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NP Board Prep

CPNP-PCArea I · 30% of the scored items

Well-child care and anticipatory guidance

Facts read from pncb.org and 1 more · last checked Nov 7, 2026

Area I is the well-child visit seen from the counseling side: what to tell a family before the next stage arrives, which vaccines are due and how to talk about them, and how injuries happen at each age.

Practice questions

60 questions written to the CPNP-PC outline; each choice is explained once you pick.

Start the CPNP-PC practice testExam rules and dates
Weight in the outline
30%
Scored questions in it
45
Practice questions here
16
Questions
175the whole exam

Figure 1.Test content outline: 150 scored questions, one mark each

Oct 2023 · checked Nov 7, 2026
  1. I. Health Maintenance and Promotion45 Q · 30%
  2. II. Assessment and Diagnosis52 Q · 35%
  3. III. Management45 Q · 30%
  4. IV. Leadership, Ethics, and Practice Management8 Q · 5%

What Area I asks about

The outline's statements for this area, condensed:

  1. Growth and development guidance: feeding, sleep, toileting, school readiness, puberty, from birth to young adulthood.
  2. Immunization counseling: indications, contraindications, adverse events, hesitancy, missed doses.
  3. Injury prevention: home, water, vehicles, sports, firearms, online and disaster safety.
  4. Early warning signs: what should make a parent call or come in.
  5. Social and behavioral topics: media, substance use, grief, trauma, sexual health.

16 well-child and prevention questions

0 / 16 answered16 questions

Tap an option: why each one is right or wrong appears under it.

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

Parents of 5- and 8-year-old children plan to buy a backyard trampoline with a safety net. Which advice is MOST appropriate?

  1. Multiple jumpers raise injury risk sharply, and the smaller child absorbs most of it.
  2. Padding over springs and frame addresses one injury source and leaves the main ones on the mat untouched.
  3. The AAP discourages recreational home trampolines because fractures and head and neck injuries stay common even with nets and padding, and most injuries happen on the mat itself.
  4. Nets reduce falls off the trampoline, but most injuries occur on the mat from collisions and awkward landings, which a net does not prevent.

Item 511097 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A 2-year-old has a temperature of 39.2 °C with a cold, is playful, and is drinking well. Which advice is MOST appropriate?

  1. In a playful, well-hydrated toddler, fever is part of fighting infection; antipyretics are for comfort, not for reaching a normal number.
  2. Waking a comfortably sleeping child for a dose treats the thermometer rather than the child.
  3. Alternating two drugs lowers the number slightly but raises dosing errors and does not improve comfort enough to justify it.
  4. Antipyretics do not prevent febrile seizures, a common reason parents dose aggressively.

Item 511101 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A 2-year-old is found with an open bottle of a grandparent's pills; the number missing is unknown. The child is alert and acting normally. Which is the MOST appropriate advice to the parent?

  1. Waiting for symptoms risks missing drugs with delayed toxicity, such as sustained-release products or sulfonylureas.
  2. Charcoal is given only on expert direction for selected ingestions, and a toddler may aspirate it.
  3. Induced vomiting is no longer advised, and salt water can cause dangerous hypernatremia.
  4. Any possible ingestion of an adult's medicine needs an immediate call to Poison Control, because a single tablet of some drugs can be dangerous to a toddler and symptoms may be delayed.

Item 511156 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

The parent of a healthy 9-year-old girl who has just developed breast buds asks what to expect next. Which information is MOST accurate?

  1. Peak height velocity comes before menarche, and growth slows afterward.
  2. Menarche usually follows breast budding by about 2 to 3 years, near Tanner breast stage 4.
  3. Three to six months is far too short; it confuses the start of breast development with late puberty.
  4. Pubic hair usually appears soon after breast buds, long before the first period.

Item 511158 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A 16-year-old plans to get a 'base tan' at a tanning salon before a beach vacation. Which advice is MOST appropriate?

