not jump ahead and just find like an answer that looks super sexy and super cool and actually start to answer that
question prompt by myself. Now, the reason that I find this super helpful again, so I’m not tempted to look ahead and just find the answer that looks the best, but doesn’t actually fit with the question. So by forcing myself to answer that question first in my head, by the time I then get to the answer choices, I have an idea of here’s what the answer should be. this one matches that really, really well.
So again, you find the strategy that works for you, but that was really helpful for me when approaching questions, period. Now, if you come to a question and you straight up don’t know the answer, here’s what I would do. Mark it and move on. Come back to it later in that block because there’s no sense in you eating up all of your time, racking your brain and getting stressed out about one question that you don’t know the answer to when you can move on and there’s going to be 30
plus other questions that you still have to get to in order to finish that block of exam questions in time. Additionally, you are not penalized for answering questions incorrectly. Here’s what I mean by that. When you get a question right, that is point in your favor, right? Check, good to go. know, gold star for you. If you answer a question and you don’t get it correctly, you don’t…
It’s not subtracted from your score. So there’s no penalty to you answering questions incorrectly. It’s only correct answers that ultimately contribute towards your score of passing at this point. So you should answer every question that you come across in the exam, even if you don’t know it, because here’s why. You have a 20 to 25 % chance of getting that question correct. That is definitely worth your time.
to make sure that, know, well, I may not know this, but I’m gonna guess this one instead. You know, I’m between two answers. I’m gonna pick this one and hope for the best. Those could still be points that add up at the end towards your passing score. And that’s what we want. So if you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t be afraid, mark it and come back once you’ve gone through the questions you feel really confident on. And at the end of the day, pick an answer and move on. You might still get some points towards your eventual score. Next up.
How can I manage time effectively during the exam? Great question. Because time is a big component of this exam, right? There’s a lot of questions. And while seven hours seems like a lot of time, it is, don’t get me wrong, it seems to go by so fast when you’re in the exam. So on your computer screen, at least from what I remember, right? Way back in the day, 2021, when I took my exam, there is a timer at the top of the screen somewhere that
like counted down the time that I had in the block and maybe even the exam overall. I’m not, I don’t remember for sure on that one, but there was definitely a timer somewhere in the computer screen that I could be watching as I was going through exam questions. Generally speaking, I think another like kind of mental tip that I would use during the exam. So generally speaking, I know from my work,
doing adjunct teaching that a simple multiple choice question roughly takes a human like 60 seconds to answer, give or take. Now these are more in depth questions. that math is not like that doesn’t totally correlate. But what I would do is I once my timer got to 50 minutes, like I have used 50 minutes of my 90 minute block of time. That was my cue that
I need to have gone through all of the questions once or at least be really close to it. And then I can always go back. And I did that a lot when taking my exam is I went through the questions rather quickly to just kind of like, okay, what am I working up against here? And then I would go back to questions. That is something that we’ll talk about a little bit later. So put a pin in that. So that would be a good strategy of, you know,
have kind of like a deadline or a time point at which you say, okay, I need to have gone through all of the questions. And if I haven’t, I need to speed things up. And again, remember, you can always go back to questions within that block. So again, if we’re talking about block number two, I can always go back to questions in block two, as long as I’m in block two. strategy, have some kind of a time point at which you say, all right, I need to be moving on.
Skip questions you can’t answer right away, flag them and come back to them at the end once you’ve gone through all of the questions in that block and before you submit. What strategies can I take to stay focused and avoid fatigue? My friend, take the breaks. Take all of the breaks. Take the full breaks. Again, this is a seven-hour exam. So intense.
awesome what we as humans can do. But this is really, really challenging stuff. This is really draining. This is like, this is a marathon. Okay. This is if you were running a marathon in oncology rehab, this would be it. Right. So take the breaks and really use that time to remove yourself. Cause when you take your test, for example, like
You’re in a testing room that is separate from the rest of the testing suite or building or whatever. And so you’ll actually have to leave the testing room to go to the bathroom and whatnot. So it’s a great way to physically remove yourself from that very stressful environment of, you know, sitting at a computer and doing all of the things to go to the bathroom, you know, to grab some water or other beverage, to eat some snacks or whatever. So take those breaks because mentally it’s a nice way to get
out of that environment for a time. And again, I say this again and again in this episode, skip the questions that you’re unsure on and come back to them because there’s nothing worse than you getting yourself super worked up and stressed about one question when you still have 49 other questions in the block that you have to answer. So those would be some strategies I would encourage you. What should I do the night before and the morning of the exam? This is a great one.
