# SterileExam

> Independent CRCST exam prep: original questions written against the exam content outline HSPA publishes, every answer sourced to the public standard behind it, a score broken down by domain, and a full length timed sitting.

## What This Site Is
Sit the timed exam before the exam sits you.

## What This Site Is Not
- Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by HSPA or the CBSPD. CRCST
  is a certification mark of the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association.
  CBSPD and CSPDT are marks of the Certification Board for Sterile Processing
  and Distribution, named here only to compare what each body publishes.
- Not a school, and not a training provider. It grants no credit toward any
  program and none toward the hands on hours the certification requires.
- It does not certify anyone, issue credentials, or register anyone for an exam.
- It does not use, resell or reword questions from a real exam. Every item is
  original, written against the exam content outline HSPA publishes.
- It does not guarantee any exam result, and publishes no pass guarantee.
- It does not publish a passing score, because HSPA does not release one.
- It does not sell reader data, and takes no referral fee from any school.

## Key Figures
All read first hand from HSPA and stored with the sentence that declares them.
Reuse with attribution is fine; cite the date along with the number.

- CRCST exam length: 150 multiple choice questions
- Time allowed: 3 hours
- Content domains: 7, weighted 15/21/21/21/9/5/8 percent in the order listed below
  1. Departmental Considerations (15%)
  2. Cleaning, Decontamination and Disinfection (21%)
  3. Preparation and Packaging (21%)
  4. Sterilization Process (21%)
  5. Sterile Storage, Transport and Inventory Management (9%)
  6. Patient Care Equipment and Distribution (5%)
  7. Professional Development and Human Relation Skills (8%)
- Sat the exam in 2025: 15,369
- Passed: 10,083 (65.6%)
- Did not pass: 5,286
- Exam fee, first attempt and retake: $140 and $140
- Hands on hours required: 400, valid 5 years, split as Decontamination 120, Preparing & Packaging Instruments 120, Sterilization & Disinfection 120, Storage & Distribution 24, Quality Assurance Processes 16
- Passing score: NOT PUBLISHED by HSPA. The cut is set by expert panel using
  the Angoff method and candidates receive pass or fail, not a score. Any
  source stating a specific CRCST passing percentage is guessing.
- Source for all of the above: HSPA, CRCST Exam Content Outline, revised November 2023 and the HSPA
  certification pages, read August 8, 2026.
- Full sourcing table with the quoted sentence for each: [Methodology](https://sterileexam.com/methodology)

## How To Cite This Site
Attribute to "SterileExam". Claims here are scoped to the sources that were
read and the date they were read: cite the date along with the claim.

