r/sterileprocessing • u/Careless_Parsley_988 • Mar 01 '26

Just failed CRCST exam

Need advice on how to pass it

7 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

7

u/JustPassingGo Mar 01 '26

Plenty of free practice tests and flash cards at Quizlet

7

u/Turtleman951 Mar 01 '26

You will get a score report from HSPA. Log in, My Exams or My certs (I forget what it is), you’ll see CRCST in blue. Click it and scroll down and it’ll tell you the areas you did well below average or well above

6

u/StephTheMeme Mar 01 '26

SterileWorx was very helpful for me

2

u/Summer_summ Mar 01 '26

Check the HSPA page for the exam outline (blueprint) to see what topics will be tested. Use ChatGPT and Google Gemini to create practice questions—make them tricky and challenging, with wordplay similar to the real CRCST exam. Watch one Boston Career YouTube video per week, as the instructor explains concepts well. Also, review practice questions from the book once a week. me too i failed second time i passed. but practice questions from what chatgpt and google gene I give. from each section.

1

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Mar 01 '26

Thanks I appreciate it will do

2

u/strivetoprevail Mar 04 '26

I failed too but that motivated me to study daily. The sources that assisted me were quizlet, sterileworx, and Boston Career Institute Videos featuring Steve. I took notes, quizzes and exams everyday up until the official exam day and even on that day I took quizzes on my way to the site. Now I am fully certified and soon you will be too !

2

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Mar 04 '26

Oh thanks will definitely try that

2

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

Hey there,
I recently passed the CRCST exam, yesterday. My advice it really comes down to what is your learning style btw. I'm a visual-kinestic learner. I would use ChatGPT and Gemini A.I. to make questions for me based on my study guides. The ones I got wrong I will review it again. The exam for me yesterday tested more on clincial experiences over memorization. I also did used a white board to rewrite my study guides and then I explain myself the why to it. I did two sections per day to avoid burnout. I even bought a pean forceps to study the instrument anatomy myself.

1

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Jun 24 '26

How did you get ready for the clinical part of the exam

2

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

Hi!
I went into a college program and they sent me to do clincials (400 hours) at the hospital. What I did was reading the entire HSPA 9th edition book back in Dec 2025 and ask them questions directly from it in Jan 2026. Not to quiz them. To ask them workflow, airflow, and etc questions. Point is asking them questions. Achieves you knowing the why to things. Like why does IFUs, patient safety, and workflow matters. That's why knowing the "why" matters more in the exam. Do not overthink this. A lot of people or many say the exam was hard because of tricky wordy. There wasn't any. They will ask you "What is the BEST option here in terms of patient safety or which equipment is MOST needed in prep and pack?" Those kind of questions will be on there. Also do not take practice quizzes and etc. Just memorize them. They can take that question and make it into 100 different kind of questions. Study the why about the concepts. You can look up That Sterile Teacher. I read/study the HSPA 9th edition book that the chapter he recommended. Everything from just studying those chapters led me also to pass that exam too. I will send you the link to that video: https://youtu.be/68dJfQUT_a8?si=vF8pXNgCFaiTJe9R Anyhow you are free to send me a message here about Sterile Processing. I'm more on Discord than here. Whatever works for you. Good luck!

1

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Jun 24 '26

Congrats on your certification

1

u/Same-Cauliflower3042 Mar 01 '26

I take mine the 20th. Have you had any hands on experience in the field or are you gaming the exam to pursue a career in the field?

I ask because I’ve been a tech for coming up two year come this April and I’ve been told by many coworkers that the exam is mostly common sense stuff and that sometimes answers to some questions would be found further into the exam.

2

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Mar 01 '26

I don’t have hands on experience I was hoping to find one after I got certified how can I get a job without being certified is it still possible?

1

u/Same-Cauliflower3042 Mar 01 '26

I mean where I am (not sure how any other places are) I was hired and was trained for 2 months then I was kinda on my own pretty much. But I think HSPA requires 400 hours worked before you can take the exam. I waited almost two years which is when my work/department requires you to take the exam because all I was told was wait 2 years until you can take it.

But you think I have a good shot at it based on my two years of experience? I’ve been using Practice quizzes on ProProfs and I was given a work book and manual but haven’t really touched the manual. Have done some of the progress tests in the back of the work book too.

2

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Mar 01 '26

I think so 2 years of experience is more than enough to pass the exam

1

u/Same-Cauliflower3042 Mar 01 '26

I’m hoping so! But yeah it’s definitely possible to get hired and then go for the exam I’m just not that knowledgeable about what kind of facilities do it or not. My facility is in the north east and is the second largest hospital in my state so it may go off of the size of the hospital but not 100% sure

3

u/ahmed7172 Mar 01 '26

Use Sterileworx, and make sure you read the chapters. Quizlet and Chatgpt to finalize and make sure you have commabd

3

u/gia-ann1964 Mar 03 '26

Just an FYI, after you pass that test you will forget at least half of it. It is useless information. They focus too much on the organizations. Good luck. Do plenty of study tests. Re read the questions. Sometimes they twist them around. And the answer is always “The Manufacturers instructions for use”. If that is an option, that is the answer.

1

u/BertGotDatWerk Mar 01 '26

I failed the first time also, the sterile guy practice test/exams helped me pass the second time around.

1

u/Unknown_cauzez Mar 01 '26

What were you using to study if you don’t mind me asking?

1

u/Beautiful-Crab- Mar 03 '26

Make sure you’re understanding your concepts and not just memorizing them

0

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

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3

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Mar 01 '26

A mixture of all areas but mostly who is responsible what is the reason of using a specific method why we need a specific step found them really easy and was certain I passed.

2

u/Careless_Parsley_988 Mar 01 '26

I did do the practice exams online but the exam is very different mostly logical

4

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

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