I added in another category here because I think it’s really important. So on the day before the exam, not the night before, the day before the exam, you need to get all of your stuff ready and together for exam day. So if you’ve gone through, which hopefully you’ve gone through the candidate guide by now, or you’ve received some kind of email communication from the testing center, you know that you need to bring some kind of identification. So get your identification together, get your…
snacks, your lunch, your drinks, ready to go. I would also put in one place a jacket and glasses and anything else that you need for the exam. Typically, I think the testing centers tend to be a little cooler, so I encourage you to dress in layers. Let’s see, I took mine kind of maybe like…
mid to end of February, it was very cold in Texas at the time. We actually just had that enormous ice snowpocalypse that some of you may have heard of. So it was very, very cold. So I bundled up and then that way, you know, I was warm actually getting to the testing center. Like there was still snow on the ground, y’all. It was so crazy in Texas of all places. So, you know, warm getting to the testing center.
And then I was able to, you know, like I had a jacket on during the test and then I could take it off, you know, as I needed to, if I got warm during the exam. But you know, it’s already uncomfortable enough sitting and taking an exam for seven hours. Don’t also be cold or hot during the exam, right? So day before, get all of your stuff together that you need. The night before the exam, you need to stop studying. Put it away. Turn it off.
At this point, you cannot possibly cram any more information into your brain that is going to really help you perform on the exam. Just turn it off, put it away. Put it away, be done with it. Eat a good meal, go to bed early, put away your screens, right? That is included in the go to bed early. Don’t go to bed just to doom scroll for another three hours. It’s very tempting, don’t do that. Make sure that your alarms are set. I would encourage you to set multiple alarms just to make sure.
you wake up on time, etc. etc. And then the morning of the exam, you’re going to get up. I would encourage you to eat a nutritious breakfast that is going to hold you over for as much of the exam as possible. Grab your stuff that you prepared the day before. Get to the testing center early. I’ve talked about this actually in oncology specialist boot camp, but I want to make sure that I bring it here.
you need to practice driving to the exam, the testing center, at least the day before. For us, I live in Fort Worth. I went actually to take my test in Dallas because I don’t think there were any closer testing centers that would administer this type of exam. And the testing center that I took my exam in was actually in a skyscraper building in downtown Dallas. So I had to go up to like, I don’t know, the 11th or 15th floor.
to take this exam. So I knew where the building was, but it was nice to know, okay, this is the door that I go through to get to the elevators to go up to, you know, the testing suite, for example. So practice going to finding that location because one thing that we did when we went and looked at the exam, the testing center, the first time is we actually missed the exit. And it was so nice to have done that.
ahead of time and not on the morning of the exam when you’re already stressed out and absolutely catastrophizing every single thing in your mind. those are my encouragements. Even so, I would still plan to get to the testing center early. That way you’re there and you’re good to go. Right. And lastly, you need to wake up and put on your big PT underwear and believe in yourself. You have worked
so hard to get to this moment. You need to believe that you can do it. You have been working for a really long time, not only learning this information, but also using it and implementing it with patients in your community, advancing the standard of cancer rehab. That’s a big deal. That is a really big deal and you need to be proud of yourself and you need to show up to the exam with that belief in yourself, that confidence.
in your abilities to show up and deliver the highest quality cancer rehab available for your patients. Like carry that energy, my friend, into the exam. We are going to need that. Now some more logistics and exam day details. What do I need to bring with me on exam day? As I mentioned previously, you need some form of identification. I brought my driver’s license. You can also do a passport.
