The Exams
Thirteen Component Exams.
Seven Credentials.
AccelaStudy® AI Dental covers every one of them.
Here is what each exam actually is — how many questions, how long you get, where you take it, and how the score works.
Every question count, time limit and domain weight on this page is the published figure for that exam.
Before the table
How a Component Exam Actually Works
Four things are true of every component exam on this page, and knowing them changes how you study.
Every figure below is the one DANB® publishes in its own exam outline for that component.
It adapts as you go
These are computer-adaptive exams. The questions you get depend on how you have been answering, which is why raw “number correct” is not what you are scored on and why racing to finish early buys you nothing.
Scaled 100–900, pass at 400
Your result is a scaled score between 100 and 900, and 400 is the line. It is not a percentage, and it does not convert into one — which is exactly why a bank that reports “78% correct” cannot tell you whether you are ready.
At a test center or from home
Components are delivered at a Pearson VUE test center or by remote proctor, with one exception: Orthodontic Assisting is in person only. Practice in the mode you will actually test in.
Radiography is digital-only
Radiation Health and Safety dropped film in 2022. Any review book older than that is teaching you a technique the exam no longer asks about, in detail, at length.
The components
All Thirteen, With Their Real Numbers
Every simulation in the product runs at the question count and clock in this table.
The weights are the ones DANB publishes, and they are what the engine builds practice against.
| Exam | Questions | Time | What it weighs |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHSRadiation Health and Safety | 75 | 60 min | Purpose and technique 50% · radiation characteristics and protection 25% · infection prevention and control 25%. Digital radiography only. |
| ICEInfection Control | 75 | 60 min | Prevention of disease transmission 20% · prevention of cross-contamination 34% · instrument and device processing 26% · occupational safety and administrative protocols 20% |
| GCGeneral Chairside | 95 | 75 min | Evaluation 17% · patient management and administration 17% · chairside dentistry 50% · dental materials 16% |
| AMPAnatomy, Morphology and Physiology | 80 | 60 min | Head, neck and oral cavity 40% · tooth anatomy, morphology and physiology 60% |
| OAOrthodontic Assisting | 140 | 105 min | Evaluation 21% · radiation health and safety 18% · orthodontic procedures 35% · patient management and administration 26%. In person only. |
| CPCoronal Polish | 75 | 60 min | Evaluation 15% · equipment and supplies 20% · procedures 39% · administration 26% |
| SESealants | 50 | 40 min | Evaluation 20% · armamentarium 20% · procedures 45% · administration 15% |
| TFTopical Fluoride | 50 | 40 min | Evaluation 20% · armamentarium 20% · procedures 40% · administration 20% |
| IMImpressions | 50 | 40 min | Evaluation 20% · armamentarium 20% · procedures 60% |
| RFRestorative Functions | 80 | 60 min | Evaluation 15% · isolation 25% · procedures 45% · infection prevention and control 15% |
| TMPTemporaries | 50 | 40 min | Evaluation 15% · preparation 35% · procedures 50% |
| CDIPCCertified Dental Infection Prevention and Control | 100 | 75 min | Policies and administrative responsibilities 15% · patient and dental health care personnel protection 25% · environmental asepsis and disinfection 30% · sterilization and instrument processing 30% |
| DISIPCDental Industry Specialist in Infection Prevention and Control | 100 | 75 min | Regulatory and occupational safety 15% · prevention of disease transmission 45% · infection-control protocols 40% |
One more shape worth practicing: the CDA sitting taken as a single appointment is 245 questions in 195 minutes — Radiation Health and Safety, Infection Control and General Chairside back to back. That is a materially different day from three 60-minute exams spread over a month, and the product simulates it at full length so the first time you meet it is not the real one.
Which components you need
Pick Your Credential.
Get the Right Course.
You do not take thirteen exams.
You take the components your credential is made of — so the first thing the product does is work out which ones those are.
| Credential | Components | Total questions |
|---|---|---|
| NELDANational Entry Level Dental Assistant | AMP · ICE · RHS | 230 |
| CDACertified Dental Assistant | RHS · ICE · GC | 245 |
| COACertified Orthodontic Assistant | ICE · OA | 215 |
| CPFDACertified Preventive Functions Dental Assistant | CP · SE · TF | 175 |
| CRFDACertified Restorative Functions Dental Assistant | IM · TMP · SE · RF | 230 |
| CDIPCCertified Dental Infection Prevention and Control | A single 100-question exam | 100 |
| DISIPCDental Industry Specialist in Infection Prevention and Control | A single 100-question exam | 100 |
Totals are the sum of the component question counts in the table above, for orientation only — components can be taken separately, and DANB sets the rules about eligibility, scheduling and how long you have.
Notice how much of this repeats. Infection Control appears in three credentials, Radiation Health and Safety in two, Sealants in two. That overlap is the whole argument for one subscription instead of a purchase per exam — and for an engine that remembers what you have already proven.
The credential pathsBlueprint-driven practice
What the Weights Change About Your Evenings
A weight is not trivia. It is the share of the exam a domain owns, and it should be the share of your practice that domain gets.
- Half of General Chairside is chairside dentistry. So half of your General Chairside practice is chairside dentistry — sequencing, isolation, procedures by specialty — not whichever chapter your textbook wrote at greatest length.
- Sixty percent of Anatomy, Morphology and Physiology is tooth anatomy. Head and neck matters, and it is forty percent; the balance in your practice matches.
- Forty-five percent of Restorative Functions is procedures and a quarter of it is isolation. Two areas you cannot learn from four answer choices, which is why they are drilled instead.
- Orthodontic Assisting carries its own eighteen percent of radiation health and safety. If you already hold Radiation Health and Safety, the engine knows and does not make you re-earn it.
- Both infection-control credentials weigh sterilization and asepsis heaviest. Thirty percent each in one, forty-five percent for disease transmission in the other — the same discipline, aimed at two different jobs.
Every Exam on This Page, One Subscription
$29/mo month to month, or $23/mo on annual billing. Launching Monday, November 16, 2026.
Join the Waitlist