Free AAMA CMA Practice Test: 107 Original Questions and Explanations

Last verified: August 14, 2026 · By the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team

Independent subject-matter review: pending. No named CMA reviewer has completed review of this release.

This free AAMA CMA practice test gives you 107 original questions with five answer choices each. The full bank uses 63 Clinical Competency, 23 General, and 21 Administrative questions—the closest whole-number allocation to AAMA's current 106/38/36 scored-item split. Choose a 30-question check, the exact 90-question half-scale simulation, the full 107-question bank, or one category. You get explanations and review priorities, not a score prediction.

Start your free CMA (AAMA) practice test

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Quick Check — 30 questions · 18 Clinical / 6 General / 6 Administrative · about 24 minutes at the exam's average pace

Half-Scale Simulation — 90 questions · 53 Clinical / 19 General / 18 Administrative · exactly 72 minutes at the exam's average pace

Full Bank — 107 questions · 63 Clinical / 23 General / 21 Administrative

Drill one category · pick any of the eight categories A–H and work only that category

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The optional timer allows 48 seconds per question on average. The real exam uses four timed segments, not a separate limit on each question. Every item has five options, an outline coordinate, a key, and an explanation for every option. After each answer, rate your confidence: Sure · Unsure · Guessed.

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No account. No email. No card. The component keeps your attempt only in the current browser tab and clears it when the page refreshes.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam-prep publisher. This CMA page is built from AAMA's public Content Outline, Certification page, current Application and Policies booklet, and published practice materials. We do not sell a CMA study guide, paid question bank, or course. This page and this free test are the whole offer.

Who should use this free AAMA CMA practice test—and who should go somewhere else?

Use this if you:

• are testing for the CMA (AAMA) credential through the American Association of Medical Assistants
• want to find weak sections and outline coordinates before you build a study plan
• have already worked AAMA's free questions and want practice in the sections those sets skip
• are retaking and need to turn your official section report into a review order

Go somewhere else if you:

• are taking the CCMA through the National Healthcareer Association—different exam, different blueprint, different questions. Use the free CCMA practice test.
• are taking the CMAA administrative credential through NHA—use the free CMAA practice test.
• are taking the RMA through American Medical Technologists—we do not cover it yet.
• have not decided which credential to pursue—start with CMA vs. CCMA vs. RMA instead. Studying for the wrong exam is an expensive way to lose two months.

Not sure you are eligible to sit? Answer that before you study anything. AAMA currently publishes five eligibility categories, and the route depends on your program, graduation history, prior credential, teaching experience, or alternative-pathway documentation. Use AAMA's current eligibility page before you pay or schedule.

The right prep path is not the same for every candidate. The official handbook and AAMA's Certifying Board set the eligibility, application, fee, and testing rules—not a third-party checklist. Confirm the route first. Then take the practice test above and find the section that deserves your next study hour.

What's actually in this free AAMA CMA practice test?

The bank holds 107 original multiple-choice questions written to AAMA's Content Outline, revision 1/26: 63 Clinical Competency, 23 General, and 21 Administrative. Every question offers five answer choices, A through E, and carries the outline coordinate it was written from, such as I.C.7 for specimen collection or III.G.3 for coverage and waivers. Every option has an explanation—not just the key.

AAMA's Content Outline for the CMA (AAMA) Certification Exam is a numbered tree: three sections, eight categories labeled A through H, then topics and details underneath. “Order of draw” is not merely “phlebotomy”; it sits under I.C.7, Specimen Collection Techniques, inside Procedures/Examinations, inside Clinical Competency.

We tagged all 107 questions to a coordinate in that tree. So when you miss something, you do not get “you are weak in clinical.” You get the branch. That is the difference between “study more” and “open the outline to I.C.7 tonight.”

The eight categories, straight from the current outline:

Source: AAMA Content Outline for the CMA (AAMA) Certification Exam, Rev. 1/26. Read directly August 14, 2026.

AAMA publishes item counts at the section level only. It does not publish counts for categories A through H. Our category allocation—A 15, B 14, C 22, D 12, E 12, F 11, G 11, H 10—is an editorial coverage decision, not a claim about hidden live-exam weights. The tool uses official weighting to rank the three sections and compares categories only inside their own section.

One honest note about category H that trips people up: the current outline enumerates scheduling appointments, medical reception and patient registration, and electronic health records. It does not enumerate paper filing systems or alphabetic indexing rules. Older study material still drills those. We are not claiming an unlisted topic can never appear; AAMA does not publish its item bank. We are telling you exactly what the current public outline does and does not list so you can spend your hours accordingly.

Ready to find the first gap?

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Start the 30-question Quick Check. It takes about 24 minutes and samples all eight categories. Treat the percentages as a triage snapshot, not a verdict.

Why is this AAMA CMA practice test weighted 59/21/20?

AAMA's exam presents 200 questions, but only 180 are scored. The other 20 are unscored pretest items. Those 180 scored questions split into Clinical Competency 106, General 38, and Administrative 36: 58.9%, 21.1%, and 20.0%. A practice test that divides the three sections evenly is practicing a different distribution.

If a test offers “20 clinical, 20 general, 20 administrative,” it gives equal weight to a section with 106 scored items and a section with 36. If you use the resulting percentages to allocate study time, that flat split quietly pushes you toward the smallest section and away from the largest.

