- What the ABR-NMP-P2 Certification Actually Covers
- The Five Domains You Are Tested On
- Exam Format, Timing, and Remote Proctoring Rules
- Eligibility and the Certification Pathway
- Fees, Application Windows, and 2027 Dates
- Who Hires Candidates Pursuing This Credential
- Building an ABR-NMP-P2-Specific Study Sequence
- After You Pass Part 2
- Frequently Asked Questions
- ABR-NMP-P2 is the American Board of Radiology's Nuclear Medical Physics Part 2 Qualifying Examination, distinct from other credentials sharing similar names.
- The exam has 130 questions with 4 hours 1 minute of answering time, plus tutorial and break allowances totaling 4 hours 46 minutes.
- Five domains cover radiation protection/ethics, PET & Hybrid, single-photon imaging, radiation measurements, and clinical procedures.
- Part 2 costs USD 640 at registration; passing it alone does not confer board certification without Parts 1 and 3.
What the ABR-NMP-P2 Certification Actually Covers
The American Board of Radiology administers the Nuclear Medical Physics Part 2 Qualifying Examination as one stage within its broader medical physics certification pathway. This is not a standalone credential you can obtain by itself - passing Part 2 alone does not confer board certification. It is a qualifying step that sits between Part 1 (General and Clinical sections) and Part 3, and it focuses specifically on the applied, subspecialty-level content of nuclear medical physics.
Because the acronym gets used loosely across different fields, it is worth being precise: everything in this article refers to the ABR's Nuclear Medical Physics Part 2 exam, governed by the content guide the ABR publishes for that specialty. If you want a plain-language breakdown of what this credential is and is not, see What Is ABR-NMP-P2? and ABR-NMP-P2 Meaning.
The Five Domains You Are Tested On
The official content guide organizes Nuclear Medical Physics Part 2 into five domains. Each one maps to a distinct slice of clinical and technical nuclear medicine physics practice. A full breakdown of every subtopic lives in ABR-NMP-P2 Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas, but here is what each domain demands at a glance.
Domain 1: Radiation Protection, Safety, Professionalism and Ethics
Candidates must understand internal, fetal, and CT dosimetry alongside occupational and public safety obligations.
- Shielding calculations for nuclear medicine facilities
- Professional and ethical decision-making scenarios
- Fetal and internal dose estimation methods
Domain 2: PET & Hybrid
This domain spans the full PET imaging chain, from detector physics through reconstruction.
- Attenuation, random, and scatter correction techniques
- PET/CT quantification and cross-calibration
- Acceptance testing, annual testing, and routine quality control
Domain 3: Single Photon Imaging Systems
This covers scintillation cameras, solid-state cameras, and hybrid systems used across nuclear medicine departments.
- Intrinsic and extrinsic performance testing
- Collimation design and its imaging effects
- SPECT and SPECT/CT quality control routines
Domain 4: Radiation Measurements
This domain focuses on instrumentation used to measure and verify activity and radiation levels.
- Dose calibrators, well counters, survey meters, and thyroid probes
- Dead time, detector efficiency, and calibration procedures
- Statistical tests, error propagation, chi-square analysis, and minimum detectable activity
Domain 5: Clinical Procedures
The final domain ties physics knowledge to real clinical workflows across organ systems.
- Cardiac, pulmonary, tumor, bone, brain, and thyroid procedures
- Lymphatic imaging protocols
- Radionuclide therapy and brachytherapy considerations
Key Takeaway
Since the ABR does not publish domain weight percentages, build your review plan around comprehensive coverage of all five domains rather than trying to guess which one carries more questions.
Exam Format, Timing, and Remote Proctoring Rules
Nuclear Medical Physics Part 2 is administered remotely as a computer-based exam in a single session, with registration handled through myABR. Most items are multiple-choice, though ABR preparation materials also describe image-location items presented as Drag and Drop, where candidates identify an anatomical site, equipment component, or graph region.
