- What This Cheat Sheet Covers (and What It Doesn't)
- Eligibility Snapshot: The Seven Gatekeepers
- Fees, Registration and Testing Formats
- What the Issuer Has Not Published
- The 28-Topic Curriculum Map
- Pre-Bout Block: Domains 1-3, 6, 24 and 25
- Intra-Bout Block: Domains 11-18 and 22
- Post-Bout, Safety and Systems Block
- Infection, Cardiac and Substance Block
- Sequencing Your Review Around the Cheat Sheet
- Renewal Rules in One Glance
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Certified Ringside Physician is issued through the Association of Ringside Physicians (ARP), not a state athletic-commission license.
- Exam fees run USD 239 to USD 374 depending on ARP membership and conference versus online delivery.
- Eligibility requires 15 professional fights across three cards, or 30 amateur fights across five cards, plus two recommendations.
- The issuer-recommended Basics course lists 28 session topics, from Combat Sports Landscapes to Malpractice and Medico-legal issues.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers (and What It Doesn't)
This page is a compressed review of the Certified Ringside Physician credential administered by the Association of Ringside Physicians (ARP). Some legacy ACSM/ARP wording still appears on the certification page, which can confuse candidates who find older references. The credential is specifically a ringside-physician certification. It is not a sports-medicine board qualification, and it is not the examination a state athletic commission uses to license physicians in its jurisdiction.
If you are still orienting yourself, start with What Is CRP Certification? for the big picture, then return here for the one-page facts. For a longer planning document, the CRP Study Guide goes deeper on preparation strategy.
Eligibility Snapshot: The Seven Gatekeepers
The Certified Ringside Physician application is gated by experience and documentation, not just a test. Treat this list as a checklist you can verify before spending money on anything else. A fuller walkthrough lives in CRP Requirements: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
- Medical degree: MD, DO, or a foreign medical-degree equivalent.
- Licensure: At least two years licensed and in good standing in the jurisdiction where you provide ringside care, with the licensing body's required CME current.
- Ringside experience: Coverage of at least three professional cards and 15 total fights, or five amateur cards and 30 total fights.
- Recommendations: Two eligible recommendations from an athletic commissioner, a local boxing committee, or a ringside physician.
- Specialty board status: Primary-specialty board certification or eligibility, where applicable.
- Clinical-experience documentation: Completed by the commission you worked under.
- Application: A signed physician-listing application.
Fees, Registration and Testing Formats
ARP offers two delivery routes: testing at its annual conference and online testing. Registration runs through a Wild Apricot event page. That platform handles sign-up and payment; the issuer's pages do not identify it as the examination-delivery vendor, so do not assume it is where you will sit the test.
| Format | ARP Member | Non-Member |
|---|---|---|
| Conference examination | USD 239 | USD 299 |
| Online examination | USD 314 | USD 374 |
| Optional Basics physician course | USD 500 | USD 700 |
The Basics course is a separate purchase and is optional; it is not bundled into any examination fee. Candidates budgeting the whole path should read CRP Certification Cost: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and those weighing the return should see Is the CRP Certification Worth It?
Key Takeaway
Conference testing is cheaper than online testing for both member and non-member candidates, but only the conference date is tied to a physical event. If travel cost exceeds the fee gap, the online route may still be cheaper overall. Compare total outlay, not just the listed fee.
What the Issuer Has Not Published
This is the section most cheat sheets get wrong by inventing numbers. As of the October 2026 check, ARP has not publicly verified a universal question count, examination duration, passing score or pass rate. There is no fixed "Exam" line to memorize, and anyone quoting one without citing ARP should be treated with caution.
One detail does circulate: at the May 31, 2026 conference, the examination block ran from 2:15 to 4:15 p.m., separate from the review session before it. That was an event-specific schedule. It does not establish a universal online timer, and it should not be read as the official length of every sitting.
- Question count: not publicly verified.
- Duration: not publicly verified (the 2:15-4:15 p.m. block was one conference's schedule).