Our 90-question mode splits 53 Clinical / 19 General / 18 Administrative. That is not a rounded guess. Ninety is exactly half of 180, so all three section counts land on whole numbers: 106 ÷ 2 = 53, 38 ÷ 2 = 19, 36 ÷ 2 = 18. The resulting shares are 58.89%, 21.11%, and 20.00%—identical to the scored exam split to two decimal places.

We checked whether any shorter test length can do the same. It cannot. Because 106/180 reduces to 53/90, the three section allocations all become whole numbers only at a multiple of 90. Below the full 180 scored-item length, 90 is the only length that mirrors 106/38/36 without rounding.

The full 107-question bank cannot hit all three official percentages exactly because 107 is not a multiple of 90. Using the largest-remainder method gives 63 Clinical / 23 General / 21 Administrative, the closest whole-number allocation. Those counts produce 58.9% Clinical, 21.5% General, and 19.6% Administrative.

How much does one question move a section percentage?

On a short test, one General or Administrative item can swing the section percentage violently because the denominator is small.

Section counts allocated from AAMA's 106/38/36 by exact division where possible and largest remainder otherwise. “One item moves” = 100 ÷ section item count. Castleport calculation, August 2026.

Read that table before you panic. On the 30-question Quick Check, missing two General questions drops the section by 33 percentage points. That is not proof you are bad at legal and ethical issues. It is proof that six questions is a small sample.

The practical rule: use 30 questions to see where misses cluster. Use the 90-question run for a less volatile section comparison. Neither mode has been psychometrically validated against candidate outcomes, so neither percentage is a pass forecast.

Want the exact half-scale section mix?

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Run the 90-question Half-Scale Simulation. It gives you 72 timed minutes at the exam's average pace, uses the exact 53/19/18 split, and withholds answer feedback until the run ends.

How should you read your CMA practice-test result?

Your result has two outputs, and they answer different questions. Accuracy tells you what happened. Review priority tells you what to open first. A question you got right by guessing is still a gap; a question you missed while feeling certain is a bigger one, because you had no reason to go back and check it.

Most practice tests report only accuracy, which treats confidently wrong, knowingly uncertain, and right by luck as if they were the same learning problem. They are not, and they do not deserve the same study time.

That is why the tool asks you to rate every submitted answer Sure, Unsure, or Guessed. It then assigns confidence-gap points:

Confidently wrong scores highest on purpose. It is the only outcome where you would not think to review—you walked away believing you knew it. That is the answer that can cost you twice.

The tool handles the official and editorial layers separately:

1. Section review priority: it divides each section's points by that section's maximum, then multiplies the result by AAMA's published share of the scored exam—106/180, 38/180, or 36/180. It displays an order, not a readiness number.
2. Category review priority: it ranks categories only against other categories in the same section. AAMA does not publish category item counts, so the tool does not pretend category A or C has a known official weight.

That distinction matters. Clinical Competency is nearly three times the size of Administrative on the scored exam. The public outline does not disclose the point value of category C versus category D. We publish the formula so you can check the ordering and override it when your own context says you should—for example, when your program barely covered a coordinate you missed.

What can—and cannot—your CMA practice score tell you?

This practice test cannot predict your CMA (AAMA) score. AAMA reports a scaled score from 200 to 800 with a current minimum passing score of 405. The score is standardized on a scale based on a reference group of first-time candidates who graduated from CAAHEP-accredited programs and tested under standard conditions. AAMA does not publish the raw-to-scaled conversion.

The mechanism, in plain terms: official scoring starts with correct responses, then places the result on AAMA's fixed 200–800 scale. AAMA states that 405 is the current minimum passing score and that its Certifying Board may change the minimum proficiency level. What AAMA does not publish is a table that tells you how a third-party practice percentage maps to 405 on your exam form.

That means three things:

1. A percentage on any third-party practice test—ours included—is not an official scaled score. We do not turn 72% into a made-up number out of 800.
2. This original bank has not been validated on a candidate sample. It cannot give you a defensible probability of passing.
3. What it can do is expose holes. That is a smaller claim and a genuinely useful one. It is the entire job of the test above.

After the real exam, AAMA provides an official pass/fail notification immediately. It emails the official score report approximately 24 hours later, and the current candidate booklet says the report includes approximate performance bar graphs for Clinical Competency, General, and Administrative. If you are preparing for a retake, that report is the most valuable study document you own. Start there before you buy anything.

For context on the number everyone asks about: AAMA currently publishes that 4,171 CMA (AAMA) exams were administered from July 2024 through April 2025, including 2,680 first-time administrations, with a 69% first-time pass rate. That is the official figure. If you have seen 76% repeated elsewhere, we could not locate a current primary source for it, so we do not repeat it. Current format, scoring, attempts, and reporting rules are on AAMA's Certification page.

What do AAMA's 100 free CMA practice questions cover—and what do they skip?

AAMA publishes 100 free questions on its site: 50 anatomy and physiology and 50 medical terminology. You should work them. But both sets map to Clinical Competency—medical terminology to I.A.2 and anatomy and physiology to I.C.6. AAMA publishes no free sample questions for the 38 General and 36 Administrative scored-item positions.

