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166 multiple-choice questions and 63 flashcards, organised into 4 chapters, written to the NBSTSA CST Exam blueprint. Every question carries a full rationale.
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NBSTSA CST Exam — domains: Pre-operative Care, Intra-operative Procedures, Post-operative Procedures, Administrative + Personnel, Equipment + Supplies
CoStudy's Surgical Tech (CST/NBSTSA) bank holds 229 items organised into 4 chapters that follow the published blueprint. Every multiple-choice question carries a written rationale explaining why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor is tempting but wrong.
Each chapter follows a domain of the published exam outline. Practise one on its own:
A sample of 12 multiple-choice questions from the bank, with the full rationale shown.
Time-out is performed:
Answer: B — Before incision, with the whole team
A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — Joint Commission mandate.
Which task is OUTSIDE the CST's scope and belongs to the RN circulator?
Answer: C — Verifying consent and administering IV antibiotics
Consent verification and IV med administration are nursing functions. The CST participates in counts and sets up the field.
Drapes hung over the edge of the OR table are considered sterile:
Answer: A — Only on the top surface of the table
Once drapes fall below the level of the table top, they are considered non-sterile; only the top surface is sterile.
Glutaraldehyde and ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) are examples of:
Answer: C — High-level disinfectants used for heat-sensitive semi-critical items like flexible endoscopes
These are high-level disinfectants used for heat-sensitive semi-critical items.
OR ventilation is maintained at:
Answer: B — Positive pressure relative to surrounding areas with HEPA-filtered air and high air-exchange rates
ORs maintain positive pressure with HEPA filtration and high air changes per hour to limit airborne contaminants.
Standard steam autoclaving is NOT considered reliably effective against:
Answer: A — Prions (which require extended/elevated parameters or specialty disposal)
Prions resist routine sterilization; protocols require extended high-temp cycles or disposable instruments. The notion that routine autoclaving destroys prions is a common misconception.
Which instrument set is a core requirement for a tonsillectomy?
Answer: A — Tonsil snare, tonsil forceps/grasper, and a mouth gag (e.g., Crowe-Davis or McIvor) for exposure
A) Correct — tonsillectomy requires a self-retaining mouth gag for exposure plus tonsil-specific grasping and snare instruments. B) A laminectomy set is used for spine surgery, unrelated to the oropharynx. C) A dermatome harvests skin grafts in plastics cases. D) A phaco handpiece is used for cataract removal, not tonsillectomy.
During cardiopulmonary bypass, cardioplegia solution is administered primarily to:
Answer: B — Arrest the heart and protect the myocardium while the heart is stopped for surgery
A) Cardioplegia is not an antiseptic and does not sterilize anything. B) Correct — cold, potassium-rich cardioplegia stops the heart in diastole and protects myocardial cells during ischemic arrest on bypass. C) General anesthesia is provided separately by the anesthesia provider, not by cardioplegia. D) Infection prevention is achieved through asepsis and antibiotics, not cardioplegia.
The largest artery in the body is the:
Answer: D — Aorta
The aorta is the largest artery, originating at the left ventricle.
The Joint Commission's Universal Protocol requires:
Answer: A — Pre-procedure verification, site marking, and time-out
Three components: verification, site marking, time-out — all required to prevent wrong-site/-patient/-procedure events.
The three elements required for a surgical fire (the 'fire triangle') in the OR are:
Answer: A — An oxidizer (e.g., supplemental oxygen), an ignition source (e.g., electrosurgical unit or laser), and a fuel source (e.g., prep solution, drapes, patient hair)
A) Correct — an oxidizer-enriched atmosphere, an ignition source, and a fuel source together create surgical fire risk; removing any one element prevents fire. B) Electricity/water/metal is not the recognized fire triangle model used in OR fire safety education. C) Heat, humidity, and pressure are unrelated environmental factors, not the fire triangle. D) Anesthesia gas, blood, and suture do not represent the standard oxidizer-ignition-fuel model.
After skin closure, a primary dressing is applied while:
Answer: A — The wound is still in the sterile field, before drapes are removed
Apply the sterile dressing before drapes come off so the wound remains protected by the sterile field.
6 sample cards from the 63 in the bank.
What are the four surgical wound classifications?
Class I Clean — no break in technique, no entry into GI/GU/respiratory tract. Class II Clean-Contaminated — controlled entry into a tract (e.g., appendectomy). Class III Contaminated — major break in technique or fresh traumatic wound. Class IV Dirty/Infected — existing infection or perforated viscus.
Bovie (electrosurgical unit, ESU)?
Electrical current cuts + coagulates. Two modes: cutting (continuous waveform) + coagulation (intermittent). Monopolar (most common) requires patient return pad.
Smoke evacuation?
Surgical smoke contains carcinogens, viruses, viable cells. Always use smoke evacuator within 2 in of source. AORN recommendation.
Universal Protocol (Joint Commission)?
(1) Pre-procedure verification. (2) Site marking by surgeon. (3) Time-out before procedure. Prevents wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong-procedure errors.
Why is an axillary roll used in the lateral decubitus position, and what does it protect?
An axillary roll placed just below (not directly under) the dependent axilla relieves pressure on the brachial plexus and axillary vessels from the weight of the thorax, helping prevent brachial plexus injury and vascular compromise during lateral positioning.
Major arteries to know?
Aorta (largest), carotid, subclavian, brachial, femoral, popliteal. Locations critical for prep + hemostasis.
These samples are a small slice. The full bank runs flashcards, multiple choice and timed mock exams with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
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The Surgical Tech (CST/NBSTSA) bank holds 229 items: 166 multiple-choice questions, 63 flashcards. 18 of them are on this page to read free, with no signup.
Yes. Every multiple-choice item carries a written rationale that states the controlling principle behind the correct answer and then addresses each wrong option in turn — why it tempts and precisely where it fails. Knowing why the plausible answer was wrong is worth more than knowing which letter was right.
It is organised into 4 chapters that follow the published exam blueprint: Preoperative Patient Care; Intraoperative Patient Care — Surgical Case Management; Intraoperative Patient Care — Surgical Procedures; Postoperative Care and Professional/Administrative Practice. The number of questions in each chapter is proportional to that domain's published weight, so working through the bank exposes you to roughly the mix the real exam uses.
NBSTSA CST Exam — domains: Pre-operative Care, Intra-operative Procedures, Post-operative Procedures, Administrative + Personnel, Equipment + Supplies
The samples on this page are free to read in full, rationales included, with no account. The complete 229-item bank, the timed mock exams and per-chapter progress tracking are part of CoStudy on the web and in the iOS app.
Last reviewed 2026-08-22. Banks are written against the certifying body's published exam outline and re-checked when that outline changes — exams get renumbered, retired and reweighted, and a bank written to a superseded outline teaches the wrong proportions. Figures that are re-indexed annually are deliberately not asserted as rules; the questions test the governing principle instead.