Strength & Conditioning Certification

BOC · study guide · 2026–27 references

Study for the BOC exam from its own reading list

There is no official study guide for the athletic trainer exam, and you do not need a commercial one to know what is tested. The board publishes the list of books its items are written from, paid self-assessment exams, free sample items and the PA8 weights. Build the plan from those four.

BOC (ATC) practice test Exam facts

Updated Oct 27, 2026 · Not affiliated with NSCA, ACSM, BOC, CSCCa, ISSA or USAW.

  • BOC reference listwhere items come from
  • 80 items, $35the board’s practice exam
  • PA8 (2023)outline in force

The reading list behind every item

Every exam item is referenced to at least two sources on the 2026–2027 Exam References list, which has 89 titles and no editions: the board writes from the most current edition of each. You will not read all of them, and you do not need to. Check your course texts against it: the titles you already own are the ones to study first.

Titles that cover a whole domain, by our reading of the list:

  • Assessment: Starkey, Long and Cavallario, Examination of Orthopedic & Athletic Injuries; Magee and Manske, Orthopedic Physical Assessment.
  • Emergencies: Casa and Stearns, Emergency Management for Sport and Physical Activity; Cleary and Walsh Flanagan, Acute and Emergency Care in Athletic Training.
  • Rehabilitation: Kisner, Borstad and Colby, Therapeutic Exercise; Prentice, Rehabilitation Techniques for Sports Medicine and Athletic Training; Starkey, Therapeutic Modalities.
  • General medical: Flanagin and Cuppett, Medical Conditions in the Physically Active.
  • Administration: Konin and Thompson, Documentation for Athletic Training; Harrelson, Gardner and Winterstein, Administrative Topics in Athletic Training.
  • Across domains: Prentice, Principles of Athletic Training, the survey text once sold as Arnheim’s, and the NATA position statements in the Journal of Athletic Training.

One CSCS book is on the list

Haff and Triplett’s Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning appears among the references. It is the NSCA’s textbook for the CSCS; for this exam, read it for conditioning after an injury, not as a coaching manual.

The board’s practice material

  • Self-assessment exams of 80 items in the exam’s item types, $35 a voucher, in Study or Test mode; 365 days to start one, then 7 days and 12 cumulative hours to finish it. Test mode ends with a score and a domain report. The board states that the score does not predict your exam result.
  • Sample items: 25 items + 1 testlet, free, to learn the interface before test day.
  • PDNA: the Professional Development Needs Assessment, a self-rating against the PA8 domains. It is a reflection tool, not a test.
  • PA8 content outline: the task list for each domain, free as a PDF. Every study session should map to one of its 25 tasks.

Split your time by the PA8 weights

The scored exam is weighted, so study hours should be too. Over a 100-hour plan that means about 26 hours each for assessment and diagnosis and therapeutic intervention (25.6% each), 21 for critical incident management (20.8%), 20 for risk reduction (20%) and 8 for healthcare administration (8%).

Then move hours toward your weakest domain. A first self-assessment exam or our practice test early in the plan tells you which one it is; a second near the end tells you whether the shift worked.

Practice the item types, not only the content

  • Multi-select and drag-and-drop give partial credit, so an item you cannot fully solve is still worth working; mark the options you are sure of first.
  • Hot spot items ask you to click a location on an image. Practice pointing at structures on photos, not only naming them.
  • Focused testlets chain several items on one scenario. A wrong early assumption can carry through the set, so reread the scenario before each item.

The free sample items and the paid self-assessment exams both use all of these types, so try them there before test day.

“BOC study guide” is a lab book

Search for “BOC study guide” and most results are for the ASCP Board of Certification, which certifies clinical laboratory staff; its study guide is a different book, and nothing in it covers athletic training. Search for the athletic training BOC exam, or start from the reference list above.

Practice by domain

Studying for the ATC exam, short answers

Which books should I use for the BOC exam?

Start with what the board publishes: the Exam References list, the PA8 outline, the sample items and the self-assessment exams. A commercial review book helps with pacing, but the references are what the items are written from.

Are the BOC self-assessment exams worth it?

For one timed rehearsal, yes: 80 items, $35 a voucher, covering the same content areas as the exam, with a domain report in Test mode. The score does not predict your result.

How many hours of BOC prep do I need?

The board sets no figure. Whatever your total, divide it by the PA8 weights, then shift time toward the domain your first practice exam shows is weakest.