This ATDH cheat sheet distills the ADA's six-section Admission Test for Dental Hygiene into a printable rundown of the facts that surface most often. 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 ATDH toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
ATDH exam at a glance
- Questions: 240 multiple-choice across 6 sections
- Time: About 4 hours 50 minutes scheduled (with tutorial, breaks, and survey)
- Scoring: Scaled scores 200–500 in 10-point increments — no pass/fail; programs compare by percentile
- Cost: Approximately $140 administration fee (verify the current amount at ADA.org/ATDH)
What’s on the ATDH cheat sheet
- Perceptual Ability (60 items / 45 min) — the largest and most trainable section — the six spatial subtests: apertures, view recognition, angle discrimination, paper folding, cube counting, and 3D form development.
- Reading Comprehension (40 items / 50 min) — answer strictly from ~450–500-word science passages; separate the main idea, supporting details, and inferences.
- Language Usage (40 items / 30 min) — subject-verb agreement, comma splices vs. semicolons, its vs. it's, and parallel structure — unique to the ATDH.
- Quantitative Reasoning (40 items / 45 min) — applied algebra, geometry formulas, odds vs. probability, and how transformations shift the mean but not the standard deviation.
- Biology (30 items / 30 min) — cells and organelles (the smooth ER detoxifies drugs), the cell cycle and S-phase replication, genetics, and human systems.
- General Chemistry (30 items / 30 min) — periodic trends, ionic vs. covalent bonding, VSEPR shapes, Le Chatelier's principle, and pH = −log[H⁺] — general, not organic.
How to use it in your final week
- Start each review with Perceptual Ability — at 60 items it's the largest section and the most trainable, so a daily rep on the six subtests (apertures, view recognition, angle discrimination, paper folding, cube counting, 3D form development) compounds fastest.
- Lock in the science staples the sheet flags: the smooth ER detoxifies drugs, mitochondria make ATP, DNA replicates in S phase, and periodic trends (electronegativity and ionization energy rise up-and-right, fluorine is most electronegative), plus pH = −log[H⁺].
- Rehearse the pacing, not just the facts — 240 items across six sections runs about 4 hours 50 minutes, so pair each review pass with a short timed set to build the stamina the long clock demands.
- Read the sheet the morning of the test for a last pass on grammar rules, high-yield formulas, and the memory hooks — there's no guessing penalty, so plan to answer every item.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your ATDH 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.
ATDH cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the ATDH cheat sheet is 100% free to download as a PDF, with no sign-up required. It's part of Career Employer's free ATDH toolkit alongside the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
The sheet condenses the highest-yield facts across all six ADA content sections into a single quick reference: Reading Comprehension, Language Usage, Quantitative Reasoning, Perceptual Ability, Biology, and General Chemistry — with the section item counts, timing, and the science and grammar facts that recur most.
The ATDH is reported as scaled scores from 200 to 500 in 10-point increments, and it is not pass/fail — there is no national passing score. Programs use your scaled scores and their relative percentiles to compare applicants, so a competitive target depends entirely on the dental hygiene programs you're applying to.
Because each program sets its own expectations, use the cheat sheet's section breakdown to target a balanced scaled score across all six sections rather than a single cutoff. Check your target programs' published or advised score ranges, then drill full-length practice until your scaled scores land above their competitive percentiles.
Click the download button (or the preview card) at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly — no account needed. Bookmark this page so you can find it again for a final review before your Prometric appointment.
References
- 1.American Dental Association. “Admission Test for Dental Hygiene (ATDH).” ADA.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.American Dental Association. “Admission Test for Dental Hygiene (ATDH) Quick Facts.” ADA.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.American Dental Association. “Admission Test for Dental Hygiene (ATDH) Candidate Guide.” ADA.org, 2026. ↑
- 4.American Dental Association. “Perceptual Ability Test Section Instructions.” ADA.org, 2026. ↑
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