The July 23, 2026 remote-exam guide specifies 130 questions with 4 hours 1 minute of answering time for the Nuclear Part 2 exam. On top of that, candidates receive 20 minutes for tutorial/practice and 25 minutes of break allowance, for a total allotted time of 4 hours 46 minutes. The official Exam line on your schedule reports answering time only, so budget your pacing around that 4-hour-1-minute figure specifically.
The remote testing environment has strict requirements: a private, quiet testing space, one active monitor, and an external side-view webcam. ABR staff monitor sessions live and review recordings afterward. The exam is closed book - scratch paper and study notes are prohibited - but a compliant physical erasable whiteboard is allowed, provided it is clear at both the beginning and end of the session. You may also use an embedded calculator or an ABR-approved handheld calculator. Before exam day, complete the Exam Readiness Check using the exact computer and location you intend to test from.
ABR supplies a list of constants and physical values for calculations, but it explicitly does not guarantee that list contains every value you might need, so reviewing its organization ahead of time is worthwhile. ABR's calculator familiarization exercises include radioactive decay and Mo-99/Tc-99m generator calculations - these are practice exercises only, not actual exam questions, but they signal the calculation style you should expect on Domain 2 and Domain 4 material.
For a deeper look at how difficult candidates find this format in practice, read How Hard Is the ABR-NMP-P2 Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026, and for the exact standard you need to clear, see ABR-NMP-P2 Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Eligibility and the Certification Pathway
Standard eligibility for Part 2 requires passing both the General and Clinical sections of Part 1, plus completing - or being on track to complete by August 31 of the exam year - a CAMPEP-accredited residency or Doctor of Medical Physics program. Your residency must start within 10 years of passing Part 1. Board eligibility itself lasts six full calendar years from residency completion or Part 2 approval, whichever comes first.
Physicists who are already certified in another specialty have a separate additional-specialty pathway that involves ABR-approved prospective, supervised clinical training while maintaining their existing certification. Note again: passing Part 2 by itself does not make you board certified. The full initial-certification pathway requires passing Parts 1, 2, and 3 in sequence.
A detailed walkthrough of every eligibility rule, timeline, and edge case is available in ABR-NMP-P2 Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Governing body | American Board of Radiology |
| Exam format | Remote, computer-based, single session |
| Question count | 130 questions |
| Answering time | 4 hours 1 minute |
| Total allotted time | 4 hours 46 minutes (includes tutorial and breaks) |
| Part 2 exam fee | USD 640 |
| Passing standard | Criterion-referenced, not curved |
Fees, Application Windows, and 2027 Dates
The Part 2 examination fee is USD 640, due at registration. This is separate from the standard initial medical physics certification application fee of USD 250, which is a distinct pathway charge. If a candidate fails on the first attempt, the ABR lists a one-time USD 250 re-examination fee for Part 1 and/or Part 2. All fees are nonrefundable, though prepaid exam fees following a cancellation or nonattendance carry forward and are applied to the next available exam.
For the 2027 cycle, the Part 2 application window opens the first business day in February and closes March 31, 2027. Approved applicants are then invited to register in May 2027, and the published Part 2 examination date is August 11, 2027. Results are normally posted in myABR with an email notification about one month after the exam, based on a criterion-referenced pass/fail standard rather than a comparison against other candidates. If you fail, the entire Part 2 exam must be retaken - there is no partial retake of individual domains.
A full cost breakdown, including how these fees compare to the broader certification pathway, is covered in ABR-NMP-P2 Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and the exact registration calendar is laid out in ABR-NMP-P2 Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling. If you're trying to gauge how attainable that criterion-referenced standard actually is, ABR-NMP-P2 Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows puts published pass-rate data in proper context - note that ABR's published Medical Physics Part 2 pass-rate figures are all-specialty aggregates, not numbers specific to nuclear medical physics candidates.
