• 50 questions

NMTCB Practice Exam

Unofficial practice for the nuclear medicine technology certification exam, in the five domains of its content outline.

How long after elution does sodium pertechnetate Tc 99m from a generator expire?

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Exam mode: 45 questions, 58 minutes.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board (NMTCB). Bank checked October 13, 2026.

The real exam, as the Board describes it

Questions
90
Time limit
115 minutes
Retakes
After a first or second failure, as soon as two weeks later. After a third, 15 contact hours of coursework in each of three areas come first.
Format
A computer adaptive test for classification: one pass or fail decision.
Choices
Multiple choice items with 4 or 5 options.
Pretest
Some questions are unscored pretest items, mixed in with the rest.
Moving on
No question may be skipped, and you cannot go back to one.
Result
A preliminary pass or fail at the test site; a scaled score by mail about three weeks later.
Domains
Physics 7%, safety 13%, radiopharmacy 25%, instruments 15%, clinical procedures 40%.

Checked October 13, 2026 against NMTCB, Online Application and Instructions for Program Graduates; Computer Adaptive Tests; Components of Preparedness 2024. Rules change, so confirm with the agency itself before your test.

The Board's own certification exams page

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All 50 questions

Radiation physics and detection 4

  • A syringe holds 20 mCi of technetium-99m (half-life about 6 hours) at 8:00 a.m. About how much is left at 8:00 p.m.? FDA prescribing information, technetium Tc 99m generator (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain I, Radiation Physics and Detection (A.2, decay calculations).
  • By which mode of decay does technetium-99m give off its imaging photon? FDA prescribing information, technetium Tc 99m generator (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain I, Radiation Physics and Detection (A.1.a, isotopes and modes of decay).
  • In Compton scattering, what happens to the gamma photon? Wikipedia, Compton scattering. Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain I, Radiation Physics and Detection (A.3.a, Compton scatter).
  • When a positron from fluorine-18 meets an electron, what is produced? FDA prescribing information, fludeoxyglucose F 18 injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain I, Radiation Physics and Detection (A.1.a, positron emitters).
Show all 50 questions (46 more)

Radiation safety and regulations 7

  • A labeled package of radioactive material arrives during normal working hours. By when must it be monitored? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 20, Standards for Protection Against Radiation (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain II, Radiation Safety and Regulations (D.8.e, package monitoring and receiving).
  • A package that must carry a radioactive label reads 0.3 mrem per hour at its surface and has a transport index of 0. Which label is it? U.S. Department of Transportation, 49 CFR 172.403, Class 7 (radioactive) material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain II, Radiation Safety and Regulations (D.8.c, label requirements and transportation index).
  • A technologist declares her pregnancy in writing. What dose limit then applies to the embryo or fetus? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 20, Standards for Protection Against Radiation (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain II, Radiation Safety and Regulations (C.4.b, declared pregnant radiation workers).
  • Above what activity of I-131 sodium iodide must an authorized user sign a written directive before it is given? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain II, Radiation Safety and Regulations (D.7, written directives).
  • What is the annual occupational limit on total effective dose equivalent for an adult radiation worker? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 20, Standards for Protection Against Radiation (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain II, Radiation Safety and Regulations (C.4.a, dose limits for radiation workers).
  • What is the yearly dose limit for a member of the public from a licensed operation? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 20, Standards for Protection Against Radiation (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain II, Radiation Safety and Regulations (C.4.c, dose limits for the general public).
  • Which waste may a medical licensee hold for decay-in-storage before disposal as ordinary waste? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain II, Radiation Safety and Regulations (D.5, radioactive material disposal).

