CMT Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield CMT facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. Which statement best shows active listening when a patient voices anxiety about a needle stick? → "It sounds like you've had a bad experience before. Tell me what helped last time."
2. Stray light in a spectrophotometer most significantly causes which problem? → Negative deviation from linearity at high absorbance
3. A small gram-negative coccobacillus grows on chocolate agar but only around an X and V factor strip on a nutrient agar plate. What is the organism? → Haemophilus influenzae
4. A technologist sells a patient's lab results to a marketing company. Under HIPAA, this knowing violation for commercial gain can result in: → Criminal penalties including fines up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison
5. A catalase-positive, small gram-positive rod from a neonate's CSF shows tumbling motility at room temperature. What is the likely organism? → Listeria monocytogenes
6. A patient had a left-sided mastectomy with lymph node removal. Where should blood be drawn? → Right arm, avoiding the mastectomy side
7. Nephelometry quantifies immune complexes by measuring: → Light scattered at an angle from the incident beam
8. Which describes external quality assessment through proficiency testing? → Analyzing unknown samples from an outside agency and comparing results to peers
9. Which federal law generally prohibits a physician from referring Medicare patients to a lab in which the physician has a financial interest? → Stark Law
10. What is the minimum interval between standard allogeneic whole blood donations? → 56 days
11. A specimen undergoes serial dilutions of 1:2, then 1:5, then 1:10. What is the final dilution? → 1:100
12. What is the preferred substrate for indirect immunofluorescence ANA testing? → HEp-2 cells
13. A test result is found to be wrong after the report has gone out. What must the corrected report do? → Clearly show it is corrected and keep the original result on record
14. A technologist notices a transcription error in a handwritten QC log. What is the correct way to fix it? → Draw a single line through the error, write the correct entry, and initial and date it
15. What must be recorded on a newly opened reagent bottle? → Date opened, new expiration date if it changed, and initials
16. How often must a biological safety cabinet be certified? → At least annually and whenever it is moved
17. What is the main advantage of a double-beam spectrophotometer over a single-beam design? → It compensates for light source fluctuations
18. Which medium is recommended for culturing Bordetella pertussis from a nasopharyngeal swab? → Regan-Lowe agar
19. On a Levey-Jennings chart, one control exceeds +3 SD. Which Westgard rule is violated? → 1-3s
20. The difference between the mean of measured results and the true value represents: → Accuracy bias (systematic error)
21. In Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion testing, what is the required depth of Mueller-Hinton agar? → 4 mm
22. Which evidence-based approach is most important when applying medical ethics and law principles? → Integrating current research with clinical expertise and patient values
23. Which collection tube must NOT be used for a serum lithium level? → Lithium heparin tube
24. During a capillary heel puncture on a newborn, where should the puncture be made? → Medial or lateral plantar surface of the heel
25. Which legal doctrine holds a hospital liable for the negligent acts of a medical technologist performed within the scope of employment? → Respondeat superior
26. Which EBV serologic profile indicates acute (primary) infection? → VCA IgM positive, EBNA negative
27. A preoperative patient has a markedly prolonged aPTT, a normal PT, and no bleeding history. The most likely cause is: → Factor XII deficiency
28. HLA-B*57:01 screening is performed before starting which drug to avoid a hypersensitivity reaction? → Abacavir
29. Which test is a treponemal-specific test for syphilis? → TP-PA
30. A patient has an anaphylactic reaction to a bee sting. Which antibody class mediates this reaction? → IgE