PCE exam preparation for the CPTE: CAPR’s tools and other courses

CAPR’s tools and two courses

Option	Price	Free to use	Links
Official sources
CPTE Blueprint 2025 and Companion Guide, from CAPRThe content, format and weight of every part of the examThe Companion Guide explains the intent of each content area. CAPR expects candidates to use both to prepare.	Free PDFs	Both documents	Get the CPTE blueprint ↗Get the companion guide ↗
Key Reference List, from CAPRCAPR’s reading list, sorted by domain and area of practiceIt lists textbooks for each clinical area and CAPR’s own ethics and practice standards for the non-clinical domains.	Free to read	The whole list	See the reading list ↗
CPTE Tutorial and Written Component Practice Exam, from CAPRA demo of both sections on the exam platform, and 200 retired PCE questions in 4 hoursThe oral tutorial includes an example case. CAPR’s practice exam is bought in the Client Portal and runs on the platform the Written Section uses.	Tutorial free; practice exam $120	The tutorial, as often as you like	Open CAPR’s practice tools ↗
PCE Learning Module, from CAPRUntimed multiple-choice questions with an explanation for every optionMade for the PCE Written Component and mapped to the PCE Blueprint 2018. It’s open to every CAPR client in credentialling or the exam process.	Free in the Client Portal	The whole module	See the learning module ↗
Courses
CPTE Final Frontier (CPTEFF)Live and self-study CPTE courses, mock exams, tutoring and a course for the Physiotherapy Evaluation ToolFormerly PCE Final Frontier. It says it was set up in 2018 by physiotherapists and that its courses and mock exams follow the CPTE’s written and oral format. It also offers help with CAPR credentialling.	Not listed on its courses page	An introduction class, a Jeopardy review and a musculoskeletal series	See CPTEFF’s courses ↗
Physio Refresh CoRe, from the University of British Columbia (UBC)Competency Refresh: five self-directed online modules with live virtual workshopsIts baseline and final exams include multiple-choice questions and oral stations that UBC says follow the CPTE’s oral format. The lab weekend is at UBC’s Point Grey campus. UBC’s fees page lists these prices without a year, so check them when you register. It gives no refunds if you cancel, but refunds the lab weekend fee in full if the weekend is cancelled for too few participants.	$4,000, plus $500 for the optional lab weekend	No	See UBC’s CoRe course ↗

Prices and ratings checked November 2026.

Books on CAPR’s Key Reference List

CAPR groups its reading list by area of practice, age group and domain. The textbooks in each group:

• Musculoskeletal: Brukner & Khan’s Clinical Sports Medicine; Dutton’s Orthopedic Examination, Evaluation and Intervention; Therapeutic Exercise: Foundations and Techniques; Orthopedic Physical Assessment; Pathology and Intervention in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation
• Neurological: Umphred’s Neurological Rehabilitation; Neurologic Rehabilitation: Neuroscience and Neuroplasticity in Physical Therapy Practice
• Cardiovascular-respiratory: Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Physical Therapy: Evidence to Practice; Essentials of Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy; Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Physical Therapy: An Evidence-Based Approach
• General: Michlovitz’s Modalities for Therapeutic Intervention; Primary Care for the Physical Therapist; O’Sullivan & Schmitz’s Physical Rehabilitation; Goodman and Fuller’s Pathology; Acute Care Handbook for Physical Therapists; The Color Atlas of Physical Therapy
• Paediatrics: Guide to Pediatric Physical Therapy; Campbell’s Physical Therapy for Children; Tecklin’s Pediatric Physical Therapy
• Geriatrics: Guccione’s Geriatric Physical Therapy; Geriatric Physical Therapy: A Case Study Approach
• Non-clinical domains: Dutton’s Introduction to Physical Therapy and Patient Skills; Pierson and Fairchild’s Principles & Techniques of Patient Care; Health Professional and Patient Interaction

For the non-clinical domains it adds its own Code of Ethical Conduct and Model Standards of Practice. Under other resources it includes the Competency Profile for Physiotherapists in Canada (2017) and standards of practice from regulators in eight provinces and Yukon.