Chemistry · Wordsology

Talk about important. This is THE most tested subject on the ASCP MT exam - at least based on an unscientific poll of one person. It’s packed full of different topics: Endocrinology? check. Pharmacology? check. Enzymology, Diabetes and Blood gases? check check and check. This subject is essentially a catch-all with a whole variety of different topics - they’re all important!

Chem tumor markers2 — Think silly when you need to memorize very plain facts. AFG may not mean anything but "AAAH That's F'in Painful" might suggest which parts of the body it's related to

Diagnostic enzymology — Turn pages of text into a single diagram by just scribbling some notes and seeing what you come up with

simplify memorization of number ranges with a line graph

Cardiac markers — "as serious as a heart attack" is a phrase important enough to have made its way into common usage - it's going to be on the exam

Lipoproteins1 — A simplified description of the different lipoproteins, how they form, and what's relevant to the exam for each

Metabolic syndrome — Questions concerning the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome come up fairly regularly during practice exams

Acid base disorders — I had one very easy acid-base disorder question which I can no longer remember. Don't go too crazy learning how the Henderson-Hasselbach equation is derived - it's only taught in school to fill time. DO know the reference ranges for the blood gases, as well as pH. It might be on your exam!

What else will be on the exam?

It’s very important to know the differences between Prehepatic, Hepatic and Posthepatic Jaundice. Know which type of jaundice results when you have problems like excessive RBC destruction (as during hemolytic disease of the newborn), Criggler-Najar, Dubin-Johnson Syndrome and when an obstruction (like a carcinoma or gallstone) blocks bile flow into the intestines.