Almost all health care professions have some sort of certification exam. Passing this exam lets both employers and consumers know that the professional has a certain amount of knowledge about their specialty. You wouldn’t go to a doctor who hadn’t passed the board exam and you wouldn’t go to physical therapist that wasn’t certified. After going for years without any sort of certification, the field of public health finally has a certification exam.

Passing this exam means that the test taker is certified in public health. They are able to add the initials CPH to the end of their name. The exam was first offered in August 2008. It continues to be offered once a year, in August.

Requirements to Take Exam

In order to be eligible to take the exam, an individual must meet certain education requirements. Individuals must have a graduate degree (Masters or Doctoral) from a school or program that is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). Individual who are graduating in the spring or summer of 2009 must complete all their degree requirements before July 31st in order to be eligible for the exam.

If an individual went to a school that was not accredited by CEPH at the time they attended, but the school became accredited within three years of their graduation they are still eligible. The CPH exam website has a list accreditation dates and graduation dates that they will accept.

CPH Test Basics

The CPH exam is offered at 300 testing centers in the United States. When registering, test takers are able to select their preferred location for taking the test, though this site is not guaranteed. Test-takers are allowed to choose their testing site and time on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The price to take the test is $400. Those who register before November 2, 2008, receive an early bird discount of $50. After April 30, 2009, registrants are charged an extra $75 to register for the exam.

CPH Subject Areas

The CPH exam is designed to be a well rounded test that covers all the basic core competencies of public health. Major areas covered on the test are biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health policy and management, and social and behavioral sciences. There are also a number of cross-cutting competencies that are also included on the exam including communication and informatics, diversity and culture, leadership, public health biology, professionalism, program planning, and systems thinking.

Studying for the CPH Exam

There are two study guides currently in existence to help future test takers study for the CPH exam. The first is published by the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). This guide is mainly an online guide. The updated guide is said to be available in February 2009. The ASPH website allows you to sign up to receive an email when it becomes available. The second study guide is published by Jones and Bartlett Publishers. This is a hard copy study guide. The study guide from the 2008 exam is still available and the new 2009 guide will be available in April.

The Jones and Bartlett Publishers CPH Study Guide