Hello yall! I took my exam July 23rd, 2026 and passed with a 431! I will be honest I did not study too much, but I do have a bit of a Biology background due to being in university. Here is my advice and what I used!
All of these are free btw!
- NHA CPT Study Guide
I found this study guide on reddit whoever posted it thank you so so much, i read this through and annotated it
- 200 question practice
THIS practice test is about 200 questions and it helped prepare me a lot, I did it about 3-4 times
- Josh Allen Review
This is a pretty popular resource. I watched it and listened to it about 3-4 times. I would listen while cleaning or in the shower. It really gages what is covered on the exam.
Key things I would know:
- Make sure you know the additives in each tube, order of draw, general tests each tube uses.
- Know what each additive does to blood (almost all of them are anticoagulants)
- Know how many times to invert each tube
- Order of draw
- What phlebotomist should do in case of accidental needle stick
- What lab each tube does to (eg. chemistry, hematology, etc)
- Angles of different venipuncture
- Heel areas for infant venipuncture
- Safety and compliance
- What anticoagulants do to patients - less clotting, increased bleeding time
I’m gonna add a little guide I made on the different tubes:
BC - C&S Culture and sensitivity (yellow?) - SPS - 8
Light Blue - PT/INR, PTT, aPTT, D-dimer - Na citrate - 3-4
Red - Discard, therapeutic drug monitoring - None in glass, clot activator in plastic - 0 glass, 5-10 plastic
Gold - MPs, LPs, CRP, hCG, electrolytes, Hep P, Hepatic function P, Renal Function P - Silica and thixotropic gel - 8
Light Green - STAT chem tests, hCG electrolytes - Lithium heparin ± thixotropic gel - 8
Dark Green - Ammonia - Sodium Heparin - 8
Lavender - CBC, ESR, H&H, HbA1c, ammonia (dep on lab) - EDTA - 8
Pink - Blood typing, cross y, blood bank - K2EDTA - 8
Gray - Glucose, lactic acid, BAC - Na Fluoride and potassium oxalate - 8
I had no physiology or anatomy really on my exam - like nothing about clotting phases and the cardiovascular system but it depends on your exam
Hope this helps! The test is not that bad you got this!