We mapped the two official sets against AAMA's current outline because “100 free questions” sounds broader than it is.

Free sets: medical terminology and anatomy and physiology. Both read and mapped in full August 14, 2026. Section counts come from the Rev. 1/26 Content Outline.

That 74 is a floor, not a claim that the other 106 positions are fully covered. Even inside Clinical Competency, AAMA's free questions sample only medical terminology and anatomy and physiology. Category A also includes vital signs, interviewing, documentation, screenings, and provider orders. Categories B and D receive no free official sample questions.

None of this is a criticism of AAMA. Free samples are a courtesy, not a curriculum, and both pages state that the questions will not appear on the exam and that answering them correctly does not guarantee a pass. The practical point is simpler: if those 100 are your only practice, every official sample you worked came from the 59% Clinical section, and none came from the other 41%. Clinical itself was only partially sampled.

There is also a workflow gap. AAMA's free sets provide printable answer forms and answer keys. They do not provide a timer, automated scoring, section breakdown, confidence capture, or written explanations. That is fine for what they are. It is also exactly the gap the tool at the top of this page fills.

Cover the two sections the official free sets do not sample

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Drill categories E, F, G, or H. General and Administrative together account for 74 scored-item positions, and AAMA's free question pages publish no sample items from either section.

Are these real CMA (AAMA) exam questions?

No, and you should be suspicious of anyone who says otherwise. Every question in this test was written by Castleport Test Prep from the published AAMA Content Outline, Rev. 1/26. We have no access to live or retired exam items, we do not use recalled questions, and we do not link to question dumps.

This matters for two reasons beyond our own conscience.

The integrity reason. AAMA's Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Standards lists unauthorized possession or distribution of exam materials—including copying and reproducing exam questions—as grounds for discipline. Possible sanctions include denial of eligibility, invalidated or withheld scores, probation, reprimand, and temporary or permanent credential revocation. A shortcut is not worth your exam eligibility or credential.

The practical reason. Recalled items are reconstructed from memory under pressure. Stems drift, options disappear, and the remembered “correct” answer may be the candidate's own mistake. Memorizing a distorted item can make you less prepared, not more.

AAMA is explicit about its own material too. Both free question pages say those items will not appear on the exam. Its paid Certification Practice Exam carries the same warning and states that performance does not ensure a passing score.

What we can tell you about our items is verifiable: each maps to a coordinate in the current outline, each has five options, each has a keyed answer, each explains every option, and each lists the sources used to check it inside the tool.

Is there a pattern to AAMA's published answer keys?

We tallied all 100 answers from AAMA's free medical terminology and anatomy-and-physiology sets. The distribution is A 12, B 30, C 22, D 19, E 17. A chi-square test against a flat 20/20/20/20/20 distribution gives χ² = 8.90 with 4 degrees of freedom and p ≈ 0.064. At the conventional 0.05 level, that is not statistically significant. “When in doubt, pick C” would score 22 out of 100.

Every exam forum eventually produces someone insisting that the answer is usually C, the longest choice wins, or “all of the above” is always right. We checked the only official CMA sample keys available to count.

Answer keys published on AAMA's two free question pages, counted August 14, 2026. χ² = 8.90, df = 4, p = 0.0636.

B came up most often, at 30. Do not turn that into a strategy. Under a flat distribution, a spread at least this uneven occurs about 6.4% of the time. More importantly, this is one snapshot from two topic sets—not the live exam. The honest finding is that the samples do not support a dependable answer-letter shortcut.

Our full bank's own key is deliberately balanced: A 22, B 22, C 21, D 21, E 21. We publish it because a page that audits other answer keys should show its own.

Why does this bank use five options?

Ninety-nine of AAMA's 100 published free questions have five answer choices, A through E. The single exception is anatomy and physiology item 13, which has four.

That changes the arithmetic inside a practice set: a blind guess on five choices is 20%; on four choices it is 25%. We use five options because that is what 99% of AAMA's published samples use—not because AAMA publishes an official option count for live exam items. It does not.

That limit matters. We match AAMA's public sample format and stop there. If AAMA publishes a live-exam option count, send it through our corrections page and we will update this section with the primary source.

How can you check any free CMA practice test in 60 seconds?

Run these five checks before you invest an hour. Run them on ours too.

Bad free material does not merely waste time. It can aim your remaining study hours at the wrong section.

Now score this page honestly:

Do not trust our self-audit by itself. Open the tool, inspect an item, count the choices, open the sources, and check the math. A test that asks for your career time should survive that inspection.

20 free CMA (AAMA) practice questions with answers and explanations

These 20 questions are a readable slice of the same 107-question bank, here on the page so you can work them without the interactive tool—on paper, on a slow connection, or with a study group. The split is 12 Clinical, 4 General, and 4 Administrative, the closest whole-number match to AAMA's 106/38/36 that 20 items allow. The answer key is balanced four times each across A–E.

Answers and explanations are grouped after all 20 so you can work straight through without spoiling them. At 20 questions, one General or Administrative item moves that section by 25 percentage points. Treat this as a warm-up, not a diagnosis.

Clinical Competency

1. (I.A.1 — Vital Signs) A medical assistant must take a manual blood pressure on a patient with a large upper arm. The only cuff available is too small for the measured arm circumference. If the reading is taken anyway, what error is most likely?

