The present invention relates to a method for examining the content of a volume of biological sample containing particles to determine the diagnostic significance of that volume of biological sample. A number of aliquots of the sample are distributed and are examined under low power field magnification. The total number of aliquots examined under low power field magnification if a first fraction of the volume of biological sample. The percentage of particles detected in the first fraction is counted. The percentage of particles detected is compared to a first known percentage. In the event the comparison yields the result that the sample contains diagnostically insignificant number of particles, than the method is terminated. Otherwise the method is continued. A second fraction of volume of the biological sample, comprising a plurality of aliquots, is examined under high power field magnification. The percentage of particles detected under high power magnification is totalled. This is then compared to a second known percentage. The diagnostic significance of the biological sample is determined by the comparison of the second percentage of particles to the percentage of particles counted in the second fractional volume.