Preparing to take ASCP MT exam in three weeks time

Hi,

I'm preparing to take the ASCP MT exam in three weeks time and I am freaking out. I am relying on passing this exam inorder to process an H1 visa, and so I desperately need to pass the exam just in order for me to even stay in this country. Talk about pressure! I wish I had more time to study, but I dont. Has anyone taken the exam recently? Any study tips for me? At this stage, I figure it's impossible for me to sit down with big bulky textbooks and start reading them so I'm relying heavily on the Polanksy review cards to study...and the green ASCP book. Any other pointers, anyone? Do the practise tests available online for the ASCP help at all with the exam? HELP. I'd appreciate any comments or advice at all :(

I found the green ASCP review book to be worthless. The ASCP is a hard test with questions that sometimes don't make sense, and which you have to critically think about. The good thing is, the passing score is low.

You'd be better off studying an outline review book such as that yellow prentice hall book or the book by Harr. Reviewing all the major concepts of each subject and having a good basis will help you the best.

Thanks CLS48. So are you saying that the ASCP exam was more analytical in nature rather than testing facts? Are there case studies and such on the exam then?

SD in South Bend, Indiana said: Thanks CLS48. So are you saying that the ASCP exam was more analytical in nature rather than testing facts? Are there case studies and such on the exam then?

Yes I would say it was more analytical and there wasn't any of the questions from the green book on the actual test. It is computerized and the way it works is, if you are getting alot of questions wrong, the computer is smart and starts giving you easy questions. If you are getting them right, the questions become harder.

It is also lopsided in that, it is only 100 questions but you may get 30 questions on micro and maybe only 10 on blood bank while another person may get the opposite. So, you have to basically know all departments well or just get lucky in getting the most questions from the subject you know best.

The best and worst part is that it tells you if you pass or fail, right after you take the test on the computer so you know right away.

hello CLS48! can you teach me how to interpret a cell panel?

im scheduled to take the ASCPi exam this septemeber...

CLS48 in California said: Yes I would say it was more analytical and there wasn't any of the questions from the green book on the actual test. It is computerized and the way it works is, if you are getting alot of questions wrong, the computer is smart and starts giving you easy questions. If you are getting them right, the questions become harder.

It is also lopsided in that, it is only 100 questions but you may get 30 questions on micro and maybe only 10 on blood bank while another person may get the opposite. So, you have to basically know all departments well or just get lucky in getting the most questions from the subject you know best.

The best and worst part is that it tells you if you pass or fail, right after you take the test on the computer so you know right away.[/QUOT

so did you pass your test? also, to cls, you said there was only 100 questions?? did you pass your first time..? how long did you study and what did you study?

Chu, your question is vague. You probably could find the answer in any review book. Paul by the time I got to question 50 I thought I had failed already. I was surprised to see that I passed after the test.

I mostly studied review questions from the green study book ascp provided and it didn't help me much. I studied for probably 3 weeks a few hours every day.

CLS48 in California said: by the time I got to question 50 I thought I had failed already. I was surprised to see that I passed after the test.

I mostly studied review questions from the green study book ascp provided and it didn't help me much. I studied for probably 3 weeks a few hours every day.

That makes me feel a little better, that there is SOME hope of passing. :)
I've been worried sick because I have only a limited hours in a day to read since I work parttime. And I've been barely getting 60% on the ASCP online practice tests. But I hope if I understand the concepts well, then I'll be fine on the exam. I'm glad its analytical because then I can logic through some questions and not have to know random little facts behind everything. I hope.
The lopsided nature of the exam scares me a little though. I feel somewhat confident with blood bank and micro, but hematology downright terrifies me. If I end up with a gazillion questions on hematology, I'm gonna burst into tears. If the exam is lopsided, then why does the ASCP book give percentages on content in the chapter on content...like when they say urinalysis is 10% of the exam, what do they mean then?

I think that's just a guide as to how many questions per subject. I don't think they follow it strictly as some subjects will have more questions than others.