(A) A falsely low reading (B) An accurate systolic reading with a falsely low diastolic reading (C) An unreadable result with no Korotkoff sounds (D) No predictable error because cuff size does not affect the reading (E) A falsely high reading

2. (I.A.2 — Medical Terminology) The suffix “-ptosis” means which of the following?

(A) Drooping or sagging (B) Crushing (C) Enlargement (D) Hardening (E) Narrowing

3. (I.A.1 — Pulse Oximetry) A pulse oximeter displays 86% on a patient whose fingers are cold and who is speaking comfortably. What should the medical assistant do?

(A) Document 86% as final because the display is digital (B) Place the sensor over dark nail polish and wait (C) Ignore the value unless the patient reports shortness of breath (D) Keep the patient in place, promptly alert the supervising clinician or activate the office emergency process, and repeat the measurement after checking sensor placement and perfusion (E) Ask the patient to hold their breath while the device recalibrates

4. (I.B.4 — Standard Precautions and Exposure Control) Immediately after a routine venipuncture, how should the used needle be handled under the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard?

(A) Bend it to prevent reuse, then discard it in a sharps container (B) Hand it to another staff member for disposal (C) Recap it with a one-handed scoop, then place it in regular waste (D) Discard it immediately, without recapping, in an appropriate sharps container (E) Recap it with both hands, then discard it in a sharps container

5. (I.B.3 — Modes of Infectious Transmission) A patient with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis arrives coughing in the waiting room. Which transmission-based response is appropriate?

(A) Place the patient under contact precautions only (B) Give the patient a surgical mask, separate the patient promptly, and follow airborne-precaution procedures (C) Seat the patient next to an open window and continue routine intake (D) Ask the patient to cover the cough with a hand and wait (E) Use only eye protection because tuberculosis is spread by splashes

6. (I.C.3 — Surgical Assisting) On a sterile field set up on a tray, which area is considered contaminated?

(A) The outer one-inch border around the perimeter (B) The area beneath the medical assistant's sterile-gloved hands (C) The center of the sterile drape (D) The instruments resting on the sterile towel (E) The sterile basin placed in the middle of the field

7. (I.C.7 — Specimen Collection Techniques) A patient needs blood cultures plus light blue, gold, green, and lavender tubes. Following the standard order of draw, which tube is filled immediately after the blood culture bottles?

(A) Gold serum separator (B) Light blue sodium citrate (C) Gray sodium fluoride (D) Green heparin (E) Lavender EDTA

8. (I.C.9 — Laboratory Quality Control) Before running patient samples on an office glucose meter, a control solution falls outside its acceptable range. What is the correct next step?

(A) Average the control with the previous day’s result (B) Release patient results with a note about the control (C) Repeat the control on another meter and report whichever is in range (D) Withhold patient testing, troubleshoot the system, and obtain acceptable control results before reporting patient results (E) Run patients first and repeat the control later

9. (I.C.10 — Spirometry) Which instruction is central to a forced spirometry maneuver?

(A) Inhale fully, seal the lips around the mouthpiece, then exhale as hard and fast as possible until told to stop (B) Breathe normally through the nose with lips open (C) Take several small breaths and stop at the first cough (D) Exhale before placing the mouthpiece (E) Hold the cheeks out with the tongue blocking the mouthpiece

10. (I.C.7 — Urine Specimen Collection) Which instruction is appropriate for a midstream clean-catch urine specimen?

(A) Collect the first urine that leaves the urethra without cleansing (B) Clean the area, begin voiding into the toilet, then collect the midstream portion without touching the inside of the cup (C) Fill the cup from urine remaining in the toilet (D) Touch the inside of the lid to keep it from falling (E) Collect the specimen from a bedpan after it sits for an hour

11. (I.D.2 — Medication Dosage Calculation) A provider orders 0.5 g of an oral medication. The tablets on hand are 250 mg. How many tablets should be given?

(A) Half a tablet (B) One tablet (C) Two tablets (D) Four tablets (E) Five tablets

12. (I.D.2 — Routes of Administration) A tuberculin skin test must deposit solution in the dermis. At what angle should the needle be inserted?

(A) 30 degrees (B) 45 degrees (C) 60 degrees (D) 90 degrees (E) 5 to 15 degrees

General

13. (II.E.1 — HIPAA Right of Access) A patient submits a written request for a copy of the designated record set. Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the covered entity generally must act on the request no later than when?

(A) 10 business days (B) 45 calendar days (C) 30 calendar days (D) 60 business days (E) 90 calendar days

14. (II.E.4 — Professional Liability Torts) A patient raises a fist and says, “I am going to hit you right now,” but makes no physical contact. Which tort is most directly described?

(A) Abandonment (B) Battery (C) Libel (D) Slander (E) Assault

15. (II.E.2 — Authorization to Release PHI) A patient signs an authorization to send records to a life insurer. Which set of elements belongs in a valid HIPAA authorization?

(A) A promise that the insurer will approve coverage (B) A meaningful description of the information; identification of who may disclose it and who may receive it; the purpose; an expiration date or event; the individual’s signature and date; and the required authorization statements (C) The patient’s Social Security number in every case (D) A blank expiration line so the authorization never ends (E) Permission to disclose every future record to anyone

16. (II.F.1 — De-escalation) A patient at the front desk is shouting, clenching both fists, and moving closer to staff. Which response is most appropriate?

