NBRC PFT Certification Sample Questions

The NBRC Pulmonary Function Technologist Certification Sample Question Set on this page is designed to familiarize you with the actual NBRC PFT exam format and question types. These sample questions help you understand how questions are structured and what to expect on test day. While they provide a useful starting point, they represent only a limited preview of the real exam experience.

These sample questions are intended for evaluation and familiarization only. To understand exam style, pacing, and reasoning patterns more clearly, we recommend trying our online sample practice environment. If you are preparing for the NBRC Pulmonary Function Technologist (PFT) and want to assess your readiness more rigorously, structured, timed, scenario-based practice is recommended. This approach aligns with the cognitive demands and professional expectations typically associated with Pulmonary function technologists, respiratory therapists, pulmonary diagnostics professionals working in settings such as Hospital pulmonary function laboratories, free-standing pulmonary function laboratories, related diagnostic testing facilities.

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The demo introduces core concepts, while full-length premium simulations provide deeper, scenario-based coverage that more closely reflects the actual cognitive demands of the NBRC Pulmonary Function Technologist exam, particularly in areas such as Equipment setup calibration and troubleshooting, procedure selection performance and validity evaluation, result calculation reliability assessment and clinical-implication evaluation. You can use these sample questions as a starting point, then progress to the NBRC PFT Certification Practice Exam for stronger readiness. Our premium simulations are designed to mirror real exam conditions, helping you refine reasoning, pacing, and decision-making before your official exam attempt.

NBRC PFT Sample Questions:

01. A blood sample has been standing briefly before it is presented to an instrument that measures the fractions of haemoglobin present.
What must the technologist do before the sample is aspirated?
a) Add anticoagulant to prevent clotting during the measurement
b) Expel the first portion of the sample to clear the syringe fitting
c) Warm the sample to body temperature
d) Mix the sample thoroughly so the cells are evenly distributed again

02. A laboratory maintains a written preventive maintenance schedule for its testing equipment in addition to its daily checks.
What distinguishes preventive maintenance from the daily verification the technologist performs?
a) It applies to gas analyzers only, whereas daily checks apply to volume devices
b) It services components on a planned interval rather than confirming performance before each use
c) It is performed by the technologist, whereas daily checks are performed by the manufacturer
d) It replaces the need for a daily performance check on the days it is carried out

03. A patient describes noisy breathing on inhalation and a sensation of throat tightness. The referring clinician asks whether an obstruction outside the thorax can be demonstrated.
Which protocol choice most directly addresses that question?
a) A flow-volume loop including the inspiratory limb
b) Perform spirometry before and after a bronchodilator
c) Measure lung volumes by plethysmography
d) Measure diffusing capacity

04. A patient's total lung capacity is derived by adding a separately measured inspiratory capacity to the functional residual capacity obtained in the plethysmograph. The technologist notices that the vital capacity recorded during the plethysmographic session is substantially smaller than the slow vital capacity the same patient produced earlier that morning.
What does this discrepancy imply for the reported total lung capacity?
a) The earlier slow vital capacity must have been erroneously large
b) The derived total lung capacity is understated, because the linking maneuver was submaximal
c) The plethysmographic measurement itself is invalid and must be repeated
d) Nothing is implied, because the two vital capacities are measured by different methods

05. A technologist discovers that a completed study has been saved to the record of a different patient with a similar name.
What is the appropriate response?
a) Delete the study and test the correct patient again
b) Correct both records directly, since the technologist can see what each of them should contain
c) Leave the entry and add a note to the report explaining the mix-up
d) Report the error so both records can be corrected through the documented process

06. An analyzer used in pulmonary function testing is adjusted at two points before the day begins: once while it samples a gas containing none of the substance it measures, and once while it samples a gas of known concentration within the working range.
What does the second of those two adjustments establish?
a) How quickly the analyzer responds to a change in concentration
b) That the sampling line between the patient and the analyzer is free of leaks
c) The scale of the response, so that a known concentration is displayed correctly
d) The baseline from which every subsequent reading is offset

07. Reviewing a plethysmographic record, a technologist finds that the patient panted considerably faster than the range the laboratory procedure specifies, although the loops themselves are narrow and reproducible.
Why does the panting rate matter to the validity of the value?
a) Mouth pressure only stands in for chest pressure when the two can equalise
b) Rapid panting warms the cabinet more quickly and drives the baseline away
c) The patient cannot maintain a tight seal at the mouthpiece at high panting rates
d) A faster rate produces smaller pressure swings that fall below the resolution of the transducer

08. While reviewing a completed spirometry session, a technologist notices that one effort produced a vital capacity noticeably smaller than the others. The record notes an audible escape of gas at the lips during that maneuver.
How should this effort be handled when the report is prepared?
a) Include it, because the leak affects only the flows and not the volume
b) Include it in the count of efforts but exclude it from the repeatability comparison
c) Include it, because the lowest value is the most conservative estimate
d) Exclude it, because an unknown fraction of the exhalation bypassed the sensor

09. During a single-breath maneuver a patient inhales 4.00 L of a mixture in which the inert tracer is present at 10.0 percent. The tracer is neither absorbed nor produced, and in the analysed sample it measures 8.00 percent. Apparatus volume has already been accounted for.
What volume of lung did the test gas reach?
a) 1.00 L
b) 3.20 L
c) 5.00 L
d) 4.00 L

10. A worker in an annual surveillance programme has had spirometry each year on the same equipment with the same method. Every individual result has been within the expected range, but across the years the values have fallen steadily by more than would be expected for the worker's age.
What is the principal implication?
a) A meaningful decline is occurring even though no single result is abnormal
b) The decline most likely reflects drift in the equipment over the years
c) The reference equations have been updated, moving the expected values downward
d) The worker should be reviewed once a result first falls below the expected range

Answers:

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Note: These sample questions are not official exam questions and are intended only for familiarization and study purposes. If you find any typos or data entry errors in these NBRC Pulmonary Function Technologist (PFT) sample questions, please let us know by emailing us at feedback@medicoexam.com