"This study guide for the Board of Certification (BOC) exam was inspired and developed as a result of a strong passion for our profession. Athletic training is a unique health care profession in that the athletic trainer is often in the position of experiencing the results of their efforts. The patients' victories are our victories, and their losses are our losses. We become friends, mentors, counselors, teachers, guardians, protectors, and healers. It takes a special individual to become a proficient and dedicated professional athletic trainer. Long hours are spent in the athletic training facility, classroom, and field experience venues preparing for the final exam that will allow you to place the letters "ATC" behind your name. Our intent in writing this study guide is to assist you in accomplishing that final goal of passing the BOC exam. It is an accumulation of dedicated research and past experience. We have included a section on study techniques to assist you in your preparation for the exam and a general overview of the exam format to help you organize your thoughts. This guide has been divided into 7 chapters: Study Techniques and Test-Taking Strategies, General Information and the Examination Format, Knowledge Assessment, Clinical Decision Making, Skills Assessment, Critical Thinking, and What to Do if You Do Not Pass the First Time. The multiple-choice and true/false questions in Chapter 3 have been organized according to the BOC's Practice Analysis, 7th ed Educational Domains and are also subdivided into related athletic training subjects to allow you to assess specific subjects in which you may be weak and those in which your strengths lie. Although this study guide will assist you in preparing for the certification exam, it should not be used in place of your textbooks or other sources of study from your academic program. It is not intended to be a practice exam; it is meant only to be used as an adjunct source of information and to tie everything you