- Passing score: not publicly verified. See CRP Passing Score for how to reason about this without a published cutoff.
- Pass rate: not publicly verified. See CRP Pass Rate: What the Data Shows for the honest picture.
The practical consequence: prepare for breadth across the full curriculum rather than gaming a threshold. Difficulty is discussed qualitatively in How Hard Is the CRP Exam?, and scheduling logistics are in CRP Exam Dates: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
The 28-Topic Curriculum Map
The best public guide to scope is the issuer-recommended Ringside Medicine Basics Online Course: 28 public session titles, recorded February through July 2022, with the course page updated July 8, 2025 and linked from the certification page updated September 9, 2026. Two cautions matter here.
- These are unweighted preparation-curriculum topics, not 28 official exam domains with published percentages. Do not assume equal weighting, and do not assume the list is exhaustive of what the exam can ask.
- Session lengths are not examination duration, and the 2022 recording dates are not an exam-version identifier.
Titles below preserve the source spellings, including "Blood Bourne" and the spacing in "T UE's." For a domain-by-domain breakdown, see CRP Exam Domains: Complete Guide to All 28 Content Areas.
Pre-Bout Block: Domains 1-3, 6, 24 and 25
Domain 1: Combat Sports Landscapes
The orientation layer: who regulates, who promotes, and where the physician fits in the structure of a card.
- Know the difference between professional and amateur oversight, since your eligibility path depends on it.
- Understand the physician's role relative to commissions, promoters and officials.
Domain 2: Universal and Potential Requirements for Pro License
What a fighter generally must present to be cleared to compete professionally.
- Distinguish requirements that are near-universal from those that vary by jurisdiction.
- Expect scenario framing around what documentation or testing is missing.
Domain 3: Pre-bout Focused Exams
The targeted examination you perform before a fighter enters the ring.
- Prioritize what must be screened versus what can be deferred.
- Practice articulating the specific findings that justify a hold or a clearance.
Domain 6: Weight Cutting
Dehydration and rapid weight loss as pre-bout risk factors.
- Recognize the clinical picture of an over-cut athlete.
- Know why this matters for both safety and the decision to allow competition.
Domain 24: Evaluation of Pre-bout HTN
Elevated blood pressure found at the pre-fight check.
- Understand how to evaluate before deciding whether a fighter proceeds.
Domain 25: Mouth Guards in Combat Sports
Protective equipment and its role in injury prevention.
- Know the rationale and requirements, not only the fact that guards are worn.
Intra-Bout Block: Domains 11-18 and 22
This is the densest cluster of the curriculum and the one that most resembles real ringside practice. It rewards fast, structured decision-making: what you see, what you check, and when you stop the bout.
| Domain | Core Focus |
|---|---|
| 11: Basic Intra-bout Physician Behavior | Positioning, conduct and readiness during action |
| 12: Intra-bout Evaluation of Ocular Injuries | Assessing eye trauma between rounds |
| 13: Intra-bout Evaluation of OMF Injuries | Oral and maxillofacial trauma |
| 14: Intra-bout Evaluation of Lacerations | Bleeding, location and stoppage decisions |
| 15: Intra-bout Eval of Orthopedic Injuries | Joint and limb injuries during a bout |
| 16: Intra-bout Evaluation of TBI | Recognizing traumatic brain injury in real time |
| 17: Choke Holds | Recognition and response in grappling-based sports |
| 22: Referee and Ringside Physician Interaction | Communication and authority at the ring |
Post-Bout, Safety and Systems Block
Once the bout ends or stops, responsibility continues. These domains cover the downstream care and the structures that keep a card safe.
Domains 18-21: Downed Athlete and Post-Bout Care
From the athlete on the canvas to what happens afterward.
- Domain 18: Management of the Downed Combat Sports Athlete
- Domain 19: Post-Bout Management of Potential TBI
- Domain 20: Post Bout Management of Orthopedic Injuries
- Domain 21: Post-Bout Laceration Repair
Domain 9 and Domain 7: Emergency Action Plan and the Physician's Bag
Preparedness before anything goes wrong.
