NHA CCMA · 2022 test plan · free

NHA CCMA Practice Test 2026: Free Medical Assistant Questions

Walk one patient visit from the front desk to the lab. Each room is a part of the NHA exam, labeled with how many questions it holds.

Start 40 free questions Try 10 here first

150 scored + 30 pretest questions · 3 hours

Written and checked by the QuizCram editorial team · Updated November 10, 2026

1Front deskcheck-in, records, consent432Vitalsintake, measure143Exam roompatient care, infection control434Labdraws, point of care215EKGleads, tracing66What you carry into every roombasic science, anatomy and physiology23

NHA CCMA exam format

The NHA Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam has 180 multiple-choice questions and a 3-hour limit. 150 questions are scored; the other 30 are pretest items. The scored questions follow NHA’s test plan, built from a job analysis completed in 2022: seven domains, with clinical patient care alone making up 84 of the 150.

Source: NHA CCMA test plan, read 10 Nov 2026.

The visit, room by room

What is on the CCMA exam: six stops, 150 questions

The count beside each room is its number of scored questions. Grouping NHA's areas into rooms is our way of teaching the plan; the areas and counts themselves are NHA's.

Front desk

Before and after the visit: scheduling, insurance, records, phone calls, consent and privacy.

43questions

Administrative assisting12
Scheduling by urgency, checking patients in and out, verifying insurance and prior authorizations, confirming diagnosis and procedure codes, billing and denials, and keeping paper and electronic records.
Communication and customer service12
Adapting how you speak to children, older adults and patients with hearing, vision or cognitive impairment, relaying messages between patient and provider, phone calls under HIPAA, and handling complaints.
Patient care coordination and education12
Reviewing the record before the visit, tracking screenings and immunizations that are due, referrals and community resources, follow-up, transitions of care and patient teaching.
Medical law and ethics7
Consent, advance directives, privacy of medical records, incidents that must be reported, and giving unbiased care.

Vitals station

Rooming the patient: confirm who they are, take the history, measure, and flag what is out of range.

14questions

Patient intake and vitals14
Patient identifiers, medical and family history, screenings, blood pressure, pulse, respirations, pulse oximetry, temperature, the pain scale, height, weight and BMI, pediatric growth charts, and unit conversions.

Exam room

Assisting the provider, giving medication, basic wound care and emergencies, in a room kept safe and clean.

43questions

General patient care28
Preparing the room and a sterile field, positioning and draping, oral and injected medication (not intravenous), injection sites and needle choice, suture and staple removal, ear and eye irrigation, first aid, emergencies, prescriptions and charting in the EHR.
Infection control and safety15
Standard precautions, putting on and taking off PPE, hand hygiene, sanitizing, disinfecting and sterilizing, medical and surgical asepsis, sharps and biohazard disposal under OSHA, Safety Data Sheets and what to do after an exposure.

Lab

Collecting specimens, running waived tests, labeling and sending them on.

21questions

Phlebotomy12
Verifying the order, choosing supplies and a site, order of draw, venipuncture and capillary puncture, tube types and additives, aftercare, labeling, centrifuging and transport.
Point of care testing and laboratory procedures9
Urine, stool, culture and sputum collection, CLIA-waived tests, quality controls, in-range and out-of-range values, requisitions, vision and hearing tests, allergy testing and spirometry.

EKG room

Preparing the patient, placing the leads, and getting a clean tracing.

6questions

EKG and cardiovascular testing6
Patient preparation and positioning, lead types and placement, artifacts and how to reduce them, waveforms and intervals, abnormal or emergent rhythms, ambulatory monitoring and equipment calibration.

What you carry into every room

The knowledge every other room draws on.

23questions

Foundational knowledge and basic science15
Health care settings and roles, medical terminology and the Joint Commission's Do Not Use list, drug classes, routes and the rights of medication administration, dosage calculations, nutrition and basic psychology.
Anatomy and physiology8
Cells, body systems and how they interact, signs and causes of common diseases and injuries, diagnostic measures and treatments, risk factors and comorbidities.

Areas, counts and what each covers: NHA CCMA test plan (summary and detailed outline), in our own words.

Practice

Free CCMA practice questions

Ten questions from the free set, one from each room in turn. Pick an answer to see whether you are right, why, and which part of the test plan it comes from.

  1. Stop 1 · Front deskMedical law and ethics

    Under HIPAA, which of the following is considered protected health information (PHI)?

  2. Stop 2 · Vitals stationPatient intake and vitals

    A patient's pulse oximetry reading shows 94%. What is the normal range for oxygen saturation?

  3. Stop 3 · Exam roomInfection control and safety

    When performing hand hygiene, how long should a medical assistant scrub with soap and water when hands are visibly soiled?

  4. Stop 4 · LabPhlebotomy

    What is the correct order of draw for vacuum tubes when collecting blood specimens using a multisample needle?

