This ABMDI cheat sheet distills the Registry (basic) death investigator exam into a printable rundown of the facts examiners test most. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free ABMDI toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
ABMDI exam at a glance
- Questions: 240 multiple-choice (230 graded + 10 unscored pilot)
- Time: 4 hours (240 minutes)
- Result: Pass/fail; criterion-referenced standard (commonly cited ~70–75%) — verify at ABMDI.org
- Cost: $50 application + $400 exam with proctoring; recertify every 5 years (45 CE hours)
What’s on the ABMDI cheat sheet
- Investigating Deaths (~25%) — the largest domain — the NIJ six-phase scene framework, postmortem changes, and cause vs mechanism vs manner of death.
- Identifying & Preserving Evidence (~18%) — chain of custody, labeling and sealing, and the body itself as evidence.
- Communicating (~12%) — next of kin and the statutory kinship order, death notification, and factual reports.
- Demonstrating Scientific Knowledge (~12%) — carbon monoxide and asphyxia, decomposition, toxicology basics, and the autopsy.
- Agencies, Families, Ethics & Stress (~33% combined) — jurisdiction and ME vs coroner, gathering history, objectivity and cognitive bias, plus coping with job-related stress.
How to use it in your final week
- Drill the three early postmortem changes until they're automatic — livor (settles by gravity, fixes after hours), rigor (starts in small muscles, complete around 12 hours), and algor (cooling toward ambient). Remember a livor pattern that contradicts body position means the body was moved.
- Front-load Investigating Deaths — the largest domain — and Identifying & Preserving Evidence. If you master two areas from the sheet, make them scene work and chain of custody.
- Lock the cause vs mechanism vs manner distinction: cause = the injury or disease, mechanism = the physiological derangement, manner = Natural, Accident, Suicide, Homicide, or Undetermined (NASH plus Undetermined).
- Pair each review pass with a short timed practice set to keep four-hour pacing realistic, and skim the sheet the morning of the exam for a final pass on ME-vs-coroner, reportable deaths, and the NIJ six phases.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your ABMDI 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.
ABMDI cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the ABMDI cheat sheet is 100% free to download as a PDF, with no sign-up required. It's part of Career Employer's free ABMDI toolkit alongside the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
It condenses the highest-yield Registry facts into a quick reference: medical examiner vs coroner, reportable deaths, the NIJ six-phase scene framework, the postmortem changes (livor, rigor, algor), cause vs mechanism vs manner of death, and chain of custody — organized by the eight official content domains.
It's built from ABMDI's Registry requirements and the National Institute of Justice guide 'Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator,' and we review it against those official sources regularly. Fees and policies change, so verify the current details at ABMDI.org before you apply.
No — the cheat sheet is a review and final-week cram aid, not a substitute for working the full field. The exam is 240 questions across eight domains in four hours, so use the sheet to lock in facts and the practice test to build your readiness across every topic.
Click the download button (or the preview card) at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark this page so you can find it again in the final week before your exam.
References
- 1.American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. “Registry Certification (basic).” ABMDI.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. “Application Process & Eligibility.” ABMDI.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.National Institute of Justice / Office of Justice Programs. “Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator (2024).” ojp.gov, 2024. ↑
- 4.National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). “Forensic Autopsy Performance Standards & Manner-of-Death Classification.” thename.org, 2026. ↑
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