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I hate certification exams
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Linus View Drop Down
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    Posted: 19 March 2010 at 11:52am
I truly do.

To be an EMT/Paramedic in most states, you have to take a national exam called the NREMT, and it uses a method of testing called computer adaptive testing, where no two people will EVER have the same test.   If you get a question right, it gives you a harder one, and if you get one wrong, it gives you an easier one... it does this till it decides you are competent, and there is no set number of questions.

According to the testing agency that makes the test, everyone will get about 50% wrong. It makes you feel like an idiot.



Well, I took mine yesterday for the paramedic level. I was sure I failed... until this morning when I checked the site. I passed. Now all I have left is a skills test this coming Wednesday... if I pass that I am finally done!

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Congrats! GL!!
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I had the second stage of the Ontario police constable selection system testing yesterday... Now I get to wait a few weeks to hear back. If I passed that, I get the certificate I need to apply to a municipal force.
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Linus View Drop Down
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They've only been doing computer testing for the NREMT for a couple of years... before that it was paper/pencil and you had to wait 6 weeks to find out if you passed or not, and here I am spoiled with a 1 day wait. Good luck with your wait bri!


Thanks ceesman. Not looking forward to the practical skills testing... I've always been better with the cognitive portion even though 95% of the skills testing is pure memorization.

Edited by Linus - 19 March 2010 at 12:23pm

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ParielIsBack View Drop Down
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Hopefully I'll be taking the ASTB in a few weeks.  If so, I'll come back here and commiserate with you guys.
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Cedric View Drop Down
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4 years of exams sucks too.

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Budget Medical Procedures Available

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I have a registry exam soon too and it's also the computer adaptive crap.  although we get an immediate pass/fail after the test is done.
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Linus View Drop Down
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Originally posted by procarbinefreak procarbinefreak wrote:

I have a registry exam soon too and it's also the computer adaptive crap.  although we get an immediate pass/fail after the test is done.


Yea I don't understand why the NREMT thinks it has to be different from everyone else and get the results sent to them before you can know if you pass or fail... but alas I'm done with it, so I don't care anymore.

Do you have to take it at a Pearson VUE center?


Originally posted by Cedric Cedric wrote:

4 years of exams sucks too.


Yes, they do, but they can't equate to certification exams.

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Good luck on your next test. I just took two tests on 2/27 to get my A+ certification and I know how you feel. I don't think they have an adaptive test like yours but I certainly felt like I was going to poop myself when I submitted my answers for grading; both times. I actually did pretty well on both though. I have 3 tests left to take before I'm done with my certifications, have to get on that.
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I failed my biology exam last week.

It asked to name two things commonly found in cells.













Apparently Blacks & Mexicans isn't the right answer...
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same style as the GRE
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Please... how many of you have ever had a check ride?

Fail one part of it and a few hundred $ goes down the drain in retraining and redoing the stuff on the next flight. On top of that, instructors never seem to cover the weird stuff that check pilots ask you. It's likely that you may have to redo everything.

BTW. The process is in 2 parts, the oral and the flight. There's a simulator session in between at my school.

You're also SOL if your method of doing something is different from the check pilot's and he's too stuck in his beliefs to accept your proposition.
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Just took my first battery of MTELs (teacher certification, reading and writing portion) the other week on about 2hrs sleep thanks to unexpected family problems, holding my breath while waiting on results, but I'm reasonably confident. 
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That sound pretty ruff.

Few years back i wrote for my certificate of qualification to get my 310t Truck mechanic license.  That test was also a **edited**.  You have to get 70% or above on it too pass and most the questions have multiple right answers but only one that is excepted.  You have to choose the MOST right answer LOL.   And its all stupid anyways as ya cant learn this trade on paper and half the correct answers on the test are NEVER done in the real world.   Many guys fail once or twice before getting it.  I thought for sure i had failed after the exam but sure as heck three weeks later i find out i passed quite well.   

I swear though i think if i re wrote id fail it LOL.  Working for so many years in the real world now has gave me lots of habits and i dont remeber all the stupid therory from college any more.  I can fix pretty much anything on a truck BUT writing tat test had little to do with fixing a truck in my opinion.
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So Linus, all in all was it actually hard to become an EMT? I'm sorta playing around with the possibility of becoming one myself.
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I sort of regret not becoming EMT certified while I was going through firefighting training. and getting it all done at once.

On that note, my exam to become a NYS certified interior firefighter was a walk in the park. I don't know anyone in my class that failed, or even came close to failing.
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In other news, about 3/4 of this forum either are or want to be military or some sort of emergency services.
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I like the excitement Big smile
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Originally posted by Rofl_Mao Rofl_Mao wrote:

So Linus, all in all was it actually hard to become an EMT? I'm sorta playing around with the possibility of becoming one myself.


Getting your B license is a piece of cake as long as you have a brain tucked somewhere in your skull.  Stepping that up and getting your paramedic is a whole different ball game, it isn't impossible but it involves a lot more A&P and advanced knowledge.
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Originally posted by brihard brihard wrote:

In other news, about 3/4 of this forum either are or want to be military or some sort of emergency services.


There's gotta be a study someone wants to do on us.

It's possible we're all just adrenaline junkies though.  I'm not counting that one out.
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