ACON Study Guide by Domain: Assessment to Leadership

Advanced Assessment & Diagnosis Across the Cancer Care Continuum (30%)

• Master the TNM staging system thoroughly — the T, N, and M components and how they combine to determine overall stage, since this underlies treatment planning content too.
• Review key hereditary cancer syndromes (BRCA1/2, Lynch syndrome) and when genetic counseling referral is appropriate.
• Understand diagnostic modality selection — when imaging (PET, MRI), biomarker testing, or liquid biopsy is most clinically appropriate.
• Practice using performance status scales (like ECOG) in the context of treatment decision-making, not just as isolated definitions.

Advanced Treatment Planning & Management (30%)

• Learn the mechanism and toxicity profile of each major treatment modality — chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation — and how they differ from each other.
• Study immune-related adverse events and cytokine release syndrome specifically, since these newer-therapy toxicities are distinct from classic chemotherapy side effects and increasingly central to modern practice.
• Understand neoadjuvant versus adjuvant therapy timing and the clinical reasoning behind each approach.
• Review extravasation and vesicant agent management, a concrete, high-stakes safety topic.

Symptom Management, Oncologic Emergencies & Palliative/Survivorship Care (25%)

• Learn the major oncologic emergencies by name and mechanism — tumor lysis syndrome, spinal cord compression, superior vena cava syndrome, hypercalcemia of malignancy — and their urgent management priorities.
• Understand the palliative care versus hospice care distinction precisely, since this is frequently tested and commonly misunderstood.
• Review survivorship care planning as a distinct clinical responsibility, addressing late effects and long-term surveillance beyond active treatment.
• Study advanced pain management principles, including the important distinction between opioid tolerance and opioid addiction.

Leadership, Research & Professional/Ethical Practice (15%)

• Learn the four core ethical principles (autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice) and practice applying them to oncology-specific scenarios.
• Understand evidence-based practice as an active process, not just a term — appraising and applying research to guide clinical decisions.
• Review APRN scope of practice concepts, including collaborative practice agreements where applicable.

General Strategy: Think Like an Advanced Practice Provider

Because this exam is built around advanced clinical decision-making, practice reasoning through case-style scenarios the way an APRN would — weighing diagnostic findings, treatment trade-offs, and patient-specific factors — rather than just memorizing isolated facts.

Put These Tips Into Practice

Our ACON exam page has free practice quizzes broken out by domain, plus a full mock exam, to help you target your remaining study time — alongside confirming current exam details directly with ONCC given the credential's evolving status.

Official source: eligibility, fees, and the current content outline are set by Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC). Confirm the details there before you register.