Failed

[Dustdevil]

Walmart may be paying more... :roll:

And there are usually more WalMarts in any given county than there are EMS agencies. Even if not, there are still a lot more WalMart jobs. And, at least at WalMart you'll be providing a service to the community that people appreciate.

I want to start a new thread: 101 Reasons why WalMart is better than EMS

[brentoli]

I can't find sympathy.

Really.

I can't give anyone sympathy who fails the EMT-B.

If you graduated high school, you can pass the EMT-B.

What is your reason for not being able to pass it? Are you not a good test taker, test anxiety? Freeze up? Are you going to do the same on the motorcycle accident where the guy created 5 more joints then a normal body has?

Did you not know your stuff? If you couldn't study for it, get away from here. You don't want to do it for the right reasons obviously then.

Give me any reason someone would fail an EMT-B and I will give you a reason to have no sympathy.

[Dustdevil]

Did you not know your stuff? If you couldn't study for it, get away from here.

There it is. I find that a great majority of those who fail EMT-B did not fail because they are stupid or incapable of grasping the subject matter. They failed it simply because they did not give sufficient effort to the class to learn enough to pass the test. They were interested in the class in the first place because they saw it to be quick and easy. It was a minimal investment of time and effort. And most of the EMTs they know are idiots anyhow, so they figured this had to be easy enough to pass. So they half arsed it. They never read their assignments more than once, if at all. They searched through the chapters enough to find the answers to the homework questions, but not enough to actually grasp the theory or concepts. They let their instructors' emphasis on skills convince them that skills was much more important than all that book learnin' anyhow, so why worry about it? They were shown a skeleton with 206 bones, but only required to learn the names of twelve of them, so this can't be really important, can it?

EMT-B is very definitely not rocket surgery. It's not even high school level material. I have known people who were darn near illiterate pass it with flying colours. They did so because they were serious about it and gave it 110 percent effort, paying attention and asking questions in class, studying their arses off, and getting help where needed. There simply is no good reason for a literate person without medically verifiable learning disabilities to flunk the EMT-B written exam. Anybody who does should seriously consider that they are not cut out for it. Either they don't have the intelligence, or they just don't have sufficient professional desire. Either way, I don't want to work with them. And I sure don't want them working on my loved ones.

[Breck]

Those of you who say people who have failed a basic exam is not cut out for it may need to open their eyes and realize they are not the "GENIUS" that their mommas have always told them. A good friend of mine was a 3rd year MED student who failed his basic because test anxiety and now is one of the best ER docs in Oklahoma City. Heck half the Paramedics fail their basic exam and now are extraordinary medics. Might want to watch what you say and try not to discourage the new up and coming basics.

[Dustdevil]

Might want to watch what you say and try not to discourage the new up and coming basics.

Uhhh... you might want to improve your reading comprehension skills too.

How, by encouraging prospective EMTs to buckle down and give a serious 110 percent to their studies, are we discouraging them? The only thing we are discouraging is failure, and they should thank us for it. What have you done for any up and coming basics lately?

Minus 30 for saying anything about anybody's mother, tosser. :roll:

[Breck]

I think giving someone a reality check is good, but that was just kind of rude in alot of ways. Next time, try telling them to buckle down and study hard rather than "the basic course is below a high school level," etc. I am not trying to be rude myself I just know that can be interpreted wrongly.

[Eydawn]

You'll be ok. Take a look at the breakdown of where your areas of trouble were. Where did you miss points? Look back over your practice exams book and re-read your textbook before the next shot. Talk over questions with others from your class or post some here (or PM me, I don't mind tutoring).

As for those who decree that someone who fails the NREMT-B written must be an ignoramus with no capacity for medicine, I dare you to tell that to one of the men I personally trust with my life and well being... he failed it twice before finally passing.

Test anxiety, poor test taking intelligence, lack of sleep, etc. can all be factors in failing an exam. Just because you don't look good on paper doesn't mean you know your stuff. Conversely, if you want to do this, you have to overcome your problems with exams. If you have severe test anxiety, you need to find a counselor at your community college or other school and get some resources.

Who in here hasn't failed a test or class yet? Life's gonna come at you fast when you finally do fail something. Luckily I learned early on that failing a single class or exam isn't the end of your world. Hell, I think I've failed or gotten low C's or D's on many of my biology exams. I'm a biology major. Does this mean I don't understand biology or that I'm unintelligent?

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Breck]

EXACTLY what I mean right there! Thanks Wendy, theres so many medics out there that think they are Gods its unreal. I respect EMT's of all levels because it takes a special person to do this but I find it hard to respect one who thinks they walk on water.

[Dustdevil]

Next time, try telling them to buckle down and study hard rather than "the basic course is below a high school level," etc.

Why not both? It's important to put the material into perspective, especially for a student who has yet to experience anything else. Seriously, wouldn't you want to have all available information about this process before you started? If somebody had been up front and candid with some of these people ahead of time, they might have been better prepared. And they might not be here today telling us they failed.

I fail to see how your kinder, gentler, less candid, blowing smoke up the arse is of any benefit to those who wish to succeed. Again, what are you doing to help prospective new EMTs? If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Wendy, comparing undergraduate biology to a silly EMT-B course is asinine. They aren't on anywhere near the same level, yet they are both aimed at the same level of student. But in both cases, if you bomb it, either you didn't put the effort into it that you should have (the majority), or else it just isn't your thing. Or else, yes, you might be an idiot too. But the major point I originally made was that most people fail EMT-B for the same reason most people fail college classes: because they didn't give it sufficient effort. And if you aren't interested enough in EMS to give it 110 percent, then you don't need to be here.

[Eydawn]

Dust, I wasn't equating the two courses. On the contrary... I know the two are vastly different levels of education. What I was trying to convey is that perhaps what is at fault here is not mastery or understanding of the material. There are many individuals who simply do not test well, especially when it comes to standardized testing, regardless of what the subject matter is.

I happen to have very high standardized test-taking intelligence. Multiple choice tests make a lot of sense to me and cause me very little undue stress. Huzzah for a killer SAT and ACT score ( :roll: ). Short answer tests are the devil and I never seem to get what the professor is looking for, exactly. Hence my GPA coming out of Kalamazoo College... under 3.0, unfortunately.

Now, there are many people who do fail to study and don't put forth enough effort and then WHINE about their problems. That's not the same as knowing the material and being able to use it in every other area *except* for testing. Hence my example of myself and a lot of my undergraduate biology classes in Michigan... I'm hoping the different testing style of a large state university will work better for me, and that's part of why I transferred.

What I was trying to show is that some people test well in some subjects and don't in others. And did you notice that the original poster only failed by 2 points? That indicates to me potential for problems with certain question wordings, rather than insufficient mastery. Review is good for the soul, however.... and I think try #2 will treat this guy much better than his first attempt.

Wendy

CO EMT-B