CNA Exam Clinical Skills Test Study Guide

Welcome

Welcome to the CNA Exam Cram’s first ever-free CNA Skills Set Study Guide.  As one of the top authoritative sites on becoming a CNA, we heard your requests and got our team of previous CNAs and CNA proctors to devise the best Skills Set Study Guide out there.  It is our firm belief that this study guide is all you will need to pass the Skills Set portion and become a CNA in no time.

The goal of this CNA Study Guide is to give you the necessary information and recommendations to be able to pass the CNA Clinical Skills Test (CST).  Although it is jammed packed with information on this portion of the test, it is not designed to help with the written portion of the test.  If you are interested in more information on taking the CNA written test, then we recommend you try out of free CNA practice Test.  The nursing assistant’s practice exam can be accessed here.

This study guide will start by discussing the basics of the CST and then provide proven methods in which you can prepare for the test. Furthermore, we have included a list of each possible practical performance that you could be tested on. Each link will include a full discussion on the skill, the procedures on how to adequately perform each skill.

In some cases, we will also include stories and recommendations that proctors have said they witnessed or have experienced when grading a potential CNA.  Find out exactly what they think about the process and what you can do to help improve your chances of passing the CNA Skills Set exam.

Hopefully, after reading our guide and practicing the procedures, you will be more than ready to pass the CST with flying colors. If after reading this, and taking the test, you feel as though there is something we can do to improve our free Study Guide, please contact us. This guide is meant to help future CNAs, free of cost.

What is the Clinical Skills Test or CST

The Clinical Skills Test (CST) is the practical portion of the CNA test that validates a potential CNA’s ability to perform the duties and responsibilities of a nursing assistant. This portion of the test has the highest failure rate and is therefore considered the hardest part of becoming a CNA.

Each state has different requirements, however, in most cases the test will be administered by a Registered Nurse who will give you between 35-45 minutes to perform at least 5 critical CNA skill sets. They will grade you on your overall knowledge, ability to follow the procedures and your overall demeanor while performing your duties. The list of possible tasks varies but in most cases you are looking at over 30 critical skills in which they can challenge you on.

How to Prepare for the CNA Clinical Skills Test

Since you could be tested on over 30 critical skills, it is important that you memorize and understand each and everyone. However, the mistake that most people make is that their preparations just stop there.  They never follow up their knowledge with other important aspects of the test, which we will discuss below:

What do you Need?  PRACTICE!

Because this portion of the exam is a practical portion, your grade is dependent on your performance and not your knowledge. Therefore, it is imperative that you not only memorize the steps, but practice doing them too.  Notice that the word “practical” is another form of “practice.”

According to Jackie Swanson, a CNA of 25 years and a prior proctor of the exam, you can tell who has practiced and who hasn’t.

“There are two types of CST Test Takers: those that have practiced and those that only know the steps. When we grade a CNA we can instantly tell which one is which. Those that have practiced performing the steps are usually more confident and can therefore place more attention on the patient then just moving through the steps. The ones who didn’t practice, act like robots and in most cases second-guess themselves. I’m sure you can guess which one fails the most.”

The best thing you can do is to get extra time in the labs or as an intern. However, for most, this isn’t an option. The other “best method” is to ask a friend to act as a patient and go through the steps as if the proctor is standing right there and is watching you.

Don’t Skip the Small Stuff, they Burn the Most!

The biggest mistake that our previous proctors witness is that most potential CNAs spend all their time working on the hard practical performances like Making an Occupied Bed or Using a Gait-Transfer Belt Correctly but skip working on the simple ones like Washing Your Hands or Measuring Blood Pressure.

No matter how well you perform your practical performances, if you don’t wash your hands properly or dispose of waste properly, throughout your required practical exam, then you will fail.  If you don’t believe us, check out any CNA forum and most of time, you will see other CNAs complaining about how they failed the small stuff and never the big ones.

Jessica Myers, a CNA of 5 years, had this to say about her first experience with the skills test:

“I remember the first time I took the practical test.  I was so nervous that when I went to wash my hands, I forgot to count how long I was washing and ended it too soon.  I couldn’t believe I failed for that.  I had a wait a month later to retake it.  I was so depressed!  I had spent so much time on the other portions, that I hadn’t engrained that procedure in my mind.”

So, don’t spend all your time on the longer skills sets and neglect the smaller ones.  They are just as important…. if not more.