(A) Match the patient’s volume to establish authority (B) Stand between the patient and the exit (C) Touch the patient’s shoulder to show empathy (D) Maintain space and an exit route, use a calm voice, set clear limits, and summon help according to policy (E) Tell the patient the behavior is irrational

Administrative

17. (III.G.1 — Coding Applications) A claim includes the correct procedure code but a diagnosis code that does not support why the service was medically necessary. What is the most likely result?

(A) Automatic payment because the procedure code is correct (B) Conversion of the claim to workers’ compensation (C) Payment at twice the contracted rate (D) Removal of the diagnosis code by the payer with no effect (E) A denial or request for correction because procedure and diagnosis linkage does not support medical necessity

18. (III.G.3 — Advance Beneficiary Notice) A provider believes Original Medicare will probably deny a planned nonemergency service as not reasonable and necessary. When should a valid ABN generally be delivered?

(A) Before the service, early enough for the beneficiary to make an informed choice (B) After the claim is denied (C) Only after the beneficiary receives a bill (D) At the next annual wellness visit (E) Only if the beneficiary has Medicare Advantage

19. (III.G.6 — Financial Terminology) What is a deductible?

(A) A fixed amount paid to the provider at every visit (B) The percentage the patient owes after the insurer processes a claim (C) The amount the patient pays for covered services subject to the deductible before the plan begins paying under its terms (D) The monthly amount paid to keep insurance active (E) The maximum a provider may charge any patient

20. (III.H.1 — Scheduling Appointments) A practice schedules two patients at 9:00, one at 9:15, one at 9:30, and leaves 9:45 open for catch-up. What scheduling method is this?

(A) Cluster scheduling (B) Double booking (C) Modified wave scheduling (D) Open hours (E) Stream scheduling

Answers and explanations

1. (E) A falsely high reading. A cuff that is too small tends to overestimate blood pressure.

A: A cuff that is too large, not too small, tends to underestimate pressure. B: An undersized cuff can distort both systolic and diastolic values; it does not selectively preserve systolic accuracy. C: Korotkoff sounds may still be heard even when the cuff is the wrong size. D: Cuff size is a recognized source of measurement error.

2. (A) Drooping or sagging. -Ptosis means drooping, prolapse, or downward displacement.

B: Crushing is expressed by the suffix -tripsy. C: Enlargement is -megaly. D: Hardening is -sclerosis. E: Narrowing is -stenosis.

3. (D) Keep the patient in place, promptly alert the supervising clinician or activate the office emergency process, and repeat the measurement after checking sensor placement and perfusion. An 86% reading may represent dangerous hypoxemia even when the patient is speaking comfortably. Promptly escalate while checking common accuracy problems and repeating the measurement; do not dismiss the value or delay help while troubleshooting.

A: A digital display can still be affected by poor perfusion or sensor problems, but 86% also requires prompt escalation. B: Nail polish can interfere with some readings rather than improve them. C: Some people with low oxygen show few symptoms, so the reading cannot be ignored solely because shortness of breath is absent. E: Breath-holding is not a calibration method and can worsen oxygenation.

4. (D) Discard it immediately, without recapping, in an appropriate sharps container. Routine disposal is immediate or as soon as feasible into a closable, puncture-resistant, labeled or color-coded sharps container without recapping.

A: Bending contaminated needles is generally prohibited. B: Passing a contaminated sharp creates avoidable exposure risk. C: Routine venipuncture does not require recapping, and sharps never go in regular waste. E: Two-handed recapping is prohibited; routine disposal does not require recapping.

5. (B) Give the patient a surgical mask, separate the patient promptly, and follow airborne-precaution procedures. Source control, prompt separation, and airborne precautions are the appropriate response to suspected infectious pulmonary TB.

A: Contact precautions alone do not address airborne transmission. C: An open window is not a substitute for the facility’s airborne-precaution process. D: Hand covering is poor respiratory hygiene and does not control airborne exposure. E: Tuberculosis is not managed as a splash-only hazard.

6. (A) The outer one-inch border around the perimeter. The outer one-inch border is treated as contaminated.

B: Sterile-gloved hands held in view and above waist level are treated as sterile. C: The center remains sterile if it has not been contaminated. D: Properly placed sterile instruments remain sterile. E: A sterile basin placed correctly inside the field remains sterile.

7. (B) Light blue sodium citrate. Blood cultures are followed by the light-blue citrate tube.

A: Serum tubes follow citrate in the standard sequence. C: A gray tube is drawn later, after EDTA. D: Heparin follows serum. E: EDTA follows heparin.

8. (D) Withhold patient testing, troubleshoot the system, and obtain acceptable control results before reporting patient results. The failure must be investigated and corrected before patient results are released.

A: A control result cannot be made acceptable by averaging it with an older value. B: An out-of-range control means the system has not demonstrated acceptable performance. C: Switching devices without following the quality-control procedure does not validate either system. E: Patient testing should not proceed on a system with failed quality control.

9. (A) Inhale fully, seal the lips around the mouthpiece, then exhale as hard and fast as possible until told to stop. A full inspiration followed by rapid, forceful, sustained expiration is the core maneuver.