LabCE has a free clinical laboratory science quiz game that I've been using to practice for the ASCP exam. It's not exactly what you'll find on the exam, but you can't beat the price! The link is www.labce.com/start.aspx or www.labce.com/game

hey everyone i'm in waiting to schedule the ascp exam i live in new york im using the review cards and also the green ascp book

CLS i just wanted to ask i know the green book doesn't help since it doesn't give explainations but are the questions on the test similar to those in the book? Oo yah were the slides/pictures they should clear ? or hard to Id?

By the way SD if you have problems with hematology use the review cards they will help you understand everything about the subject all the material builds on the other so you have to start from the begining and Don't streesss too much!!! good luck everyone

Thanks, Tim...will check the website out.

Thanks, NYC. Yup, am using the review cards for Hematology. They're so much better than my class notes. I had a lousy teacher for hematology in school...he is old and ready to retire and most of what he taught is obsolete...so I have lots of catching up to do in that area. LOL.

And yeah, I'd like to know about the pictures too. Just how bad are the parasitology and fungi picture id in the ASCP exam?

Okay, so I'm really pissed at how the online ASCP practice exam (www.ascp-practice.com/) that I just took was biased toward knowing random little facts and details about the most uncommon encountered organisms. It's almost as if they WANT you to do bad at it. Most of the questions I got wrong were facts that I had never come across. Such as at what intensity should a lamp in the biosafety hood be replaced. Or some inane piece of information on M.scrofulaceum. I just have to know for my own peace of mind, is the real ASCP exam equally random in its content? I mean, when you say it's difficult, is it difficult because of the problem solving involved or is it difficult because it asks you to recall a random little fact about an organism that is barely talked about in class? Help! I'm stressing out.

Good luck on your tests guys!

I just took it a few days ago and like CLS48 I really thought I had failed it about halfway through, but I didn't.

I guess if it's really hard, you are doing well. From what I understand, the harder questions are weighted more heavily, but I'm not sure about that.

As for what to study... everything! I heard that the review cards were really good, however, I used a crusty old review book from who knows where that had been photocopied so many times as to be unreadable in many parts. It worked though. A classmate of mine did the same thing, and she passed.

I made flashcards for things like calculations and reference ranges so I could have those in my mind. You really only need the ref ranges for the common tests, it gives you the ranges for the more esoteric tests.

I would focus on micro, blood bank, heme and chemistry the most. I didn't have any lab practice questions and only a couple of parasitology and mycology questions. Of those that I had, there were pictures and a description (which usually gave it away by some key characteristic)

You really need to know disease states and the lab results associated with them. It seemed like that's mostly what I had. Not very many, if any, methodology questions.

Like its been said though, every one's test is different.

Study a lot!

^Thanks for the tips, JP. Had you used the online ASCP practice tests at all to help review for the exam?

i was worried about the same Thing SD i didn't take the practice test online but just some of the questions in the green review book makes you wonder "what in gods name are you F***ing talking ABOUT!" I really more worried about Chemistry and the Kind of calculations that are on there like normality or meq and things like that and immunology because i can't seem to remember the methodology =(

SD in South Bend, Indiana said: ^Thanks for the tips, JP. Had you used the online ASCP practice tests at all to help review for the exam?

my program bought some of those for us to use, but they weren't really helpful. It was a lot of weird questions, mostly about stuff I didn't ever recall learning about. I couldn't pass any of them.

Thanks NYC and JP. Cant tell you how relieved I feel reading your responses. :) I was starting to feel like the biggest moron around coz I have been studying really hard and got frustrated when I couldnt answer some questions from the green book. I think I'll just focus on making sure I have all the concepts right in my head.

NYC, for chemistry, it helps me to make a gigantic chart of all the formulae, memorize them and then just go to questions at the end of the chapter on normality etc and do a lot of different questions on them. I'm fairly okay with them...let me know if you run into a particularly tricky question and I'll help you figure it out. Or atleast try to :)

COooooo thanks SD! i was talking to the the director of my program and she was telling me to read the txt book from cover to cover i don't think that's really ognna help only because your only seeing that information once and thats a whole lot of reading... what do you guys think should i stick to the review cards and just brush up on things i don't know or read the entire txt book

Wow there is no way that anyone can read the whole text book at this time.I'm reading the Robert Harr's CLS Review book.I think it's help full because it explains the answers.Is there anyone out there who used this book and passed the ASCP certification

