The standard testing protocol is wait 12 weeks for the antibody test then of positive have the HCV RNA by PCR test for the actual virus.
The reasoning is the antibody test comes back faster and only costs maybe $40 while the HCV RNA costs I’ve heard around $400 and takes longer to come back.
Also, if you should test positive they will want to wait 6 months before treating you as about 25% of people can beat the virus on their own without treatment so they will want to wait to see if you are one of those people before treating.
I assume you had a situation involving known hep c infected blood that entered your blood stream.