B: A forced maneuver requires a sealed mouthpiece and maximal effort. C: Small breaths do not measure forced expiratory performance. D: Exhaling before sealing loses the start of the maneuver. E: Blocking the mouthpiece prevents accurate airflow measurement.

10. (B) Clean the area, begin voiding into the toilet, then collect the midstream portion without touching the inside of the cup. Cleansing and collecting the midstream portion helps reduce contamination.

A: The first stream can carry urethral contaminants. C: Toilet water contaminates the specimen. D: The inside of the lid and cup should remain clean. E: A specimen left in a bedpan is not a proper clean-catch sample.

11. (C) Two tablets. 0.5 g equals 500 mg; 500 ÷ 250 = 2 tablets.

A: Half a tablet provides 125 mg. B: One tablet provides 250 mg. D: Four tablets provide 1,000 mg. E: Five tablets provide 1,250 mg.

12. (E) 5 to 15 degrees. A shallow 5- to 15-degree, bevel-up insertion places the tip in the dermis and should raise a wheal.

A: Thirty degrees is too steep for the standard Mantoux technique. B: Forty-five degrees is commonly associated with some subcutaneous injections. C: Sixty degrees is too deep for an intradermal injection. D: Ninety degrees is commonly used for intramuscular injections and some subcutaneous injections.

13. (C) 30 calendar days. The covered entity generally must act within 30 calendar days; one written 30-day extension may be available when the rule’s conditions are met.

A: HIPAA does not set a general 10-business-day response limit for access requests. B: Forty-five days is not the general federal deadline. D: Sixty business days is longer than the standard HIPAA period. E: Ninety days is not the general HIPAA access deadline.

14. (E) Assault. Assault is an intentional act creating reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact.

A: Abandonment concerns improper termination of an established care relationship. B: Battery requires harmful or offensive contact. C: Libel is written defamation. D: Slander is spoken defamation.

15. (B) A meaningful description of the information; identification of who may disclose it and who may receive it; the purpose; an expiration date or event; the individual’s signature and date; and the required authorization statements. A valid authorization identifies the information and both parties, states the purpose, includes an expiration, signature and date, and contains the Privacy Rule’s required statements.

A: Coverage approval is not an authorization element. C: HIPAA does not require a Social Security number on every authorization. D: An authorization needs an expiration date or expiration event. E: An unlimited blank authorization does not satisfy specificity requirements.

16. (D) Maintain space and an exit route, use a calm voice, set clear limits, and summon help according to policy. Calm communication, safe distance, clear limits, and early assistance are core de-escalation and safety steps.

A: Escalating volume can intensify the encounter. B: Blocking an exit can increase threat and trap staff. C: Unexpected touch can increase agitation. E: Labeling the person is confrontational and not therapeutic.

17. (E) A denial or request for correction because procedure and diagnosis linkage does not support medical necessity. Payers use diagnosis-to-procedure linkage and coverage rules to evaluate medical necessity.

A: A correct procedure code alone does not establish coverage. B: Nothing in the scenario makes the claim work-related. C: Unsupported linkage does not increase payment. D: The mismatch can affect adjudication and should be corrected through the proper process.

18. (A) Before the service, early enough for the beneficiary to make an informed choice. For Original Medicare, it is generally delivered before the item or service when denial is expected, allowing an informed decision.

B: An ABN is advance notice, not a post-denial notice. C: A bill is too late for advance choice. D: An unrelated future visit is not timely. E: The standard FFS ABN described here applies to Original Medicare, not as the default notice for Medicare Advantage plans.

19. (C) The amount the patient pays for covered services subject to the deductible before the plan begins paying under its terms. A deductible is an amount the enrollee pays for services subject to it before plan payment begins under the policy.

A: A fixed visit amount is a copayment. B: A percentage of the allowed charge is coinsurance. D: A recurring coverage charge is a premium. E: A deductible is not a universal provider fee cap.

20. (C) Modified wave scheduling. Modified wave scheduling places more patients early in a block and leaves time later in the block for completion or catch-up.

A: Cluster scheduling groups similar procedures or patient types. B: Double booking places two patients in the same time slot. D: Open hours allow patients to arrive within a period without individual appointments. E: Stream scheduling assigns patients to specific, evenly spaced times.

Answer distribution for these 20 items: A 4 · B 4 · C 4 · D 4 · E 4. The full 107-question bank is balanced A 22 · B 22 · C 21 · D 21 · E 21.

Want the other 87 questions?

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Open the full 107-question bank. Same five-option format, all eight categories, every option explained, and the source list inside each item review.

What is on the real CMA (AAMA) exam in 2026?

The current CMA (AAMA) Certification Exam has 200 multiple-choice questions, of which 180 are scored and 20 are unscored pretest items. You receive 160 minutes of testing time in four 40-minute segments, with optional breaks of 5, 10, and 5 minutes between segments. Scores run from 200 to 800, and the current minimum passing score is 405.

These are the current official facts that affect how you use a practice test:

All rows checked directly against AAMA sources on August 14, 2026. Fees and policies can change; use the linked current AAMA source when you apply.

Two facts deserve a second look because they change how you should practice.

The average pace is 48 seconds per question. Divide 160 minutes by 200 questions. That does not create an official 48-second limit on each item—the exam runs in four 40-minute segments—but it is the average pace your total work must sustain. The optional timer uses that average, which is why 90 questions receive exactly 72 minutes.

