500 registry-style questions across procedures, image production, patient care and safety — each with a worked explanation — plus timed mock exams that rehearse the real thing.
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Physics & Instrumentation · Image Production & Evaluation · Imaging Procedures · Patient Care & Safety
The ARRT computed tomography exam is a fixed form: 195 questions with 195 minutes of test time. 165 are scored and 30 are unscored pilot questions being trialled for future exams, and you can flag questions to come back to. Under the specification ARRT approved in July 2025, in force since 1 September 2026, the scored questions break down as:
| Content category | Scored questions |
|---|---|
| Procedures | 71 |
| Head, spine and musculoskeletal | 25 |
| Abdomen and pelvis | 24 |
| Neck and chest | 22 |
| Image production | 52 |
| Image formation | 30 |
| Image evaluation and archiving | 22 |
| Patient care (patient interactions and management) | 21 |
| Safety (radiation safety and dose) | 21 |
| Total scored | 165 |
With the tutorial, non-disclosure agreement and survey, the appointment runs 215 minutes. You see a preliminary score on screen when you finish; ARRT reports scaled scores from 1 to 99, and 75 is a pass.
Source: ARRT Examination Content Specifications for Computed Tomography, board approved July 2025, and the ARRT postprimary eligibility pathway handbook. Check arrt.org for the specification in force on your exam date.
The content outline behind those numbers is specific. This is what each category actually asks about.
For every study on the list, ARRT can ask about cross-sectional anatomy and landmarks, pathology, imaging planes and protocol, patient factors such as infant, geriatric or bariatric patients, contrast indications and scan delays, and post-processing. CTA and CTV, biopsy, drainage, trauma and surgical planning are in scope too.
Image formation (30) covers the CT unit itself — tube, generator, detectors, data acquisition system and slip rings — the parameters you set (kVp, mAs, pitch, beam width, slice thickness, scan field of view), acquisition modes from sequential and helical to volumetric, cine and dual energy, reconstruction (filtered backprojection versus iterative, algorithms, slice thickness and interval, raw versus image data) and post-processing such as MPR, MIP, volume rendering and calcium scoring.
Image evaluation and archiving (22) covers pixels, voxels and matrix, display field of view, window width and level, spatial, contrast and temporal resolution, noise, CT numbers in Hounsfield units, QA testing, artifact recognition — beam hardening, partial volume, motion, metal, rings, streaks, cone beam and out-of-field — and informatics: PACS, DICOM, RIS and HIS.
Screening and history, renal function labs such as eGFR and creatinine, consent and patient monitoring, contrast media types and contraindications, pregnancy, lactation and dialysis considerations, venipuncture, power injector settings, timing bolus versus bolus tracking, and recognising and treating mild, moderate and severe contrast reactions and extravasation.
X-ray production and photon interactions, the dose levers you control — kVp, mAs, pitch, collimation, filtration, iterative reconstruction and automatic dose modulation — pediatric and pregnancy considerations, and the dose metrics themselves: CTDIvol in mGy, DLP in mGy·cm and effective dose in mSv. SI units are the primary units on the CT exam.
The NMTCB CT exam is 200 multiple choice questions in three hours and 30 minutes, offered through IQT testing centers, and it is not adaptive. NMTCB divides it into seven content areas rather than four, with the approximate shares:
| Content area | Approx. share |
|---|---|
| CT procedures: anatomy, elements, indications, pathology | 25% |
| Radiation safety | 16% |
| System operations and instrumentation | 14% |
| Medications and contrast agents | 14% |
| Image quality and quality assurance | 13% |
| Data acquisition and post processing | 12% |
| Patient management | 6% |
To sit it you need an active nuclear medicine, radiography or radiation therapy certification from NMTCB, ARRT or CAMRT; 300 documented clinical hours in PET/CT, SPECT/CT or CT, including 10 different procedures and 50 repetitions; and 35 contact hours of CT-related education. Both must fall within the three years before you apply. The application fee is $225.
Source: NMTCB CT exam information.
Pro includes a mock exam mode that draws a random set of 50, 100 or 200 questions from the 500-question CT bank. You can time it at 45 minutes, 90 minutes or 3 hours, or switch the timer off.
For the closest rehearsal of the ARRT CT exam, which is 195 questions in 195 minutes, choose 200 questions with the 3-hour limit — slightly faster than the real pace, which leaves you a margin on the day.
Study to the weighting. Procedures are 43% of the scored questions and image production 32%; patient care and safety are 13% each. Time spent should follow those numbers, not the order of a textbook.
Make cross-sectional anatomy automatic. Most procedures questions assume you can place a structure on an axial, coronal or sagittal slice without thinking. If that is slow, everything built on it is slow.
Learn dose as numbers with units. Know what CTDIvol, DLP and effective dose each measure, their units, and which parameter changes move them up or down.
Work timed sets from early on. One minute per question is the real pace. Practise it before the mock exams, not during them.
The 8-week CT registry study plan turns this into a week-by-week schedule.
The 500 CT questions are grouped into four areas:
| Area | Questions |
|---|---|
| Imaging procedures | 185 |
| Physics and instrumentation | 150 |
| Image production and evaluation | 150 |
| Patient care and safety | 15 |
Procedures and image production line up closely with the ARRT weighting. Patient care and safety do not: together they are 42 of ARRT’s 165 scored questions, and this bank currently has 15 questions in that area. The 34 CT case studies carry more of that material. Use the bank for procedures, physics and image production, and revise patient care, contrast reactions and radiation dose from your course notes or the board’s own content outline as well.
i passed!! this app WILL help — don’t memorize each answer, truly understand the why behind each question. Passed the NMTCB(N), September 2026
A set of 25 free ARRT CT and NMTCB(CT) questions, with every answer and explanation on the page. No sign-up.
Free CT registry practice questions with answers →
An 8-week schedule weighted to the ARRT CT content specification, with 4- and 12-week variants.
Your SPECT/CT and PET/CT hours can count toward the NMTCB(CT). The requirements, exam and what to study first.
There is a separate bank of 500 questions for the NMTCB and ARRT(N) exams, built the same way.
There is a separate bank of 206 questions for the NMTCB PET specialty exam, weighted to its published content outline.
NMTCB PET practice questions →
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