Health ProfessionsTest + Skills

Surgical Technologist

A 50-question test weighted toward instruments and asepsis, then instrument identification, surgical scrub, gowning and gloving, and passing instruments and sutures for the top scorers.

The AI judge does not score skill stations. Use the practice test for Round One.

About this event

Surgical Technologist is a solo two-round event for the Secondary and Postsecondary/Collegiate divisions, sponsored by the Association of Surgical Technologists. Round One is a 50-question multiple-choice test in 60 minutes written from AST's Surgical Technology for the Surgical Technologist (the test focuses on chapters 1, 4, 7, 10, 11 and 16) and Surgical Instrumentation: An Interactive Approach (Nemitz). The test plan was updated this year: instrumentation, equipment and supplies is 30 percent, surgical asepsis and sterility and surgical anatomy and physiology are 20 percent each, and the profession, the physical environment and safety, and hemostasis and wound closure are 10 percent each. Top scorers advance to Round Two, a secret scenario drawn from six skills: identifying 15 instruments by name and use from an AST-recommended list (15 minutes, possibly given with the test), a timed surgical scrub (6), open gloving (3), self gowning and closed gloving with double gloves (5), passing ringed instruments, retractors, sponge sticks and scalpels with a neutral zone (5), and loading and passing sutures (4). You bring two pairs of sterile surgical gloves, a cap, a level 3 sterile gown, shoe covers, a surgical tie mask, eye protection and a scrub brush. A 70 percent skill score (excluding the test and instrument ID) is required to place; test and skill scores are added and ties go to the higher test score.

Test day

What to expect

Round One test, then skill stations

Round One is a 50-question test in 60 minutes; the top scorers advance to Round Two, the skill stations. Official format: 50-question test, 60 minutes, then Round Two skill scenarios of 3 to 15 minutes each for top scorers.

Written from the test plan

Questions follow the event's published test plan, section by section, and are written from the listed reference texts. Practice questions here are drawn in the same proportions.

How you advance

How many advance from regionals to states and on to the International Leadership Conference (ILC) depends on your association's rules. Study the official test plan: it lists each section and its share of the test.

What judges score

Skill I: Identify Instruments/Equipment, name and purpose of 15 items (15 minutes)Skill II: Surgical Scrub Methods (6 minutes)Skill III: Open Gloving Technique (3 minutes)Skill IV: Gowning and Gloving, self (5 minutes)Skill V: Passing Surgical Instruments (5 minutes)Skill VI: Loading and Passing Surgical Sutures (4 minutes)

What's on the test

Profession of CST · 10%Physical Environment and Safety Standards · 10%Surgical Asepsis and Sterility · 20%Instrumentation, Equipment, and Supplies · 30%Hemostasis, Wound Healing, and Wound Closure · 10%Surgical Anatomy and Physiology · 20%

Study resources

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