Tomorrow is D Day!!! or at least NREMT Day!!

[Fire219man]

Well after 3 months of school for EMT-B, Studying pretty good over that time, the Practicals, the ER Rotations, and the NIMS Tests. Tomorrow is the day that I sit for the National Registry!!!!

In Ohio, at the University that I took the EMT-B curriculum at you had to have an 80% in the class to even sit for the National Registry. I got a 94% so I was pretty safe in the sitting for the NREMT exam.

Being that I work a full time job as a Software Engineer, and I have been involved in planning my wedding comming up here in August, needless to say I have been burning the candle at both ends. I will be happy when all this testing is over with so that I can take a breath!!!

Now that I am out of class, and was waiting for all the paperwork to go through so that I could take the NREMT exam, I have been religiously reviewing both flash cards, online tests, as well as the Brady book.

I feel pretty confident in my knowledge at this point. Wish me luck as tommorrow I will do my best to sort through all this stuff packed into my head.

I look foreward to joining the EMS force.

-Ben

 

[HorseHauler]

Good luck and keep us updated! What university did you take your class at?

 

[Fire219man]

I took the class in Canton, OH. at Stark State University.

 

[Ridryder911]

You will do fine.. remember, they just want the most appropriate answer. Don't make it any harder than it is..

R/r 911

 

[Tincanfireman]

Too late to wish you good luck before the test, but we'll all be pulling for you!!

 

[disassociative]

Remember.

Airway Management

Cardiology

OB/Peds

Trauma Assessment

Medical Assessment

EMS Operations

A friend who recently took the CBT for EMT-B told me the test has alot of questions in regards to the INITIAL ASSESSMENT specifically airway; such as suctioning, head-tilt/jaw thrust, etc..

Go over your pt assessment chapter. You should be fine.

 

[Ian Philbrick]

NREMT exam

Good luck.

What resources do you use for study form the exam? Books etc.

Thanks

 

[Fire219man]

NREMT Testing Day

I wanted to report back to you guys and gals about my experience with the National Registry test for EMT-B at Pearson Vue center.

I finished my final test for the EMT-B class approximatly 2 weeks ago. I took a few days off before I began reviewing for the National Registry.

Basically I was going to have a 1 week gap from the time that I finished school, to the time that I was going to take the National Registry. I wanted to take it sooner than later due too all the info would be fresh in my mind.

My tactic for studying 4 days prior to the test was as follows.

Night #1....I reviewed a flash card book that I purchased at the bookstore of the university that covered NREMT-B questions. Approximatley 500 test prep questions reviewed. I spent approximatley 5 hours reviewing.

Night #2...I reviewed the coarse book by Brady that was used in class for the past 3 months. I reviewed all highlighted areas. I also attempted to cover any areas that I felt I was still not fully confident in. I spent approximatley 5 hours reviewing.

Night #3...I found a website that had 37 Chapters of review questions.

http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_limmer_emergencycare_10/0,9043,1281453-,00.html

Above is the site that I used. This Web site was nice due to it would allow you to select your answers, and then it would grade your answers and tell you the logic behind the correct answers. I spent approximatley 5 hours on this.

Night #4....I reviewed the workbook that came with the Brady pack that I got from the university. This workbook is what we used in class. We would review a chapter, and then in the evening it was the students responsibility to do the workbook. I spent approximatley 2 hours skimming the workbook.

DAY OF TEST!!!!

I got good sleep the night before, as I wasn't worried about the test at the time I went to bed. I felt confident that I studied the best I knew how and covered alot of material in the 4 days that I set alot of time aside for.

I had to go to my normal job on test day. Being a software engineer, your brain gets tired after a day of work. So I just planned on taking it easy at the office.

My scheduled test time was 3:15pm. I left my office at Noon to head up to the testing center, find it, then go for a quick bite to eat prior to my test.

During my Taco Bell lunch in my truck, I pulled out my Patient Assessment forms for both Medical and Trauma. I just basically wanted to get my brain in EMS mode, since I really wasn't in EMS mode yet.

