How to Study for the CTP Exam

If you're a preservationist getting ready for the Certified Transplant Preservationist (CTP) exam, you probably already know the work. The hard part is turning what you do in the OR into answers on a timed, multiple-choice test. Here's how I'd study for it, and if you'd rather have it laid out for you, there's a guide at the end.

First, know what you're signing up for

The CTP exam is given by the American Board for Transplant Certification (ABTC). According to the current ABTC Candidate Handbook:

  • 110 questions, 2 hours. 100 of those questions count toward your score. The other 10 are pretest items that don't count toward your score, so answer every question as if it counts.
  • 5 content areas. Professional Practice, Organ Recovery, Organ Preservation, Specimen Collection, and Organ Labeling and Packaging for Transport.
  • It's computer-based, taken at a PSI test center. You don't need any special computer skills.

Eligibility. ABTC's FAQ lists the CTP requirement as 12 consecutive months of work experience in organ preservation, and that work doesn't have to be your full-time job. If your experience is mixed with another role, check with ABTC that it qualifies before you apply. Fees and application steps are in the handbook, so read the current version before you register.

1. Study from the content outline, not from memory

The handbook includes the detailed CTP content outline. Print it. It's the closest thing you have to a map of the test, and ABTC itself suggests using it as your subject guide.

Look at how the 100 scored questions are spread out:

  • Professional Practice: 15
  • Organ Recovery: 30
  • Organ Preservation: 25
  • Specimen Collection: 12
  • Organ Labeling and Packaging for Transport: 18

Organ Recovery and Organ Preservation together are more than half the test. Spend your time there, but don't skip the smaller areas. Labeling and packaging questions are very learnable points if you know the OPTN policy cold.

2. Mark what you do every day and what you don't

Go through the outline line by line and mark each item: "I do this all the time," "I've seen it," or "I've never done this." Most of us have holes. Maybe your OPO doesn't recover intestines often, or your team handles machine perfusion a certain way. The exam covers standard practice, not your OPO's way, and it includes both pediatric and adult donors. Your "never done this" list is your study plan.

3. Learn the anatomy until you can picture it

The handbook says candidates should know organ anatomy, and the outline asks you to identify anatomical structures, cannulation and cross-clamp sites, and normal and aberrant findings for the heart, lungs, liver, kidney, pancreas, intestine, and VCA. Draw the vessels by hand. Explain variant anatomy out loud as if you're telling a new team member what to watch for on the back table. If you can draw it, you can answer it.

4. Know your solutions and your policies

Preservation solutions, flush, temperature, and machine preservation all show up in the outline. So does OPTN policy, including allocation, specimen labeling, and packaging and labeling for transport. Read the actual OPTN policy language for labeling and packaging, not a summary of it. These are the questions where "close enough" is wrong.

5. Do practice questions, then study why you missed them

Practice questions get you used to the format, and ABTC's study tips recommend them too. But the real value is in the misses. For every question you get wrong, write down why the right answer is right and why you picked the wrong one. Were you missing a fact, misreading the question, or answering from your OPO's habit instead of standard practice? Patterns show up fast.

6. Pace yourself

Start early enough that you're not cramming. An hour or two a day, a few days a week, beats a weekend panic. A simple plan:

  • Early weeks: work through the outline one area at a time, starting with your weakest.
  • Middle weeks: do practice questions by area and review every rationale.
  • Last two weeks: do mixed practice questions under a timer (110 questions in 2 hours is a little over a minute each) and go back over your miss list.

7. Study with someone

If you learn by talking, find another preservationist who's testing and quiz each other. Walk through a recovery out loud from huddle to packaging. Explaining why you do each step is great practice for the "why" questions on the exam.

Or skip the setup and use the guide

If you'd rather not build all of this from scratch, I wrote the CTP Exam Study Guide: A Field Guide for New Organ Preservationists ($200, digital download). It's organized around ABTC's published CTP content outline and taught the way the work actually happens. It includes:

  • 100 practice questions with rationales, split by domain to match the outline.
  • An Anatomy Atlas with the vessels and landmarks for each organ.
  • A Solutions Handbook covering each preservation solution: what it is, why it's chosen, and how it's used.

It's a study tool, not a shortcut. You still have to put in the work, and no guide can promise you a passing score. But it can save you a lot of time figuring out what to study.

CPTCexam.com is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the American Board for Transplant Certification (ABTC). CTP® is a registered mark of ABTC. Always check the current ABTC Candidate Handbook for official exam details.

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