PHTLS Practice Exam & Required Pre-Test
Everything you need for the NAEMT Prehospital Trauma Life Support course: the Required Pre-Test, a 100-question Prep Exam, and three written-exam style Real Test versions (A, B & C) — all with answers, explanations, and rationale.
PHTLS Required Pre-Test
NAEMT pre-course format — scene safety, XABCDE assessment, hemorrhage control, airway, shock, and triage.
Take the Pre-Test → PREP EXAMPHTLS Prep Exam — 100 Questions
Full-coverage prep: kinematics, XABCDE, airway & ventilation, shock & hemorrhage control, head/chest trauma, burns, special populations, and MCI triage.
Start the Prep Exam → REAL TEST — VERSION APHTLS Real Test — Version A
Post-test style bank modeled on the official PHTLS written exam — MVC, GSW, falls, blast, and penetrating trauma.
Practice Version A → REAL TEST — VERSION BPHTLS Real Test — Version B
A second post-test style version — crush injury, compartment syndrome, burns, blast, and special populations.
Practice Version B → REAL TEST — VERSION CPHTLS Real Test — Version C
A third post-test style version — MCI triage, hazmat/CBRNE, vehicle rescue, environmental, and disaster response.
Practice Version C →What the PHTLS Pre-Test Covers
The NAEMT pre-course test checks the trauma foundations every provider must know before class.
- Scene safety & size-up: BSI, hazards, mechanism of injury, number of patients.
- XABCDE assessment: exsanguinating hemorrhage first, then airway, breathing, circulation, disability, exposure.
- Hemorrhage control: tourniquets 2–3 inches above the wound, hemostatic dressings, junctional packing.
- Airway & ventilation: jaw thrust with spinal motion restriction, OPA/NPA, surgical airway, needle decompression.
- Shock & resuscitation: permissive hypotension, balanced resuscitation, pelvic binder, 1 L crystalloid bridge.
- Triage: START / JumpSTART principles for multi-casualty incidents.
PHTLS Study Tips (10th Edition)
High-yield concepts from the PHTLS course and written post-test.
- Exsanguinating hemorrhage kills first. Control massive bleeding before anything else (the 'X' in XABCDE).
- Spinal motion restriction, not immobilization — the backboard is a device for transport, not routine care.
- Permissive hypotension for penetrating trauma: target SBP ~90 mm Hg or a radial pulse; avoid over-resuscitation.
- Head injury: avoid hypoxia (SpO2 ≥ 94%) and hypotension (SBP ≥ 100–110) — they double mortality.
- Tension pneumothorax: needle decompression at the 2nd intercostal space, midclavicular line on the affected side.
- Pediatric trauma: bradycardia = hypoxia until proven otherwise; children compensate then crash fast.
PHTLS materials follow NAEMT PHTLS 10th Edition and current ATLS principles. The Required Pre-Test mirrors the NAEMT pre-course test format; the official proctored PHTLS post-test is secure and is not reproduced here. These free exams are for study purposes only and are not affiliated with or endorsed by NAEMT.