Medical Terminology Practice Test
Twenty-five original questions on the building blocks of medical language: prefixes, suffixes, word roots, and the combining vowels that join them. The focus is decoding, meaning reading an unfamiliar term and working out what it means from its parts, alongside body system vocabulary, directional terms, plurals, and abbreviations. Every answer comes with an explanation.
For information and self-assessment only, to help you prepare. Always refer to the official certifying body's own materials and content outline as the source of record.
Official body: National Healthcareer Association (NHA) ↗ — medical terminology is usually assessed within a role-specific certification such as CCMA or CBCS rather than on its own
What it covers
25 questions across 7 topics, scored by topic so you can see where the gaps are rather than just how many you missed:
- Prefixes
- Suffixes
- Word roots
- Decoding terms
- Body systems
- Directional terms
- Abbreviations and plurals
Ready when you are
25 questions, about 25 minutes. Nothing is sent anywhere — the whole thing runs in your browser, and no account is needed.
Frequently asked questions
Is this an official medical terminology certification exam?
No. Every question here is written from scratch to cover the ground a first course in medical terminology covers. Reproducing questions from a real exam would breach copyright and the testing agreement, and it would teach you very little: recognizing a memorized item is not the same skill as decoding a term you have never seen.
What score suggests I have the material down?
Seventy percent is the threshold used here, but clearing it evenly across every topic tells you more than clearing it on average. A strong total that hides one weak area is the usual pattern behind an unpleasant surprise, which is why the result breaks down by topic instead of giving you a single number.
How long should this take and how should I use it?
About twenty-five minutes at a steady pace, which is roughly a minute per question. Use it as practice rather than as a final check: attempt every question before reading any explanation, then work through the ones you missed. Spacing repeat attempts several days apart is far more effective than running the same test twice in one sitting.
Do I have to memorize every medical term?
No, and trying to is the slow route. Most clinical terms are built from a small set of prefixes, roots, and suffixes, so learning the parts lets you decode words you have never met. Abbreviations are the exception: they must be learned, and many employers restrict error-prone ones, so follow the list your workplace publishes.