FP-C vs CCP-C: Test Plans Compared

FP-C vs CCP-C test plans side by side

IBSC publishes each blueprint as a number of scored items per content area. The FP-C uses ten areas from its detailed content outline; the CCP-C, in its April 2026 candidate handbook, uses twelve, splitting medical care into five parts and adding bariatric and geriatric patients. The table lines them up by topic.

Read across the rows and the pattern is clear. Pediatric and maternal-fetal-neonatal care carry identical weight on both. The FP-C gives more items to airway, cardiac and neurologic care and spends 16 items on flight physiology and safety and transport together. The CCP-C counts respiratory, toxicologic and environmental emergencies as their own areas, so its five medical areas total 50 items, almost half the exam, and it adds a bariatric and geriatric area.

Practice free in your browser

Format and passing scores

According to the April 2026 CCP-C candidate handbook, you cannot return to the first section once you finish it, so review your flagged items before you move on. Both exams provide an on-screen calculator; you cannot bring your own. Neither is adaptive, so every candidate answers all 135 items, and the 25 unscored items are mixed in where you cannot spot them. Answer every item.

The raw passing scores differ, 73 against 68, but that does not make one exam easier. Each cut is set for its own exam and its own items, so the numbers are not comparable across the two.

Eligibility in brief

• Both: a current, unrestricted paramedic license in your state or country of practice, uploaded when you register.
• No required experience minimum. IBSC recommends at least 3 years of experience, and says the exams are aimed at experienced, master-level paramedics rather than entry-level knowledge.
• Both expect significant knowledge of ACLS, PALS, neonatal resuscitation and trauma life support standards.
• FP-C also expects significant knowledge of flight physiology and current CAMTS flight safety standards.
• Allow 3 to 5 business days after registering to receive your eligibility number. You get up to three attempts at the same exam, at least 30 days apart.
• Renewal every 4 years by exam or continuing education. An expired credential means retesting.

The two credentials are separate certifications. Passing one does not grant the other, and IBSC's recommended reading list is the same for both.

Who should take which

• Flying now or applying to a flight program: take the FP-C. IBSC notes that most air ambulance programs require it, and its flight physiology and safety items reflect the job.
• Ground critical care transport, interfacility or specialty ground teams: the CCP-C is geared to that environment and weights medical and special-population care more heavily.
• Both roles in your future: take the exam that matches your current job first. Most of the content overlaps, so the second exam needs mainly the areas the first one lacked: flight physiology and transport safety for the FP-C, or respiratory, toxicologic, environmental, bariatric and geriatric care for the CCP-C.
• Not sure yet: check what your target employers ask for. Job postings and program policies decide this more than the exams do.

How to study for either exam by weight

Start with the largest shared areas, because they pay off on both exams: airway and ventilation, cardiac care including devices, and medical emergencies. Together they are about 41% of the FP-C and about half of the CCP-C once you count the CCP-C's respiratory and toxic areas.

1. Take a timed 135-item practice exam to find your weak areas.
2. FP-C: spend the first weeks on airway (the largest area), then flight physiology with safety and transport. Sixteen items on gas laws, altitude and aircraft safety is too many to leave to the last week.
3. CCP-C: spend the most time on the five medical areas, about 45% of the exam, then airway.
4. Both: give pediatric and maternal-fetal-neonatal care steady time. Together they are 17 items on each exam.
5. Finish with a second timed exam, then work only on misses.

Sample questions: where the exams overlap and split

The first question is pure FP-C territory. Apply Boyle's law to anything holding a trapped gas: as the aircraft climbs, pressure falls and the air in the cuff expands, pressing on the tracheal wall. The fix follows from the physics: measure cuff pressure, release air on ascent and add it back on descent. The same reasoning covers any air-filled balloon or pocket in the patient.

The second question fits both exams, and it is the kind of maternal-fetal item each one tests. Loss of reflexes and a falling respiratory rate during a magnesium infusion are the classic sequence of rising magnesium levels. The answer stops the source and gives the antagonist; slowing the drip leaves toxicity in place, and more magnesium or an opioid reversal agent misreads the cause.