- Know what an emergency action plan must contain and who executes each piece.
- Know what equipment belongs in the ringside physician's bag and why.
Domains 26-28: Concussion, Imaging and Medico-legal
The longer-horizon topics that tie care to guidelines and liability.
- Domain 26: Concussion Management in Combat Sports
- Domain 27: Neuro-Imaging Guidelines in Combat Sports
- Domain 28: Malpractice and Medico-legal issues in Combat Sports
- Domain 23: Ethics, which frequently intersects with all of the above.
Infection, Cardiac and Substance Block
These four domains are the most "textbook" part of the curriculum, and they are where candidates from non-combat backgrounds often need extra time.
- Domain 4: Blood Bourne Infectious Disease (source spelling preserved). Focus on transmission risk in a sport where bleeding is routine, and on protective practice at the cageside or ringside.
- Domain 10: Infectious Skin Disease. Contact sports spread skin infections efficiently; know recognition and the clearance implications.
- Domain 5: EKG Interpretation. A pre-bout cardiac screening skill. Review rhythm recognition and the findings that would raise concern about clearance.
- Domain 8: T UE's and Banned Substances (heading spacing as displayed at the source). Expect questions on therapeutic use exemptions and the substance-control side of regulated sport.
Key Takeaway
Domains 4, 5, 8 and 10 are memorization-heavy, while the intra-bout domains are judgment-heavy. Study them differently: drill facts for the first group, and practice scenario reasoning for the second.
Sequencing Your Review Around the Cheat Sheet
Because the published curriculum is unweighted, a sensible plan front-loads the memorization domains and saves scenario work for later, when you have the vocabulary to reason with. This is one possible order tied to the domains above, not an official ARP schedule.
Landscape and Licensing
- Domains 1 and 2, plus your own eligibility paperwork.
- Confirm commission documentation early, since it depends on other people.
Fact-Dense Medicine
- Domains 4, 5, 8 and 10.
- Domains 6, 24 and 25 as pre-bout screening topics.
Intra-Bout Judgment
- Domains 11 through 18 and 22, framed around the continue-or-stop decision.
Aftercare and Systems
- Domains 7, 9, 18 through 21, and 23.
- Domains 26 through 28 for guidelines and liability.
- Finish with timed practice questions on the full set, using the CRP practice test.
Candidates also use the ARP Combat Sports Manual, ARP consensus statements and a members-only certification-review lecture. The paid manual and the restricted lecture were not available to this article, so no extra headings were drawn from them. If you buy them, treat their contents as additions to this map, not as confirmed exam blueprints.
For a broader view of how preparation resources fit together, see CRP Training. When you are ready to test yourself, work through realistic items in the CRP Exam Prep practice test and review the weak domains again.
Renewal Rules in One Glance
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Cycle | Every three years |
| CME required | At least 12 hours of ringside or combat-sports-medicine CME earned in the preceding three years |
| Fee | Recertification is free when completed before expiration |
| Submission | Three-year CME submission through ARP's Wild Apricot event page |
Frequently Asked Questions
No. On this site CRP means Certified Ringside Physician, issued through the Association of Ringside Physicians. It is unrelated to any other certification sharing the abbreviation. If you are unsure which one a source means, What Does CRP Stand For? clarifies the distinction.
Conference examination fees are USD 239 for ARP members and USD 299 for non-members. Online examination fees are USD 314 for members and USD 374 for non-members. The optional Basics course is a separate USD 500 for members or USD 700 for non-members.
ARP has not publicly verified a universal question count, examination duration, passing score or pass rate, so none is given here. The two-hour block at the May 31, 2026 conference was event-specific and should not be treated as a standard timer.
No. They are the 28 public session titles from the issuer-recommended Ringside Medicine Basics Online Course. They are unweighted preparation topics and are not guaranteed to be an exhaustive list of what the examination covers.
Renewal is every three years and requires at least 12 hours of ringside or combat-sports-medicine CME earned during that period. Recertification is free when completed before your credential expires.