PTCB guide · updated 2026-09-29

PTCE content outline 2026: what is on the PTCB exam

Since January 6, 2026 the PTCE follows content outline v1.4: Medications 35%, Federal Requirements 18.75%, Patient Safety and Quality Assurance 23.75%, and Order Entry and Processing 22.5%. The four domains contain 22 knowledge areas, and 9 of them are marked as partly or fully calculation-based.

The four domains and their weights

PTCB publishes the outline as percentages of exam content. With 80 scored questions, the counts below are what those percentages work out to. They are our arithmetic, not official item counts.

Domain	Share of exam	About this many of the 80 scored questions
1. Medications	35%	28
2. Federal Requirements	18.75%	15
3. Patient Safety and Quality Assurance	23.75%	19
4. Order Entry and Processing	22.5%	18

All 22 knowledge areas

This is the full list from the v1.4 outline, shortened only by dropping "e.g." markers. A "Yes" in the last column means PTCB marks that statement with an asterisk: some or all of it reflects calculation-based knowledge.

Area	Domain	Knowledge area	Calculation
1.1	Medications	Generic names, brand names, and classifications of medications
1.2	Medications	Therapeutic duplications
1.3	Medications	Common or life-threatening drug interactions and contraindications (drug-drug, drug-dietary supplement, drug-laboratory, drug-nutrient, drug-disease)
1.4	Medications	Strengths/doses, dosage forms, routes of administration, special handling and administration instructions, and duration of drug therapy	Yes
1.5	Medications	Common or severe medication side effects, adverse effects, and allergies
1.6	Medications	Indications of medications
1.7	Medications	Drug stability (oral suspensions, insulins, reconstitutables, injectables, vaccinations)	Yes
1.8	Medications	Proper storage of medications (temperature ranges, light sensitivity, restricted access)
2.1	Federal Requirements	Federal requirements for storage, handling, and disposal of non-hazardous, hazardous (P-list), and pharmacological substances and wastes
2.2	Federal Requirements	Federal requirements for controlled substance prescriptions (new, refill, transfer) and DEA controlled substance schedules	Yes
2.3	Federal Requirements	Federal requirements for receiving, storing, ordering, labeling, dispensing, returning, take-back programs for, loss or theft of, and destroying controlled substances
2.4	Federal Requirements	Federal restricted drug programs and related medication-processing requirements (pseudoephedrine, REMS)	Yes
2.5	Federal Requirements	FDA requirements for medication recalls
2.6	Federal Requirements	FDA product serialization, tracking, tracing, handling, and quarantining requirements (DSCSA)
3.1	Patient Safety and Quality Assurance	High-alert/risk medications and look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medications
3.2	Patient Safety and Quality Assurance	Error prevention strategies (order to correct patient, Tall Man lettering, separating inventory, leading and trailing zeros, bar code usage, limiting error-prone abbreviations)
3.3	Patient Safety and Quality Assurance	Issues that require pharmacist intervention (DUR, ADE, OTC recommendation, therapeutic substitution, misuse, adherence, post-immunization care, allergies, drug interactions)	Yes
3.4	Patient Safety and Quality Assurance	Event reporting procedures (medication errors, adverse effects, product integrity, MedWatch, VAERS, near miss, RCA, CQI)
3.5	Patient Safety and Quality Assurance	Types of prescription errors (incorrect dose, quantity, patient, drug, route of administration)	Yes
3.6	Patient Safety and Quality Assurance	Infection prevention procedures and cleaning standards (handwashing, PPE, cleaning counting trays, countertops, equipment)
4.1	Order Entry and Processing	Formulas, calculations, ratios, proportions, conversions, Sig codes (b.i.d., t.i.d., Roman numerals), abbreviations, medical terminology, and symbols for days supply, quantity, dose, concentration, dilutions	Yes
4.2	Order Entry and Processing	Equipment and supplies required for drug administration (diabetic supplies, inhaler spacers, oral syringes, injectable syringes, filters, dilution solutions, immunization supplies, nebulizers)	Yes
4.3	Order Entry and Processing	Lot numbers, expiration dates, and National Drug Code (NDC) numbers	Yes
4.4	Order Entry and Processing	Procedures for identifying and returning dispensable, non-dispensable, and expired medications and supplies (credit return, return to stock, reverse distribution)

What changed in 2026

Outline v1.4 is dated August 2024 and took effect on January 6, 2026. The domain names and weights above are the ones that apply to anyone testing in 2026. If a study guide or free quiz groups questions under a different set of headings or weights, it was built for an older version of the exam.

The calculation markers are worth noticing. They are not confined to Order Entry. Drug stability, controlled substance prescriptions, restricted drug programs such as pseudoephedrine limits, pharmacist-intervention issues and prescription error types all carry them, so math shows up in every domain.

How to use the outline to plan study time

Start with Medications. At 35% it is the largest domain, and area 1.1 (generic names, brand names and classes) underpins most of the other areas.
Treat area 4.1 as its own subject. Sig codes, conversions, days supply, concentrations and dilutions come up throughout the exam.
Learn the federal rules as lists: DEA schedules, refill and transfer limits for controlled substances, DEA Form 222 and 106 uses, recall classes, and DSCSA tracing basics.
Patient Safety rewards pattern recognition: Tall Man lettering, leading and trailing zeros, error-prone abbreviations, LASA pairs and high-alert drugs.
Check each area off only when you can answer questions on it, not when you have read about it.

Frequently asked questions

When did the new PTCE outline take effect?

Content outline v1.4 took effect on January 6, 2026. The document itself is dated August 2024.

How many domains are on the PTCB exam?

Four: Medications, Federal Requirements, Patient Safety and Quality Assurance, and Order Entry and Processing.

Does PTCB publish a drug list?

No. The outline names the knowledge areas but does not list specific drugs. PTCB does publish a reference list of study resources.

Try the free PTCB practice test

Questions tagged to the official outline, with an explanation for every answer. 15 free a day, no sign-up.

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Sources: PTCE Content Outline v1.4 (effective Jan 6, 2026) · PTCB: Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). Independent study material. Not affiliated with or endorsed by PTCB.