Pharmaceutical and radiopharmaceutical agents 12

  • How do the kidneys clear technetium Tc 99m mertiatide? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m mertiatide (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (C.1.h, Tc-99m mertiatide).
  • How long after elution does sodium pertechnetate Tc 99m from a generator expire? FDA prescribing information, technetium Tc 99m generator (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (A.1.b, eluate).
  • How many particles of Tc-99m macroaggregated albumin does an adult lung perfusion dose hold? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m albumin aggregated (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (B.1.d, particle size and number).
  • How much aluminum may a technetium-99m generator eluate contain? FDA prescribing information, technetium Tc 99m generator (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (A.1.d.ii, chemical breakthrough).
  • Radium-223 dichloride goes to bone metastases because it behaves like which element? FDA prescribing information, radium Ra 223 dichloride injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (D.4, radium Ra 223 dichloride).
  • Regadenoson dilates the coronary arteries by acting on which receptor? FDA prescribing information, regadenoson injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (E.5, regadenoson).
  • What does sincalide do in a hepatobiliary study? FDA prescribing information, sincalide for injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (E.11, cholecystokinin and sincalide).
  • What is the most molybdenum-99 allowed in a technetium-99m dose given to a patient? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (A.1.d.i, radionuclidic breakthrough).
  • What is the physical half-life of rubidium-82? FDA prescribing information, rubidium Rb 82 generator (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (C.5.p, Rb-82 chloride).
  • What is the recommended dipyridamole infusion for myocardial perfusion imaging? FDA prescribing information, dipyridamole injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (E.1, dipyridamole).
  • Why is a patient told to avoid coffee before a regadenoson stress test? FDA prescribing information, regadenoson injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (E.4 and E.5, aminophylline and regadenoson).
  • With the in vitro kit for technetium-labeled red blood cells, what labeling efficiency is typical? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m red blood cells (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain III, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents (F.2, labeling efficiency).

Instrument operations and quality control 7

  • At calibration a survey meter reads 25% above the calculated exposure rate. May it be used? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain IV, Instrument Operations and Quality Control (A.2.b, survey meter quality control and calibration).
  • How are the projections for a SPECT study collected? Wikipedia, Single-photon emission computed tomography. Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain IV, Instrument Operations and Quality Control (B.2, SPECT and SPECT/CT imaging system).
  • How must the instrument that measures patient dosages (the dose calibrator) be calibrated under NRC rules? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain IV, Instrument Operations and Quality Control (A.3, dose calibrator tests).
  • How often must a survey meter used for compliance surveys be calibrated? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain IV, Instrument Operations and Quality Control (A.2.b, survey meter quality control and calibration).
  • What is the collimator on a gamma camera for? Wikipedia, Gamma camera. Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain IV, Instrument Operations and Quality Control (B.1.b, spatial resolution and linearity).
  • What is the detector crystal in a standard gamma camera? Wikipedia, Gamma camera. Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain IV, Instrument Operations and Quality Control (B.1, gamma camera).
  • Which portable survey instrument is the general purpose choice for finding radioactive contamination? Wikipedia, Geiger counter. Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain IV, Instrument Operations and Quality Control (A.2.a, survey meter operations and components).

Clinical procedures and therapies 20

  • A patient for lung perfusion imaging has a known right-to-left heart shunt. How is the albumin aggregated dose changed? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m albumin aggregated (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.1.c, lung perfusion).
  • A patient on a long-acting somatostatin analog needs a gallium Ga 68 dotatate PET scan. When should it be done? FDA prescribing information, kit for gallium Ga 68 dotatate (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.3.f.iii, neuroendocrine tumor imaging, PET).
  • A patient who has received a radioactive drug may be released when the dose to any other person is not likely to exceed what? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (D.4, release criteria).
  • After a florbetapir F 18 injection, when do the 10-minute PET images of the brain start? FDA prescribing information, florbetapir F 18 injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.10.h, amyloid imaging).
  • For in vivo red cell labeling before a gated blood pool study, when is the stannous pyrophosphate given? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m pyrophosphate (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.8.e, gated cardiac blood pool).
  • How is thyrotropin alfa given before a radioiodine scan or ablation? FDA prescribing information, thyrotropin alfa for injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.6.f, whole body survey for thyroid metastases).
  • How long does a patient fast before an F-18 FDG PET scan for cancer? FDA prescribing information, fludeoxyglucose F 18 injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.3.f, tumor imaging, PET).
  • In a normal hepatobiliary scan with Tc-99m mebrofenin, when is the gallbladder seen? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m mebrofenin (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.9.e, hepatobiliary imaging).
  • Technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept is injected near a tumor for which purpose? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.3.e, lymphoscintigraphy and sentinel lymph node localization).
  • What does an I-123 ioflupane brain scan show? FDA prescribing information, ioflupane I 123 injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.10.d, dopamine transporter imaging).
  • What is a bone scan patient told to do between the injection and the pictures? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m medronate (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (D.1 and D.2, patient education on procedures and precautions).
  • What is checked in a woman of reproductive potential before sodium iodide I-131 is given? FDA prescribing information, sodium iodide I 131 solution (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.11.a and A.11.b, I-131 therapy; E.7.a, contraindications).
  • What is started 30 minutes before a lutetium Lu 177 dotatate infusion and continued for at least 3 hours after it? FDA prescribing information, lutetium Lu 177 dotatate injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.11.c, Lu-177 dotatate therapy).
  • What is the dose regimen of radium Ra 223 dichloride? FDA prescribing information, radium Ra 223 dichloride injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.11.e, Ra-223 dichloride therapy).
  • What is the usual schedule for lutetium Lu 177 dotatate? FDA prescribing information, lutetium Lu 177 dotatate injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.11.c, Lu-177 dotatate therapy).
  • When does imaging start after a piflufolastat F 18 injection for prostate cancer? FDA prescribing information, piflufolastat F 18 injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.3.f.ii, PSMA tumor imaging, PET).
  • When does SPECT imaging begin after an I-123 ioflupane injection? FDA prescribing information, ioflupane I 123 injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.10.d, dopamine transporter imaging).
  • When is a bone scan with Tc-99m medronate best imaged? FDA prescribing information, kit for technetium Tc 99m medronate (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (A.2, bone and musculoskeletal scans).
  • When must release instructions include guidance on interrupting breast-feeding? U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (D.3 and D.4, restrictions and release criteria).
  • Which check is made before an FDG injection because it changes where the tracer goes? FDA prescribing information, fludeoxyglucose F 18 injection (DailyMed, National Library of Medicine). Outline: NMTCB Components of Preparedness 2024, Domain V, Clinical Procedures and Therapies (E.7.e, review relevant lab values).