The 20 minutes of optional breaks sit inside the 180-minute appointment cap. AAMA gives 160 minutes of testing plus up to 20 minutes of breaks. Declining a break does not extend testing time. Plan the day accordingly.

What should you know before buying AAMA's own practice material?

AAMA currently lists two different 200-question products with different terms. Do not assume the names, access periods, prices, or continuing-education terms are interchangeable.

The weighting sentence on AAMA's Prepare page is the detail most candidates miss: the percentage of General, Clinical, and Administrative items on its Certification Practice Exam does not mirror the percentages on the real exam.

That does not make the official practice exam useless. It means you should buy it for AAMA-published practice format and familiarity, not treat its section percentages as a blueprint-weighted readiness calculation. AAMA also says the questions will not appear on the real exam and that performance does not ensure a passing score.

Before purchase, confirm which product is in the cart. The Certification Practice Exam terms and the separate Review Exam listing are different.

Where else can you get CMA practice questions?

Here is the honest map, including where another publisher beats us. Our bank is 107 questions and carries an editorial-team byline, not a named CMA reviewer. Tests.com currently advertises a 750-question medical-assistant practice product and names credentialed medical-assisting instructors. If named subject-matter authors and raw volume are your top criteria, that is a legitimate reason to use it.

We would rather tell you that than have you discover it yourself and wonder what else we shaded.

Volume and authorship are real criteria. They are not the only ones. Some third-party pages mix multiple medical-assistant credentials, publish no current outline revision, apply 59/21/20 to all 200 questions instead of the 180 scored items, or turn a practice percentage into a confidence claim the official conversion cannot support. Run the five checks above before you let any bank set your study priorities.

Our recommendation, in order:

1. Work AAMA's 100 free published questions first. They come from the exam owner and are the closest free view of its public item style. Remember the coverage map: both sets sit inside Clinical, and only two topics are sampled.
2. Use this test for broader outline coverage and a blueprint-aware section review order. It gives you practice in General and Administrative, where AAMA's free pages publish none.
3. Use additional reputable questions when you need more repetitions. More practice can help, but verify the exam owner, outline date, section allocation, option format, and explanations first.
4. When paying for one source, consider AAMA's own Certification Practice Exam for AAMA-published practice format, with its published weighting and outcome disclaimers firmly in mind.

Castleport has no affiliate arrangement with AAMA or any competitor named on this page. We do not sell CMA materials, so nothing is steering that order toward a checkout.

What should you study after the practice test?

Take the first section in your review-priority result, then open the exact outline coordinates you missed. Spend your total study time roughly in proportion to 106/38/36, but let confidently wrong answers jump the queue. A category you misunderstand needs instruction before it needs another pile of questions.

A practical next-session map:

Two things help regardless of the weak area:

Learn untimed, then test pacing. Read explanations and repair the rule without a clock first. Then use timed mode to see whether the knowledge still holds when the segment pace matters. Timed mode withholds the key until the run ends so answer feedback does not contaminate later items.

Re-read explanations for answers you got right while guessing. Those are points you reached without owning the rule. They are the cheapest gaps to fix, and they are why confidence capture is built into the test instead of added as decoration.

Turn the result into the next study session

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Return to the practice test, choose your highest-priority category, and work that category untimed. Then repeat it under the timer after you can explain the rule in your own words.

How did Castleport write and check these CMA questions?

Every item was written by the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team against AAMA's Content Outline, Rev. 1/26, tagged to a coordinate, checked against the listed official or authoritative source, and reviewed for one keyed answer and four explainable distractors. Every official exam claim on this page was read from AAMA's current published material on August 14, 2026—not copied from another prep site's summary.

What we verified

• Opened the AAMA Content Outline PDF, Rev. 1/26, and read it end to end. Confirmed 180 scored plus 20 pretest equals 200; Clinical 106, General 38, Administrative 36; eight categories A–H; and section-level counts only.
• Read the AAMA Certification page. Confirmed the 200-item format, 160 minutes, four 40-minute segments, 5/10/5 break structure, 180-minute appointment cap, 200–800 scale, 405 minimum, immediate pass/fail, approximate 24-hour report timing, six attempts in 12 months, no required retake wait, accommodations process, and official statistics.
• Read the 2026 Application and Policies booklet. Confirmed the five eligibility categories, current fee table, 90-day testing period, transfer fee, test-center and live-remote delivery, retake policy, and section bar graphs on the score report.
• Read the AAMA Prepare page and the separate Review Exam listing. Confirmed both 200-question products, their different access terms, the published prices we quote, the practice-exam weighting disclaimer, and the no-outcome-assurance language.
• Opened both free AAMA question sets in full. Mapped them to I.A.2 and I.C.6, counted the answer choices, tallied the answer keys, and reran the chi-square calculation.
• Built and validated 107 original questions with exact bank counts of 63/23/21 by section and A 15, B 14, C 22, D 12, E 12, F 11, G 11, H 10 by category. Confirmed five options, one key, five option explanations, outline coordinates, and source references on every item.
• Recalculated the 90-question exact half-scale allocation, the 107-question largest-remainder allocation, every one-item percentage movement in the table, and the bank's A 22 / B 22 / C 21 / D 21 / E 21 answer distribution.

