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Free NREMT practice questionsFree AEMT practice questions · EMS Operations

8 free AEMT practice questions: Ambulance Operations and Equipment Readiness

These are real questions from the same bank the app draws from. Each one is written to the NREMT AEMT content specifications and kept inside the AEMT scope of practice. Pick an answer and you get the full rationale, including why the other three options are wrong.

Work through all 8, then move on to the next topic. When you want the full picture, the free AEMT diagnostic covers every topic in one sitting. No account needed for any of it.

Question 1 of 8

An AEMT checking the airway bag finds that the reservoir bag is missing from the BVM, although the device is otherwise intact. Which function does the reservoir provide when the device is in use?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Delivery of an oxygen concentration approaching 100%

The reservoir is what lets a BVM deliver close to 100% oxygen. With oxygen running at 15 L/min, the reservoir fills with oxygen between squeezes. When the bag re-expands after a squeeze, the bag refills from that stored oxygen. Without the reservoir, the bag refills partly with room air. The oxygen in each breath then falls well short of 100%. The bag still moves the same volume, seals the same way, and can be squeezed at any rate. Patients who need a BVM are the patients who can least afford less oxygen. Put a reservoir on this BVM before it goes back in the airway bag.

Why the others are wrong

Delivery of a tidal volume large enough for an adult: Tidal volume is the amount of air in each breath. The bag still moves the same volume with each squeeze, with or without the reservoir.

Creation of an effective seal against the patient's face: The reservoir bag plays no part in the seal. The seal comes from the right size mask and how you hold the mask on the face.

Delivery of ventilations at the rate the patient needs: You control the rate by how often you squeeze the bag. This bag can still be squeezed at any rate. The missing reservoir only changes how much oxygen is in each of those breaths.

Question 2 of 8

An AEMT is checking the airway equipment carried on the ambulance at 1900. The battery-powered portable suction unit runs and holds a charge. Which additional device allows suctioning to continue if that unit loses power during a call?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · A manually operated suction device

A manually operated suction device is your backup. A manual suction unit runs on hand power, so it needs no battery and no power from the vehicle. If the battery unit dies in the middle of a call, you keep suctioning with the manual unit. Suction is one of the few treatments with no workaround when the equipment quits. That is why ambulances carry a hand-powered unit. Check that the manual unit is there and working during the same check that covers the battery unit.

Why the others are wrong

A rigid pharyngeal suction tip: the delivery end of the suction system. The rigid tip does not make any vacuum on its own. With no power source behind the tip, the tip does nothing.

A large-bore suction catheter: another part that only carries the suction. The catheter needs a working powered or manual unit behind it to suction anything.

A spare collection canister and tubing: The spare canister collects what you suction, and the tubing carries it. Neither one makes suction, so a spare canister and tubing do not help if the battery unit loses power.

Question 3 of 8

An AEMT is replacing an empty portable oxygen cylinder at 2130 with a full cylinder taken from the station storage rack. The regulator will not seat because its pins do not line up with the holes in the cylinder valve. What should the AEMT do?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Obtain a cylinder that matches the regulator

The pins not lining up is the Pin Index Safety System working. Each medical gas has its own pin pattern on the cylinder valve. The regulator has pins in matching spots. A regulator built for oxygen cannot seat on a cylinder holding a different gas or with a different valve. Nothing in the question says a pin is bent or a screw is stripped. The pins simply do not match. Set that cylinder aside and pull another one from the rack. The right cylinder seats with no force and no changes. The pins are the last check that the gas going to the patient is oxygen.

Why the others are wrong

Force the regulator down until the pins seat: A regulator that needs force to seat is on the wrong cylinder. The pin mismatch is the safety system warning you about a wrong gas or a wrong valve. Forcing the pins past that warning can send the wrong gas to the patient.

Remove the pin that blocks the connection: Removing the pin treats the pin as the problem. Nothing in the question describes a bent or broken pin, only pins that do not line up. Taking a pin out destroys the exact part meant to stop this cylinder from being used.

