How this plan is built
CCI publishes the RCES domain weights: intra-procedural activities 36%, diagnostic procedures 26%, therapeutic procedures 21%, pre-procedural 9%, post-procedural 8%. This plan allocates your eight weeks in the same proportion — two weeks of intra-procedural content, two diagnostic, one therapeutic, one for the pre/post bookends, and two for baseline and full-length timed mocks. Every week names free resources; nothing below is gated.
One rule before you start: do not skip Week 1. Every other week assumes you know your weak domains, and the only way to know them is to measure. The free diagnostic takes about fifteen minutes and scores you by topic.
The plan at a glance
| Week | Focus | Blueprint tie |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline diagnostic + foundations | All domains |
| 2 | Intra-procedural I — catheters and the recording system | Intra-procedural (36%) |
| 3 | Intra-procedural II — mapping, imaging, and radiation safety | Intra-procedural (36%) |
| 4 | Diagnostic I — the EP study + first timed block | Diagnostic (26%) |
| 5 | Diagnostic II — differentiating the arrhythmias | Diagnostic (26%) |
| 6 | Therapeutic — ablation + device therapy | Therapeutic (21%) |
| 7 | The bookends — pharmacology, prep, and recovery | Pre (9%) + post (8%) |
| 8 | Full-length timed mocks + weak-domain re-drill | All domains |
Weights per CCI’s official RCES credential page. CCI can revise its blueprint — confirm current weights at cci-online.org before anchoring a plan to them.
Week 1 — Baseline and foundations
Measure first, then build the floor
- Take the free 25-question diagnostic before you open a book. Write down your two weakest domains — they get extra reps in Weeks 4 and 8.
- Foundations: conduction system anatomy, cardiac action potentials, and arrhythmia mechanisms (reentry, automaticity, triggered activity), plus surface ECG and intracardiac electrogram basics. Know the SA node, AV node, and bundle branches — anatomy and blood supply. The glossary covers the vocabulary this plan assumes.
- Set your cadence. Five 45–60 minute sessions a week beats two marathon Saturdays. Decide now which days are study days.
In the app, the Home screen’s mastery tracking picks up where the diagnostic leaves off — it keeps scoring you by domain as you practice, so “what’s my weakest area?” always has a current answer.
Week 2 — Intra-procedural I: catheters and the recording system
Intra-procedural domain — 36% of the exam
- Catheter stations and what each one records — high right atrium, His bundle, coronary sinus, RV apex — not just where they sit, but what signal each yields and what a bad signal looks like. Know the Triangle of Koch and its borders cold.
- The recording and stimulation system: signal acquisition, high- and low-pass filtering and what each filter does to an electrogram, gain, and the stimulus generator.
- Interval measurement: PA, AH, and HV — where each is measured from and to, normal ranges, and what a prolonged or short value implies.
- If you fix only one thing in eight weeks, fix filtering — almost everyone can operate the system, but far fewer can say what happens to a far-field signal when the high-pass filter goes up, and that distinction is exactly what a well-written question probes.
The EP lessons pair each electrogram with practice questions that show the tracing, and Cardiac Coach can be asked “why does this signal look like that?” from any missed question.
Week 3 — Intra-procedural II: mapping, imaging, and radiation safety
Intra-procedural domain — 36% of the exam
- 3D electroanatomic mapping as a concept: activation mapping, voltage mapping, propagation, and the difference between anatomic and electrical accuracy. Vendor-neutral — the exam tests principles, not your lab’s menus.
- Imaging: intracardiac echo and fluoroscopy, including the standard views and what each is used to confirm, plus transseptal puncture and the fossa ovalis as a target.
- Radiation safety: time, distance, shielding, scatter, dose measurement, and ALARA in practice.
- Troubleshooting: impedance changes, noise, oversensing, catheter dislodgement, loss of capture.
Week 4 — Diagnostic I: the EP study, and your first timed block
Diagnostic domain — 26% of the exam
- The EP study itself: baseline conduction intervals and their normal ranges, programmed electrical stimulation protocols — drive trains, extrastimuli, decremental pacing — and what each manoeuvre is designed to reveal.
- Refractory periods: ERP, FRP, RRP, and the difference between atrial, AV nodal, and ventricular measurements. Then dual AV nodal physiology and the AH jump.
- First timed question block. Do the 25 free RCES practice questions under time pressure — about 65 seconds each — and review every miss until you can explain why the right answer is right.
- Revisit your Week-1 weak domains with an extra session each.
