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Is compounding still on the PTCE?

No. PTCB removed compounding from the exam in the outline that took effect on January 6, 2026, and removed alligation from the calculations area at the same time. Hazardous drug handling and in-use dating did stay, which is where most of the confusion comes from.

Published August 22, 2026

Students keep asking this because most study material still teaches compounding, and because the announcement did not get much attention outside PTCB's own newsroom. The short version is above. The rest of this page is what specifically left, what specifically stayed, and how to satisfy yourself that we are not making it up.

What left

PTCB's announcement of the new outline says content on nonsterile compounding was removed, and that alligation came out of the calculations area. Reading the 2026 outline confirms it from the other direction: none of its 24 knowledge areas mentions compounding of any kind.

• Sterile compounding procedure, including aseptic technique and garbing order
• Nonsterile compounding procedure, including geometric dilution and the aliquot method
• USP chapters 795 and 797
• Beyond-use dating categories for compounded preparations
• Cleanroom air classes, laminar airflow hoods, and buffer or ante rooms
• Alligation, including the tic-tac-toe grid
• Least weighable quantity and percent error on a balance

What stayed

Several topics sit next to compounding in most textbooks and did not leave with it. Knowledge area 2.1 covers federal requirements for storing, handling, and disposing of hazardous substances, so USP chapter 800 material is still in scope. Area 3.6 covers infection prevention and cleaning standards, which is where handwashing, gloves, and counting-tray hygiene live. Area 1.7 covers drug stability for reconstituted suspensions, insulins, and injectables.

So a question about how long an opened multiple-dose vial is good for, or about double-gloving to handle a chemotherapy drug, is still fair. A question about what beyond-use date USP 795 assigns to a nonaqueous preparation is not. The domain-by-domain blueprint shows where each surviving topic sits, and we would rather you learn that boundary than memorize a list, because the boundary is what tells you which parts of an older textbook are still worth spending an evening on.

One thing we cannot tell you

PTCB does not publish how many questions come from each knowledge area, so we cannot tell you how much any surviving topic is worth. The outline gives percentages by domain and nothing finer. Anyone who quotes you a question count per topic is estimating, and they should say so.

Checking it for yourself

Both documents are free on ptcb.org. The PTCE Content Outline is two pages and lists every knowledge area; searching it for the word compounding returns nothing. The CPhT Knowledge Reference expands each area into statements and marks which ones the exam covers. If you are deciding whether to trust a study product, asking which outline it was built against is a fair question and a fast one.

We pulled compounding and alligation out of our own lessons and question bank when we read the 2026 outline. The alligation formula stays on the free formula sheet, marked as no longer exam content, because it is still a real skill at a real pharmacy bench.

Related

• What changed on the 2026 PTCE, and what you can stop studying
• The 2026 PTCE blueprint, domain by domain