Advice for NREMT-B test?

[EMS49393]

Wow, way to slam a student.

Kristina,

people often use the word "guessing" when talking about test questions with answers that both seem right. Yes, answer should be based on "best answer", but he's talking about the specific circumstance when he's stuck and both seem right based on his knowledge. It's quite a REACH to question his decision on or passion for this line of work.

EMS49393,

Actually many test questions ARE designed to be tricky. Each answer supposed to be designed to seem appealing and attractive based on the stem of the question. Way to slam the student coming here for help by implying he has difficulty with reading comprehension. Fortunately, he was confident and well-written enough to respond to you as he did, but a different student might not and instead walked away with a poorer opinion of his soon-to-be peers.

Replies like this seriously annoy me. At least draw out more info from the new guy....or be sure before you speak. You wouldn't want your supervisor, teacher, or peers talking to you that way if you went in to talk to them.

There is a difference between being blunt and slamming a student.

It's not a slam, it's honesty. I've had plenty of people talk to me that way in my life. My father is the biggest culprit. Without him being brutally honest to me, correcting my grammar and spelling (often in public), and pressing the importance of education upon me, I would not have come nearly as far in my life. I'd probably be a high school drop-out. I am also this brutally honest to my ten year old child, and he gets to spend some of his summer vacation being tutored by his horribly honest mother so that he is ahead in the next school year. Education is paramount in my family.

I never questioned her reading comprehension. I made a general statement that the questions are not tricky if one has obtained a certain level of reading comprehension. Obviously this girl has some sort of education to be in her current career, so it would seem to me that she has either passed the exams for college level reading, or taken the necessary courses to get her to the level required for her job. So if you if you are able to understand what you read that test is a breeze. Don't try to tell me they are tricky questions, because they are not. I've taken that exam at both the basic and paramedic levels, and those questions were far from difficult. She had a well thought out rebuttal. She passed that thing after 70 questions. She was a ball of nerves, not an idiot. My post was designed to tell her that if she is able to understand what she reads, she'll have no problem with the test.

I expect my supervisors, friends, and family to be honest with me. I don't need anyone blowing smoke up my rear-end. I'm not the sensitive, touchy-feely, my feelings are hurt because you brutalized my psyche type of person.

It amazes me how sensitive people are when faced with a little honesty.

[AnthonyM83]

I never questioned her reading comprehension. I made a general statement that the questions are not tricky if one has obtained a certain level of reading comprehension.

It amazes me how sensitive people are when faced with a little honesty.

SHE stated she thought the questions were tricky.

YOU replied, "They are not tricky. People that say they are tricky probably have difficulty with reading comprehension. This is exactly why there should be a minimum standard for reading comprehension before these classes are taken."

Your reply was in context of her thinking it was tricky. That's like going up to someone that's wearing a red hat and saying, "People who wear red hats are dumb." Then saying you never called that person dumb, technically.

You were very specific. You countered her point. Then the next sentence stated a generalization about people who supported her point. Then went on a bit more about how we should have minimum comprehension levels to be in the field. It doesn't take a genius to follow the logic. She believes A. You make a general comment about people who believe A are probably B. Then a comment about how there should be course pre-req that cuts out people who are B.

Review my past posts. There are certain things I'm very blunt about. There's a difference between not sugar coating something and implying things about people. It's a respect issue. Now if she was being a screw up, you gotta throw the truth in her face. But she wasn't screwing up.

[EMS49393]

Directed at people that feel they are tricky after knowing for certain what the questions contain. She did not. She was told they were tricky, she did not know for sure.

You can argue this point with me all you wish, and I will not change my stance nor apologize for being honest with people that feel that is a hard exam once they have taken it. I've taken harder 8th grade algebra exams. Someone with a college education should have NO problem with the test.

[basejump]

read the questions thoroughly and eliminate,thats for any exams you take. know the material,or your just wasting your money.

[cosgrojo]

EMS49393-

So you've never known anyone that has test anxiety? You've never had it yourself? That's all this was. She was nervous about an experience that she had never had before that she heard nightmare stories from others who have taken it. Clearly you are the most knowledgeable and composed test-taker of all time, so you would never get any anxiety, nor would you ever get a question incorrect, because then you wouldn't have had complete comprehension of the subject... which is of course mandatory in your version of EMS. So you got 100% proficiency in every test you ever had? Never guessed at a question? What happens when you don't know something (in the rare event), do you just leave the question blank?

The fact of the matter is, some questions are tricky... some questions are WRONG. Have you never taken a test, answered what you would swear on a pile of bibles was right, only to get the results that you were wrong? I've taken exams where I fought the answer to certain questions, some I've won, some I had to be remediated... The point is, even the test-makers aren't perfect... unlike you.

Of course the NREMT-B test isn't difficult, but people who haven't taken it, don't know that yet. Now she does, and knowing is half the battle.

[AnthonyM83]

Directed at people that feel they are tricky after knowing for certain what the questions contain. She did not. She was told they were tricky, she did not know for sure.