And there are other lists of acceptable identification within the AB PTS candidate guide. So if you’re unsure on those, make sure to look at that document. If you wear glasses, when you are on a computer, you should also definitely bring those. For me, I tend to wear blue light glasses. That’s these here. If you’re watching this on YouTube, you can see that I’m holding up these glasses. So I like to wear these when I’m going to be on a computer for a long period of time.
This was the perfect example. And then also a jacket, as I mentioned, in case it’s going to be chilly in your testing center. Also bring food and drinks, snacks, lunch.
anything else you can think of, know, water, et cetera. That way you can have those on your brakes. You will have to put those in a locker. You can leave them in your car if you want. I brought them in to the testing center with me and then I was assigned a locker that I was able to put this stuff into because I did not want to have to take the elevator down. How many flights?
you know, upstairs, et cetera, to go out to my car to then get that stuff every single time. So that’s what worked for me. I have had oncology specialist bootcamp students who kept their stuff in their car. and it was not a, you know, skyscraper situation and they could just go out during breaks and then come back. And that’s totally fine. do know. So this kind of goes into the next question. What should I expect at the testing center? so let me, let me go through that and then I’ll talk a little bit about the break situation there.
So once you arrive to the testing center, you are going to go into the testing center and sign in and provide your identification. At that point, they’re going to get you checked in, you know, probably give you the locker if you need it with a little key, you know, and they’ll get you set up. So how mine worked is I arrived to the office suite. I got signed in. So this was the first room where we entered. And then there was like a holding room that was then connected. It was like four or five.
different like separate testing rooms because this testing center does all kinds of different exams, not just our specialty certification exams. So through the lobby into the holding area and whatever. And then there was another testing administrator who would then actually take me into the testing room to my computer station when it was time for me. And this was the same person who would check me in like
check to make sure I wasn’t bringing in any contraband or any illegal stuff. And then also check to make sure that when I went on breaks, I wasn’t taking anything with me. That’s a big thing is you can’t bring stuff in and that’s not allowed and you can’t take stuff out of the testing center, obviously for the integrity of the exam. the testing administrator will get you checked in, they will orient you to the computer and they will also provide laminated, this is a direct quote from the candidate guide.
laminated writing surfaces and markers are to be used for making notes and or calculations during the testing session. They should only be used at your assigned testing station and only after beginning the exam on the computer. You can take that brief tutorial and then move on with the exam. Now you are allowed, this was a question I got an oncology specialist bootcamp. You are allowed to write notes
on that laminated surface once you get into the exam. You can’t write down stuff and then take it with you into the exam. That needs to be in your brain. And then once you get there, you can jot stuff down. I think I wrote down some lab values and maybe just a couple other things that I wanted to keep a note of. But that is an option, like I said, but you have to actually have started the exam. Again, we’re all about the integrity of the exam here.
thought this quote was funny, so I included it here. Cell phones, pagers, and children are not allowed in the examination center. Just so you know, you cannot bring your children or your pager into the exam center. You can put your pagers and cell phone in the provided locker. I don’t think they allow you to put children in your assigned locker, so please be aware of that as you go into the exam.
they will provide you with a designated locker or in some cases an assigned storage bag. so just be aware of that. Turn off your phones, like turn off all your devices. You also are not allowed to bring in watches if I remember correctly. And I believe they were pretty strict on jewelry. So I did not wear any jewelry except for actually, I think it was like my wedding ring, like my wedding ring and my engagement ring. And that was it. I didn’t wear my clasping, which is a ring that I wear.
like every single day, no earrings, no necklaces, no bracelets or anything. So please be aware. I would encourage you to check that candidate guide or whatever communication you’ve received from the testing center, just to make sure that you’re good to go. If they see something, they’ll be like, hey, you can’t wear that, put that in your locker or whatever. But personally, I wouldn’t appreciate, like, I don’t want to put my jewelry in a locker just in case. So anyways, that is that.
