2025 Edition

CNA Practice Exam

Take this free CNA practice test to get a sample of the types of questions on an actual Nursing Assistant certification exam.

A CNA exam typically has two parts, a written part and a skills part.  The written part of the test is typically in a multiple choice format and evaluates your knowledge of the subjects that CNAs are expected to know. Subjects that will be included in the test are: CNA Roles, Observation, Reporting and Abbreviations, Safety and Managing Behavior, Emergencies, Personal Care Skills, Infection Control and Blood Borne Pathogens, Caring for All Ages, Common Physical and Emotional Problems, Care of the Dying Person at the End of Life and Legal and Ethical Issues.  All of these topics, or subjects, are covered in a CNA training program. The test will typically have 50 to 70 multiple choice questions, like the ones you will see in our CNA Practice Test.

For complete practice, try the CNA Practice Exam Kit with 750 questions, fully explained answers, instant scoring, review and flash cards.   

 
 

CNA Roles, Roles of Others and Teamwork

1. Nursing assistants work in a lot of different places. One place that CNAs work is a skilled nursing facility. This type of facility is also called a ______________.
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2. Many people, particularly older people, go to what kind of healthcare facility after they are discharged from a hospital after a stroke?
3. A CNA, MA, and RN all provide care for 10 patients in a sub-acute facility. What is the term for this collaborative approach to patient care?
4. A CNA is covering another CNA's lunch break on another floor. She answers the light for a patient who complains of chest pain. Who should the CNA report this finding to?
5. You are asked to complete a bed change for a 300 lb. patient who is immobile and difficult to turn. You feel uncomfortable changing the bed yourself. What is your next course of action?
6. Which duties would be performed by a CNA in team nursing?

Legal and Ethical Aspects of the CNA Role

7. The CNA can legally ____________.
8. The director of nursing at your long term care nursing home has assigned you to be in charge of the nursing home for the weekend because she is going away on a cruise vacation to the Caribbean. What should you do?
9. Which of the following actions is ethically wrong in the care of nursing home residents?
10. A patient requires a dressing change for the first time after surgery. Which of the following staff cannot legally change the patient's dressing immediately after surgery?
11. Which of the following is now the minimal requirement to be able to legally record and document data, such as vital signs and blood sugar readings, within a hospital setting?

Priorities and Priority Setting

12. Who developed the Hierarchy of Needs?
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13. The levels of the Hierarchy of Needs are ___________________.
14. The CNA is working on a busy med-surg hospital floor and is caring for 10 patients. Vital signs are taken every 4 hours, with meals delivered at 0730, 12:30 and 5:30. It is currently 0900 and all patients have received their breakfast trays. Last vital signs were taken at 0400. Which of the following is the highest priority?
15. It is nearly time for your lunch break. A nurse is requesting assistance with an incontinence bed change. Which of the following is not a proper response?

Acceptable and Unacceptable Abbreviations

16. You are the CNA caring for Mrs. Thomas. You see a notation on the nursing care plan that states, "ambulate at least 10 yards qid". This patient will be assisted with ambulation at which of the following times?
17. The RN asks you to bring the unit's collected lab specimens to the lab "stat". You should ______________.
18. Hospital policy states that patients on the medical floor should have vital signs taken every 4 hours. Which of the following is an appropriate abbreviation for this order?
19. What does the medical abbreviation ADL stand for?
20. You are caring for a patient with a BKA. What do you expect to see when entering the patient's room related to this abbreviation when working with the patient?

Observation, Reporting and Abbreviations

21. Which of the following lists the five senses?
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22. What senses do nursing assistants use to observe patients and residents?
23. A CNA is caring for an immobile patient and notices a new open sore to the patient's sacrum. What should the CNA do?
24. A CNA is working in the resident dining hall and notices a resident grabbing at her throat without making any noise. What should the CNA's response be?
25. A CNA is bathing a child on a Pediatric hospital unit. She notices the child has bruising to his arms and legs. What should be the CNA's first response be?

