Five of the CPTE's seven Domains of Practice are professional rather than clinical: Client Safety and Client-Centred Care, Professional Responsibilities, Collaboration, Communication and Practice Management. Together they carry 60% of the whole exam. One document sits behind more of those questions than any other: CAPR's Model Standards of Practice, last updated in October 2024. This guide explains what the document is, what CAPR says it is for in the exam, what each of its 20 standards requires and where the exam asks about it, and how to study it, with the Code of Ethical Conduct beside it.
The short answer
- The Model Standards are a template. Canada's physiotherapy regulators wrote them as a common base for their own standards of practice, and renamed them in 2024.
- They are written for the exam, too. The document says the Model Standards "provide exam developers with a single source upon which to base exam questions relating to physiotherapy practice expectations," and that candidates "may use the Model Standards of Practice as a reference to study."
- There are 20 standards, in alphabetical order. Each has a one-sentence standard, the outcome a client can expect, and a list of performance expectations.
- The exam names them directly for Professional Responsibilities, and they reach into every professional domain, which together make up 60% of the CPTE.
- Study the performance expectations, not just the headings, and read the Code of Ethical Conduct alongside.
The QualExam lessons for the professional domains are written against these documents, and a free account opens the Communication domain in full.
What the Model Standards are
The Model Standards of Practice began as the Core Standards of Practice of 2016, written "to be generally applicable to all physiotherapists in Canada." Canadian physiotherapy regulators reviewed them in 2022 and 2023, "using a risk-based and data-driven approach."
They are a model, not a rule book. The preamble says: "It is up to each provincial or territorial regulator to determine the extent to which it will adopt these Standards of Practice. Each regulator may utilize, reject or modify any standard to reflect the context, jurisdictional needs and legislation of their jurisdiction." That is why the name changed in 2024. It also explains a line that surprises readers: "This document is NOT intended for use by individual, registered physiotherapists." Once you are licensed, you follow your own regulator's standards; until then, the Model Standards are the version the exam is built on.
Why they matter for the CPTE
The preamble sets out two uses, and the second is the exam: "In 2024, physiotherapy regulators identified that this document also serves as a reference for the development of, and preparation for, the national physiotherapy licencing exams." It goes further: the Model Standards "provide exam developers with a single source upon which to base exam questions relating to physiotherapy practice expectations." Variation between provinces is screened out, since "A vetting process is in place to ensure that any expectations that are not standardized across the country will not appear on the exam." And candidates are told directly: "Examination candidates may use the Model Standards of Practice as a reference to study for licensure exams."
The CPTE Blueprint 2025 Companion Guide says the same for the first Professional Responsibilities milestone, D.01, "Comply with regulatory requirements": "Content will be based on the Model Standards of Practice and the Code of Ethical Conduct and Core Professional Values."
The weights explain why this is worth your time. In the CPTE Blueprint 2025's Table 2, the five professional domains carry 60% of the whole exam, and most of it comes from the Oral Section: Professional Responsibilities alone is 14 percentage points of the Oral Section's 60. Our CPTE study plan sets out those weights domain by domain.
How each standard is built
Every standard follows the same pattern. In the document's words:
- "A standard statement that outlines the expected performance of the regulated member."
- "An expected outcome that describes what clients can expect from services when the Standard is met by the physiotherapist."
- "Performance expectations that outline the actions that must be demonstrated by the physiotherapist to indicate how the Standard is met in practice."
- "Related standards that provide complementary and/or additional information related to the specific standard."
The performance expectations are where the detail lives, and they are where questions find their answers. The document adds that they "are not all inclusive nor are they listed in order of importance," so read the whole list, not just the first line.
The 20 standards
Each line below summarizes the standard statement; the right-hand column is our reading of the CPTE milestones that ask about it, from the Companion Guide's milestone list.
