Exam curriculum
Eight mental models first, then every ABHP competency domain built on top — with retrieval practice weighted at 70% of study time.
ABHP blueprint
Each module's study minutes are split across the blueprint domains it covers, then aggregated across all 24 modules.
Weights from the ABHP Examination Preparation Guide role-delineation study.
Module sequence
Spine modules (M01–M06) introduce the mental models. Domain modules apply them. Integration modules (M22–M24) chain everything into Part II answers.
Unit 1
Establish the two upstream spine models every later calculation depends on: the dosimetric quantity chain (MM1) and activity/decay/equilibrium (MM3).
You can place any dose-related quantity on the absorbed-equivalent-effective hierarchy, convert between them with the correct weighting factor in the correct order, and state which quantity a regulation or measurement actually refers to.
You can compute activity at any time, classify an equilibrium as secular or transient and find the daughter-to-parent ratio, and combine physical and biological clearance into an effective half-life correctly.
Unit 2
Ground absorbed dose in charged-particle energy deposition (reinforcing MM1) and introduce the interaction-mechanism model (MM4) that sets attenuation, detector response, and shielding choice.
You can explain how a charged particle deposits energy to create absorbed dose, estimate range and LET behavior, and predict when bremsstrahlung makes a high-Z shield the wrong first choice.
You can predict the dominant photon interaction for a given energy and material, derive mu and HVL/TVL behavior from interaction physics, and describe how neutrons interact differently by energy.
Unit 3
Introduce the source-shield-distance-time model (MM2) and the stochastic-vs-deterministic model (MM5) that anchors dose limits, completing the spine.
You can control or estimate an external dose by composing the four levers - source, shield, distance, time - choosing the correct geometry, applying buildup when broad-beam, and solving for stay-time.
You can classify a radiation effect as deterministic or stochastic, apply the LQ model and nominal risk coefficient, and explain why the dose-limit system has the two-tier structure it does.
Unit 4
Build the highest-weighted competency (Domain I, 25%) on MM4: detector physics, scintillation/semiconductor systems, counting statistics and MDA, and calibration/QC/survey design.
You can select among ion chamber, proportional counter, and GM tube for a measurement task, set operating voltage from the plateau, and correct for dead time in the right direction.
You can match a detector medium to an emission and energy, read an energy spectrum for identification, and distinguish the efficiency types that govern a quantitative count.
You can compute a net count rate with its 95% uncertainty, distinguish the decision level from the detection level, derive an MDA, and allocate count time to meet a sensitivity requirement.
You can calibrate and QC an instrument against a traceable standard, correct for energy and geometry, and design a survey that meets a stated detection and posting objective.
Unit 5
Apply MM2 and MM4 to operational external dose-rate work, stay-time, and structural/medical/neutron shielding design.
You can estimate an external dose rate from a real source using the correct gamma constant and geometry, combine distance and shielding correctly, and convert a dose budget into an allowable stay-time.
You can design a structural or medical-vault barrier using workload, use, and occupancy factors, apply buildup and the correct TVL model, and verify the design against a behind-barrier dose goal.
You can analyze a neutron field by energy, design a thermalize-then-capture shield accounting for capture gammas, compute activation, and state the controls that keep a system subcritical.
Unit 6
Introduce the intake-to-committed-dose model (MM6) and apply it through biokinetics, ALI/DAC, the TEDE/CEDE/MIRD chain, and bioassay back-calculation.
You can trace an intake through the biokinetic chain to a committed dose, determine whether a nuclide's ALI is stochastic or non-stochastic, and relate ALI, DAC, and DAC-hours correctly.
You can back-calculate an intake from a bioassay measurement using the correct retention fraction, sum committed dose across pathways, and assemble a TEDE for comparison to the limit.
Unit 7
Introduce the ICRP justification-optimization-limitation system (MM7), jurisdictional architecture, and 10 CFR 20 operational depth.
You can identify the governing authority and regulation for a given activity, distinguish limitation from optimization, and explain why ALARA is documented cost-benefit rather than minimization.
You can apply the 10 CFR 20 dose limits and their structure to a worker or member of the public, classify and post areas correctly, and identify the monitoring, ALARA, and reporting obligations that apply.
Unit 8
Apply the full spine to facility operations, environmental/effluent/dispersion, waste/decommissioning/transport, and emergency response with PAGs.
You can run the radiation-protection logic of a reactor, medical, or accelerator setting - identifying the source term, the controlling regulation, and the dose-control decisions appropriate to that facility.
You can estimate a public dose from an environmental release using dispersion and pathway models, and design an effluent monitoring program that demonstrates compliance with the governing concentration limit.
You can classify a waste stream, derive a decommissioning DCGL and apply the unity rule, and determine a transport package category, label, and transport index correctly.
You can perform a rapid dose projection in an emergency, compare it to the appropriate PAG to recommend a protective action, and apply graduated emergency-worker dose controls.
Unit 9
Teach the integration meta-model (MM8): canonical radionuclide profiles, cross-domain capstones, and Part II answer architecture, specialty frameworks, and timed retrieval.
You can profile any of the 13 canonical radionuclides - its emissions, dominant hazard, detector, shielding, and internal-dose behavior - and select the governing mental model from the nuclide's properties.
You can execute any of the seven canonical capstones end to end - assembling each model's output as the next model's input, carrying units, labeling conservative assumptions, and closing with a regulation-cited operational decision.
You can structure a Part II answer that earns full method and judgment credit, navigate any of the eight specialty frameworks, and manage time and elective selection under exam pressure.
Mental models
Each model is introduced exactly once, then applied across later modules. Domain rules connect back to the model that makes them predictable.
Fluence to kerma to absorbed dose to equivalent dose to effective dose are distinct steps; exposure and activity are not dose.
External exposure control is one logic; inverse-square, attenuation, buildup, and stay-time are its consequences.
Activity evolves by A0*e^(-lambda*t); equilibrium is secular or transient; effective half-life is harmonic, not additive.
Photon energy and material Z (photoelectric, Compton, pair production) and charged-particle stopping/bremsstrahlung set mu, detector response, and shielding choice.
Threshold deterministic effects vs no-threshold stochastic effects; LNT is a protection-policy assumption, not settled biology.
Intake is committed over 50 years and assigned to the year of intake; ALI, DAC, DAC-hours, and CEDE are distinct points on the chain.
International and US rules are organized by justification, optimization (ALARA), and limitation; jurisdiction determines which number governs.
A complete CHP analysis is a chain disciplined by unit-tracking, labeled conservative assumptions, and a regulation-cited 'so what'.
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