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the five domains of the CNMT Certification Examination Content Outline that the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board publishes as its Components of Preparedness 2024 (https://www.nmtcb.org/documents/resources/NMTCB_COPS_2024.pdf, linked from https://www.nmtcb.org/exams, read 2026-10-13): Radiation Physics and Detection 7%, Radiation Safety and Regulations 13%, Pharmaceutical and Radiopharmaceutical Agents 25%, Instrument Operations and Quality Control 15%, Clinical Procedures and Therapies 40%. Facts: 10 CFR Parts 20 and 35 and 49 CFR 172.403 on ecfr.gov; FDA prescribing information of 21 drugs on DailyMed (National Library of Medicine); four Wikipedia articles for physics and detectors. Each question names its own source and address. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

This free NMTCB practice exam has 50 questions of our own in the five domains of the nuclear medicine technology certification exam. Unofficial: not affiliated with or endorsed by the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board.

Read the full guide

What the NMTCB exam covers

The Board's Components of Preparedness 2024, read October 13, 2026, weights five domains: radiation physics and detection 7%, radiation safety and regulations 13%, pharmaceutical and radiopharmaceutical agents 25%, instrument operations and quality control 15%, clinical procedures 40%. This bank holds 4, 7, 12, 7 and 20.

Where the facts come from

Each answer names its public source: NRC rules in 10 CFR Parts 20 and 35, the federal transport labeling rule, FDA prescribing information and four Wikipedia articles. That makes it an NMTCB study guide you can check line by line.

Timing

Exam mode asks 45 questions in 58 minutes: half the real exam, at its pace of 90 questions in 115 minutes.

  • Dose limits are easy to swap: 5 rems a year for a worker, 0.5 rem for a declared pregnancy, 0.1 rem for the public.

Questions and answers

How many questions are on the NMTCB exam?

90 multiple choice items in one hour and fifty-five minutes, by the Board's application instructions. Some are unscored pretest questions. You cannot skip a question or go back to one.

Is the NMTCB exam computer adaptive?

Yes. The Board calls it a computer adaptive test for classification: every candidate answers 90 items, different for each person, and the test is built to make one pass or fail decision.

What is the passing score for the NMTCB exam?

The Board prints no raw pass mark. Each test is equated, so an easier set of items needs more right answers. A preliminary pass or fail shows at the test site and a scaled score follows by mail.

Are these real NMTCB exam questions?

No. All 50 were written for this page from the Board's public outline, federal rules, FDA prescribing information and four Wikipedia articles. The Board's own sample questions were not opened or used.

How many answer choices do NMTCB questions have?

Four or five. The Board says the exam consists exclusively of 4-5 option multiple choice items. Every question on this page has four.

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