RD Exam Screening, Assessment & Diagnosis Practice Questions
Screening, Assessment & Diagnosis makes up 5 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest RD Exam practice test. Here are 10 of the 20 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the CDR Registration Examination for Dietitians test specifications. Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with the Commission on Dietetic Registration.
1. A man is 178 cm tall and weighs 96 kg. What is his BMI?
- A.33.1
- B.30.3
- C.27.0
- D.25.4
Answer: B. BMI = weight (kg) / height (m) squared: 96 / (1.78 x 1.78) = 96 / 3.17 = 30.3, in the obesity range (30 or more).
2. Using the Hamwi method, what is the ideal body weight of a woman who is 5 ft 7 in tall?
- A.148 lb
- B.145 lb
- C.142 lb
- D.135 lb
Answer: D. Hamwi for women is 100 lb for the first 5 ft plus 5 lb for each inch over: 100 + (7 x 5) = 135 lb. Adding 6 lb per inch gives 142 lb, and the men's rule (106 lb plus 6 lb per inch) gives 148 lb.
3. A patient's usual weight is 175 lb and he now weighs 154 lb after 3 months of illness. What is his percent weight loss?
- A.12%
- B.88%
- C.21%
- D.14%
Answer: A. Percent loss = (usual - current) / usual x 100 = 21 / 175 x 100 = 12%. Dividing by the current weight instead gives about 14%, and 154 / 175 = 88% is the share of usual weight kept, not lost.
4. Using Mifflin-St Jeor, what is the resting energy expenditure of a 50-year-old man who weighs 80 kg and is 175 cm tall?
- A.1,979 kcal
- B.1,814 kcal
- C.1,649 kcal
- D.1,899 kcal
Answer: C. For men: (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) - (5 x age) + 5 = 800 + 1,093.75 - 250 + 5 = 1,648.75, about 1,649 kcal. Leaving out the age term gives 1,899, and multiplying by an activity factor of 1.2 gives 1,979, an estimate of total, not resting, expenditure.
5. A patient with chronic illness has lost 8% of body weight in 3 months and eaten under 75% of needs for 6 weeks. How is this classified under the Academy/ASPEN criteria?
- A.Mild malnutrition
- B.No malnutrition
- C.Severe malnutrition
- D.Moderate malnutrition
Answer: C. In chronic illness, weight loss over 7.5% in 3 months or intake of 75% or less for at least a month each meet the severe level. Two characteristics are needed, and both are present here.
6. Under the GLIM criteria, what is needed to diagnose malnutrition?
- A.One phenotypic and one etiologic
- B.A low serum albumin level
- C.Any single criterion
- D.Two phenotypic criteria, no others
Answer: A. GLIM requires at least one phenotypic criterion (weight loss, low BMI, low muscle mass) and one etiologic criterion (low intake or absorption, or inflammation and disease burden).
7. During a nutrition-focused physical exam, hollowing at the temples indicates loss of what?
- A.Bone density
- B.Subcutaneous fat
- C.Body fluid
- D.Muscle mass
Answer: D. Temporal wasting is loss of the temporalis muscle. Fat loss is checked at the orbital pads under the eyes, the triceps and the ribs.
8. On a nutrition-focused physical exam, dark hollow circles under the eyes suggest loss of what?
- A.Interosseous muscle
- B.Orbital fat pads
- C.Temporalis muscle
- D.Deltoid muscle
Answer: B. Loss of the fat pads around the eyes gives a sunken, dark look and points to subcutaneous fat loss. The temples, clavicles, shoulders and hands are checked for muscle loss.
9. Why are serum albumin and prealbumin no longer used as markers of malnutrition?
- A.They only reflect kidney function
- B.They fall with inflammation
- C.They rise with poor intake
- D.They cannot be measured
Answer: B. Both are negative acute-phase proteins: inflammation, infection and fluid shifts lower them whatever the nutritional state. They indicate inflammation and illness severity, not protein intake.
10. A patient's serum calcium is 7.8 mg/dL with an albumin of 2.3 g/dL. Using the usual correction, what is the corrected calcium?
- A.8.8 mg/dL
- B.8.4 mg/dL
- C.7.8 mg/dL
- D.9.2 mg/dL
Answer: D. Corrected Ca = measured Ca + 0.8 x (4.0 - albumin) = 7.8 + 0.8 x 1.7 = 7.8 + 1.36 = 9.16, about 9.2 mg/dL. Using 3.5 instead of 4.0 as the normal albumin gives 8.8. The correction is an estimate; ionized calcium is more accurate.
Practice all 20 screening, assessment & diagnosis questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free RD Exam training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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