  1. Tanning beds emit intense UVA that is no safer than sunlight and are classified as carcinogenic.
  2. Indoor tanning in youth substantially raises melanoma risk, and a base tan gives only about SPF 3 to 4 of protection, so the advice is to avoid it.
  3. A base tan is skin damage that offers trivial sun protection, so it does not protect at the beach.
  4. Tanning while wearing sunscreen still delivers UV damage and defeats the purpose of either.

Item 511164 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

The parents of a 9-month-old who has started pulling to stand ask about preventing furniture injuries. Which measure is MOST effective?

  1. Drawer locks stop children from using drawers as steps but do not stop the dresser from tipping when pulled.
  2. Straps or brackets that anchor TVs and dressers prevent tip-overs, which crush the head and chest of climbing toddlers.
  3. Removing tempting items reduces climbing but leaves the furniture unstable.
  4. A low dresser still tips when a child climbs or pulls on it, and the TV comes down with it.

Item 511236 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

In winter, the parents of a 6-month-old buckle the infant into the car seat over a thick snowsuit. Which advice is MOST appropriate?

  1. A bulky snowsuit compresses in a crash and leaves the harness loose, so the infant rides in thin layers with a snug harness and a blanket over the buckled straps.
  2. Loosening the straps to fit bulky clothing builds in the very slack that lets a child be ejected.
  3. Buckling is not the test; once the padding compresses, the harness is too loose to restrain the infant.
  4. Products not sold with the seat are not crash-tested with it and can change how the harness fits.

Item 511261 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

The mother of a healthy 8-year-old girl with normal growth notices early breast budding and asks whether this is normal. Which response is MOST accurate?

  1. Breast budding between 8 and 13 years is normally timed in girls, so a healthy 8-year-old growing normally needs reassurance and routine follow-up.
  2. Few girls start breast development by 7; budding at 8 is neither early nor late.
  3. Precocious puberty in girls is defined by signs before age 8 or rapid progression with growth acceleration, not budding at 8.
  4. A bone age is part of evaluating early or rapid puberty and is not needed for normally timed thelarche.

Item 511267 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A 15-year-old at a well visit says they have never been sexually active and have no risk factors. Which test is recommended for this adolescent at least once between 15 and 21 years of age?

  1. Chlamydia screening is for sexually active adolescents and young women; this teen reports no sexual activity.
  2. Syphilis screening is risk-based in adolescents (sexual activity, partners, local prevalence) and not universal.
  3. Routine HSV serology is not recommended for anyone without symptoms, including adolescents.
  4. Bright Futures and the USPSTF advise HIV screening at least once between 15 and 21 years regardless of reported risk, because risk-based testing misses many infections.

Item 870017 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

An unvaccinated infant aged 15 weeks 2 days comes for a first vaccine visit. Under the AAP 2026 immunization schedule, which rotavirus plan is MOST appropriate?

  1. Waiting for the 4-month visit only moves the infant further past the deadline for a first dose.
  2. Giving the first dose after 14 weeks 6 days is outside the age limit, because safety data for later first doses are lacking.
  3. RV1 is a two-dose series, and it faces the same age limit for dose 1; one dose is never a complete series.
  4. The first rotavirus dose must be given by 14 weeks 6 days of age (the same age limit appears in the CDC/ACIP 2026 schedule), so an infant first seen at 15 weeks 2 days does not start the series.

Item 870123 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A healthy 16-year-old with no cardiovascular risk factors had normal non-HDL cholesterol at age 10. Which lipid screening plan is MOST appropriate?

  1. Skipping to adulthood misses the second universal pediatric screen at 17 to 21.
  2. Obesity triggers risk-based testing, but the 17-to-21 screen is universal and does not wait for a risk factor.
  3. Annual fasting panels are not indicated in a healthy teen without risk factors; the universal screen can be a non-fasting non-HDL.
  4. NHLBI and Bright Futures call for universal lipid screening once at 9 to 11 years and again at 17 to 21 years, with risk-based testing in between.

Item 870185 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

The parents of a 2-year-old give him a traditional orange powder (azarcón/greta) for stomach upset. Which is the MOST appropriate action?