  5. Stop 5 · EKG roomEKG and cardiovascular testing

    A medical assistant is applying an electrode for a 12-lead EKG. Which placement corresponds to the V1 lead position?

  6. Stop 6 · What you carry into every roomFoundational knowledge and basic science

    Which prefix means 'below' or 'under' in medical terminology?

  7. Stop 1 · Front deskAdministrative assisting

    A medical assistant is scheduling a follow-up appointment for a patient who requires a fasting blood test. What should the assistant ensure when scheduling?

  8. Stop 2 · Vitals stationPatient intake and vitals

    A patient reports feeling dizzy when standing up quickly. The medical assistant takes orthostatic vital signs. Which reading indicates orthostatic hypotension?

  9. Stop 3 · Exam roomGeneral patient care

    A medical assistant is performing an ear irrigation on a patient with cerumen impaction. At what temperature should the irrigation solution be?

  10. Stop 4 · LabPhlebotomy

    How long should a tourniquet remain on during routine venipuncture?

Visit summary

NHA CCMA test plan: questions per domain

More than half the exam (84 of 150) is clinical patient care, which NHA splits into six lettered parts.

NHA CCMA test plan: scored questions by domain
Plan sectionDomain or sub-areaQuestionsShare
1Foundational knowledge and basic science1510%
2Anatomy and physiology85%
3APatient intake and vitals149%
3BGeneral patient care2819%
3CInfection control and safety1510%
3DPoint of care testing and laboratory procedures96%
3EPhlebotomy128%
3FEKG and cardiovascular testing64%
4Patient care coordination and education128%
5Administrative assisting128%
6Communication and customer service128%
7Medical law and ethics75%
Total scored150100%
  • Front desk
  • Vitals station
  • Exam room
  • Lab
  • EKG room
  • What you carry into every room

Where to spend your study time

General patient care is the largest single area: 28 questions, 19% of your score. With infection control and safety (15) and foundational knowledge and basic science (15) it is more than a third of the exam.

The front desk is easy to underrate. Administrative assisting, communication, care coordination and law together are 43 questions, as many as the whole exam room. EKG is the smallest area at 6 questions, so learn lead placement and artifacts well and move on.

Why you sit 180 questions, not 150

NHA’s test plan lists 150 scored items and 30 pretest items. The counts in this table describe the scored150 only. You sit all 180 in the same 3 hours, so treat every question as if it counts.

Sections 3A to 3F are the six parts of Clinical Patient Care. NHA lists them as one domain of 84 questions.

Source: NHA CCMA test plan, summary examination outline.

Mock exam

CCMA mock exam, timed like the real one

150 questions mixed by the test plan's counts, on a 2.5-hour clock, the same pace as the real 180 questions in 3 hours, with a score for each area.

  • One question at a time, with the time left always in view
  • Flag a question and come back to it
  • A score for every area of the test plan at the end

The free mock is 40 questions. The real exam adds 30 pretest questions to the 150 scored ones.

Take the free 40-question mock

Chart

CCMA study tools

Every free question with its answer, two printable charts, and the exam guide.

Sign-off

How every question is checked

Checked by the QuizCram editorial team. Sources read November 10, 2026.

Plan
Each question is written to one section of NHA’s 2022 test plan and names it, never copied from a real exam
Reason
Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not
Machine
No duplicates, no missing explanations, no answer given away by its length

Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA).

Last stop

Start the free CCMA practice test

No account needed. You see the answer and why after every question.

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NHA CCMA exam FAQ

Questions, scoring, topics and retakes.

The NHA Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam contains 180 total items: 150 scored questions and 30 unscored pretest items, with a 3-hour time limit.

NHA requires a scaled score of 390 on a 200–500 scale to pass. A practice test percentage is a study benchmark, not an exact equivalent of the psychometrically scaled score.

The direct candidate application fee is $169 through the official NHA store. Retake attempts require re-registration and payment of the full $169 fee.

Clinical Patient Care is 84 of the 150 scored questions (56%) in NHA's CCMA test plan. Its largest parts are General Patient Care (28 questions), Infection Control and Safety (15), Patient Intake and Vitals (14) and Phlebotomy (12). Outside clinical care, Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science has 15 questions, and Administrative Assisting, Communication and Customer Service, and Patient Care Coordination and Education have 12 each.

Candidates who do not pass must wait 30 days before retaking the exam for a second and third attempt. After three failed attempts, candidates must wait 12 months before testing again.

Yes. Open the exam simulator and sit a timed mock exam of 40 questions built from the free questions, once, with no signup. At the end you see where you stand in each exam area, so you know what to study next.

It splits the questions across the exam's areas using the weights NHA publishes, then picks questions inside each area, favouring ones you missed before and never repeating one within a run. A retake is a new draw, so you will meet different questions. It is a practice mock exam, not an official replica of the real exam.