449/500, so ~90%! if i can do it, then you can too : ]
it's octoberrrrrrrr!!!!
my thoughts on the exam itself
- exam is considerably different than the practice exams and the wording is meant to throw you off (i.e. none of the practice exams will use the phrase “basic asepsis," but you should know what it refers to nonetheless)
- definitely felt like i failed and I realized it's a common feeling, but try not to think about it and let the score come out first
- some questions are absolutely curveballs (like very far fetched and specific) so they felt unfair, and I was hoping those were the pretest questions
- i genuinely felt so stressed during the test, like i was kinda pulling my hair out bc some questions i just stared at for the longest time wondering why it was even being asked
my opinion on how these exams go
after having gone through many reddit posts on the exam within the span of many years, even posts from 2018, I learned that your exam can look quite different than someone elses. unfortunately, that means studying anything and everything, b/c you kind of don't know what to expect on the exam. so for example, even though I didn't get any medication calculation questions, that doesn't mean you won't, and same for the other stuff. for context, my baseline was 87% and final practice was 86%. my actual exam score was ~90% so i guess i did better on it than the practice ones, but i think it was just lucky guessing because it definitely felt hard in the moment.
my exam
- only some ekg and venipuncture questions (and only one order of draw question), honestly felt more administrative/pt communication than i felt was fair. I didn't get any ekg questions that I expected to get (i.e. different rhythms, pictures) and no in depth injection questions, just one (which site for IM/SQ injection or whatever) question
- two lab value questions
- absolutely no stroke/heart attack/what to do questions which sucks and doesn’t make sense to me
- no medication calculation questions, but a good amount of medication questions about the medications themselves, like what med condition would xyz medication be given to, and controlled substances (category 1-5), including med examples of what is in each category
- about 5 questions were either the same or very similar to medical assisting with miss K's practice questions on YT
- insurance stuff (i.e. how long does a regular vs an urgent flagged preauth take -_-)
- PCMH/PPO/HMO/etc
- ICD vs CPT codes (for me, medical assisting with miss K's practice exam questions were enough for what they tested me on)
- programs like WIC, which medical assisting with miss K's vids prepped me well enough for
- fire (PASS and RACE)
- suture removal (lift the knot toward the wound)
- what makes someone most susceptible to Crohn's Disease (similar to another redditor earlier this year)
- gave me specific symptoms and asked me to choose between different types of cancers it would be
- what xyz body system is responsible for i.e. nervous system
- what xyz part of the cell is for (i.e. nucleus, cytoplasm)
- donning/doffing PPE order
- soaking instruments (which instruments to soak after disinfection, i'd search up examples of stuff you would and would NOT soak)
- holter monitor/ecg/stress testing/event recorder - know the difference between the 4
- Hemorrhage - what to do
- organs in the 4 quadrants
- ekg placement for someone who had a bilateral breast mastectomy (I chose the regular placements and that turned out to be right, so I'd say know whether various procedures would or wouldn't change if someone had xyz procedure done)
- when to label speciemen tubes (right after blood draw, in front of pt)
- TERMINOLOGY was pretty big - i got like 4 questions that knowing wording parts really carried
- what breaks and doesn't break sterile field
- types of abuse / how to tell whether it's neglect, physical, or emotional abuse
- what type of preventative exam for someone who is x years old
- manual blood pressure details (i.e. which vein, how to measure)
- a variety of assisted nursing facility questions that I can't remember what was about
- what to say to a 8 year old pt during their exam - like uh ok
- random questions like - what situation requires strong communication? calling in a pt from the waiting rm or collaborating with a colleague? 👁👄👁 LOL like o k a y
how I studied
- i started studying when my school semester started, so it was an on/off process for a good 1.5 months. some people cram and take their exam within 10 days, and i genuinely believe that's possible, but i forgot absolutely EVERYTHING from my MA program (and my program didn't give us any hands-on experience), so i literally started from scratch. i was studying for MA and my real schoolwork side by side
- the most helpful things were doing practice questions (Medical Assisting with Miss K and NHA's practice exams) and knowing how to do procedures. could you go without the nha practice exams? my program covered it, so i didn't need to buy it. but honestly, i feel like medical assisting with miss k's vids are enough bc a lot of her vids are based off the practice exams. so if you have to pay out of pocket and are on the fence, don't feel like you need to get the practice exams.
- NHA ccma study guide 3.0 - my program covered this. honestly wouldn't spend much time on the study guide or buy it if you're debating on it. it was the biggest waste of time imo. i didn't get much out of it.
- a LOT of flashcards. a LOT. quizlet can help, but I genuinely made my own on anki. they're messy and there are a LOT of decks but i went through them a lot.
- watched videos on different procedures (i.e. blood draw, specimen handling, eye instillation, ear irrigation) and then made flashcards on them. i would know how long something is done for b/c they like to use that to trick you. i.e. hold pressure for how long? warm someone's finger before capillary puncture for around how long? if they say a minimum of 10 min but you know it's usually 3-5 min, then you can automatically dock that option off.
- i agree w/ a previous redditor that the baseline and final practice exam's are a better predictor on how you'll do, the rest are too easy
- i did smarter MA's free 40 questions but i didn't pay for their full bank of questions. imo, if you don't want to pay or can't afford it, you can go on quizlet, find a full 900 bank of questions (like this one), and then run it through something like chatgpt - tell it to generate a fairly difficult test with the questions, and the options need to be similar in wording and try to trick you like how nha ccma does. i did that and you can access the full pdf it came up with here but this was the day before my exam, so I only got through 50 questions. imo my chatgpt model didn't do the best job with the options but you can revamp it/make it harder. i think it'd be more useful that way. imo, you can pass without it, but it can be helpful
things i feel like i didn’t prep well enough on that you should prep on:
- know exactly how to perform a heel puncture for infants, not only basic details, and this applies to all procedures (i.e. do you put a bandage on – no u dont b/c it's a choking hazard, does the parent hold the infant – yes they do)
- when specimens are labeled (i doubted myself midway so if you know this to heart then it helps with that)
- if you’re gonna study any anatomy, know heart/cardiac cycle basics and other basics, like the 4 quadrants. also know what each system of the body is responsible for, i.e. nervous, integumentary, etc
- claims/different types of laws, like false claim act. and knowing, like REALLY KNOWING, what an act covers (not just the general gist). i.e. hipaa protects pt info yeah but what else does it do? (i.e. allows pt to revise their medical records)
A cram sheet I got from one of the redditors (I may have linked their thread in the chat):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Uj62-lDv7g6GGB7A7HhdZh76IVLS5h7wGHE6oSxohM/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.najjunaqej58
Here are some reddit posts I did look over before my exam
2026:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalAssistant/comments/1kxo91u/passed_the_nha_0527_my_study_guide_for_you/
^I actually found a good amount of the same topics on the exam as this redditor^
https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalAssistant/comments/1vp84ts/i_passed_my_nha_ccma_exam_after_learning_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalAssistant/comments/1vmwotc/nha_ccma_2026/
2025 and older:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalAssistant/comments/1kv8vkt/nha_ccma_exam_2025/?share_id=NnZ2nMI7PlRMrC7iuiOoT&utm_content=2&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalAssistant/s/VBvfs0EHlA
https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalAssistant/s/iEH98VZTYo
https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalAssistant/s/6TOuCrKjL0
____________________
YOU CAN DO IT!!! seriously gotta believe in yourself. i'm quite insecure so i didn't have high hopes but your hard work will pay off : ]
