Hey Reader,

Quick question — when you picture your exam day, what comes to mind first? Is it the material... or is it the fear of blanking at hour five?
​
If it's the second one, you are not alone, and I want to talk about it 👇

​
​
Here's the thing I've seen trip up so many PTs prepping for the oncology specialty exam: they treat exam day like it's just a longer version of studying.

IT'S NOT.

By the time you're sitting in that testing center, your knowledge base is basically locked in. Exam day is a completely different skill — it's about retrieving what you know while managing time, fatigue, and your own nerves for seven straight hours.

So this week I put together the exact strategies I used (and now teach) for handling test day itself:

• The reframe that changes everything — stop seeing it as one 7-hour test. It's 4 separate 90-minute blocks, and each one is its own win.
• The 100-second rule — a simple way to know exactly when to flag a question and move on, so one hard question doesn't sink an entire block.
• A trick using just your hand or a sticky note — that helps you avoid the distractor traps exam writers build into these questions.
• Why your scheduled breaks are non-negotiable — and exactly what to do with them (I learned this one the hard way).
• What to eat and pack — so you're not running on a sugar crash by block 3.

Watch the full video here:

🎧 Prefer to listen instead?

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple

Listen on TheOncoPT.com

You've put in the hours studying. This is about making sure all of that shows up on the actual day. You've got this.
​
Also — if you're deep in your prep right now, I put together a free training called From Confused to Confident, walking through a 4-step framework for decoding any question you hit on the exam. If that sounds useful, you can grab it here.​

Rooting for you,

-Elise

Elise K. Cantu, PT, DPT​
​Board Certified Oncologic Clinical Specialist & Voice behind TheOncoPT Podcast
​TheOncoPT.com​

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Please note: We are proud affiliates for some of these resources & products, meaning that we may earn a commission if you click the link & subsequently make a purchase. All of these recommendations are based on our clinical experience & what we use in our practice – because we believe that they are the best out there. We recommend these resources because they are helpful & useful for OncoPTs & patients.