This NCMA cheat sheet compresses the NCCT National Certified Medical Assistant blueprint into a printable rundown of the facts the exam tests most. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Round it out with the rest of your free NCMA toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
NCMA exam at a glance
- Questions: 150 (125 scored + 25 unscored pretest)
- Time: 3 hours (180 minutes)
- Passing score: Scaled 70 on a 0–100 scale (pass/fail)
- Cost: ≈ $119 (verify at ncctinc.com); recertify annually with 12 CE clock hours
What’s on the NCMA cheat sheet
- Clinical Medical Procedures (~58%) — patient intake and vitals, injections and the six rights, asepsis and infection control, phlebotomy and order of draw, point-of-care testing, and ECG — the largest category.
- Law & Ethics (~16%) — HIPAA and PHI, scope of practice, informed vs implied consent, advance directives, and documentation rules.
- Pharmacology & General Medical Knowledge (~14%) — drug classes and routes, dosage math and metric conversions, medical terminology, and anatomy and physiology.
- Medical Administrative Duties (~12%) — scheduling methods, EHR records, and ICD-10-CM vs CPT coding, billing, and insurance.
How to use it in your final week
- Burn the order of draw into memory: blood culture, light blue, red/gold, green, lavender, gray — and recall that lavender (EDTA) carryover falsely raises potassium and lowers calcium.
- Front-load Clinical Medical Procedures — it's about 58% of the scored items. If you master one category from the sheet, make it this one: vitals, injection angles (ID 10-15°, SubQ 45°, IM 90°), and the six rights.
- Skim the Law & Ethics block the night before — HIPAA minimum-necessary, scope of practice, and informed vs implied consent are quick points at ~16% of the exam.
- Pair each read-through with a short timed drill (150 questions in 3 hours ≈ 72 seconds each) so the 3-hour clock feels routine on test day.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your NCMA 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.
NCMA cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the NCMA cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no payment. It sits alongside Career Employer's free NCMA toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards for the NCCT exam.
It boils the four NCCT content categories down to a fast reference: Clinical Medical Procedures (~58%), Law & Ethics (~16%), Pharmacology & General Medical Knowledge (~14%), and Medical Administrative Duties (~12%). Expect the order of draw, injection angles, vital-sign ranges, the six rights, HIPAA rules, and ICD-10 vs CPT — the facts that recur most.
It's mapped to the NCCT NCMA Detailed Test Plan and checked against official sources — NCCT, the CDC, and HHS. Because NCCT can adjust item counts and fees by exam form, treat the numbers as close approximations and confirm current details at ncctinc.com.
No — the sheet is a review and last-week cram layer, not a stand-in for hands-on clinical practice. You need a scaled score of 70 to pass, so lock in the facts here, then prove readiness on full-length practice tests, especially in Clinical Medical Procedures.
Tap the download button or the preview card at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly. Bookmark the page so it's one click away the week before your NCCT exam.
References
- 1.National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT). “National Certified Medical Assistant (NCMA) Detailed Test Plan.” ncctinc.com, 2026. ↑
- 2.National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT). “Guide to the Recertification Process (2026 Revision).” ncctinc.com, 2026. ↑
- 3.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Standard Precautions & Infection Control in Healthcare.” cdc.gov, 2026. ↑
- 4.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). “The HIPAA Privacy Rule.” hhs.gov, 2026. ↑
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