If you are preparing for the Certified Procurement Transplant Coordinator exam, one of the most important things you can do is study from the current CPTC exam outline. The CPTC exam is not just a general organ donation knowledge test. It focuses on the actual donation and procurement process, including donor identification, authorization, donor management, allocation, recovery, preservation, and case completion.

The official ABTC Candidate Handbook states that the CPTC exam includes organ donation and procurement as they relate to consent, donor management, organ allocation, and actual procurement. Candidates are also expected to understand organ donation and procurement practices in both pediatric and adult donor populations.

For July 2026, I have updated my CPTC study materials to follow the latest outline so you can study with a clear plan instead of guessing what matters most.

Updated for July 2026:
The CPTCexam.com study materials now include updated domain-focused review, practice questions, answer rationales, and mock exam materials designed to help you prepare for the current CPTC exam outline.

Start here:
Take the 150-question mock CPTC exam, review your weak domains, and then use focused study materials to strengthen the areas that need the most work.

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Quick Answer: What Are the CPTC Exam Domains in 2026?

The 2026 CPTC exam outline includes four major domains:

 

The largest domain is Donor Management, which makes up 67 of the 150 scored questions. That means donor assessment, testing, suitability, hemodynamics, pulmonary management, and organ optimization should be a major focus in your CPTC exam prep. The official CPTC outline lists 150 scored items, plus 25 unscored pretest items, with 3 hours of testing time.

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CPTC Exam Format

The CPTC exam contains 175 total questions. Of those, 150 questions count toward your score and 25 are unscored pretest questions. Candidates have 3 hours to complete the exam.

 

Because the exam is built around the official content outline, your study plan should match the domains and the number of questions assigned to each domain. In other words, don’t spend the same amount of time on every topic. Spend the most time where the exam places the most weight.

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Domain 1: Donation Process Support

Donation Process Support includes 15 scored questions. This domain focuses on the work that supports the donation process before and after authorization.

This section includes predonation activities such as recognizing clinical triggers for timely donor referral, building collaborative relationships with hospital staff and physicians, following up on potential referrals, and providing hospital-based education.

It also includes postauthorization activities such as reviewing hospital profiles, understanding the impact of other agencies on the donation process, and participating in timely follow-up communication after donor cases.

Many candidates underestimate this domain because it feels less clinical than donor management. But it matters because procurement coordinators do not work in isolation. They work with hospital teams, physicians, respiratory therapists, OR teams, family support staff, tissue agencies, medical examiners, coroners, and transplant centers.

For this domain, focus on the coordinator’s role in supporting timely referral, maintaining hospital relationships, understanding hospital profiles, and communicating clearly throughout the donation process.

Study tip:
Do not skip this section. Even though it is smaller than Donor Management, these questions can be easy points if you understand OPO workflow and the coordinator’s role in donation process support.

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Domain 2: Donor Identification

Donor Identification includes 30 scored questions. This domain focuses on referral management, donor determination, and authorization.

This is where candidates need to understand the early steps of the donation process. You should be able to evaluate the pre-hospital and hospital course, review downtime, injuries, hemodynamics, organ function, and infection status, and determine whether donor registry status or advance directives are present.

This section also includes supporting hospital staff, assessing family dynamics, confirming legal and hospital requirements for death declaration, determining suitability for donation after circulatory death, and coordinating the authorization process.

Authorization is another major piece of this domain. Candidates should understand how to identify legal next of kin when donor designation is absent, coordinate the authorization conversation with hospital staff, assess the family’s understanding of brain death, document authorization outcomes, confirm properly executed authorization forms, complete and interpret donor risk assessment information, and determine increased risk status when applicable.

High-yield study areas for this domain include:

Donor referral management, donor registry status, donor designation, family dynamics, legal next of kin, authorization, brain death communication, DCD suitability, donor risk assessment, documentation, and hospital support.

Study tip:
Donor Identification is where many candidates confuse referral, donor designation, donor authorization, donor determination, and DCD suitability. Make sure you understand the sequence of the donation process and the coordinator’s role at each step.

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Domain 3: Donor Management

Donor Management is the largest CPTC exam domain, with 67 scored questions. If you are short on study time, this is the domain to prioritize first.

This section focuses on donor assessment, diagnostic testing, organ suitability, clinical interventions, and optimization of organ viability.

You should understand how to register a donor with OPTN, perform a bedside donor assessment, review ventilator settings, evaluate hemodynamics, assess physical and neurologic findings, initiate standing orders, and begin the confidential donor record.

