Skip to content
Free NREMT practice questionsFree AEMT practice questions · EMS Operations

10 free AEMT practice questions: Multiple Casualty Incidents, Triage, and Incident Command

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 10, 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 10

An AEMT responds to a motorcycle collision on a rural two-lane road at dusk. A 34-year-old patient is lying on the shoulder, is alert, and reports pain in a deformed lower leg. There is no bleeding. A second helmet is lying in the grass about 30 feet from the motorcycle. What should the AEMT do next?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Search the area around the scene for another patient

Search the area for another patient. A second helmet is lying in the grass about 30 feet from the motorcycle. The second helmet tells you someone else was on the motorcycle. A passenger thrown clear can be out of sight in the grass or in a ditch. Counting your patients is part of the scene size-up. You finish the count before you commit to one patient. The number of patients decides how many ambulances and crews you need to call. The patient you found is alert, with a deformed lower leg and no bleeding. Nothing is lost by searching the scene first.

Why the others are wrong

Begin splinting the deformed lower leg: Splinting the deformed leg is care this patient will need. Splinting now commits you to one patient before the size-up is done. A second patient could be down in the grass, and nobody has found them yet.

Ask the patient how fast the motorcycle was traveling: How fast the motorcycle was going is useful history. The speed does not tell you how many patients are on this scene, and the extra helmet says there may be another one.

Move the patient to the ambulance for assessment: Moving the patient to the ambulance puts your crew on one patient. You still have not found out who was wearing the second helmet. Find that person first.

Question 2 of 10

An AEMT is performing initial triage with the JumpSTART system after a deck collapse at a community park. A 4-year-old patient is not breathing. A distal pulse is palpable. The AEMT opens the airway with a manual maneuver, and the patient still does not breathe. What should the AEMT do?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Give five rescue breaths and reassess breathing

Give five rescue breaths and then check breathing again. This 4-year-old is not breathing but has a distal pulse. Opening the airway with a manual maneuver did not start the breathing. In children, cardiac arrest usually starts as a breathing problem. A pulse that is still there means the heart is still sending blood to the brain. Only the breathing has stopped. JumpSTART is the version of START (Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment) built for children. In JumpSTART, a child with a pulse and no breathing gets five rescue breaths before any tag goes on. If breathing comes back, the child is immediate. If breathing does not come back, the child is expectant, and you move on.

Why the others are wrong

Begin chest compressions and reassess the pulse: Chest compressions are for a child who is not breathing and has no pulse. This child has a distal pulse. With a pulse present, JumpSTART calls for rescue breaths first, not CPR.

Tag the patient expectant and move on: In adult START, a patient who still does not breathe after the airway is opened gets tagged expectant right away. JumpSTART changes that rule for children. This child has a pulse, so five rescue breaths come first. Only a child who still is not breathing after those breaths gets the expectant tag.

Ventilate the patient until breathing returns: Breathing for the patient until breathing returns is patient care after triage is over. JumpSTART stops at five breaths. After the five breaths, you decide immediate or expectant and keep moving through the triage. Staying with one patient leaves everyone else unsorted.

Question 3 of 10

An AEMT is performing triage after a stage collapse at an outdoor concert. No patient is pinned, and additional ambulances are arriving. A large crowd is pressing in around the patients, and bystanders are picking up injured people and carrying them away before they can be triaged. Which resource should the AEMT request?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Law enforcement for crowd control

You need law enforcement for crowd control. Bystanders are picking up injured people and carrying them away before they can be triaged. Triage only works if the patients stay where you can sort them. A patient carried off unsorted could be the one who needed care first. Once the crowd carries a patient off, nobody on scene knows where that patient is or how sick they are. Every patient the crowd moves throws off your count. Crowd control is a law enforcement job. Request law enforcement as soon as you see the crowd moving patients, before more patients leave without a tag.

Why the others are wrong

The fire department for scene lighting: Scene lighting helps when the scene is too dark to work. The problem here is a crowd moving patients, not a lack of light.

A rescue crew to secure the stage structure: A rescue crew secures a structure when a patient is pinned or trapped by it. No patient here is pinned. The stage is not what is getting in the way of triage.

A supervisor to coordinate transport: A supervisor can coordinate transport once the patients are sorted. Bystanders are taking patients away before you can sort them. Only law enforcement can stop the crowd from carrying patients off.

Question 4 of 10

An AEMT is performing initial triage with the JumpSTART system at an elementary school where a ceiling section fell during class. A 7-year-old patient cannot walk. The respirations are 30, no peripheral pulse can be felt at the wrist, and the patient answers questions and follows commands. Which triage category should the AEMT assign?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Immediate (red)

This child is immediate (red). No peripheral pulse can be felt at the wrist. JumpSTART is the version of START used for children. JumpSTART checks walking first, then breathing rate, then peripheral pulse, then mental status. The first check the child fails sets the tag. This child cannot walk, so you move to breathing. A respiratory rate of 30 is inside the acceptable range of 15 to 45, so you move to the pulse. No pulse at the wrist means blood flow out to the arms is poor. An absent peripheral pulse is a sign of shock. Children hold up well in shock and then get worse fast. Tag this child red, even though the child is answering questions.

