The Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) exam is made up of three component exams: General Chairside Assisting (GC), Infection Control (ICE) and Radiation Health and Safety (RHS).
Exam format at a glance
| Format | 245 multiple-choice questions in 195 minutes when all three components are taken together: GC (95 questions, 75 minutes), ICE (75 questions, 60 minutes) and RHS (75 questions, 60 minutes). |
| Cost | DANB lists exam fees on its website — check DANB for current pricing. |
| Scoring | DANB uses computer adaptive testing and scaled scores from 100 to 900; 400 or higher is passing. DANB does not publish a percent-correct equivalent, so practice scores here are an estimate, not a prediction of your scaled score. |
| Validity | CDA certification must be renewed with continuing education — check DANB for current renewal requirements. |
Who this exam is for
- Dental assisting students preparing for national certification
- Working dental assistants earning the CDA credential
- Assistants who have passed one component and are preparing for the rest
How to actually study for it
- Spend half your GC study time on chairside dentistry: four-handed technique, procedures and instrument transfer.
- For ICE, master sterilization monitoring, instrument processing workflow and the OSHA standards.
- For RHS, know the paralleling and bisecting techniques and how to correct common image errors.
- Learn radiation safety basics: ALARA, the position-and-distance rule and dose units.
Where to go next
Start with the free 10-question diagnostic to see where you actually stand, or go straight to the one-page CDA cheat sheet. The full CDA practice exam covers every domain at the real exam's weighting, with every answer explained.