This domain also includes ABO verification, serologies, infectious disease testing, hemodilution status, HLA and tissue typing, labs, cultures, organ function testing, and diagnostic results such as cardiac, pulmonary, and pathology findings.

The official outline also includes assessing organ suitability and initiating interventions to optimize organ viability. Examples include modifying ventilator settings, using infusions, providing pharmacologic support, optimizing hemodynamic and pulmonary stability, and treating acute or chronic donor abnormalities according to donor management guidelines.

High-yield study areas for this domain include:

Donor assessment, hemodynamic management, pulmonary management, ventilator settings, labs, serologies, infectious disease testing, HLA testing, organ function testing, diagnostic procedures, donor suitability, donor optimization, vasopressors, fluid management, endocrine support, and organ-specific donor management goals.

Study tip:
This is the domain where clinical reasoning matters most. Do not just memorize facts. Practice applying the information to donor scenarios. Ask yourself: What is the problem? Which organ system is at risk? What intervention protects organ viability?

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Domain 4: Allocation and Recovery

Allocation and Recovery includes 38 scored questions. This domain covers what happens after donor management transitions into allocation, OR coordination, organ recovery, preservation, packaging, documentation, and case completion.

The allocation portion includes determining donor type, such as brain death donation versus donation after circulatory death. It also includes identifying donor allocation criteria, disclosing current and past medical and behavioral history, following OPTN allocation policies, completing required documentation, coordinating OR times, arranging transportation, providing required documentation to transplant centers and agencies, and placing organs for research or education when applicable.

The organ recovery and preservation portion includes ensuring the necessary surgical personnel and supplies are present, verifying recovery surgeon credentials, maintaining donor stability during transport to the OR, supporting OR and anesthesia staff, coordinating the recovery team, maintaining aseptic technique, facilitating organ preservation, documenting recovery data, packaging and labeling organs and specimens, completing post-mortem care, and notifying the appropriate agencies and individuals when the case is complete.

High-yield study areas for this domain include:

Brain death versus DCD, allocation criteria, KDPI, OPTN allocation policies, donor documentation, OR coordination, transportation, recovery surgeon credentials, donor stability in the OR, aseptic technique, preservation solutions, ice, pulsatile preservation, cross-clamp time, warm ischemic time, anatomy documentation, biopsies, packaging, labeling, and case completion.

Study tip:
This section is very process-driven. Think through the case from allocation to OR to organ packaging to final documentation. The more clearly you understand the sequence, the easier these questions become.

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How to Study for the CPTC Exam Using the 2026 Outline

The best way to study for the CPTC exam is to follow the exam outline instead of studying randomly. The official handbook recommends using the detailed content outline as a subject matter guide and spending extra time on areas that are unfamiliar or difficult.

Start with a full mock exam so you can identify your weak domains. Then review your results by domain. If you miss the most questions in Donor Management, that should become your first priority. If you struggle with authorization, donor designation, or DCD suitability, spend focused time on Donor Identification. If the OR and preservation process feels confusing, review Allocation and Recovery in sequence.

A simple study plan would look like this:

Step 1: Take a 150-question mock CPTC exam.
This gives you a baseline and helps you see where you are starting.

Step 2: Review Donor Management first.
This is the largest domain and deserves the most study time.

Step 3: Study Donor Identification next.
Focus on referral, authorization, donor determination, family dynamics, and documentation.

Step 4: Review Allocation and Recovery as a process.
Walk through allocation, OR coordination, preservation, packaging, labeling, and case completion.

Step 5: Revisit Donation Process Support.
Use this section to strengthen your understanding of hospital development, follow-up, collaboration, and OPO workflow.

Step 6: Retest before exam day.
Take another mock exam or focused practice set to confirm that your weak areas have improved.

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Why Old CPTC Study Materials May Not Be Enough

The CPTC exam is not just a vocabulary test. It tests whether you understand the real organ donation and procurement process from referral through recovery and case completion.

If your study materials are based on an older outline, missing updated domain organization, or only give you answers without rationales, you may waste time studying the wrong way. You need to know what the exam is testing now, which domains carry the most weight, and how to apply that knowledge to coordinator-level scenarios.

That is why the CPTCexam.com materials have been updated for July 2026. The goal is to help you study the domains that matter, practice exam-style questions, and understand the reasoning behind each answer.

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Recommended CPTC Study Materials Updated for July 2026

If you are preparing for the CPTC exam, start with the current outline and then choose materials that match your weakest areas.

150-Question Mock CPTC Exam
Best for candidates who want to test overall readiness and identify weak domains before exam day. Check out the Mock CPTC exam here. 