Why the others are wrong

Minor (green): for a child who can get up and walk to the designated area. This child cannot walk, so green is ruled out at the very first check.

Delayed (yellow): for a child who cannot walk but passes the breathing, pulse, and mental status checks. This child has no radial pulse. The child fails the pulse check before mental status is ever checked, so JumpSTART assigns immediate.

Expectant (black): for a child who is not breathing and has no pulse, or who stays apneic after the rescue breaths. This child is breathing at 30 and answering questions.

Question 5 of 10

An AEMT is the first provider to arrive at a warehouse floor collapse involving about 20 patients. No other EMS personnel are on scene, additional units are 8 minutes away, the remaining floor structure is unstable, and the ambulance is parked in the only clear driveway. The AEMT calls out for anyone who is able to walk. Where should the AEMT direct these patients to gather?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · To an easily identified landmark away from the ambulance

The walking patients need to gather away from the ambulance, because your ambulance is parked in the only clear driveway. The rest of the floor is unstable, and the next units are 8 minutes away. START, which stands for Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment, begins by calling out for everyone who can walk. You send those patients to a landmark that is easy to find and away from the ambulance. A landmark away from the ambulance keeps the walking patients out of the only route in and out. You can still move through the scene to triage the patients who cannot walk. The units on the way can still get in when they arrive.

Why the others are wrong

To the ambulance, where a running count can be kept: The ambulance is an obvious place to gather, and it makes counting heads easy. This ambulance is sitting in the only clear driveway. Sending the walking patients to the ambulance blocks the one route you and the arriving crews need to reach the patients who cannot walk.

To the treatment area once it has been established: Patients do go to a treatment area once one is set up. No other EMS crews are on scene yet, so there is no treatment area. Sorting the walking patients comes first, before anyone can set up a treatment area.

To the nearest exit from the collapsed floor section: The nearest exit is a real way off an unstable floor. People need to move through an exit, not stand in it. A crowd of walking patients at the exit blocks the way out for other patients and for incoming crews.

Question 6 of 10

A tornado strikes a campground, and patients are found in two groups about a half mile apart with a downed tree line between them. The AEMT is the triage supervisor and has four responders available. Both groups contain patients who cannot walk. What should the AEMT do?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Establish a separate triage area and team for each group

Set up a separate triage area and team for each group. The triage division has to make sure every patient gets an initial assessment. Treatment does not start until triage is complete. When patients are far apart, an incident can need more than one triage area or team. These two groups are a half mile apart with a downed tree line between them. You have four responders. Splitting into two teams, with a triage area at each group, gets every patient assessed. Neither group waits for the other group to finish.

Why the others are wrong

Triage the larger group first, then move the team to the second: Triaging the larger group first keeps the team together and feels orderly. Every patient in the second group goes unassessed for as long as the first group takes. The second group includes patients who cannot walk.

Consolidate the two groups into one area before triage: Pulling both groups into one area sounds like it makes the scene easier to manage and count. Moving patients is not part of primary triage. Each patient who cannot walk would need people to carry them before anyone got assessed.

Count the patients in each group before beginning triage: Command does ask for a patient count first. A head count alone does not tell command how many patients are in each category. The count by category is the number command uses for the resource request.

Question 7 of 10

During primary triage after an apartment fire, the AEMT reaches a patient who did not walk to the collection area because of pain from partial-thickness burns to one lower leg. There is no soot around the mouth or nose, the voice is clear, and the breathing is unlabored. The patient has R 20, a palpable radial pulse, and follows simple commands. What should the AEMT do?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Tag the patient delayed and move to the next patient

This patient is delayed. The patient did not walk to the minimal area, so you go to the next three checks in START, Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment. The respirations are 20, the radial pulse is palpable, and the patient follows simple commands. Respirations under 30 mean the patient is breathing adequately. A radial pulse means blood flow is reaching the wrist. Following commands means the mental status is intact. All three checks pass. The only problem left is the leg burn and the pain that kept the patient from walking. A patient who cannot walk but passes all three checks goes in delayed. Tag the patient delayed and move to the next patient without stopping to treat. Primary triage has to reach every patient before care starts.

Why the others are wrong

Tag the patient immediate and move to the next patient: There is no soot around the mouth or nose, the voice is clear, and the breathing is unlabored, so nothing threatens this airway. The burn is only on one lower leg. Respirations of 20 and a radial pulse keep this patient at delayed, not immediate.