I walked into the testing center 1 hour and 30 minutes early. After getting my finger printed, and getting a pic taken of me, I provided the center with 2 forms of ID.

After it was verified I was whom I said I was, I then was ready to go to the testing room. I walked around the corner, and was again asked to be electronically finger printed prior to walking into the testing room.

FINALLY, I was in the testing room sitting in front of a computer waiting for it to give me my first question.

And we are off to the races!!!

I don't remember all the exact questions that I answered while taking the test, but I do remember feeling a bit uncomfortable for some reason. From my experience taking the test, it seemed very very challenging for me. I remember 1 test question in paticular that I had never even heard any of the answers that went with that question before.

Patients foot has been cut off. Where is the pressure point to stop the bleeding. Before I even looked at the answers, in my mind it was the femoral artery. Unfortunatley that was not one of the answers given. Only answer that I knew wasn't it was the pedal something or another. Couldn't have been pedal if the foot was cut off. There was another answer that was tibial something or another, and thats the one that I chose.

As I kept answering questions, there were some that I knew 100% that the answer I selected was correct, and yet others I had to do the process of elimination. 2 answers were obviously not the correct choice, and the remaining answers were possible.

I did notice ALOT of pregnancy/OB questions, as well as alot of splinting questions. There were alot less Airway questions that I had expected.

I just kept my head on straight and did the best I could do, eliminating answers that were obviously not right, and then re-reading the scenario question and selecting the best possible answer that I could.

I have heard stories of the Adaptive Test stopping at question 33, 37, and in the 40's somewhere, and those that had the test stop at that point did pass the test.

As I got into questions 60+, in my mind I began to get worried. I was thinking that I must not have been doing so good. I am not up to speed on all this adaptive testing, and how it truly works. I would assume that if you were below the 70% mark, that you would continue to get questions presented to you until such a point that either

1. You have missed so many questions that even if you answered all 135 you would still fail

Or

2. You have answered enough questions to be determined proficient in the EMT-B curriculum and no further questions need to be presented to you.

Well, my test stopped after question #70

I felt pretty darn confident in the last 2 questions that I was presented, and the answers that I gave.

On one hand I had a weight lifted from my chest that I took the test. On the other hand, I was first concerned that I was at question #70, while others had the comptuer stop below question #50

To tell you the honest to gods truth, if by chance for some reason I fail the first attempt at this test, I honestly don't know what more I could study to pass.

Alot of my test questions were presented to me in a manner which a scenario was described, and also the first intervention was also stated to have been done. My task was to determine what the second step in providing patient care was going to be.

Patient has an artery cut in arm. Upon your arrival you stop bleeding, what would be your next step after controlling bleed.

That was my question.


My thought process was after control bleeding, I would go back to ABC's. Unfortunatly for some stupid reason, those sort of anweres were not on the list to select.

Ok, so enough about the questions on the test...

I left the testing center with at least a decent feeling that I didn't get into the upper 100's of questions, and I felt confident in my last few anwers.

Now all I gotta do is wait till my Pass or Fail is posted on the NREMT.ORG website.

If I had any word of advice to anyone taking the EMT-B NREMT test in the future, it would be.....don't slack off in class, keep up on the studies, as the test is no joke and not easy in any manner. Understand the concepts that are being taught to you, and ensure that you understand all the steps in patient care, not just ABC's. Understand what the appropriate steps are from the Initial assessment all the way to delivering the patient care to the hospital personel.

I should know my results here in the next day or so.

-Ben

 

[Fire219man]

Results are in

I just checked the nremt.org website to see if by chance my results were posted for the test.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank the good lord!!!!!

Drinking heavily tonight!!!!

-Ben

 

[Tincanfireman]

Congratulations, but it's a shame you worked all those little brain cells so hard and now you're gonna kill them

 

[Ridryder911]

First congrats !
For those that are about to take the NREMT.

NREMT uses a CAT system. That being Computer Assisted Testing, that is each question is weight based upon the degree difficulty of the question.