Who Hires Candidates Pursuing This Credential
Nuclear Medical Physics Part 2 sits within the broader ABR medical physics certification track that hospital systems, academic medical centers, and diagnostic imaging groups reference when evaluating qualified medical physicists for nuclear medicine roles. Employers hiring into nuclear medicine physics positions typically want to see progress through this exact pathway - Part 1, Part 2, and eventually Part 3 - as a marker that a candidate has demonstrated competency across radiation safety, PET and SPECT instrumentation, radiation measurement instrumentation, and clinical procedure oversight.
It is also worth distinguishing this ABR pathway from other nuclear medicine credentialing bodies, such as ABSNM, which represents a separate certification pathway rather than an interchangeable exam. Confusing the two when researching job postings or CE requirements can lead to pursuing the wrong prerequisites.
For candidates weighing career impact, ABR-NMP-P2 Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and Is the ABR-NMP-P2 Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 dig into earnings context using AAPM survey data, while being careful to distinguish medical physicist compensation from nuclear medicine technologist compensation - these are different roles with different pay structures. If you're researching openings directly, ABR-NMP-P2 Jobs and ABR-NMP-P2 Training cover how this credential factors into hiring and training pipelines.
Building an ABR-NMP-P2-Specific Study Sequence
Generic study techniques like spaced repetition or timed practice blocks only help if they're applied against the right material at the right time. Sequence your review around the five domains rather than a generic weekly template pulled from an unrelated exam.
Radiation Measurements and Radiation Protection
- Work calibration and dead-time problems for dose calibrators, well counters, survey meters, and thyroid probes
- Practice shielding and internal/fetal dosimetry calculations
- Review statistical tests, chi-square analysis, and minimum detectable activity formulas
PET & Hybrid and Single Photon Imaging Systems
- Drill attenuation, scatter, and random correction concepts for PET
- Compare intrinsic vs. extrinsic performance testing for gamma cameras
- Rehearse SPECT/CT and PET/CT quality control checklists
Clinical Procedures and Integration
- Connect physics principles to cardiac, pulmonary, tumor, bone, brain, and thyroid protocols
- Review radionuclide therapy and brachytherapy dose considerations
- Run full-length timed practice sessions matching the 4-hour-1-minute answering window
A structured week-by-week plan built entirely around this exam's content guide is available in ABR-NMP-P2 Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. For a fast final review before test day, ABR-NMP-P2 Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts condenses the highest-yield facts across all five domains. When you're ready to test your recall under exam-like conditions, our practice test platform offers original questions mapped to each domain rather than recycled or secure exam content.
After You Pass Part 2
Passing Part 2 moves you toward Part 3, but it is not itself the finish line for certification. Once you eventually reach full certification, maintenance shifts to ABR Continuing Certification: 75 qualifying Category 1 CME, CAMPEP-accredited CE, or eligible Self-Directed Educational Project credits per rolling three-year period, plus one Practice Quality Improvement project or qualifying participatory activity per rolling three-year period. Newly certified diplomates first meet these education and improvement requirements in year four.
Medical physics Online Longitudinal Assessment requires answering at least 52 questions per maintained certificate annually, with the passing standard met in year five of the five-year cycle (or by passing a Continuing Certification Exam in year four or five instead). The annual medical physics Continuing Certification fee is USD 205. These maintenance obligations apply to full certification, not as a separate renewal step for Part 2 itself.
For anyone still deciding whether to pursue this pathway at all, What Does ABR-NMP-P2 Mean? and What Is A ABR-NMP-P2? offer accessible starting points before diving into the full requirements and cost breakdowns linked above.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Passing Part 2 is one qualifying step. Full initial certification requires passing Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the ABR medical physics pathway.
The exam has 130 questions with 4 hours 1 minute of answering time. Including the tutorial and break allowance, the total time allotted is 4 hours 46 minutes.
You must retake the entire Part 2 exam; there is no partial retake by domain. A one-time USD 250 re-examination fee applies after a first-attempt failure.
No. The exam is closed book, and scratch paper and study notes are prohibited. A compliant physical erasable whiteboard is allowed but must be clear at the start and end of the session.
No. ABR and ABSNM are distinct certification pathways in nuclear medicine physics, not interchangeable examinations, so candidates should verify which pathway an employer or role requires.