  1. Any amount adds lead exposure, so a smaller dose still poisons.
  2. These powders are not herbal; they are lead and mercury compounds, and traditional use does not make them safe.
  3. Azarcón and greta are folk remedies made largely of lead; the NP explains the risk respectfully, advises stopping the powder, and checks a blood lead level.
  4. Most children with lead poisoning have no symptoms, so waiting for them lets the damage build.

Item 870439 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A 9-year-old knocks out a permanent front tooth playing basketball. The parent calls from the court. Which advice is MOST appropriate?

  1. An avulsed permanent tooth does best when replanted within minutes or kept in milk (or saliva) on the way to a dentist within the hour, which keeps the root ligament cells alive.
  2. Scrubbing strips the periodontal ligament cells the tooth needs to reattach; a dirty tooth is only rinsed briefly, held by the crown.
  3. Water is hypotonic and damages the root cells; milk or saliva preserves them far better.
  4. Dry storage kills the ligament cells within minutes and ruins the chance of successful replantation.

Item 870453 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

Parents of a 16-month-old ask how to prevent burns in the kitchen. Which advice is MOST appropriate?

  1. Using the back burners with pot handles turned inward keeps hot liquids out of a toddler's reach, preventing the most common scald.
  2. Water at 130 °F can cause a full-thickness scald within seconds; the heater should be set at 120 °F or lower.
  3. Holding a child at the stove brings him into range of steam, splatter, and spills.
  4. Microwaves heat unevenly, and shaking does not reliably remove hot spots that can scald the mouth.

Item 870249 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A 12-year-old plays club soccer year-round, training 6 days a week. Which advice MOST reduces the risk of overuse injury and burnout?

  1. A second team in the same sport adds load and overlapping seasons rather than variety.
  2. Twenty hours a week is far more than a common rule of thumb of no more weekly training hours than the child's age, which for a 12-year-old would be 12.
  3. Five or six training days a week with only a few weeks off a year leaves too little recovery; the AAP pattern is at least 1 to 2 rest days weekly and 2 to 3 months a year away from the sport.
  4. AAP's 2024 clinical report advises young athletes to take at least 1 to 2 days off a week and at least 2 to 3 months a year away from a specific sport, which can be split into 1-month blocks.

Item 511238 · Flag an error

Health Maintenance and Promotion · 30%

A 5-year-old's record shows DTaP at 2, 4, and 6 months and at 4 years 2 months of age. Under the AAP 2026 immunization schedule, which is MOST appropriate regarding DTaP at this kindergarten visit?

  1. Giving dose 5 follows the usual 4-to-6-year slot mechanically without checking that dose 4 was already given at 4 years or older.
  2. A fifth DTaP dose is not needed when the fourth was given at 4 years or older and at least 6 months after the third, so this child's series is complete.
  3. Tdap is the adolescent booster product and does not replace a childhood DTaP dose; no dose is due here anyway.
  4. A delayed dose never requires restarting a vaccine series; doses already given count.

Item 870538 · Flag an error

A running total sits here; it fills in after your last pick.

Traps in prevention questions

  • Turning the car seat at a birthday. The AAP advises rear-facing for as long as the seat's rear-facing height or weight limit allows, not until a set age (AAP car safety policy, 2018).
  • A pregnant mother as a reason to delay MMR or varicella. CDC's general best practices allow both live vaccines for children whose household includes a pregnant woman.
  • Assuming one national schedule. A stem that names the AAP or the CDC schedule is telling you which rules apply; the two no longer match on every vaccine.
  • Firearm counseling as optional. Asking about guns in the home is part of AAP anticipatory guidance; the safest home has none, otherwise they are stored locked and unloaded, with ammunition apart.
  • Guidance that comes too late. The counseling for a stage belongs at the visit before it: mobility and poisoning at 6 to 9 months, water safety before the summer a toddler walks.

Well-child questions on the phone

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More areas of the PNCB outline

Well-child guidance, quick answers

Does Area I include the immunization schedule itself?

It includes counseling about vaccines: who should get them, who should wait, side effects and hesitant parents. Knowing the schedule is the basis for those questions.

Are adolescents part of health maintenance on the pediatric exam?

Yes. PNCB's population runs to young adulthood, and Area I includes media use, substance use, sexual health and confidential care.