NPTE-PTA Content Outline 2026: How Many Questions Each Area Gets

The NPTE-PTA has 180 questions, and 140 of them count toward your score. FSBPT decides how those 140 are split with its NPTE-PTA Test Content Outline, in effect since January 2024 and still current for 2026. Here is every number in it, and what it means for your studying.

What's on the NPTE-PTA?

Those ranges are from FSBPT's NPTE-PTA Test Content Outline, effective January 2024. FSBPT says the exam measures the knowledge "required of entry-level physical therapist assistants working under the supervision of a physical therapist," with a focus on "the clinical application of knowledge."

NPTE-PTA content areas ranked by weight

Each bar spans the minimum to maximum scored items FSBPT allows from that area, on a scale of 0 to 60. Percentages below are of the 140 scored items.

The full NPTE-PTA blueprint

*Diseases/Conditions that Impact Effective Treatment. A dash means FSBPT allots no items to that cell. The Data Collection total is the sum of its column (23–34); FSBPT's Candidate Handbook prints 22–34.

The three question categories on the PTA exam

• Physical Therapy Data Collection (23–34 items): gathering and interpreting the measurements a PTA takes within the plan of care, plus the related anatomy, physiology and movement analysis. FSBPT's examples include rib cage excursion and breathing pattern, and friction, shear and pressure for the skin.
• Diseases/Conditions that Impact Effective Treatment (35–53 items, the largest category): the conditions themselves, their medical management (imaging, lab values, surgery), and how they change what a PTA should do in a session.
• Interventions (34–50 items): carrying out interventions safely, and recognizing adverse effects, including effects on one system of treating another.

These differ from the PT exam's categories, which are Examination, Foundations for Evaluation, Differential Diagnosis & Prognosis, and Interventions. PTA questions are about carrying out the plan of care, not designing it.

Body systems on the NPTE-PTA

• Musculoskeletal, 31–40 items (22.1–28.6%): the largest area, split across data collection (9–12), conditions (10–13) and interventions (12–15).
• Neuromuscular and nervous systems, 27–35 items: central, peripheral and autonomic conditions, with interventions (10–13) the largest block.
• Cardiovascular and pulmonary, 20–27 items (14.3–19.3%): proportionally a bigger share than on the PT exam (12.2–15.0%).
• Integumentary, 3–8 items; lymphatic, 2–6; metabolic and endocrine, 4–6.
• Gastrointestinal and genitourinary, 0–4 items each. Some forms may have none from these systems. FSBPT's examples include positioning for reflux prevention, bowel programs, bladder programs, biofeedback and pelvic floor retraining.
• System interactions, 5–7 items: conditions affecting several systems (cancer, multitrauma, sarcoidosis, autoimmune disorders, pregnancy), comorbidities such as "dementia and hip fracture," psychological conditions and dimensions of pain, framed around carrying out the established plan of care.

Non-system areas on the NPTE-PTA

• Equipment, devices & technologies (8–10): walkers, wheelchairs, seating and positioning, mechanical lifts, upper- and lower-extremity prostheses, braces, helmets, compression garments, shoe inserts and splints. At up to 7.1% of the scored exam, this area carries more weight than on the PT exam.
• Therapeutic modalities (5–7): thermal agents, iontophoresis, electrotherapy (NMES, TENS, FES, interferential, high-voltage pulsed current), ultrasound, mechanical modalities including traction, biofeedback and intermittent pneumatic compression.
• Safety & protection (6–8): safe patient handling, fall prevention, IV lines, tubes, catheters and oxygen equipment, CPR and emergency response, infection control, and signs of abuse and neglect.
• Professional responsibilities (2–4): documentation, patient rights, PT and PTA roles, ethics, billing, reporting obligations, regulation, cultural and socioeconomic factors (FSBPT names health literacy and social determinants of health), and health IT.
• Research & evidence-based practice (1–3): levels of evidence, data collection techniques, reliability and validity, and finding evidence. Unlike the PT outline, the PTA outline doesn't list a separate statistics item.

What the outline doesn't show

FSBPT notes that some knowledge areas, "communication skills, teaching and learning techniques, provision of telehealth," aren't listed separately. They're "encompassed by multiple knowledge areas" and show up across the exam "to a greater extent than is apparent from this outline."

How to study by the PTA blueprint

The body systems make up 108–118 of the 140 scored items (77–84%), so spend most of your time there, weighted to musculoskeletal, neuro and cardiopulmonary. Give the non-system areas proper time too: at 22–32 items, they're worth about as much as the whole cardiopulmonary area. Then test yourself across all areas with timed sets. See the NPTE-PTA exam guide for format, dates and pass rates, or NPTE vs NPTE-PTA for a side-by-side comparison.

Frequently asked questions