MHP Certification

What Is MHP Certification?

MHP Certification - formally Certification in Medical Health Physics - is a specialty credential administered by the American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP) for physicists who work primarily in radiation safety, shielding design, and regulatory compliance within clinical environments. This site focuses specifically on the Part II written Medical Health Physics examination, not the Part I General Medical Physics exam or the Part III oral examination that follow it in the usual certification sequence.

If you landed here searching for a plain-language definition, our companion explainers cover the basics from different angles: What Is MHP?, MHP Meaning, What Does MHP Stand For?, and What Is A MHP? all address the terminology question before you dive into exam mechanics. This article assumes you already know you're pursuing the ABMP credential and want the operational details: format, domains, fees, eligibility, and pass-rate context.

Exam Format and Administration

ABMP administers Part II on site through ExamSoft, run on the candidate's own compatible computer at a designated testing venue rather than a third-party testing center. The exam runs four hours and mixes several question styles designed to test both recall and applied judgment:

• Single-answer multiple choice - the bulk of the exam
• Matching items - pairing terms, regulations, or values
• Choose-all-that-apply - no partial credit for partial selection
• Shared-stem Type S questions - a single clinical or regulatory scenario feeding multiple linked questions

Only nonprogrammable scientific calculators and scratch paper supplied at the venue are permitted; no personal notes, reference sheets, or programmable devices are allowed. Because the shared-stem format rewards the ability to hold a scenario in mind across several questions, candidates who practice reading dense regulatory or clinical stems under time pressure tend to perform better than those who only drill isolated facts. For a deeper breakdown of what actually makes this exam difficult, see How Hard Is the MHP Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.

The Nine-Domain Blueprint

The current online blueprint (information booklet revised May 2025) organizes Part II into nine weighted content areas. Five of them - Standards and Regulations, Structural Shielding, Radiation Oncology, Diagnostic Imaging, and Nuclear Medicine - each carry 15%, together accounting for 75% of the entire exam. That concentration means a candidate's preparation time should not be spread evenly across all nine areas.

The remaining four domains - Instrumentation (10%), Laboratory Design (5%), Radiation Biology (5%), and Non-ionizing Radiation (5%) - round out the blueprint at lower weights but still appear regularly enough that skipping them is risky. A full breakdown of every domain, including how the weighting should shape your review order, is available in MHP Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 9 Content Areas.

Eligibility and Registration Path

Eligibility for Part II is not simply a matter of registering and paying a fee. ABMP requires:

• A relevant graduate degree in medical physics or a closely related field
• Supervised clinical experience, with the required duration varying by degree type and residency status
• An endorsement from a board-certified physicist
• An endorsement from a board-certified physician
• A completed MHP Training and Education Form documenting the above

The typical sequence is Part I credit (or an approved waiver) followed by Part II and then Part III. Certified Health Physicists who already hold that separate credential may qualify for a direct-to-oral pathway that bypasses part of this sequence. Because the documentation requirements are detailed and degree-dependent, it's worth reviewing them well before you plan to sit for the exam - see MHP Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify and MHP Training for the supervised-experience specifics.

2026 Fees and Costs

The 2026 Part II examination fee is $690 if paid by check or $715 if paid through PayPal. Budgeting for certification should also account for study materials, any travel to the designated testing venue, and time away from clinical duties to prepare. For a complete line-item breakdown of what candidates typically spend from application through recertification, read MHP Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.

Scheduling also matters: ABMP sets specific testing windows and application deadlines each cycle, and missing a deadline can push your exam attempt back significantly. Check current windows before finalizing your study timeline in MHP Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Pass Rates and the Scoring Standard

ABMP sets the passing standard using a Modified Angoff process, meaning the cut score is derived from expert judgment about the difficulty of each item rather than a fixed percentage like 70% correct. This is a critical distinction: a candidate cannot assume any single numeric score threshold applies uniformly year to year. For a plain explanation of how the Angoff method translates into an actual score you need to hit, see MHP Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

Official Part II pass rates, calculated as candidates passing divided by all candidates taking that exam (not a first-time-only rate), were:

The year-over-year movement suggests the exam's difficulty relative to candidate preparation has shifted somewhat, but no single year should be read as a permanent trend. A more detailed discussion of what these numbers do and don't tell you is in MHP Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.

Building a Study Plan Around the Blueprint

A generic study calendar wastes time on an exam this specialized. The weighting alone tells you where to spend the bulk of your hours: the five 15% domains deserve roughly three times the attention given to Laboratory Design, Radiation Biology, or Non-ionizing Radiation.

Spaced repetition and active-recall techniques work well here, but only if you schedule them against this domain weighting rather than an evenly distributed calendar. A full week-by-week plan, including how to pace four-hour timed practice sessions, is laid out in MHP Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. Keep a condensed reference on hand for last-minute review using MHP Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts, and reinforce your timing and question-format familiarity with full-length simulations on our practice test platform.

Recertification and Maintaining MHP

MHP certification is not permanent. It renews on a five-year cycle, requiring 125 continuing education credits, of which at least 65 must be Category 1 and no more than 60 may be Category 2. Because Category 1 credits typically require more rigorous documentation and formal activity, planning your CE portfolio early in the five-year window helps avoid a scramble as your renewal deadline approaches.

Who Hires MHP-Certified Physicists

Medical Health Physics certification signals expertise in radiation safety across the departments the blueprint itself covers: radiation oncology, diagnostic imaging, and nuclear medicine. Hospitals, academic medical centers, and outpatient radiation therapy centers typically look for MHP-certified physicists to lead shielding design reviews, regulatory compliance programs, and radiation safety committees. Roles often sit alongside or report into radiation safety officer functions and clinical medical physics teams.

If you're weighing whether the credential is worth pursuing given the time and cost involved, our analyses in Is the MHP Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and MHP Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis walk through the career trade-offs in more depth. For open positions and how employers typically phrase MHP requirements in job postings, see MHP Jobs. And if you're still confirming this is the right credential for your career path before you register, start with What Is MHP Certification? and What Does MHP Mean? for the foundational context.

Whichever stage you're at - confirming eligibility, scheduling your test date, or running final timed drills - treating the Part II blueprint as your organizing framework, rather than studying generic health physics content, is the single most effective decision you can make. Full-length timed practice exams modeled on the shared-stem and choose-all-that-apply formats are available through our MHP practice test library to help you rehearse under realistic conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions