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Preparing for the ARRT Radiography Registry can be overwhelming. Between finding the right study strategies, knowing what material to focus on, and finding the time to do it, you may be wondering just how you’re going to get it all done!
I work with students from all walks of life and I have seen a lot of strategies that just don’t work for most people and yet, they are extremely common! Let’s look at 10 common mistakes you may be making when studying for the ARRT registry.
1. Relying Solely on Passive Reading
Let’s face it- studying involves reading, but it doesn’t mean just reading and rereading your books. Reading the material is not enough for most people to understand how the concepts work and retain that understanding. Passive reading often results in a surface level understanding and can make it harder for you to remember the information when you need it!
What to Do Instead: Get hands on with the material. Summarize sections in your own words, create a mind map, or teach the information to someone else (even if it’s your pet!). By interacting with the information you are much more likely to remember it when you are in your test.

2. Highlighting Everything
Highlighters make it seem like you’re “interacting” with the material, but if you’re highlighting everything, you might as well not be highlighting anything. The idea of highlighting is to have very specific information stand out against the rest- this can be hard to do when you’re overwhelmed and having trouble narrowing it down.
What to Do Instead: Be selective in your highlighting. Use it sparingly to emphasize critical terms, formulas, or concepts. Most pages only have 1 or 2 pieces of information that should be highlighted- challenge yourself to find those 2-3 things and only highlight them. You can also combine highlighting with note-taking to organize and condense the material further. Color coding your notes can make them more interesting!

3. Waiting Until the Week of Your Test to Study
You may think taking the week before the test off from work will give you enough time to learn everything there is to know on the ARRT Registry Content Specifications- usually it is not. Cramming can overwhelm your brain and cause it to retain less information than spreading out the same amount of material and time over several weeks. Cramming also increases anxiety and stress while decreasing confidence in your understanding of the information.
What to Do Instead: Adopt a spaced repetition study strategy. Spread your study sessions over several weeks or -if you can- multiple months. This method has been shown to enhance long-term memory and understanding.

4. Only Using Practice Questions to Study
Mock examinations and practice questions are an essential part of registry preparation- but they are not a good main strategy to learn the material. The explanation on most incorrect answers is not sufficient to understand the concepts well enough to answer scenario-based test questions about it. Do not waste your time memorizing the practice test questions- they will probably not be on the registry.
What to Do Instead: Use quizzes and mocks to identify your weak areas. If you’re scoring 90+% in a section- you probably don’t need to review it further. Look at your lowest sections and focus on the questions you missed. Go back to your book and look it up- if you’re still struggling with the material, reach out for help!

5. Multitasking During Study Sessions
It’s tempting to combine studying with other activities like checking social media or watching TV. Unfortunately, multitasking divides your attention and reduces the effectiveness of your study sessions. Ultimately, this means you’re wasting your time.
What to Do Instead: Create a distraction-free environment for studying. Turn off notifications, find a quiet space, and focus solely on your study material. Use tools like the Pomodoro Technique—studying for 25-minute intervals followed by short breaks—to maintain focus and prevent burnout. Reward yourself with a small piece of candy when you complete a page or quiz.
There are several great webpage blocking apps out there that will block social media and shopping sites for specific periods of time so you can focus better.

6. Studying in Long, Uninterrupted Sessions
Many students believe marathon study sessions are the best way to cover a lot of information. However, long sessions without breaks can lead to fatigue and reduced retention.
What to Do Instead: Break your study time into smaller, focused sessions. Use active recall and spaced repetition techniques during these sessions to make the most of your time. Schedule regular breaks to recharge and improve your productivity.
Use timers to utilize the pomodoro technique. A lot of people love using the classic pomodoro timer, but there are also rotating timers )where you can easily just flip them to start timing), and visual countdown timers too!

7. Memorizing Without Understanding
Just memorizing facts, formulas, or procedures without understanding the underlying concepts is a common trap. While this might work for straightforward recall questions, it’s not going to work for application-based questions often found on the ARRT exam.
What to Do Instead: Focus on understanding the “why” behind the material. For example, when studying radiographic positioning, don’t just memorize the steps—understand why each step is necessary for obtaining a diagnostic image. Use resources like diagrams, videos, or study groups to deepen your understanding.

8. Overlooking Weak Areas
It’s easy to fall into the trap of only focusing on areas where you’re strong- especially if you’re taking a lot of quizzes or mocks- after all, it feels good to see a high score pop up when you hit submit! But you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t focus on your weaker areas because that’s where you can make the most progress!
What to Do Instead: Take quizzes and mocks to identify concepts you need to work on and create a list. Go through that list and work on understanding the concepts before taking your next quiz/mock. Repeat this process with quizzes and studying until your scores are consistently where you want them to be.
9. Neglecting Self-Care
There is a lot of stress involved in getting ready for the ARRT Registry, and it’s not unusual to see students develop some level of test anxiety. It can be tempting to sleep less so you have the illusion of more hours to study, start getting takeout because cooking takes up a lot of time, or completely stop going to the gym. Neglecting these basic self-care tasks will negatively affect how well your brain works and can compound the stress of test preparation over time.
What to Do Instead: Prioritize a healthy routine. Ensure you’re getting enough sleep, eating well balanced, nutritious meals, and engaging in regular physical activity. These habits boost your brain’s ability to retain information and keep you energized for your study sessions.

10. Using Too Many Resources
There are so many good test prep courses, books, and online platforms that it can be difficult to choose one. A lot of people end up buying all of them and then they have a new problem- which ones to use? Jumping from platform to platform can increase confusion as you are trying to decide which resource to use instead of what topic to focus on.
What to Do Instead:
Pick just 1 or 2 of the resources and focus on them. Each will have their own slightly different method and wording preference, but they are all incredibly similar. Save your money and energy and just go with what you already have! If you have a lot and are stuck trying to pick one, write the names on slips of paper and draw 1 or 2 out of a hat. Focus on just those

Final Thoughts
Getting ready for the ARRT Registry requires more than just sitting down with your textbook for days on end. Using the strategies outlined above you will be able to develop a strong study strategy that works for you!
If you are still struggling to make progress with studying for your registry, reach out and schedule a free consultation with me here.
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