| Standard | What it requires | Where the CPTE asks |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising and Marketing | Advertising that is truthful, accurate and verifiable, never deceptive or misleading | G.01, business practices |
| Assessment, Diagnosis, Treatment | Proficiency in assessment, diagnosis and treatment, for quality, safe, client-centred care | The two clinical domains |
| Boundary Violations | Integrity, and professional boundaries with clients, colleagues, students and others | D.05, professional boundaries |
| Communication | Professional, clear, effective and timely communication | F.01 to F.06; E.02, sharing information with the team |
| Concurrent Care | Collaboration with other providers when the client's needs and preferences call for concurrent care | E.01, collaborative care |
| Conflict of Interest | Identifying, disclosing, and avoiding or mitigating real, potential or perceived conflicts | D.04, conflicts of interest |
| Continuing Competence | Practising within one's competence, and lifelong learning | D.07, learning needs; D.08, scope and competence |
| Documentation | Records that are accurate, legible, complete and timely | F.07, health records; G.06, practice records |
| Dual Practice | Saying clearly when a service is not physiotherapy | D.01, regulatory requirements |
| Duty of Care | A duty of care, and continuity of care once a therapeutic relationship exists | C.01, the client's best interest; B.07 and B.08, discharge and transition |
| Evidence-Informed Practice | Evidence-informed service delivery | D.06, appraising information |
| Funding, Fees and Billing | Fees that are transparent and justifiable, so clients can choose | G.01, business practices |
| Infection Control | Current infection prevention and control practice | C.07, infection control |
| Informed Consent | Ongoing informed consent | D.02, informed consent |
| Privacy and Record Retention | Privacy and confidentiality under the applicable privacy law | D.03, confidentiality; G.07 and G.08, records and their retention |
| Risk Management and Safety | A safe environment for clients, providers and others | C.08, near misses and adverse events; G.09, workplace hazards |
| Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct | No sexual abuse or sexual misconduct | D.05, professional boundaries |
| Supervision | Responsibility for the services of supervisees, and supervision fitted to the client, the supervisee and the risks | E.07 to E.10, training, assessing, assigning and feedback |
| Titles, Credentials, and Specialty Designations | Clear use of title and credentials | D.01, regulatory requirements |
| Virtual Care | Virtual care that follows the client's preferences and needs | F.08, electronic technologies |
How a standard becomes a question
Take Informed Consent. Its standard is one line: "The physiotherapist obtains clients' ongoing informed consent for the delivery of physiotherapy services." The performance expectations turn that into actions the exam can test. The physiotherapist explains "the risks and benefits of physiotherapy assessment and treatment options and the consequences of participating or not"; obtains consent "following a discussion of the proposed assessment or treatment and prior to the assessment, treatment or provision of a plan of care"; and "Re-establishes and documents consent in instances where treatment plans change."
Most professional questions work this way. The stem describes something ordinary, and the options differ on one expectation from a standard: who must consent, when, after what discussion. Knowing the expectations, not just the standard's name, is what separates the key from the plausible distractors.
How to study the Model Standards
- Read the performance expectations of all 20, and for each, picture a client situation that tests it. Write the situation down.
- Follow the related standards. Informed Consent points to Communication and to Assessment, Diagnosis, Treatment; questions often sit where two standards meet.
- Learn the definitions. The document defines terms the questions rely on, such as material and special risk, beside the standards and in its glossary.
- Practise aloud for the Oral Section. In a case, saying why an action meets a standard counts as much as naming the action.
- Remember what the exam leaves out. Because the exam vets out expectations that differ between provinces, study the national document, not your province's version.
The Code of Ethical Conduct beside it
The Companion Guide pairs the Model Standards with the Code of Ethical Conduct and Core Professional Values (2023). The Code calls itself "a moral anchor," and it does a different job: "The Code does not tell practitioners exactly how to act in every situation. Rather, it provides a benchmark against which to measure ethical decisions in everyday practice and in complex situations."
It rests on four ethical principles: respect for autonomy, beneficence, least harm and justice. Respect for autonomy, for instance, "requires a physiotherapist to respect a client's freedom to decide for themselves and includes obtaining informed consent." It adds ten core professional values: "accountability, advocacy, altruism, client centeredness, compassion, equity, excellence, integrity, respect, and social responsibility." Its responsibilities fall under three headings: to the client, to the public, and to the practitioner and the profession.
On the exam, the Standards usually say what to do, and the Code helps you explain why. In an oral case, that explanation is part of the mark.
Where to practise
- Questions: the course's professional questions name the standard or the Code behind the answer; CPTE practice questions shows the format.
- Lessons: the QualExam lessons for the five professional domains are written against the Model Standards and the Code, and a free account opens Communication in full.
- Ethics: our guide to CPTE ethics questions applies the Standards and the Code to the situations the exam returns to.
- Reading: the other documents CAPR lists for these domains are in our guide to CPTE books and resources.
By QualExam editorial. Written against the certifying body’s published documents, pinned by hash so a revised edition shows up as a change.