Turn the regulator over and tighten the screw: Flipping the regulator and tightening the screw is a fix for a loose or backward regulator. The question describes pins that do not line up with the holes, not a loose screw. Turning the regulator over does nothing about the real fault.

Question 4 of 8

During the morning ambulance check, an AEMT inspects the automated external defibrillator (AED) and notes that the electrode pads package is dated 06/2026 and today's date is 08/2026. The pads are still in their sealed package and have never been opened. What is the most appropriate action for the AEMT to take with the pads?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Remove them from service immediately and request replacement, since expired pads may not adhere or conduct properly

These AED pads expired two months ago. The package is dated 06/2026, and today is 08/2026. Two parts of an AED pad have a shelf life, and both matter at the moment of the shock. The conductive gel has to carry current through the skin. The adhesive has to hold the pad down on a sweaty, moving chest. Both break down over time. After the printed date, the manufacturer no longer promises the pad will do either job. Take expired pads out of service and replace them, the same way you would an expired medication. Finding expired pads on the morning check means you learn about them now instead of during an arrest.

Why the others are wrong

Keep them in service; the sealed package protects them for months beyond the printed expiration date: On AED pads, the gel and the adhesive break down inside the sealed pouch over time, whether the package has been opened or not. A seal protects sterility, and sterility is what the date is about on sterile supplies, not on pads.

Mark them as "use until depleted" and rotate them to less critical equipment; the AED charger will activate fresh pads first: The AED charger cannot activate fresh pads first, because an AED uses whatever pads are attached to it. Moving the pads to other equipment does not fix a pad that has broken down. Expired pads can be clearly marked and used for training and skills practice, never for patient care.

Test them on the defibrillator; if the unit gives a ready signal, they are safe to use: A ready signal only tells you the unit passed its own internal self-test. It does not tell you whether the gel will conduct or the adhesive will stick, and you would find that out during the arrest.

Question 5 of 8

After transferring a patient at the hospital, an AEMT prepares the ambulance for the next call. Dried vomit covers part of the stretcher rail and the floor beside it. The used linens have been stripped and bagged, and the crew has soap and water and a germicidal solution registered with the Environmental Protection Agency on the unit. Which action is most appropriate?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Wash the areas with soap and water, then apply the germicidal solution

Cleaning and disinfecting are two different steps, and they go in a set order. Cleaning is washing off the blood, dirt, and anything else you can see on the surface. Disinfecting is putting a germicidal solution on the surface to kill the germs left on it. Here there is dried vomit on the stretcher rail and the floor. If you put the germicidal solution right on the vomit, the vomit sits between the solution and the surface. The solution never reaches the rail or the floor underneath. That's why you wash the areas with soap and water first. Once the vomit is gone, you apply the germicidal solution to the clean surface.

Why the others are wrong

Apply the germicidal solution directly to the dried vomit: Putting the germicidal solution straight on the vomit skips the cleaning step. The solution ends up working on the dried vomit instead of on the rail and floor under it. The surface has to be clean before the solution can do any good.

Apply the germicidal solution and then wash the areas with soap and water: Washing after the germicidal solution is on the surface washes the solution off along with the vomit. The rail and the floor end up clean, but they are not disinfected.

Wash the areas with soap and water until no residue remains: Washing until no residue remains is the cleaning step done well. A surface with no residue can still have germs on it. The germicidal solution is the step that kills those germs, and option D stops before that step.

Question 6 of 8

After a call for a nosebleed, an AEMT is disposing of the disposable equipment used in the patient compartment. A gauze dressing is soaked with the patient's blood. The outer wrapper of that dressing was removed before the dressing was applied and is dry. An NRB was worn by the patient and is free of blood. An emesis basin was handed to the patient but was not used. Which item must be discarded in a biohazard container approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · The gauze dressing soaked with blood

Waste from a call is sorted by what is on the item, not by whether the item was used in patient care. Anything bloody or soiled with body fluids goes into a biohazard container approved by OSHA. Items that are not contaminated go out following OSHA and local guidelines, and most of them are handled as general trash. The gauze dressing is soaked with the patient's blood. Blood on the gauze means the gauze goes in the biohazard container. The wrapper is dry and came off before the dressing was applied. The NRB is free of blood. The emesis basin was never used. None of those three has blood or body fluids on it.

