This CDCES cheat sheet compresses the CBDCE diabetes care and education blueprint into a printable rundown of the facts examiners lean on most. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Back it with the rest of your free CDCES toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
CDCES exam at a glance
- Questions: 175 multiple-choice (150 scored, 25 unscored pretest)
- Time: 4 hours
- Passing score: Scaled score of 70 (scale runs 0-99)
- Cost: ~$350 initial application fee — verify at cbdce.org, since fees change
What’s on the CDCES cheat sheet
- Assessment (~25%, 37 items) — diagnostic thresholds (A1C, fasting glucose, OGTT), diabetes measures, physical and psychosocial assessment, and reading the learner's readiness and literacy.
- Care & Education Interventions (70%, 105 items) — the largest domain — type 1 vs type 2, glycemic targets, oral agents and insulin dosing, nutrition, activity, monitoring, and acute and chronic complications.
- Standards & Practices (~5%, 8 items) — the National Standards for DSMES, the National Diabetes Prevention Program, professional practice standards, advocacy, and health equity.
- Memory anchors — the Rule of 15, DKA vs HHS discriminators, insulin action curves, and the ADCES7 Self-Care Behaviors — the facts most worth carrying into the test center.
How to use it in your final week
- Front-load Care and Education Interventions — it is 70% of the scored items (105 of 150), so master glycemic targets, insulin dosing, nutrition, monitoring, and complications from the sheet first.
- Drill the acute-emergency block until it's reflex: Rule of 15 for lows, glucagon when the person can't swallow, and DKA versus HHS discriminated by ketosis and acidosis.
- Read the diagnostic thresholds and glycemic targets aloud the morning of the exam — A1C 6.5% diagnoses, fasting 126, 2-hour OGTT 200, A1C goal below 7%, Time in Range above 70%.
- Pair each review pass with a short timed set — 175 items in four hours is just over a minute each, so keep your pacing sharp on scenario questions.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your CDCES 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.
CDCES cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the CDCES cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no payment. It sits alongside Career Employer's free CDCES practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your entire diabetes-care review stays free.
It condenses the highest-yield facts the CBDCE tests into a fast reference: diagnostic thresholds, glycemic targets, insulin action curves, the Rule of 15, DKA versus HHS, and the ADCES7 Self-Care Behaviors — grouped by the three exam domains so you cram in the exam's own proportions.
It's built from the CBDCE Examination Content Outline effective July 1, 2024 and the current ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes, and we recheck it against those primary sources on a regular schedule.
No — it's a last-mile review layer, not a substitute for the full study guide and repeated timed practice. You need a scaled score of 70 across 150 scored items, so use the sheet to lock in facts and the practice test to prove you're ready.
Click the download button (or the preview card) at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly. Bookmark the page so you can pull the sheet back up the morning of your exam.
References
- 1.Certification Board for Diabetes Care and Education (CBDCE). “About the CDCES Exam.” cbdce.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.Certification Board for Diabetes Care and Education (CBDCE). “CDCES Examination Content Outline (Effective July 1, 2024).” cbdce.org, 2024. ↑
- 3.American Diabetes Association (ADA). “Standards of Care in Diabetes—2025.” Diabetes Care, Vol 48, Suppl 1, 2025. ↑
- 4.Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists (ADCES). “ADCES7 Self-Care Behaviors.” adces.org, 2026. ↑
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