This DSST cheat sheet distills the DANTES Subject Standardized Tests into a printable rundown of what the credit-by-exam program tests most across its six subject categories. 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 DSST toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
DSST exam at a glance
- Questions: About 100 multiple-choice per exam
- Time: 2 hours (120 minutes)
- Score scale: 200-500 scaled; ACE-recommended 400 to earn credit (~58-62% correct)
- Cost: About $100 per exam plus a test-center fee; first attempt free for eligible military via DANTES
What’s on the DSST cheat sheet
- Business (~11 exams) — economics and the free market, money and banking, the time value of money, and the core management and motivation theories.
- Social Sciences (~12 exams) — psychology and lifespan development, classical vs. operant conditioning, the three branches of government, and Cold War history.
- Humanities (~6 exams) — the major ethical frameworks, world religions and their texts, ethos-pathos-logos, and Western art periods.
- Physical Sciences (~4 exams) — the scientific method, conservation of mass and energy, Newton's laws, and the Big Bang model.
- Mathematics (~3 exams) — order of operations (PEMDAS), slope and linear equations, quadratics, and basic statistics and probability.
- Technology (~3 exams) — the CIA triad, encryption, malware types, and algorithms — plus the program's scoring and credit rules.
How to use it in your final week
- Pick the one DSST subject you're sitting and read only that category's block on the sheet first — the program spans 30+ exams, so don't try to cram all six categories at once.
- Lock the numbers cold: 200-500 scaled score, 400 to earn ACE-recommended credit (~58-62% correct), ~100 questions, 2-hour limit, no guessing penalty.
- Skim the sheet the morning of your exam for a final pass on the memory hooks in your subject — theorist-to-theory pairings, key formulas, and one-to-one facts.
- Pair each review pass with a short timed practice set (aim for about a minute per question) so your pacing feels routine before the real clock starts.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your DSST 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.
DSST cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — download the DSST cheat sheet as a PDF with no account and no sign-up. It sits alongside Career Employer's free DSST practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your whole review stack costs nothing.
It condenses the highest-yield facts across all six DSST subject categories — Business, Social Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Technology — plus the numbers you must not forget: the 200-500 score scale, the ACE-recommended 400 credit line, roughly 100 questions, and the 2-hour limit. Because DSST is a program of 30-plus exams, the sheet is a cross-category cram reference rather than a single-subject deep dive.
DSST exams are reported on a 200-500 scaled score, and the American Council on Education recommends a 400 to earn credit — roughly 58-62 percent of questions correct. There is no national pass/fail: each college sets the score it accepts and how many credits it awards, so confirm the cut score at your school before you test.
No — treat it as your final-week review layer, not your only prep. DSST rewards broad subject knowledge against a published fact sheet, so pair the cheat sheet with timed, full-length practice in the specific subject you plan to sit.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly. Bookmark the page so it is one click away the week you test.
References
- 1.DSST (Prometric). “About DSST.” getcollegecredit.com, 2026. ↑
- 2.DSST (Prometric). “DSST Exams (by subject category).” getcollegecredit.com, 2026. ↑
- 3.DSST (Prometric). “Scores and Transcripts.” getcollegecredit.com, 2026. ↑
- 4.American Council on Education. “ACE Credit Recommendations.” acenet.edu, 2026. ↑
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