What happens if I need to take a break during the exam? As we mentioned previously, you can take breaks. There are several built-in break times that we’ve mentioned. So between block one and block two, there’s 10 minute break. Between block two and block three, there’s a 30 minute lunch break. Block three and four, there’s a 10 minute break. If you want to take break time outside of that, in addition to that time, you can…
but please know that it eats into your exam time. So once you start on a testing block, you can’t pause it and then leave. You can only have that saved time, like that break time, if you are not actually in a testing block. So please be aware of that.
Can I flag questions and come back to them later? Yes, and you definitely should, as I’ve mentioned this previously. and then the last question here, which I know this is probably on everybody’s minds, or will be as soon as you submit that exam, when will I get my results and what happens if I don’t pass? First and foremost, friend, I don’t want you to be thinking that as you are going into your exam or as you’re taking your exam. I know that’s…
That’s definitely where my brain goes. Absolutely when I was taking the exam and I was preparing for the exam. But I really want you to rest in the knowledge that you have put so much work into this. And it’s not just work that stays in your brain, you know, all that knowledge that you’ve put into your head, but it also is being used and implemented in your community with your patients. You are making
people’s lives better because of the work that you are doing. And I really want you to remember that as you’re going through all of this, especially when you are maybe in the throes of preparing for the exam or during the exam or after the exam and you’re like, my God, I don’t even know how I did. That’s how we all feel friend genuinely. And it’s okay. So when you will get the results per ABPTS candidate guide, direct quote,
no later than June 30th, 2025.” However, in years past, it has been the absolute last minute when people tend to get their exam results. So what I would tell you is that you should plan to get your results on June 30th, 2025, and then it’ll be a pleasant surprise if you get them earlier. I think when we got our
Testing results back in 2021, it was like the 11th hour of the last possible day. I don’t think they do this to be malicious. I do just think that it takes a really long time. So please just be aware of this. If you don’t pass, you will not be the first person to not pass the oncology specialty certification exam. It’s happened before and it will continue to happen. This is a really, really hard exam.
This is not entry level. This is expert level clinician material that we are talking here, emerging expert, the specialist who this exam is designed for. If you don’t pass, it’s okay. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Your results do not define the quality of care that you provide for your patients.
your exam results do not define the impact that you are having in your community. And it’s really easy for me to sit here and say that. So what I’ve done is I’ve also included a link. This is podcast episode number 305 on the Onco PT podcast. And I’ve included this in the show notes in your podcast player so you can easily find it too. But this was an interview, a conversation, an episode that I did. Gosh, it’s been a minute.
on what happens if you don’t pass. And I go through some of that. And so I would encourage you, maybe don’t listen to that before the exam, but maybe after the exam, come back to it. Now, you can choose what you want to do for it, and I’m not gonna tell you what you should do with your life, but that would be my recommendation. But what I really loved about this is that I also, part of this episode was me speaking with Melissa White, who is one of my oncology specialist bootcamp students.
who prepared for the exam and ultimately did not pass. But what she talks about is how preparing for this exam elevated her practice and her patient care. And these types of things that she has now been able to do and leverage in her clinical practice as a result of preparing for the exam, not even passing, was absolutely tremendous. anyways.
Instead of me word vomiting all of it, I’m going to let Melissa tell you about it because that was where the real magic was. And I know that you’re going to really appreciate that conversation I had with Melissa. So like I said, that episode 305 is linked in the show notes in your podcast player. So you can easily pull that up and cue it up on your podcast player. But friend, remember the impact that you are having no matter the results of the exam you have put in work.
to elevate the standard of cancer care, not just in your community, but across the country. And that is no small feat. And these small steps that we take individually add up to a much, much bigger impact for all cancer survivors.
And that’s pretty cool. That’s pretty amazing.
As you count down the last few days and hours until your exam, please know that I am rooting for you. I am cheering you on and our community is rooting for you and cheering you on. We believe in you. We know that you can do this and we cannot wait to keep cheering you on and cheer you and celebrate you on the other side of your exam. So good luck, my friend. I know you have it in you.
You can do this and we believe in you. And 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.