NYC, for me reading the entire textbook for every course just isnt an option. I have barely enough time to prepare for the exam. So my game plan has been to just use the review cards, and supplement the information in them with some flash cards that I had made for exams while I was in school. I'm hoping that so long as I have understood and memorized the major and most important concepts for each course, perhaps I'll be okay for the exam. I'm a bit worried that they'll go into details of smaller stuff, like lesser known bacteria, or tests that arent used too often. I dont know if its even possible to know everything about everything and read textbooks from cover to cover. My head can only hold so much information. LOL. I hope I'm gonna be okay with how I'm studying.

I just took the exam 2 weeks ago missed passing by 10 points. My advice is don't panic it will just work against you & even more difficult to concentrate. I encountered questions found Henry's Clinical Diagnosis text:tips study most common diseases :
Chemistry example-Diabetis,Liver Function,Cardiac Markers know your charts enzyme elevation. Renal water, electrolytes and acid-base balance. Must master the physiology renal function. they will give example blood gas result and you will need to interpret. Know most common calculation in lab manual ldl,anion gap,FTI. Hope this info helps.
I

sam in Taylor, Michigan said: I just took the exam 2 weeks ago missed passing by 10 points. My advice is don't panic it will just work against you & even more difficult to concentrate. I encountered questions found Henry's Clinical Diagnosis text:tips study most common diseases :
Chemistry example-Diabetis,Liver Function,Cardiac Markers know your charts enzyme elevation. Renal water, electrolytes and acid-base balance. Must master the physiology renal function. they will give example blood gas result and you will need to interpret. Know most common calculation in lab manual ldl,anion gap,FTI. Hope this info helps.
I

what books did u study sam?

man that's what im afraid of failing by only a few points i been studying the stuff that you mentioned sam for chemistry after reading some of the questions in the green book i realized you really have to read the question sometimes you might confuse ur self cuz you think you know it from the begining but they ask for something totally opposite

CLS2008-At first I had individual text book for each major subjects Microbiology,Immunohematology,Immunology/Serology.
Then latest edition 2007 of HENRY'S Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods. 21st edition,edited by Mcpherson/Pincus. I just want to give an example how difficult some of the question I encountered. example question #1.
This is platelet-vessel wall interaction,Bleeding time prolonged,Platelet counts decreased and on peripheral smear, the platelets are increase in size. choose best answere:1.von Willebrand disease 2. Bernard-Soulier syndrome 3.congenital afibrinogenemia 4. Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia
The correct answere is #2-found page 758 Henry's Clin. Diag test book.
example question#2 alpha hCG marker of malignancy:
Choose best answere:a.) Choriocarcinoma
b.)Testicular cancer
c.)Pancreatic
d.)nonseminomatous
found this page 1361 Henry's Clin Diag Text. The correct answere is c.)Pancratic only for alpha. Beta hCG is choriocarcinoma,testicular is for both alpha & beta hCG, only hCG & beta hCG nonseminomatous cancers.
I do want to share that I had 5 Protein electrophoresis questions. again need to master those PE tracing: normal,hepatic cirrhosis,Nephrotic Syndrome etc... I had one question asked if the protein elevation from B1B2 & gamma are to merge together what immunoglobulin would it indicate?
a.)IgM
b.)IgA
c.)IgD
e.)IgE
The answere is IgA-this starts to from alpha2 end gamma.
These are just the questions I know i missed because I have read it but I did not master by heart or I did not read it at all.
I think the way they present the questions are mostly either disease related. Even include patient history with lab results. I just remember please master time/titer appearance of viral antigens& antiviral antibodies in Hepatitis HBV & HAV.

Sam, thank you so much for giving us insight into the exam. It helps to hear what the exam was like from someone who took it just recently.
I havent used the Henry's Clinical Diagnosis book for my review. I saw it at the library and it looked big and intimidating. LOL. There is just no way within my time frame I could have used it for review. But I'm wondering, when you said you got questions out of the book, are these questions that are directly taken from the end of a chapter or something. Or do you just mean that you searched for the answers to the questions and found them in the book?
Well, thanks once again for all the helpful comments!

