- The r.25 course covers first aid, breathing, and cardiac emergencies for adults, children, and infants.
- Only blended and in-person routes with instructor-observed skills yield the two-year OSHA-compliant digital certificate.
- Hands-on testing centers on bleeding control, choking, CPR, AED use, and safe glove removal.
- Care steps align with 2025 ILCOR consensus and 2025 AHA/Red Cross CPR and First Aid guidelines.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This page is a compressed, one-glance reference for the American Red Cross Adult and Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED r.25 course - the version most workplaces point to when they say they need staff to be "FA certified." It's built for candidates who already have a training date on the calendar and want a fast recall tool the night before, not a full curriculum walkthrough. For a deeper walkthrough of preparation strategy, pair this with the FA Study Guide 2026, and if you're still mapping out exactly what gets tested, the FA Exam Domains 2026 guide breaks the content areas down in more detail.
Because this credential exists to satisfy OSHA workplace requirements and similar regulatory expectations, the content is intentionally practical rather than theoretical. You won't be asked to diagnose conditions like a clinician - you'll be asked to recognize an emergency, choose the correct first response, and demonstrate it under observation.
Core Skill Domains You Must Know
Rather than abstract categories, the r.25 curriculum organizes around real emergency scenarios. Treat each of these as a domain you need to be fluent in, both for the knowledge check and the skills demonstration.
Breathing Emergencies
Recognizing respiratory distress and responding appropriately across age groups.
- Correct use of an asthma inhaler during an acute episode
- Recognizing anaphylaxis and administering an epinephrine auto-injector
- Positioning and monitoring a conscious victim in respiratory distress
Cardiac Emergencies
CPR technique changes by age group, and examiners expect precise hand placement, compression depth, and rate for adults, children, and infants.
- Adult, child, and infant CPR sequences
- AED placement, pad size selection, and safety checks before shock delivery
- Recognizing when to start CPR versus when to monitor and call for help
Bleeding Control and Trauma
This domain has expanded emphasis in the r.25 update, reflecting current field practice around severe bleeding.
- Direct pressure and wound packing technique
- Correct tourniquet placement and timing
- Splinting an injured limb without causing further harm
Choking Response
Choking response also splits by age group, and the physical technique differs meaningfully between an infant and an adult.
- Back blows and chest thrusts for infants
- Abdominal thrusts for children and adults
- Recognizing mild versus severe airway obstruction
Emerging and High-Stakes Topics
The current curriculum folds in content that reflects real workplace risk, including opioid overdose response.
- Recognizing signs of opioid overdose and administering naloxone
- Safe removal of gloves after providing care to avoid contamination
- Scene safety and calling for emergency help at the right moment
If any of these domains feel shaky, don't try to cram all of them the night before your session - the How Hard Is the FA Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 article explains which skills tend to trip candidates up during the observed portion and why.
The Hands-On Assessment Format
Unlike a purely written test, this certification hinges on a skills demonstration observed by an instructor. The current assessment checks your ability to:
- Control bleeding using direct pressure and, where appropriate, a tourniquet
- Respond correctly to a choking victim
- Perform CPR with correct depth, rate, and hand placement for the given age group
- Operate an AED safely and correctly
- Remove gloves without contaminating your hands or the surrounding area
Examiners aren't looking for perfection on the first attempt at every step - they're looking for whether you understand the sequence and can execute it safely when it counts. If you want a precise breakdown of what "passing" actually requires on both the knowledge and skills side, see FA Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Key Takeaway
Practice the full CPR sequence out loud - call for help, check breathing, begin compressions, count aloud - rather than just reviewing steps silently. Verbal rehearsal matches how the skill is actually observed.
2025 Guideline Updates Baked Into r.25
The r.25 revision aligns its care steps with the 2025 ILCOR consensus and the 2025 American Heart Association and American Red Cross CPR and First Aid guidelines. Practically, that means the version of "correct technique" you're being tested on is the current one, not whatever a friend or older sibling learned in a prior course cycle.
