This free CMSRN cheat sheet compresses the MSNCB's five medical-surgical nursing domains into a printable quick-reference you can scan in minutes. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Pair it with the rest of your free CMSRN toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
CMSRN exam at a glance
- Questions: 150 multiple-choice (125 scored + 25 unscored pretest)
- Time: 3 hours (180 minutes)
- Passing standard: Scaled score of 95 (about 71% of scored items); reported pass/fail
- Delivery: Pearson VUE test center or OnVUE online proctoring
- Cost: ~$267 member / $394 non-member + $90 processing fee (verify on msncb.org)
What’s on the CMSRN cheat sheet
- Patient/Care Management (32%) — the largest domain — patient safety, infection prevention, medication management, pain, surgical nursing, and nutrition; most clinical and pharmacology content lives here.
- Nursing Teamwork & Collaboration (21%) — the five rights of delegation, scope of practice, supervising UAP, leadership, and change.
- Elements of Interprofessional Care (17%) — the nursing process and CJMM, collaboration, care transitions, documentation, and informatics.
- Holistic Patient Care (15%) — patient-centered care, diversity and inclusion, education, health promotion, and palliative/end-of-life care.
- Professional Concepts (15%) — communication, critical thinking, ethics, quality management, and evidence-based practice.
How to use it in your final week
- Print it and pair each read-through with a timed practice set — review Patient/Care Management, then immediately drill safety, medication, and precaution items so the facts anchor.
- Front-load the two heaviest domains: Patient/Care Management (32%) and Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration (21%) are more than half the exam, so they buy you the most points.
- Do a final memory-hook pass the morning of the exam — the scaled score of 95, the five rights of delegation, 'My Chicken Has TB' for airborne, and potassium is never IV push.
- Don't cram in a vacuum — run one full-length, blueprint-weighted simulation so 150 items in three hours feels routine before test day.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your CMSRN practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
CMSRN cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the CMSRN cheat sheet is 100% free to download as a PDF, with no sign-up required. It sits alongside Career Employer's free CMSRN practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your whole med-surg review lives in one place.
It condenses the highest-yield facts across the five MSNCB domains: Patient/Care Management, Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration, Elements of Interprofessional Care, Holistic Patient Care, and Professional Concepts. You get the numbers that matter — 150 items, the scaled score of 95 to pass, the five rights of delegation, transmission-based precautions, and high-alert medication rules.
It's built from the MSNCB's current CMSRN blueprint and reflects the five-domain weighting the board uses to assemble the exam. We check it against MSNCB's published handbook, but always confirm fees and policies on msncb.org, since those change.
No — the CMSRN tests applied clinical judgment across adult med-surg nursing, not rote recall, so most items ask what you would do first. Use the cheat sheet to lock in the memory hooks, then drill blueprint-weighted practice questions until you consistently clear 75%.
Click the download button (or the preview card) at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly — no email, no account. Bookmark the page so it's one tap away during your final week of studying.
References
- 1.Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB). “CMSRN Certification.” MSNCB.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB). “CMSRN Certification Handbook.” MSNCB.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB). “CMSRN Exam Processes, Scheduling, and Fees.” MSNCB.org, 2026. ↑
- 4.National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). “National Guidelines for Nursing Delegation.” NCSBN.org, 2026. ↑
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