I used the Henry's for major subjects because its latest edition. If you can just scan throught it. Look over the tables and charts. If you come across over a topic you feel you need to read more in detail it will help. Actually I just remembered question #1 after reading the chapter. The hCG question I looked up because i did not read alpha hCG I only knew beta hCG. Just keep in mind the questions presented with disease states except for micro questions. 46

all i have for my review materials are the green book,harr CLS review 3rd edition and pearl of wisdom and of the 3 i cant find explanations on how to interpret cellpanel..

hi sam! have u encountered several questions regarding cell panel?

how about computations?

im taking the exam this september

I have another quick question. I know for the ASCP exam you are required to memorize some of the reference ranges in chemistry. It seems impossible to memorize the ranges for all analytes, so I'm a little confused - which ones should I focus on? Do they really expect you to remember all the ranges for every single analyte? Do I need to know ranges for hormones and enzymes? Could someone tell me which reference ranges I should really concentrate on memorizing and which ones are already given during the exam? I'd appreciate it!

for those who have taken the ASCPi exam...do i have to study the LABORATORY MANAGEMENT part? i know its included in ASCP exam but is it also included in ASCP international?

chu...i do have a book you can look up its immunohematology by Lange or lippincott but i have to double check for you tomorrow I need to look it up again for you. The panel is only one question but it will have a heavy weight points so you have to get that right. I only computation you have will probably be chemistry and i only had to compute for LDL the triglyceride,Hdl & cholesterol given question. I did not have any normality questions to compute. As far as Lab Mangement questions you might get 1 or 3 the most those were easy questions.

SD..Just have an idea the ranges for at least the basic metabolic panel for chemistry. you just need to know if the value given is above or below the normal values. When they give results you won't miss it because if they are elevated they are realy high or vise versa. It will be the same for the hormones & enzymes they will use elevated or increase. The important thing is to interpret them as to the disease process like in thyroid hormones. Most of the time they give the normal values with the question in parenthesis. Know the blood gas normal values.

7

SD..how do i get a hold of reveiw cards for hematology?

Thanks a zillion for the tips, Sam!

For hematology, I use the Quick Review Cards for Clinical Science Examination by Valerie Dietz Polansky. I really like how they summarize a whole lot of information in form of charts/tables. For the large part, they're really good...there are just a couple of chapters where I thought they were a little too condensed and so I used my school notes to supplement the information on the cards. I also browse through this small book called Clinical Hematology Atlas by Jacqueline H. Carr and Bernadette F. Rodak. It's an atlas but it also has some really good tables that summarize stains and diseases. It's terrific for reviewing hematopoeisis and maturation sequences and morphological alterations to cells, RBC inclusions etc. Because it's an atlas, it's really easy to browse through...I just flip through it and read up on the text at the bottom of the images or look at the tables at the end of some chapters.

The review cards I bought several months ago from amazon. I remember they were in high demand because amazon was all sold out and I had to wait for some time for them to fulfill my order.

The hematology atlas book I got during a sale at the school bookstore. But I'm sure, amazon probably sells it too.

Here's the amazon link to both:
www.amazon.com/Clinical-Hematology-Atlas-Jacqueline-Carr/dp/1416050396/ref=sr_oe_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219800521&sr=1-1

www.amazon.com/Review-Clinical-Laboratory-Science-Examinations/dp/0803604599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219801293&sr=1-1

I took the MT exam last October and passed. I do admit by question 30 I felt there was no way I was going to pass. I had studied for an hour each day for 6 months with many different study guides besides the green book by ASCP. This may seem excessive but I was an MLT with a Bachelor's degree taking the test. I had not sat through a medical technology lecture in 18 years. Even with that many years working as a tech, I had not encountered most of the questions on the test. My advice would be to concentrate on Microbiology reactions and Blood bank antibodies. Antibody panels will definitely be on the test. Hope this helps.

Thanks SD for quick reponse greatly appreciated! By the way how are you studying Micro like Tam said they give biological reactions and sometimes they use the new names instead of the old because classification also changed? As for Bld Bank. Study the RH genotype DCEce....

hi sam! thank you for the reply..appreciate it!

however i dnt have the 2 books that you mention :-(
still having problems on how to interpret cell panel

by the way, can i skip questions during the exam? i dnt want to spend too much time on questions that im not sure of

have you encountered many questions on mycology?