NREMT and other medical testing companies usually never have the "sure" answer, rather the most correct from a choice of four. One obviously wrong, one probably incorrect and two that have a high degree of possibility. All medical tests or board certifications are written with the intent of vagueness.

Since question are randomly presented, the degree and difficulty is not. One will a moderate degree of question and then based upon answering correct or not the next will be either harder or easier. If one does correctly answer the question right, then the intensity level increase until one fails a question. The opposite occurs if you fail the initial question, one will receive and easier question. The point being is not the number of questions one answers is as much as answering the more difficult or more intense ones correctly. One can have a higher score of passing five question to one that has corrected 10 easy question. That is why there is some of those that pass with only fifty question and some pass with of seventy questions.

Unfortunately, most CAT tests computer programs make an assumption or tone of the candidate from the first three or so questions administered. By knowing that, one should attempt to get those as correct as possible.

More and more scenarios are placed in questions, to again increase vagueness and apply to a clinical setting. There are also detractors applied within some test questions. These are purposefully placed to see if the candidate can actually determine the question and to be able to "critical think" (not critical care think).

Again, congrats on passing!
R/r 911

 

[medman123]

I just checked the nremt.org website to see if by chance my results were posted for the test.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank the good lord!!!!!

Drinking heavily tonight!!!!

-Ben

Good for you!

 

[MMiz]

I just checked the nremt.org website to see if by chance my results were posted for the test.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank the good lord!!!!!

Drinking heavily tonight!!!!

-Ben

CONGRATS! Thanks for the review also!

 

[bstone]

Congrats on passing! I remember when I got my Basic card back in 2002. It was the best feeling! All that hard work.

You should be very proud of yourself. Don't feel embarassed to pull out your wallet and stare at your NREMT-B card for hours at a time. I did that with both my Basic and Intermediate cards.

 

[Fire219man]

Thanks to everyone's Congrats messages. It truly is a weight lifted from my chest. Now I can dedicate more time to my family and fiance. Just in time for my wedding in August.

Now that I am able to look back on my past 3 months of class, I am glad that I can now look foreward to bigger and better things.

I proved to myself that I am truly serious about being an EMT. I mean heck I let it lapse the first time due to other life changes, and now I am once again able to get back into the EMT life. Going thru this class a second time has taught me a lesson as well. Simply put.....don't let your card expire!!!

So as I now can turn the page in a sense and not have to go to class and clinicals, etc...I am now onto a new page.

Being that the department I run with has 80% medics, I now get to learn what the role of an EMT-B is. I always here medics say that they would rather have a great EMT-B running with them, than a Paramedic that just doesn't care. I want to work towards being that great basic. I have the advantage of have running as a Basic for about 3 years.

This is just the first step for me I guess. I look forward to serving my community by providing EMS services for a long time to come.

-Ben

 

[pvac]

I just checked the nremt.org website to see if by chance my results were posted for the test.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank the good lord!!!!!

Drinking heavily tonight!!!!

-Ben

Congrat's!!

How is the hang-over?

 

[NREMT3138]

Way to go!!!!!! I know when I took it, it was the old pencil and paper test and I had to wait in agony for 3 weeks. I'll be testing for Paramedic in September on the new CBT system.

Again, best of luck in your career !!!


sr

 

[disassociative]

I remember an IC once stating that there are 3 right answers and 1 correct answer for each of the questions.

 

[Fire219man]

Yep, the questions are tricky. I noticed on some of the questions it was just 1 word that totally changed the scenario, and ruled out at least 2 of the possible answers.....

Now that the test is over.....I dunno why I am thinking it, but I am considering EMT-I now. I must like to study alot, and get stressed out by taking NREMT Tests.

But when your department will pay for any training you wish to do, I would be stupid to not at least consider the option.

 

[Tincanfireman]

If the company will pay the freight, go for it now. While -I is a lot more than a rehashed Basic class, there is a lot of -B content and taking it now (or soon) would be an advantage over waiting a year or two. I'd definitely recommend a break of a month or two (before you need CISD ), but not too long. Let us know what you decide, and I'll be happy to answer curriculum questions if you want to shoot me a PM.