Remember Your Other Roles

The CST isn’t just about going through the steps, but remembering your responsibilities as a CNA.  As you practice going through your skills performance, you need to remember all of your patient’s needs and rights.  It is important to do this while you practice other sets because come test time, you will be nervous and without practice, you may find that you quickly turn into a procedure robot.

To do this, you need to perform your CST as if the dummy or actor is a real patient:

• • Talk to them.
  • Inform them of what you will be doing.
  • Be kind and sweet.
  • Always check the room for any hazards or waste.
  • Be courteous and treat them with respect.
  • Be vigilant in monitoring what they are doing at all times of the procedure.

Although the above things are only minor, the missed points can add up.  We have heard of an occasion or two, where the proctor had the actor do something during a procedure so as to test the potential CNA’s response.  So be careful and remember all of your responsibilities, not just the procedure.

CNA Exam Cram’s Guide to the CST

In most cases, you will enter a room and will have either a person or a dummy play your patient. The proctor will then ask you to perform a specific task. Before you start, you should do the following things:

• • • 1. Ensure you understand the task and ask questions before starting.
    • 2. Verify that you have all the equipment you will need. If you don’t see it in the room, then ask the proctor about it.

IMPORTANT
When instructed by a proctor, you must perform the following tasks, even if you already did them in the previous step.

• • • 1. Announce to your patient/dummy that you are there, address them by their name and inform them of what you will be doing. Ask them if they have any questions and whether or not they are okay with the procedure that this time.
    • 2. Ensure you wash your hands thoroughly.
    • 3. Verify that you have all the appropriate equipment setup and ready for use.

Once you have accomplished the above things, then you are prepared for the CST performance. Although our list is not complete, it is pretty extensive. We highly recommend that you memorize our steps or your own, and then practice them on a friend.

• • • • 1. Hand Washing
      • 2. Measuring Body Temperature
      • 3. Pulse Measurement
      • 4. Partial Bed Bath
      • 5. Catheter Application
      • 6. Measuring Respiration
      • 7. Measuring Blood Pressure
      • 8. Dental Care
      • 9. Patient Positions
      • 10. Making an Occupied Bed
      • 11. Gait-Transfer Belt Use
      • 12. Moving a Patient from the Bed to the Stretcher

• • • 1. Inform the patient that you are finished and ask them if everything is okay.
    • 2. Ensure they are in a comfortable position and are safe. Also check to make sure your equipment has been properly stowed and that the overall sanitation of the room is adequate and acceptable.
    • 3. Wash your hands.

Final Tips and Recommendations

You are not expected to be perfect, but there are things that you can do when you make a mistake. The following are tips that prior Proctors have given us to share with you:

• • • 1. If you make a mistake, don’t try to cover it up. The proctor probably saw you anyways. What you should do is announce to the proctor that you made the mistake and tell them what you would do differently. This tells the proctor that you know you made a mistake and that you know the right answer. You might lose a point or two, but not as much as if you just skip through it and never acknowledge you were wrong.
    • 2. Never forget that you are being graded on your performance. This means that you need to communicate with your dummy/actor and perform all duties of a CNA, not just the task at hand.  You can find out more about these responsibilities here.
    • 3. You are able to make mistakes and still pass. Just do not violate any sanitation rules or safety requirements. If you violate either of these two, you will automatically fail.  Like we discussed earlier, this could be from a very simple procedure of washing your hands or not properly disposing of something.

Top Supplemental Resources

This study guide should be sufficient to help you pass the test. But if you need additional information or preparation tips, you should check the below resources.

• • • CNA Exam Cram Practice Test: Our very own, professional made practice test will help you to test your knowledge and help you to gauge your level of understanding. As close to the real test as you can get.
    • 4 Your CNA Exam Videos: Access a list of professionally made videos showing you each step. Although many of these are in our own articles listed above.
    • CNA Exam Cram Study Guide: This is not our book and it’s an absolute coincident that we have the same domain as them. However, their book has the most extensive list of practical skills that you could be tested on and provides flashcards to use. Absolutely worth every penny.

Conclusion

Practice makes perfect, so don’t forget to actually take the time and practice running through each of the steps above. You can’t just memorize the steps and pass.  You need to practice all facets of the performance. A CNA proctor can tell who has practiced and who has not.