How to Study for the ACLS Test

Taking an advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) course is a lot of effort and once the course has been completed, there is still more work: you must study for the ACLS test.

That is a task that many people find intimidating, and with good reason. Many experienced health care professionals will be familiar with some of the material, but almost everyone taking their first ACLS course has to learn a great deal that will be new to them. The curriculum has been refined, you are taught exactly what you need to know, and the presentation is very organized. But it is still a lot of information, so you will need to do a lot of studying.  

How should you study for the ACLS test? There are basic and obvious strategies you can use for studying such flash cards, having your friends quiz you, identifying and working on your weak areas, etc. You can also review the techniques you will need to demonstrate when you take the skills part of the ACLS test. Those will all work, but a better approach for how to study for the ACLS test would be this. Ask yourself a simple question:  

What is ACLS and what does ACLS require you to do?

The answer is a) ACLS is a systematic approach to providing care to victims who have suffered a cardiac arrest or are suffering from other specific medical emergencies, and b) ACLS requires learning a lot of specialized information and skills and using them under pressure.

So arguably the best way to study for the ACLS is to simulate those requirements: study for the ACLS test as if you are trying to remember and use a lot of complicated and specialized information under a situation of pressure. Several ways you could do this are:

• Disorganization: Use flash cards, sample questions, etc., but don’t organize everything into a predictable order or easily remembered categories. It becomes very easy to memorize things that way but there’s an excellent chance that the written test won’t be organized in a way that’s familiar. Why use disorganization? Because emergencies are disorganized.

• Speed: The first few times you study for the ACLS test, it is fine to go at your own pace. But the written test has a time limit and the skills test must be completed quickly and under pressure. So it makes sense to “speed up” your studying to better reflect the conditions of the tests. Why use speed? Because emergencies happen quickly.

• Stress: Practice studying in stressful and/or distracting situations, e.g., have loud noises, unpredictable interruptions, study in areas or at times that are not typically comfortable to you. Why use stress? Because emergencies are stressful.

• Emergencies rarely happen when you are ready and they are almost always disorganized, stressful, and fast paced. So when you are studying for the ACLS test, be disorganized, get stressed, and work as fast as you can.

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