Week 5 — Diagnostic II: differentiating the arrhythmias
Diagnostic domain — 26% of the exam
- Differentiating the SVTs: AVNRT versus AVRT versus atrial tachycardia — the diagnostic manoeuvres and what each result rules in or out. Reason from a specific post-pacing interval or V-A-V versus V-A-A-V response to a diagnosis; that is what is actually tested.
- Accessory pathways: Kent bundles, pre-excitation and the delta wave, concealed versus manifest, and localisation. Entrainment — the criteria, post-pacing interval, and what concealed entrainment tells you.
- Wide-complex tachycardia differentiation — VT versus SVT with aberrancy.
- Node function and block: sinus node recovery time, Wenckebach cycle length, and heart block localisation — above, within, or below the AV node, and why it changes management.
Week 6 — Therapeutic: ablation and device therapy
Therapeutic domain — 21% of the exam
- Ablation energy sources — radiofrequency, cryoablation, and pulsed-field — and the mechanism, lesion characteristics, and distinct risk profile of each. Targets by arrhythmia: slow-pathway modification, accessory-pathway ablation, cavotricuspid isthmus, pulmonary-vein isolation, VT substrate.
- Endpoints and complication anatomy: entrance block, exit block, non-inducibility — and atrioesophageal fistula, phrenic nerve injury, AV block during septal ablation, and the vein of Marshall.
- Device therapy: pacemaker, ICD, and CRT indications; lead testing — pacing thresholds, sensing, impedance; DFT testing; pacing modes and the NBG code; AV/VV optimisation; tiered therapy programming; and conduction system pacing.
- Troubleshooting — undersensing, oversensing, failure to capture, subclavian crush, lead extraction considerations.
- Second timed block, therapeutic-heavy this time.
Week 7 — The bookends, and the cheapest points on the exam
Pre-procedural 9% + post-procedural 8%
- Pre-procedural: the Vaughan Williams classes and washout logic before an EP study; anticoagulation and reversal — protamine, andexanet alfa, vitamin K / 4F-PCC; sedation agents midazolam and fentanyl with their antagonists flumazenil and naloxone; labs, NPO status, informed consent, and the time-out.
- Post-procedural: access-site management — manual compression, closure devices, hemostasis endpoints — and complication surveillance: tamponade, pneumothorax, retroperitoneal hematoma, pseudoaneurysm, AV fistula. Device interrogation before discharge, including MRI-conditional device considerations.
- These domains are almost entirely memorizable and routinely skipped. Combined they are 17% of the exam — the most reliably winnable points available.
Week 8 — Full-length timed mocks, then re-drill
The readiness test — all domains
- Sit at least one full-length, timed, blueprint-matched mock under test conditions. Not on the sofa, not paused. The RCES pass standard is a scaled score, so consistent passing performance on full-length mocks is the readiness signal — not your percentage on random question sets.
- Review every miss until you can teach it, then re-drill your two weakest domains in the final days.
- If your mock performance says you are not ready, move the exam if you can — repeating Weeks 5–8 beats paying a second exam fee.
The app carries four full-length blueprint-matched mock exam forms (two RCES, two RCIS), timed and scored the way Week 8 needs.
Start Week 1 right now
The baseline diagnostic is free, takes about fifteen minutes, and scores you by topic — the questions start immediately, no email and no account required.
Start the free diagnostic Or try 25 free practice questions → See plans — $49/mo or $250 one-time →Pricing, plainly: following this plan on Monthly runs about $98 all-in for the eight weeks. Many candidates book their exam date months out, though — and if that's you, or you just want one payment that covers you through test day (reschedules included), the $250 6-Month Pass does exactly that and never auto-renews.
RCES study plan FAQ
How many weeks do I need to study for the RCES exam?
Working EP lab staff typically plan 8 to 12 weeks; this plan is the 8-week core of that window. Take the diagnostic first: a strong baseline can compress this plan, and a weak one should stretch it rather than skip weeks.
Is there a free RCES study plan?
This page is one, in full. The diagnostic and practice questions it references are also free, with no email required to start.
What should I study first for the RCES?
Baseline yourself, then foundations, then intra-procedural activities — at 36% of the scored exam it is the largest domain by a wide margin, so it gets two full weeks before anything else.
Why is the plan weighted toward intra-procedural and diagnostic content?
Because the exam is: CCI's published weights put those two domains at 62% of the RCES exam, so this plan spends four of its six content weeks there.