What we did not do

We did not review or use live, retired, or recalled AAMA exam items. We have no access to AAMA's item bank. We did not test these questions on a candidate sample, so we publish no difficulty, discrimination, reliability, pass-probability, or raw-to-scaled statistics. We did not assign official weights to categories A through H because AAMA does not publish them. We did not claim the live exam uses five options because AAMA does not publish that count.

About the byline

This page is written and maintained by the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team. We do not attach a “reviewed by” line unless a named subject-matter reviewer from our published reviewer list actually reviewed the article. That has not happened for this page, so there is no reviewer name and no credential theater. Read our editorial standards, methodology, and corrections log.

Testimonials

There are none on this page. We have not collected attributable testimonials from CMA (AAMA) candidates, and we will not write ones we do not have. If a prep page shows glowing quotes with no verifiable source, that is information too.

When will this page be updated?

An exam page aimed at an old outline is worse than none. We re-check:

If a section count changes, the practice-test allocation changes in the same release. If AAMA replaces the outline, we will date the change on this page rather than quietly swapping numbers.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the official AAMA CMA practice exam?

No. This is an independent Castleport Test Prep tool with original questions written from AAMA's public Content Outline. AAMA sells its own practice products. Castleport is not affiliated with AAMA or its Certifying Board.

How many questions are in this free AAMA CMA practice test?

The bank contains 107 original questions: 63 Clinical, 23 General, and 21 Administrative. You can take 30, 90, all 107, or drill one category.

Why does the 107-question bank use 63/23/21?

Because 63/23/21 is the largest-remainder allocation from AAMA's official 106/38/36 scored-item split—the closest whole-number match available at 107 questions.

Do I need an account or email address?

No. There is no sign-up, email capture, or payment step. The component keeps the active attempt only in memory and clears it on refresh; it makes no storage or network calls.

Are these real CMA (AAMA) exam questions?

No. Every item is original. We do not use live, retired, or recalled exam questions.

What score is required to pass the real exam?

AAMA currently reports scores on a 200–800 scale with a minimum passing score of 405. That is a scaled score, not a percentage. AAMA does not publish a raw-to-scaled conversion.

Can this test predict whether I will pass?

No. It has not been psychometrically validated on candidates. It identifies misses, confidence gaps, and section priorities; it does not forecast an outcome.

How many questions are on the real exam, and how long do I get?

There are 200 questions, of which 180 are scored, with 160 testing minutes in four 40-minute segments. Three optional breaks total 20 minutes inside the 180-minute appointment cap.

How much does the CMA (AAMA) exam cost?

Under the current 2026 booklet, Category 1 is $125. Categories 2, 3, and 5 are $125 for AAMA members and $250 for nonmembers. Category 4 requires a free documentation review before the applicable exam fee. Confirm your category and current fee with AAMA before applying.

How soon can I retake the exam?

AAMA currently requires no waiting period. You must submit a new application and regular fee for each attempt, and you may not exceed six attempts in the 12-month period beginning with the first attempt.

How do exam accommodations work?

AAMA says you must first be completely enrolled and receive the scheduling email, then submit the accommodations request and required documentation to PSI.

How long is the credential current?

AAMA requires recertification every 60 months.

Where are AAMA's free questions?

AAMA publishes 50 medical terminology questions and 50 anatomy and physiology questions. Both are worth working. Both map to Clinical Competency, so neither set samples General or Administrative.

Why does this test use five answer choices when some others use four?

Because 99 of AAMA's 100 published free questions have five options. AAMA does not publish the live exam's option count, so we match the public sample format without pretending it is an official live-item rule.

Is the CMA (AAMA) the same as the CCMA?

No. The CMA (AAMA) is awarded through the Certifying Board of the American Association of Medical Assistants. The CCMA is a separate NHA credential with a different eligibility path, outline, and exam. See CMA vs. CCMA vs. RMA.

Does Castleport sell a CMA study guide or paid question bank?

Not at this time. The tool on this page is free, and there is nothing to buy.

Can I print the questions?

The 20 questions and explanations above print from the browser. The interactive test also provides a print-results button after a run.

Disclaimers

Castleport Test Prep is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or approved by the American Association of Medical Assistants, its Certifying Board, or PSI. Exam and credential names are used descriptively to identify the exam. Castleport claims no ownership of AAMA names, marks, seals, or logos, and no AAMA seal or logo is used on this page.

This page provides study guidance, not legal, medical, employment, or licensing advice. Medical-assistant scope of practice is controlled by state law and varies by state. Exam eligibility, fees, and policies are controlled by AAMA and its Certifying Board. Confirm current exam requirements with AAMA and scope questions with the controlling authority in your state. Practice questions are educational and are not a substitute for program instruction, employer policy, or a licensed clinician's judgment.

Castleport does not offer a pass guarantee. This practice test does not predict a score, passing result, employment outcome, or credential award.

Primary sources used: AAMA Certification · AAMA Eligibility · AAMA Prepare · AAMA Recertification · Application and Policies, Rev. 1/26 · Content Outline, Rev. 1/26 · AAMA Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Standards · AAMA free medical terminology questions · AAMA free anatomy and physiology questions

Last verified: August 14, 2026.