Safety and Managing Behavior

26. Which risk factor places patients and residents at the greatest risk for falls?
27. Which sensory impairment places residents and patients at risk for falls?
28. You are caring for a resident in an Alzheimer's unit in a nursing home. The resident is repeatedly pushing on the locked door trying to exit the building. Which of the following would be your first response?
29. You are working in a dual occupancy room in a long-term care facility when the residents start arguing back and forth from their beds. What is the best response?
30. Which of the following is most likely to de-escalate a disoriented patient who is starting to become verbally abusive?
31. A CNA notices an uncapped syringe lying on the floor in the patient's room. What is the CNA's response?
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Disasters and Emergencies

32. The fire alarms in your nursing home begin ringing. Nobody on your unit is in immediate danger. You must now ____________.
33. A small contained fire breaks out in a small trash can near the lobby of the nursing home. No visitors or residents are in immediate danger. You have pulled the alarm, what should you do next?
34. Which of the following locations would provide you with the most up-to-date information on how to respond to a disaster within your facility?
35. In the event of a tornado spotting near the proximity of the building, what is the CNA's response to maintain patient safety?
36. Which patients should be evacuated first in the event of a fire within the area?
37. You hear the code for an infant abduction over the intercom in the hospital. You notice a suspicious person walking with a large bag quickly through the halls. What is your response?

Personal Care Skills

38. A patient is confined to their bed and needs assistance at meals. What position should you place the bed in as you are feeding the patient?
39. When cleansing the genital area during perineal care, the nurse aide should _______________.
40. Which of the following tasks would more likely be performed by a nurse?
41. ____________ may result when patients or residents ignore the urge to defecate.

Infections, Infection Control and Blood Borne Pathogens

42. The chain of infection includes the ________________.
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43. Asepsis is defined as ________________.
44. Which of the following patients is likely to be placed on contact precautions in a hospital setting?
45. What are standard precautions?
46. Which of the following hospital floors would you most likely expect to see Reverse Isolation Precautions?

Caring for All Ages and Health Maintenance and Restoration

47. Mobility is an important human function. The hazards of immobility lead to many physical problems and emotional problems. Immobility can lead to detrimental cardiac, muscular, respiratory, skeletal, urinary, gastrointestinal, skin and emotional changes. Which of the following is an example of a skeletal hazard of immobility?
48. An emotional consequence of immobility is: ________________.
49. Which of the following age groups are at the highest risk for injury-causing falls?
50. All of the following are preventive measures to avoid pressure ulcers in the elderly, except:
51. Where should the wheelchair be placed when transferring a stroke patient from their bed to the chair?
52. Which of the following would not be considered a fall risk intervention?
53. Two CNAs are caring for a total care elderly patient with dementia. Which of the following scenarios is incorrect?

Common Physical and Emotional Problems

54. Your patient is saying that they have chest pain and "a pounding heart". You touch the person's arm and you feel moisture. The patient is sweating and your also see that the person's lips are blue. These signs and symptoms indicate that the person is most likely _______________.
55. You are caring for Thomas N. Thomas is 77 years old. He has edema, or swelling, in his legs and he has a fluid restriction in terms of his fluid intake. You have been assigned to weigh him daily. Based on these symptoms and the care that he is being given, what disorder is he most likely affected with?
56. You are caring for a diabetic patient who reports dizziness and is shaky and sweaty. The patient is alert and oriented. The patient's vital signs were normal one hour ago. After reporting your findings to the nurse, what do you expect the nurse to ask you to do?
57. You are assisting an elderly female patient to the bathroom. Which of the following would be important to emphasize to the patient to prevent Urinary Tract Infections?
58. You notice a patient is walking with a shuffling gait with a walker and has jerky movements of the arms and legs. The patient has some difficulty speaking but is alert and oriented. What do you suspect is causing this patient's symptoms?
59. A patient is complaining of shortness of breath and requesting his breathing treatment. You notice the patient is wearing a nasal cannula with oxygen flowing at 2 L/min. What disease do you suspect this patient suffers from?

Care of the Dying Person at the End of Life

60. Which is considered a "normal" or "healthy" type of grief?
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61. The Grant family has just lost a loved one. A family member informs you that their culture does not permit a dead person to be left alone before burial. Hospital policy states that all bodies are to be stored in the hospital morgue. How would you best handle this situation?
62. A CNA is caring for a patient on hospice care. She notices the patient's lips, hands and feet are blue and mottled. There is no rise and fall of the patient's chest. What should the CNA's next action be?
63. Which of the following hospice tasks should not be performed by a CNA?