Donor Identification and Referral Study Materials
Best for candidates who need help with referral management, donor designation, DCD suitability, authorization, family dynamics, donor risk assessment, and documentation. Check it out here. 

Donor Management Practice Questions
Best for candidates who want to focus on the highest-yield exam domain, including donor assessment, testing, organ suitability, hemodynamics, pulmonary management, and donor optimization. Check it out here. 

Organ Recovery and Preservation Practice Questions
Best for candidates who need more practice with allocation, OR coordination, organ recovery, preservation, packaging, labeling, and case completion. Get 100 practice questions here.

July 2026 CPTC Updated Study Bundle
Best for candidates who want a structured way to study the updated outline with practice questions, rationales, and focused review.

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What Changed in the 2026 CPTC Exam Outline?

The biggest change with the updated 2026 CPTC exam outline is that candidates now have a clearer, more organized roadmap for what to study. The exam is still focused on the real work of the procurement transplant coordinator: donor identification, authorization, donor management, allocation, recovery, preservation, and case completion. The ABTC describes the CPTC exam as covering all aspects of the organ donation process and procurement, including consent, management, organ allocation, and actual procurement in both adult and pediatric donor populations.

Older CPTC study materials often grouped the exam around broad topics like donor identification, authorization, donor management, organ recovery, and post-donation follow-up. Those topics still matter, but the updated outline gives candidates a more specific domain-based structure. Instead of studying random organ donation facts, candidates can now organize their study plan around four major weighted areas: Donation Process Support, Donor Identification, Donor Management, and Allocation and Recovery.

The new outline also makes it easier to see where the exam places the most emphasis. Donor Management is the largest domain, with 67 of the 150 scored questions. That means candidates should spend more time on bedside donor assessment, hemodynamics, ventilator settings, labs, serologies, infectious disease testing, organ suitability, and donor optimization. Donation Process Support is much smaller, with 15 scored questions, but it still matters because it covers referral support, hospital collaboration, education, and postauthorization follow-up.

Another important shift is that the outline is more clearly tied to what procurement coordinators actually do in practice. The updated domains follow the donation process from early referral support, to donor identification and authorization, to clinical donor management, and finally to allocation, recovery, preservation, packaging, labeling, and case completion. This makes the outline more practical for studying because it mirrors the real sequence of an organ donation case.

What did not change is also important. The CPTC exam still includes 175 total questions, with 150 scored questions and 25 unscored pretest questions, and candidates still have 3 hours to complete the exam.

For candidates, the takeaway is simple: do not rely only on older topic lists or outdated practice questions. Use the updated 2026 CPTC exam outline to guide your study plan, then focus your time based on the number of questions in each domain. That is why the CPTCexam.com study materials were updated for July 2026 — to help you study from the current outline, practice the highest-yield topics, and understand the reasoning behind each answer before exam day.

CPTC Exam Domains 2026 FAQ

How many domains are on the CPTC exam?

There are four major CPTC exam domains: Donation Process Support, Donor Identification, Donor Management, and Allocation and Recovery.

Which CPTC domain has the most questions?

Donor Management has the most scored questions, with 67 out of 150 scored items. This makes it the highest-yield domain to prioritize during CPTC exam prep.

How many questions are on the CPTC exam?

The CPTC exam has 175 total questions. Of those, 150 are scored and 25 are unscored pretest questions.

How long is the CPTC exam?

Candidates have 3 hours to complete the CPTC exam.

What should I study first for the CPTC exam?

Start with the full outline, but prioritize Donor Management because it has the most scored questions. Then review Donor Identification, Allocation and Recovery, and Donation Process Support.

Does the CPTC exam include DCD?

Yes. Candidates should understand donation after circulatory death, including donor determination, suitability, allocation, recovery, and warm ischemic time considerations.

Does the CPTC exam include both adult and pediatric donors?

Yes. CPTC candidates are expected to understand organ donation and procurement practices in both pediatric and adult donor populations.

Are the CPTCexam.com study materials updated for the 2026 outline?

Yes. The CPTCexam.com study materials have been updated for the July 2026 outline, including focused practice questions, mock exam materials, rationales, and domain-specific review.

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Study the Current CPTC Outline With Updated July 2026 Materials

You do not need to guess what to study for the CPTC exam. Start with the current CPTC exam domains, focus your time on the highest-yield areas, and practice with questions that explain the reasoning behind the answer.

The July 2026 CPTCexam.com study materials were created to help you prepare with a clear plan, updated domain focus, and realistic practice questions.

Ready to start studying?
Download the 150-question mock CPTC exam, review the updated July 2026 study materials, and focus your prep on the domains that matter most.