CSA Cheat Sheet 2026

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

1. A resident who was previously physically restrained now has a new care plan with restraint-free alternatives. This change reflects compliance with: → CMS F-tag F604 requirements to minimize physical restraint use
2. What is the primary purpose of the MID Server in a ServiceNow implementation? → To facilitate communication between the ServiceNow cloud instance and on-premises systems
3. What is the PRIMARY purpose of continuing education requirements in Quality Assurance Programs for CSA professionals? → Maintaining current knowledge and competency as the field evolves
4. When a conflict arises between standard procedures and a unique situation in Staff Management & Training, what should a CSA professional prioritize? → Safety and ethical obligations while seeking expert consultation
5. In ServiceNow's QA approach, Automated Test Framework (ATF) tests are primarily used to: → Automate regression testing of ServiceNow configurations and customizations
6. An IT administrator is managing a remote team across multiple time zones. Which staff management practice is most important for maintaining productivity? → Establishing clear asynchronous communication protocols and response-time expectations
7. What does the 'least privilege' security principle require? → Users receive only the minimum access needed for their role
8. Which ServiceNow module allows an administrator to monitor real-time memory usage, thread counts, and active sessions on a node? → System Diagnostics > Stats
9. A nursing home ombudsman's primary role is to: → Investigate complaints and advocate for residents' rights
10. A systems administrator wants to cross-train staff to eliminate single points of failure. Which approach is most effective? → Rotate staff assignments across different systems and responsibilities
11. Which backup strategy copies only files that have changed since the last FULL backup, regardless of whether a previous incremental backup was taken? → Differential backup
12. Under federal regulations, controlled substances in a long-term care facility must be stored in a: → Double-locked storage area with restricted key access
13. Which property must be set to enable HTTPS-only access on a ServiceNow instance? → glide.security.use_ssl
14. A resident's family requests that a specific herbal supplement be given to the resident. The administrator should ensure that: → The attending physician is notified and approves the supplement before it is administered
15. A facility's medication pass observation program is primarily designed to: → Identify medication administration errors and training needs
16. The typical incubation period for norovirus, a common cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in long-term care facilities, is: → 12–48 hours
17. Equivalence partitioning is a black-box testing technique that: → Divides input data into valid and invalid partitions to reduce test cases
18. A nursing facility must provide menus that meet the nutritional needs of residents based on which recognized standard? → Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) / Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs)
19. Which QA role is primarily responsible for evaluating whether a product meets business requirements from the end-user perspective? → User Acceptance Tester (UAT)
20. A security team discovers an attacker has compromised a low-privilege account and is attempting to gain admin rights. What type of attack is this? → Privilege escalation
21. When cloning a ServiceNow instance, which data is typically EXCLUDED from the clone by default to protect sensitive information? → User credentials and MID Server configurations
22. A cost-benefit analysis for a new monitoring tool shows cumulative benefits exceed costs after 18 months. What does this represent? → The break-even point / payback period
23. What happens to an Update Set when it is marked as 'Complete'? → It becomes read-only and can be exported for migration to another instance
24. A user's account is locked out after multiple failed login attempts. Which table should the administrator check to review the lockout details? → syslog_auth
25. A sysadmin is asked to identify IT costs that remain constant regardless of usage levels. These are best described as: → Fixed costs
26. An IT department has high turnover among junior staff. Which intervention most directly addresses this problem? → Improving onboarding, mentoring, and early career development opportunities
27. Which document formally requests approval to spend money on a specific IT project or purchase? → Business Case / Capital Expenditure Request
28. Which QA activity is performed to ensure that a fixed defect has been correctly resolved without introducing new issues? → Confirmation testing (re-testing) and regression testing
29. What does 'deduplication' accomplish in a backup system? → Eliminates redundant data blocks so identical data is stored only once
30. The Beers Criteria is a clinical tool used in long-term care to: → Identify medications that are potentially inappropriate for older adults