ARRT CT exam — passed with an 84%, here's the 8-week breakdown that worked
Finally passed my ARRT CT certification exam last week and wanted to share what actually worked. I studied for 8 weeks at about 1.5 hours a day on weekdays and 3 hours on Saturdays. My starting point on a diagnostic practice test was 61%, which was humbling considering I've been working in CT for 2 years. Ended up passing with an 84% on the real exam.
The biggest shift in my prep was realizing how heavily the exam tests protocols and patient positioning rather than just equipment operation. I kept assuming I knew positioning from daily work but the exam asks about it in really specific ways — rotation degrees, centering points, breathing instructions for specific scans. I made a protocol cheat sheet for every major body region and drilled it until I could recite it cold.
Weeks 1-3 I focused on anatomy and image quality, weeks 4-6 on protocols and procedures, and the last 2 weeks were entirely practice questions. The ARRT content specifications document is basically your study guide — if it's listed there, study it. I used Lange Q&A and the Saia review book and both were solid for different reasons.
Two years of working in CT really does help but it's almost dangerous because you can get overconfident. The exam catches things you do automatically on the scanner that you've never had to articulate. Especially artifact recognition — being able to name the artifact type and cause from an image is a big part of the test.
I studied for 10 weeks because I was working night shifts and couldn't always get my hours in. Passed with a 79%. The last 2 weeks of practice questions are where your score actually moves the most — don't rush that phase.
The Saia book is great for content but I found the practice questions in it a little easier than the real exam. Lange is harder and more representative of actual exam difficulty. If your Lange scores are consistently above 75% you're probably ready.
Passed 3 months ago with an 80%. The radiation physics and dose section was harder than I expected — not just conceptual stuff but actual calculation-type questions about mAs, kVp adjustments, and their effect on image noise and dose. Make sure you're solid on those relationships.