You can argue this point with me all you wish, and I will not change my stance nor apologize for being honest with people that feel that is a hard exam once they have taken it. I've taken harder 8th grade algebra exams. Someone with a college education should have NO problem with the test.

Then you have faulty communication. The series of statements like that IN CONTEXT of being a reply to her specific point is communicating an implication below the bar.

And that's a silly reply, since no one wants you to be dishonest. The problem isn't with that. The problem with respect level shown to newcomers in the field.

I do think the back and forth has run its course, though. The point of my post was to show more respect.

-----------------

On the SEPARATE topic of test trickiness in general, I've been told by writers of the test they attempt to make them tricky. The NREMT also has a slightly different style than most academic tests. That doesn't necessarily make it so difficult, but it means you have to watch out for exactly what they're asking since there are implications in the question not specifically said. This does throw a number of students off (usually not enough to fail...they do put a cap on their trickiness). And there is a difference between trickiness and overall difficulty.

[dodger6118]

My advice is to relax, breathe, and remember your ABC's for every single question. Also don't read into a question beyond the info given. There will be a lot of questions that tell you to give the BEST answer. Refer back to relax, breathe and just remember your ABC's and you'll do fine. Good luck!

-Eric

[spenac]

read the questions thoroughly and eliminate,thats for any exams you take. know the material,or your just wasting your money.

My advice is to relax, breathe, and remember your ABC's for every single question. Also don't read into a question beyond the info given. There will be a lot of questions that tell you to give the BEST answer. Refer back to relax, breathe and just remember your ABC's and you'll do fine. Good luck!

-Eric

Little late helping the OP she done told us she passed.

[Lone Star]

Anthony,

I tried to send this to you via PM, but you're not accepting messages, so I'm forced to post it here.

Knowing that you sat in on a NREMT panel; I'm compelled to ask this question: Having seen my 'assessment' of the type of questions asked by the NREMT ("the questions are worded to not only test your knowledge, they're designed to measure critical thinking."), would you say this is an accurate assessment?

I understand the anxiety of walking into the test 'blind' (not knowing what to expect, based on no prior experience and 'horror stories' of other test candidates); but how many end up passing the test and saying, "That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!"

The only 'issue' I have with this entire thread is that Floridastudent came to the forums asking for advice, and when she didn't get the 'sunshine and belly rubs' she appears to have been expecting; she resorted to replying with contempt...(post #10,16-19).

Granted, some of the posts could be construed as 'brutaly honest' or 'blunt' in their reply, the bottom line is that the original poster was making a mountain out of a molehill, only to find that we were right all along; as evidenced here:

I didn't just start to panic, I spent all morning weeping and wailing about how I obviously failed, after all those weeks and weeks of studying, and all those study guides that I read, and I called up a classmate and was going on and on about how I failed and this was crazy and I NEVER fail tests and how could this be...and she was like "Where does it say you failed?" so I went on the NREMT.org website to check, and I said "Never mind then. Apparently I passed."

She promised to whack me in the head next time she sees me.

*DISCLAIMER*:

I'm not 'calling anyone out' nor am I 'stirring the pot', I'm stating my opinions and seeking information!

I look forward to your reply!

LS

[Floridastudent]

I didn't reply with contempt; with annoyance, certainly, because I feel that my original post was misinterpreted and a couple of people were unnecessarily nasty with their replies... for instance:

"They are not tricky. People that say they are tricky probably have difficulty with reading comprehension. This is exactly why there should be a minimum standard for reading comprehension before these classes are taken."

I could not POSSIBLY disagree more with that. I say the questions are tricky, plenty of my classmates say the questions are tricky, plenty of EMTs that I've met say the questions are tricky, and it has nothing to do with our reading comprehension abilities; it has to do with the way the test questions are designed.

If I came on here and indicated that I didn't care less about patient safety, that would be another matter entirely; all I did was make a comment stating my opinion about the NREMT-B test questions. I don't think that really calls for people getting bent out of shape.

Anyway, I passed the test, it's all water under the bridge now.

Anthony,

I tried to send this to you via PM, but you're not accepting messages, so I'm forced to post it here.

Knowing that you sat in on a NREMT panel; I'm compelled to ask this question: Having seen my 'assessment' of the type of questions asked by the NREMT ("the questions are worded to not only test your knowledge, they're designed to measure critical thinking."), would you say this is an accurate assessment?

I understand the anxiety of walking into the test 'blind' (not knowing what to expect, based on no prior experience and 'horror stories' of other test candidates); but how many end up passing the test and saying, "That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!"

The only 'issue' I have with this entire thread is that Floridastudent came to the forums asking for advice, and when she didn't get the 'sunshine and belly rubs' she appears to have been expecting; she resorted to replying with contempt...(post #10,16-19).

Granted, some of the posts could be construed as 'brutaly honest' or 'blunt' in their reply, the bottom line is that the original poster was making a mountain out of a molehill, only to find that we were right all along; as evidenced here:

*DISCLAIMER*:

I'm not 'calling anyone out' nor am I 'stirring the pot', I'm stating my opinions and seeking information!

I look forward to your reply!

LS