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Dietitian Exam Practice Test: Free RD Exam Questions (Registration Examination for Dietitians)

500 practice questions for the Registration Examination for Dietitians (the RD exam), built on the 2027-2031 test specifications. They follow its 4 domains, weighted the way the real exam is: Human Nutrition and Medical Nutrition Therapy (40%), Fundamentals of Dietetics Practice (23%), Community and Public Health Nutrition (22%) and Food Science and Food Systems (15%), and they cover all 53 tasks under them. Most are moments at work: a tube-feeding rate, a PES statement, a refeeding risk, a WIC referral, a food cost percent, a chili pot that has to cool in 6 hours. Each is tagged to its outline task, so your score report shows exactly where you miss, and every answer works the math or explains why the best choice is best and names its public source.

The real test: A computer-adaptive exam: 125 to 145 multiple-choice questions (100 to 120 scored, 25 unscored pretest) in 3 hours at a Pearson VUE test center, and it stops once it can decide pass or fail. You cannot skip or go back. It is scored from 1 to 50 and 25 passes, so there is no fixed percent; you can retest after 45 days. From January 1, 2027 it follows CDR's 2027-2031 test specifications: 4 domains, Human Nutrition and Medical Nutrition Therapy (40%), Fundamentals of Dietetics Practice (23%), Community and Public Health Nutrition (22%) and Food Science and Food Systems (15%). Our practice test is the longest form, 120 scored questions plus 25 unscored in 3 hours, split by those percents, passing at 70% (84 of 120).

Here: 500 questions. Our own practice questions, built on CDR's 2027-2031 RD exam test specifications and written from public sources (the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030, the National Academies' DRIs, USDA FoodData Central and FNS program rules, FDA food labeling (21 CFR 101) and the FDA Food Code, CMS 42 CFR 482-483, the ADA Standards of Care, ASPEN/SCCM, KDOQI and other guidelines, NIH ODS fact sheets and CDC growth charts), with every answer's source named. Topics are the 4 domains of the test specifications. Not CDR's test questions. Free.

What's on the test

"On the test" is the rough share of a 120-question test for each topic, following the exam's published weights.

10 sample questions

1. A hospital food and nutrition department writes its emergency preparedness program. Under the CMS emergency preparedness rule, which set of parts must the program include?

   • A.Only an evacuation map posted in the kitchen and a staff phone tree
   • B.A risk assessment and plan, policies and procedures, a communication plan, and training and testing
   • C.A 30-day frozen food supply, a backup generator for every freezer and a signed vendor contract
   • D.A menu for each disaster type, approved by the state health department every year
   Show answer

   B. A risk assessment and plan, policies and procedures, a communication plan, and training and testing

   RD-1 · 1. Fundamentals of Dietetics Practice

2. A patient who keeps kosher is served a beef stew. Which item on the same tray breaks kosher rules?

   • A.A dinner roll made without dairy
   • B.A fruit cup
   • C.Coffee with a nondairy creamer
   • D.A glass of milk
   Show answer

   D. A glass of milk

   RD-116 · 2. Community and Public Health Nutrition

3. A man with long-term heavy alcohol use arrives confused, unsteady and with abnormal eye movements. Which vitamin should be given before any glucose-containing fluids?

   • A.Vitamin B12 as a monthly injection started at discharge
   • B.Thiamin
   • C.Vitamin A, to protect the eyes from further damage
   • D.Vitamin C, given orally with the first meal tray
   Show answer

   B. Thiamin

   RD-226 · 3. Human Nutrition and Medical Nutrition Therapy

4. On a food label, the ingredients are listed in what order?

   • A.By weight, from most to least
   • B.Alphabetically
   • C.By calories, from highest to lowest
   • D.By cost, from most to least expensive
   Show answer

   A. By weight, from most to least

   RD-426 · 4. Food Science and Food Systems

5. A nursing home's 3-day emergency water plan must cover 120 residents and 30 staff who may shelter in place. Using the federal household guide of 1 gallon per person per day, how much drinking water is that?

   • A.90 gallons
   • B.150 gallons
   • C.360 gallons
   • D.450 gallons
   Show answer

   D. 450 gallons

   RD-2 · 1. Fundamentals of Dietetics Practice

6. A Muslim client with type 2 diabetes plans to fast during Ramadan. When does the daily fast run?

   • A.From noon to midnight
   • B.From dawn to sunset, eating before dawn and after sunset
   • C.Only on Fridays during the month
   • D.For 24 hours every other day of the month
   Show answer

   B. From dawn to sunset, eating before dawn and after sunset

   RD-117 · 2. Community and Public Health Nutrition

7. Dermatitis on sun-exposed skin, diarrhea and dementia point to a deficiency of which vitamin?

   • A.Vitamin D, which mainly shows up as skin changes
   • B.Niacin
   • C.Riboflavin, which causes the same rash with cracked lips
   • D.Biotin, which is common with a normal mixed diet
   Show answer

   B. Niacin

   RD-227 · 3. Human Nutrition and Medical Nutrition Therapy

8. A soup can claim 'low sodium' only if it has no more than how much sodium per reference amount customarily consumed?

   • A.35 mg
   • B.5 mg
   • C.480 mg
   • D.140 mg
   Show answer

   D. 140 mg

   RD-427 · 4. Food Science and Food Systems

9. Which statement is a long-range (strategic) goal rather than an operational objective for a food and nutrition department?

   • A.Start the cold food temperature log on every shift beginning Monday
   • B.Become the region's preferred provider of outpatient nutrition counseling within 5 years
   • C.Cut tray-line errors on the evening meal to under 1 percent by the end of next month, unit by unit
   • D.Retrain the dish room staff on the new chemical dispenser this week
   Show answer

   B. Become the region's preferred provider of outpatient nutrition counseling within 5 years

   RD-3 · 1. Fundamentals of Dietetics Practice

10. Which food is forbidden under halal dietary law?

    • A.Lamb slaughtered by halal rules
    • B.Fish
    • C.Lentils
    • D.Pork
    Show answer

    D. Pork

    RD-118 · 2. Community and Public Health Nutrition

What the study guide does

• Short study rounds and flip cards.
• A practice test built like the real one: 120 questions, 84 to pass.
• Pass Meter: your chance of passing if you sat the test today, worked out from your own answers.
• An explanation for every answer.