Direct the patient to the collection area for minimal patients: Staying put because of leg pain fails the first START check, which is whether the patient walked. A patient who did not walk never goes to minimal, no matter how minor the burn looks.

Give positive pressure ventilations and tag the patient immediate: This patient is breathing at 20 with a clear voice and no soot around the mouth or nose, so there is no breathing problem for positive pressure ventilation to fix. A breathing failure is what would earn an immediate tag, not the burn. Ventilating this patient wastes time primary triage needs for the rest of the scene.

Question 8 of 10

At a mass-casualty incident, a person wearing a hospital identification badge walks into the treatment area, states they are an emergency physician who lives nearby, and begins changing the order in which patients are moved to the transportation area. The AEMT is working in the treatment area under the treatment supervisor. What should the AEMT do?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Notify the treatment supervisor so the physician can be assigned

Notify the treatment supervisor. A physician who shows up on their own at a mass-casualty incident has not entered the incident command system yet. Sending the physician up through the treatment supervisor lets command verify credentials and assign the physician like any other resource. Once assigned, a physician is well placed to make secondary triage decisions in the treatment area. Those decisions include which priority patients move first.

Why the others are wrong

Follow the new order because a physician has the highest authority: A physician has more clinical authority than an AEMT, and the hospital badge looks like proof. At an incident, direction comes through the assigned chain of command. A person who has not checked in is not part of that chain.

Ask the physician to leave and keep the order already set: Asking the physician to leave protects the order already set. Sending the physician away also throws out help at an incident that is short of help. The goal is to get the physician assigned, not to remove them from the scene.

Ask the physician for a license number before making changes: Asking for a license number sounds like a safeguard against a stranger nobody has verified. Credentials get verified through check-in and assignment at command. An AEMT standing in the treatment area is not the one who does that check.

Question 9 of 10

Lightning strikes a soccer field during a game. Three patients are dazed, are walking, and answer questions appropriately. A fourth patient is unresponsive, is not breathing, and has no pulse. Two AEMTs and one ambulance are on scene, and a second ambulance is 6 minutes away. What should the AEMTs do?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Begin resuscitation of the patient who is not breathing

Start resuscitation on the patient who is not breathing. When a lightning strike hits several people, you use reverse triage. In normal triage, a patient who is not breathing and has no pulse is tagged expectant. The expectant tag saves limited resources for patients who can be saved. After a lightning strike, the arrest is usually a primary cardiac or respiratory arrest in a person who is otherwise not injured. Those patients are treated first. The other three patients are walking and answering questions appropriately. They can wait while both AEMTs resuscitate the fourth patient.

Why the others are wrong

Tag the pulseless patient expectant and triage the others: Expectant is the normal tag for a patient who is not breathing and has no pulse. A lightning strike is the named exception. After lightning, the patients in arrest are treated first.

Transport the three walking patients to the hospital first: Moving the stable patients out first sounds like the greatest good for the greatest number. That plan uses your only ambulance on three patients who are alert and answering questions. Meanwhile the one patient who can still be saved gets nothing.

Complete triage of the four patients before any treatment: Finishing triage before any treatment is the normal rule at a mass-casualty incident. Here there are four patients and two AEMTs, and three of the patients are walking and talking. The sorting is already done. Reverse triage decides what you do next.

Question 10 of 10

In the CBRNE classification of attacks, the R stands for radiological. Under which of the remaining categories does anthrax fall?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Biological

Anthrax is a biological agent. The cause is Bacillus anthracis, a bacterium that forms spores. The bacteria infect tissue and make toxins. Anthrax can get in through a break in the skin, by being breathed in, or through the gut. The spores have to grow and multiply inside the body over an incubation period of days. That is why anthrax goes in the biological category. There is no radiation, no man made toxin, and no blast. Your response is going to focus on decontamination, PPE for infection control, and antibiotic treatment, not antidotes or blast injury care.

Why the others are wrong

Chemical: agents are man made toxins, like the nerve agents sarin and VX. Nerve agents cause symptoms within minutes of exposure, such as SLUDGE: salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation, gastrointestinal distress, and emesis. Anthrax does not cause symptoms right away. Anthrax is a living organism that has to multiply first, so there is an incubation period.

Nuclear: means a fission device goes off and scatters radioactive fallout over the blast area. The fallout causes radiation sickness. Anthrax has no radioactivity and no detonation. The damage from anthrax comes from the toxins the bacteria make.

Explosive: s hurt people through blast pressure, shrapnel, and buildings collapsing. Anthrax causes no detonation and no blast injury. The illness comes from infection over days, not injury within seconds.

Find out which AEMT topics are costing you points

Ten questions on one topic tell you about that topic. The free diagnostic covers every AEMT topic and breaks your results down by topic, so you know what to drill next. No card, no signup to try it.

Take the free AEMT diagnostic

More free AEMT practice questions by topic