Unfortunately, you are not allow to skip questions during the exam. Each test is individualized according to the way you answer each question. If you show a weakness in Micro or blood bank then there is a good chance more of those type of questions my come up.

As for the blood bank panels, use your negative reactions to cross off your positive cells. That should eliminate your unwanted antibodies.

HEY CHU here's a quick break down for Bld Bank

1. make sure you have atleast 3 negative cells or you can't use the panel
2. from those 3 negative cells (that didn't react at AHG Phase) (which will turn positive with coombs control which is how you confirm its negative) CROSS OUT ALL ANTIGENS that are Positive in that cell
3. repeat that step for all negative cells and then look at the antigens that might be present check to see if its being masked by another antigen
Say a patient has Anti K and you are left with E,C,K in the panel
Just remember when a antigen reacts it could mask something else that is positive so if you kno from patient history that the patient has Anti K LOok for a cell that reacted that is K negative and see if E Or C is present that would mean besides Anti K the Patient has Either E or C

If you really need more help and are completely lost then i'll break it down step by step

Ohh one more thing i thought Beta HcG is a hormone that is produced by pregnant women

Some cancers can cuase elevated hormone levels so you will need to revierw those for your clinical chemistry portion of the test...
I think we had 16 people in my old class and one person failed and no it wasn't me...I presume they had to retake the test as some later point.Good luck.

to Tammm and NYC thank you your reply! i thought i can skip questions for me to be able to save time...but i change my answers at the end of the exam right?

to NYC..thank for explaning the cell panel but im still having diffuculty understanding the interpretation.its been 5 years since i graduated from medtech and i didnt pursue the carreer and didnt have the chance to work as a medtech.

is there a website where i can review about cell panel interpretation?or can you explain it to me further or maybe..can u give an example?

thank you in advance

Godbless

chu*** I got the book for you Immunohematology 2nd edition. Principles and Practice by Eva D. Quinley.Chapter 10 Antibody Detection and Identification page 163-200. I hope this will help there are case studies and discussion. The mycology question yes there will be questions I had 2 or 3 but again releated with disease. You are better off answering all the question the first round and you will be given an option to review or go back to it at the end of the test by checking off a small box located at the top left hand corner of screen. The questions you checked for review will allow you to open the question but if you don't mark it you will not be able to change your answere. Pace yourself that you will be able to go back to look over those questions because if you skip it will be considered wrong if you run out of time.

will u know the score immediately after the exam and how long is the exam(how many hrs)

CLS you will have 160 mins for 100 questions. Yes you will know right away when you click submit.

hi sam! thank you so much for the info! appreciate it alot!

i dont have the book that you mention so im trying to search the net hoping i can find cell panel interpretations and perhaps case studies too

is the exam really difficult? ive been studying for a while but still i dnt think ill be ready for the exam..

are you saying that i should mark those items for me to be able to change my answers later on?cant i change my answers if i didnt mark the items im not sure of?

hi! chu if you don't check off the box for that question before going on to the next question,at the end of the test you will see the numbers 1 to 100 in three column with corresponding box next to it if there is no check mark on the box it will not open for you to reveiw or allow you to make any changes.
For me the key is preparation, I didn't expect it to be so difficult. At this point you just do the best you can.

hi sam! if thats the case then i better check the box of items that i want to review or probably change the answer at the end of the test.

is the time alloted just enough to finish the 100 items?

do u happen to know some websites where i can practice sample exams?

Tammmmm in Elgin, Illinois said: I took the MT exam last October and passed. I do admit by question 30 I felt there was no way I was going to pass. I had studied for an hour each day for 6 months with many different study guides besides the green book by ASCP. This may seem excessive but I was an MLT with a Bachelor's degree taking the test. I had not sat through a medical technology lecture in 18 years. Even with that many years working as a tech, I had not encountered most of the questions on the test. My advice would be to concentrate on Microbiology reactions and Blood bank antibodies. Antibody panels will definitely be on the test. Hope this helps.

Wow! That is admirable. And thanks for the tips!