ASCP MLS Exam: Practice Questions

Prepare for the ASCP BOC Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) exam with this unofficial book of practice questions.

This book contains:
• 400 multiple-choice practice questions, including questions with color images.
• Information about the ASCP MLS exam. You'll learn what topics you need to study, what to bring on exam day, and how to get your exam results.

If you're taking the ASCP MLT exam, you'll also find this book useful, since the MLS and MLT exams cover similar topics and what's more, this book offers a distinct set of questions from those in the "ASCP MLS Exam: Practice Questions" book.

The questions in this book are divided into seven sections based on the seven content areas of the exam:

1. Blood banking
2. Urinalysis and other body fluids
3. Chemistry
4. Hematology
5. Immunology
6. Microbiology
7. Laboratory operations

Answers can be found at the end of each practice test, along with an explanation for more difficult questions.

To give you an idea of what the questions are like, below are seven questions from the book:

1) BLOOD BANKING
Antibodies from which antigen system do NOT cause hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn?
a. ABO
b. Duffy
c. Lewis
d. RhD

2) URINALYSIS AND OTHER BODY FLUIDS
The genetic disease alkaptonuria is caused by the body's inability to fully break down which two amino acids?
a. Histidine and methionine
b. Threonine and tryptophan
c. Tyrosine and phenylalanine
d. Valine and isoleucine

3) CHEMISTRY
Hyperkalemia means high levels of which chemical element?
a. Calcium
b. Mercury
c. Phosphorus
d. Potassium

4) HEMATOLOGY
What is the term for red blood cells that are different in size?
a. Anisocytosis
b. Erythrocytosis
c. Heterocytosis
d. Orthocytosis

5) IMMUNOLOGY
What is the main molecule responsible for transplant rejection?
a. Interferon alpha
b. Interleukin-8
c. Major histocompatibility complex
d. Transforming growth factor alpha

6) MICROBIOLOGY
In the hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining method, the eosin stains:
a. connective tissue blue
b. cytoplasms pink
c. microorganisms blue
d. nuclei blue

ANSWERS
1) c. Lewis
Hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) is a condition where a pregnant woman's antibodies destroy her baby's red blood cells. Many antibodies can cause HDFN, including those from the ABO, RhD, and Duffy blood group systems. Lewis system antibodies, on the other hand, are common in pregnant women and do not cause HDFN.
2) c. Tyrosine and phenylalanine
Alkaptonuria is a genetic disorder caused by the body's inability to fully break down the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine. This condition leads to the accumulation of homogentisic acid in the body.
3) d. Potassium
Hyperkalemia is a condition where potassium levels in the blood are too high. Hyper means "high" and kalemia means potassium in the blood.
4) a. Anisocytosis
Anisocytosis is the term for red blood cells that are unequal in size.
5) c. Major histocompatibility complex
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is the main molecule responsible for transplant rejection. When an organ or tissue is transplanted, the recipient's immune system recognizes the MHC molecules on the cells of the donor tissue as foreign. This recognition triggers an immune response, leading to the rejection of the transplanted organ or tissue.
6) b. cytoplasms pink
Eosin is a pink stain. It binds to basic or positively charged components of the tissue sample, such as cytoplasmic proteins, collagen, and some extracellular matrix proteins.