Why the others are wrong

The NRB worn by the patient: An NRB would go in the biohazard container if blood or body fluids got on the mask. This NRB is free of blood. Being worn on the patient's face does not make the mask biohazard waste.

The outer wrapper from the dressing package: The wrapper came off before the dressing ever touched the patient, and the question says the wrapper is dry. The wrapper never contacted blood. Most disposable items from a call, like this wrapper, are handled as general trash.

The emesis basin handed to the patient: A basin with body fluids in it would go in the biohazard container. This basin was handed to the patient but never used. Nothing went into the basin, so the basin is not contaminated.

Question 7 of 8

An AEMT is placing a full spare oxygen cylinder into service on the ambulance. The plastic seal has been removed from the valve stem, the opening has been inspected and is free of debris, and the sealing washer is in place on the regulator collar. Which action comes next?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Open the valve briefly and close it before attaching the regulator

The plastic seal is off and the opening is clear, so the next step is cracking the cylinder. Cracking means opening the valve slowly and then closing the valve again. The short burst of oxygen helps keep dirt and other contaminants out of the oxygen flow. Never point the cylinder at yourself or anyone else while you crack it. Only after cracking the cylinder do you put the regulator on. Line up the oxygen port and the pins with the holes, and hand tighten the regulator. Then open the cylinder fully to check for leaks and read the pressure. The order matters because cracking is a clearing step. If the regulator is already on, any debris in the opening gets blown into the regulator instead of out of the valve.

Why the others are wrong

Attach the regulator, then open the valve briefly and close it: Opening the valve with the regulator attached is how you check for leaks. The brief opening is a different step. The brief opening clears the valve opening before anything is attached. Done after the regulator is on, the brief opening pushes whatever was in the opening into the regulator.

Attach the regulator and open the valve fully to read the gauge: Reading the gauge does happen, just later. You open the valve fully and read the gauge once the regulator is firmly attached. Clearing the opening still has to come first, and reading the gauge does not replace that step.

Attach the regulator and open the flowmeter to clear the opening: Opening the flowmeter does run gas through the whole setup. Gas leaving the flowmeter has already passed through the regulator. Any debris in the valve opening gets carried into the equipment instead of out of the valve.

Question 8 of 8

A patient in labor is being transported on the stretcher. Which position is correct?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Left lateral, or supine tilted slightly to the left

A patient in labor rides on her left side, or on her back tilted slightly to the left. Near term, the uterus is heavy. When she lies flat on her back, the uterus presses on the inferior vena cava. The inferior vena cava runs on the right side of the spine. The pressure on the vein cuts the blood flowing back to the heart. Less blood comes back, so the heart pumps out less, and her blood pressure can drop. This is called supine hypotensive syndrome. Rolling her to the left, or tilting the stretcher fifteen to thirty degrees left, takes the weight off the vein. Use this position for any patient in labor, not only one who already has symptoms.

Why the others are wrong

Supine with the stretcher flat and the legs elevated: Raising the legs helps blood return from the legs. This patient's problem is the uterus pressing on the inferior vena cava. Raising her legs does not take the uterus off the vein. Lying flat on her back is the position that causes the problem.

Prone with the head of the stretcher elevated: Prone means lying face down. Face down puts her weight onto the uterus and her abdomen. Prone also keeps you from watching the perineum or delivering the baby if it comes during transport. Raising the head of the stretcher does not fix either problem.

Right lateral to improve venous return from the legs: Right lateral gets her off her back, but it is the wrong side. The inferior vena cava runs on the right side of the spine, so left is the side that moves the uterus off the vein. For a pregnant patient, the side is left, not right.

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