Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) Examination

The official content outline and any domain weighting are published by HTCC on its Exam Blueprint page, linked under Certification > Exam Preparation. This guide does not reproduce percentages or topic weights, because the exam page was unavailable at the time of writing and no current figures could be verified. Download the blueprint directly from HTCC and build your study plan from that document.

Item count and time limit are not stated in the material available to this guide, so no number is given. HTCC publishes test-day and timing information under Certification > Examination Information and Certification > Day of the Test (including Taking the Exam). Check those pages, and confirm the current figures before you schedule, since specifications are revised periodically.

Difficulty cannot be quantified without a verified passing standard. In practice, candidates most often lose points by over-studying familiar anatomy while under-preparing for clinical reasoning, differential diagnosis, and splinting/wound-care decision-making. Use HTCC's Exam Blueprint to allocate time by domain rather than by comfort, and take the self-assessment before finalizing your study order.

Fees, deadlines, and refund rules are published on HTCC's Deadlines / Fees / Refunds page, and application procedures on How To Apply. Neither fee amounts nor retake or waiting-period rules could be verified for this guide, so none are stated here. Read both pages in full before submitting, and direct any ambiguity to HTCC at [email protected] rather than relying on secondhand summaries.

Get the Exam Blueprint and the Terms and Abbreviations list from HTCC's Exam Preparation section first, then sit HTCC's self-assessment to locate weak domains. Study order should follow blueprint weighting and your own gaps, not textbook chapter order. Reserve the final weeks for integrated case-based practice and for reviewing splinting, wound care, and modality decisions you have not made recently in the clinic.

HTCC's Exam Results section publishes Item Review and Scoring, Score Reports, and Passing Rates. Those pages are the only reliable source for how items are reviewed, how scores are reported, and what proportion of candidates pass. This guide reports no pass-rate figure, because none could be verified, and older numbers circulating online may not reflect the current exam.

Admission and security procedures, permitted items, and test-center conduct are described under Certification > Day of the Test, including Admission and Security Procedures, Taking the Exam, and an overview of the testing vendor's procedures. Scheduling and rescheduling are handled under Exam Appointment. Read those pages before your appointment, because identification and security requirements are enforced strictly at the test center.

Yes. HTCC lists Preparation Materials / References and Study Groups under Certification > Exam Preparation, and there is a Mary Kasch Hand Therapy Certification Scholarship under Resources that some candidates use toward preparation costs. Use HTCC's reference list to select texts rather than relying on a single commercial review course, and confirm scholarship eligibility and deadlines on the scholarship page.

HTCC maintains a Recertification section describing recertification by professional development (with eligibility requirements and hour entry) and recertification by examination, plus Inactive and Retired status options. The validity period and recertification deadlines are not stated in the material available here, so verify them directly with HTCC before your cycle ends.