Exam content areas


We’ve organized the PEP exam into 10 knowledge-based content areas. Each exam content area comprises a knowledge statement and multiple questions that test your grasp of that domain.

Here are the 10 domains tested by the PEP and the relative weights of the content areas. The percentages noted represents the percentage of questions relative to the total number of exam questions:

  1. integrating clinical psychopharmacology with the practice of psychology (7.3%)
  2. neuroscience (6.7%)
  3. nervous system pathology (11.3%)
  4. physiology and pathophysiology (16.0%)
  5. biopsychosocial and pharmacologic assessment and monitoring (6.0%)
  6. differential diagnosis (10.0%)
  7. pharmacology (12.7%)
  8. clinical psychopharmacology (16.0%)
  9. research (7.3%)
  10. professional, legal, ethical, and interprofessional issues (6.7%)

Download the PEP Candidate Handbook to review the exam domains in greater detail.