CTP Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts

Credential Snapshot: What This CTP Is

This cheat sheet covers one credential only: the Certified Transplant Preservationist (CTP), awarded by the American Board for Transplant Certification (ABTC). It is not the treasury credential that shares the acronym, and it is not another ABTC examination. Testing is delivered through PSI, and applications and certification records use the designation ROC-P. If you want background on the name itself, see What Is CTP Certification? or What Does CTP Stand For?.

The credential is aimed at professionals who work with organ preservation: the hands-on practice of recovering, preserving, labeling, packaging, and transporting organs, along with the associated specimen work and professional responsibilities. Everything below is built from ABTC's published materials, reviewed October 5, 2026. Where public sources disagree, this page says so rather than guessing.

Exam Format, Fees, and Logistics

Here is the one-glance version of the exam mechanics. Memorize these cold, because they are exactly the kind of facts that cause avoidable test-day problems.

Two practical notes. First, the 10 unscored pretest items are indistinguishable from scored ones, so treat every question as if it counts. Second, because calculators are prohibited, expect the exam to test reasoning and recall rather than heavy computation. For a deeper pricing walk-through, including how retakes multiply cost, read the CTP certification cost breakdown.

Eligibility and the 90-Day Window

The eligibility requirement is 12 months of organ-preservation work experience. That experience does not need to be your full-time responsibility, which matters for candidates whose roles blend preservation with other duties. A supervisor must provide employee attestation of the experience. The complete picture of prerequisites is in the CTP requirements guide.

Once you are authorized, ABTC provides a 90-day examination-eligibility window in which to test. Here is the catch: public instructions differ on whether that window starts at payment, application approval, or eligibility confirmation. Do not assume those triggers are interchangeable. Follow the specific dates on your own authorization, and if anything looks inconsistent, resolve it directly with ABTC or PSI before you schedule. For scheduling strategy, see CTP exam dates and testing windows.

Domain Allocation at a Glance

The five domain headings come straight from ABTC's Examination Content Outline for CTP (Candidate Handbook dated August 13, 2026, PDF pages 39-40). Adding the recall, application, and analysis columns for each domain gives the scored-item allocations below. These are item counts, not issuer-published percentage weights, so this page does not convert them into percentages.

The takeaway is straightforward: Organ Recovery and Organ Preservation together account for 55 of the 100 scored items. Those two domains deserve the largest share of your study hours, but the remaining 45 items are more than enough to sink a candidate who ignores them. The full outline is unpacked in the complete CTP exam domains guide.

Domain-by-Domain Must-Know Facts

The following blocks summarize the topic areas worth anchoring in memory. They are educational exam-review pointers only. They are not clinical instructions, and any clinical practice question should be verified against your organization's current policies and the governing standards before you apply it.

For a longer treatment of each area and how to study it, pair this sheet with the CTP study guide.

The 110 vs. 120 Question Conflict

You may run into conflicting numbers online, and it is worth understanding why. ABTC's current Candidate Handbook describes 110 questions: 100 scored and 10 unscored. However, PSI's public store listing for the $60 Self-Assessment Examination still describes a 120-question certification exam. Those two cannot both be current.

The resolution is simple: the ABTC handbook controls the live exam count. Plan around 110 questions in two hours, which works out to a little under 66 seconds per question on average. If you see 120 on a third-party site or an older PSI page, treat it as outdated and confirm against the handbook before building your pacing strategy.

Reading the 52% Figure Correctly

ABTC's March 2025 statistical report records a historical 2024 CTP pass rate of 52% among 86 candidates. It is tempting to treat that as a prediction. Resist the temptation, because the figure has clear limits:

• It is a 2024 result, not a 2026 rate.
• It is not a passing score; it describes the share of candidates who passed, not how many questions you must answer correctly.
• It is not documented as a first-attempt-only rate, so it may mix first-time and repeat candidates.
• The sample is small (86 candidates), so year-to-year swings should be expected.

On the scoring side, ABTC bases passing on overall performance against an expert-established examination standard. There are no separate domain-level passes, and there is no published fixed numeric passing mark, so any "you need X%" claim you see is unsupported. The CTP passing score article and the CTP pass rate analysis go further into how to interpret these numbers, and how hard the CTP exam is puts them in context.

Retakes, Renewal, and the Three-Year Cycle

Retake rules

• A 90-day interval is required between attempts.
• After three unsuccessful attempts, you must earn 20 Category 1 CEPTCs before reapplying.
• Each reapplication means paying the fees again.

Renewal rules

Certification is valid for three years. To renew, you need 60 CEPTCs, including at least 20 Category 1 and 10 Category 2 points, or you can pass a successful re-examination instead. The single-certification renewal fee is $395. Note the structure: the minimums for Category 1 and Category 2 are floors within the 60 total, so you cannot satisfy renewal with points from only one category.

Sequencing Your Review by Domain

Rather than a generic schedule, order your study around the allocation table. The logic: start with the biggest and most interconnected domains while your energy is highest, then finish with the detail-heavy ones so they are fresh on exam day. This is a sample sequence, and you should stretch or compress it to fit your own timeline.

Because the exam is closed book with no calculator and a firm two-hour limit, rehearse under those same conditions at least once before test day. Original practice questions, written to mirror the four-option, one-best-answer style without reproducing protected exam items, are available on the main practice test site.

Career Value Without Assuming a Pay Premium

It is natural to ask whether the $645 per attempt and the renewal costs pay off. The honest answer is that it depends on your employer and role, and this page does not assume the certification carries a salary premium. No published figure here ties the credential to a specific raise. Think about value in terms you can verify locally: whether your employer or hiring managers recognize or prefer the credential, whether it supports your standing in organ-preservation roles, and whether the continuing-education cycle keeps your knowledge current.

If you are weighing the decision, the ROI analysis and the salary guide take a measured approach, and CTP jobs covers where the credential appears in hiring.

Frequently Asked Questions