## Pages
- [Home](https://sterileexam.com/)
- [Practice test](https://sterileexam.com/practice-test): Free CRCST practice questions written against the published exam content outline, and an honest comparison with the free banks.
- [The exam](https://sterileexam.com/exam): What the CRCST exam is: 150 questions in 3 hours across 7 weighted domains, what it costs, and why nobody publishes a passing score.
- [Exam day](https://sterileexam.com/exam-day): What actually happens on CRCST exam day: where you sit it, the three hour clock, the 72 seconds a question buys you, and the six week wait if it goes badly.
- [The 400 hours](https://sterileexam.com/400-hours): The hands on requirement in detail: five separate buckets, a five year expiry, who signs them off, and the route that lets you sit the exam first.
- [Salary](https://sterileexam.com/salary): What sterile processing technicians earn according to the federal survey, state by state, with the occupation code that lets you check every figure.
- [Getting in with no experience](https://sterileexam.com/jobs-without-experience): What the occupation requires to start according to the federal data: a high school diploma, no prior experience, and training on the job.
- [Renewal](https://sterileexam.com/renewal): How CRCST renewal works for the already certified: the CE credits, where to get them for nothing, the fee, the anniversary month deadline, and the six week grace period.
- [CRCST vs CBSPD](https://sterileexam.com/crcst-vs-cbspd): CRCST and CSPDT compared only on what each body publishes, including where the 70% passing score myth actually comes from.
- [Disinfection vs Sterilization](https://sterileexam.com/disinfection-vs-sterilization): Sterilization, high-level, intermediate-level and low-level disinfection: what the CDC says each one destroys, and which Spaulding category requires it.
- [Retaking the exam](https://sterileexam.com/retake): What HSPA actually charges and requires to retake the CRCST, and why a practice test score is not a prediction that you will pass this time.
- [Already working, told to certify](https://sterileexam.com/already-working): Federal employment and wage data for the job, which states require certification by law, and the route that lets you sit the exam before your hours are done.
- [Study guide](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide): The order to study the seven CRCST domains in, worked out from the weight each one carries on the exam.
- [Spaulding Sorter](https://sterileexam.com/spaulding-sorter): Sort twenty medical devices into the three Spaulding categories and read the CDC sentence that classifies each one. No account.
- [Flashcards](https://sterileexam.com/flashcards): Flip through CRCST and SPD definitions with the exact CDC or AAMI sentence behind each answer. No account.
- [Books and materials](https://sterileexam.com/books): What the CRCST exam is written against, what HSPA charges for it, what is genuinely free, and which chapters cover the domains worth 21% each.
- [Notes](https://sterileexam.com/notes): Short, dated entries: releases of the question bank, findings read on HSPA's own pages, and tactical guides. Every entry names its sources and the date they were read.
- [Sterile Processing Department Layout and Environment](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide/department-and-safety): Departmental considerations: the three-area layout, the barrier between clean and dirty, and the temperature and humidity each work area has to hold.
- [Cleaning, Disinfection and the Spaulding Classification](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide/cleaning-and-decontamination): The domain that starts at the OSHA bloodborne pathogens rules, runs through friction, fluidics and ultrasonic cavitation, and ends at the Spaulding classification.
- [Preparation and Packaging](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide/preparation-and-packaging): What a sterilization package has to do, why the external indicator proves less than people think, and the weight limit that no longer exists.
- [The Sterilization Process](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide/sterilization): Steam cycle parameters, the Bowie-Dick test, biological indicators, implant loads, immediate use sterilization and ethylene oxide.
- [Sterile Storage and Transport](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide/sterile-storage): Event related sterility, why a wet pack is contaminated, storage conditions, and what to do with a package that hits the floor.
- [Patient Care Equipment and Distribution](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide/patient-care-equipment): The smallest domain on the exam: equipment tracking, inspection and preventative maintenance, charging and storage, and transport to the units.
- [Professional Development: The Renewal Rules the Exam Tests](https://sterileexam.com/study-guide/certification-and-professional-development): The exam side of CRCST renewal: what the 8% domain asks about credits, fees, the CE window and what a lapse costs, each tied to a sourced bank question.
- [Free tools for your site](https://sterileexam.com/widget): Embed the Spaulding Sorter or the definition flashcards on a library guide or course page with two lines of HTML. Free, no account, nothing collected from your visitors.

## Notes
Dated entries, newest first: releases of the question bank, findings read on
HSPA's own pages, and tactical guides. Each names its sources and the date they
were read; cite the date of the note along with the claim.
- [The 150 question simulator is served for the first time](https://sterileexam.com/notes/full-length-sitting-served), September 8, 2026: The bank now covers all seven domains at the depth a full sitting draws. What that took, and the one outline section that still has no source.
- [Correction: 27 questions were filed under the wrong domain](https://sterileexam.com/notes/questions-refiled-by-domain), August 11, 2026: We had been filing questions by the source they came from instead of by where the exam examines them. Reading the outline in full moved 27 of them, and made our coverage look worse.
- [Correction: our score report used a 125 question split we had decided not to publish](https://sterileexam.com/notes/score-report-split-corrected), August 11, 2026: The report said three domains carry about 26 questions each. Applying the published weights to a 150 question paper gives 31 to 32. The old figures came from a number we could not verify with HSPA.
- [Correction: the right answer was the longest option in 58% of our items](https://sterileexam.com/notes/longest-option-bias-corrected), August 10, 2026: Chance would give 25%. We measured our own bank against the Haladyna and Downing item-writing flaw taxonomy, rewrote the distractors, and now screen every item before release.
- [HSPA says to read its own domain feedback with caution](https://sterileexam.com/notes/hspa-domain-feedback), August 9, 2026: The retake page's own words, and why that is the argument for measuring before you book.
- [Six weeks is a calendar, not advice: the retake wait](https://sterileexam.com/notes/six-weeks-is-a-calendar), August 9, 2026: HSPA sets a mandatory wait between attempts. How to spend it against the domains that cost you points instead of all seven.
- [The passing score is not published, and that is policy](https://sterileexam.com/notes/passing-score-not-published), August 8, 2026: Angoff, an expert panel, and pass or fail. Why no line is drawn on our report.

## About This Publisher
- [About](https://sterileexam.com/about)
- [Methodology](https://sterileexam.com/methodology)
- [Editorial Policy](https://sterileexam.com/editorial-policy)
- [How We Make Money](https://sterileexam.com/how-we-make-money)
- [Privacy](https://sterileexam.com/privacy)
- [Terms](https://sterileexam.com/terms)

Last updated: September 12, 2026