Certification Paths: Online, Blended, In-Person
Not all training routes produce the same credential, and this is one of the most misunderstood parts of the process.
| Format | Skill Demonstration | Resulting Credential |
|---|---|---|
| Online-only | None - no live skill check | Certificate of completion; may not meet workplace requirements |
| Blended (online + in-person skills) | Instructor-observed | Two-year OSHA-compliant digital certification |
| Fully in-person | Instructor-observed | Two-year OSHA-compliant digital certification |
If your employer needs proof of OSHA-compliant training - which most workplaces requiring this certification do - the online-only path will not satisfy that requirement, because it skips the live skill demonstration entirely. Choose blended or in-person if the certificate needs to hold up for a job requirement. Digital certificates issued through either qualifying path include a unique ID and QR code, so an employer or auditor can verify authenticity directly rather than taking your word for it.
For a full cost comparison across these formats, check FA Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and if you're unsure whether you even need this credential for your role, FA Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify covers eligibility in plain terms.
Quick Reference Table
| Situation | First Response |
|---|---|
| Adult in cardiac arrest | Call for help, begin CPR, use AED as soon as available |
| Infant choking, conscious | Alternate back blows and chest thrusts |
| Severe limb bleeding | Direct pressure first; tourniquet if bleeding is uncontrolled |
| Suspected opioid overdose | Call for help, administer naloxone if available and trained |
| Known anaphylaxis reaction | Use epinephrine auto-injector, then call for emergency help |
| Asthma attack | Assist with the person's own inhaler, monitor breathing |
This table is a memory aid only - it is not a substitute for the instructor-led skills practice required to actually pass the hands-on portion.
A Compressed One-Week Review Plan
If your training date is close and you need to organize a short review sprint, sequence it by domain difficulty rather than reviewing everything equally.
Cardiac Emergencies
- Drill CPR sequencing separately for adult, child, and infant
- Rehearse AED setup and pad placement
Bleeding Control & Choking
- Practice tourniquet application and wound packing
- Run through choking response for each age group
Breathing Emergencies & High-Stakes Topics
- Review inhaler and epinephrine auto-injector steps
- Review naloxone administration and glove removal technique
Full Run-Through
- Practice the entire scenario sequence aloud, start to finish
- Rest the day before your session rather than cramming new material
This approach works because the domains that require precise physical technique - CPR and bleeding control - need the most repetition time, while knowledge-based items like recognizing anaphylaxis or overdose symptoms are quicker to lock in. For a longer-horizon plan that isn't compressed into a week, the FA Study Guide lays out a fuller timeline.
Who Actually Requires This Certification
This isn't a niche credential. Employers across childcare, fitness, hospitality, retail, warehousing, and general workplace safety programs often require it because it directly satisfies OSHA-related first aid and emergency response expectations. If you're evaluating whether it's worth pursuing for career purposes, Is the FA Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 weighs the tradeoffs, and FA Jobs outlines the kinds of roles that list it as a requirement.
Once you're ready to test your recall against realistic scenario-based questions rather than just re-reading notes, run through a full practice session on the main practice test platform - active recall against scenario questions is a far better predictor of readiness than passive review alone. You can also return to the practice test homepage for domain-specific drills once you've identified weak spots from this cheat sheet.
FAQ
No. This is a recall aid for someone who has already gone through the r.25 training. It's meant to reinforce memory before a session, not to teach the skills from scratch.
No. Online-only training has no live skill demonstration and results in a certificate of completion, which may not meet workplace requirements. The two-year OSHA-compliant digital certification requires instructor-observed skills through the blended or in-person route.
It currently evaluates controlling bleeding, choking response, CPR, AED use, and safe removal of gloves after providing care.
The digital certification issued through the blended or in-person route is valid for two years and includes a unique ID and QR code for employer verification.
No. CPR, choking response, and related techniques differ by age group, and the r.25 course tests each population separately. Reviewing techniques without specifying the age group is a common study mistake.