Guest guest Posted May 31, 2002 Report Share Posted May 31, 2002 Does anyone know of any upcoming Paramedic Exam dates for the National Registry in Texas? (if so where, when) " W. , LP " To: <mreed911@hotmail cc: .com> Subject: Fwd: [EMT] Passed NR! 05/31/02 09:59 AM Please respond to FYI, take a look at the pass rate quotes... I wonder what Texas will look like when our tests cut over. Mike > >Subject: [EMT] Passed NR! >Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 10:23:47 -0400 > >Hey Everyone, > >I received my results back from National Registry and I passed. I'm >very happy. That was the weirdest test I have ever taken. I'm now just >waiting on my license to come from the State of Michigan. The education >director where I am taking my paramedic course said that the current >pass rate for the whole state is 39% for basic EMT and like 32% for >paramedic. Guess I'm in the minority with no retakes. One down. >paramedic left! > >-- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 31, 2002 Report Share Posted May 31, 2002 Interesting, I just had a class take the registry 9/11 passed on first try; two for retest in July (one station each). Atwell Rasmussen, Ph.D., REMTP Lieutenant, Education and Training Greenville County Emergency Medical Services 301 University Ridge, Suite 1100 Greenville, SC 29601 [EMT] Passed NR! >Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 10:23:47 -0400 > >Hey Everyone, > >I received my results back from National Registry and I passed. I'm >very happy. That was the weirdest test I have ever taken. I'm now just >waiting on my license to come from the State of Michigan. The education >director where I am taking my paramedic course said that the current >pass rate for the whole state is 39% for basic EMT and like 32% for >paramedic. Guess I'm in the minority with no retakes. One down. >paramedic left! > >-- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 31, 2002 Report Share Posted May 31, 2002 Mike, I find this difficult to believe. When I took my NR back in the early 90's the pass rate on first try was running better than 50%, and on second try over 80%. This included the stats from states like Louisiana to seem to have a greater than average fail rate. I think maybe somebody was blowing a little smoke when they quoted these stats. Regards, Donn [EMT] Passed NR! > >Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 10:23:47 -0400 > > > >Hey Everyone, > > > >I received my results back from National Registry and I passed. I'm > >very happy. That was the weirdest test I have ever taken. I'm now just > >waiting on my license to come from the State of Michigan. The education > >director where I am taking my paramedic course said that the current > >pass rate for the whole state is 39% for basic EMT and like 32% for > >paramedic. Guess I'm in the minority with no retakes. One down. > >paramedic left! > > > >-- > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 31, 2002 Report Share Posted May 31, 2002 I'm willing to accept that. I thought it was interesting anecdotally. I will be interested to see the first batch of pass/fail results on the new tests when they deploy here. Mike > Re: Fwd: [EMT] Passed NR! > > > Mike, > > I find this difficult to believe. When I took my NR back in > the early 90's the pass rate on first try was running better > than 50%, and on second try over 80%. This included the stats > from states like Louisiana to seem to have a greater than > average fail rate. I think maybe somebody was blowing a > little smoke when they quoted these stats. > > Regards, > Donn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 31, 2002 Report Share Posted May 31, 2002 Yeah, me too. I remember when I was preparing for my NR test.Damn but I was sweating it pretty bad. I was working for ETEMS in county (Tyler) at the time and we had heard how difficult the NR test was going to be so we were all bumping heads and studying together. ETEMS had signed a new contract with the county that required us to all be NR by a certain date and we were all feeling the heat. The word was that the test was really difficult. Even though I was fortunate enough to pass on the first try, my partner didn't and had to retest. This honestly blew my mind. I was still pretty green at the time, but my partner wasn't. He was a seasoned veteran and had been recognized all over the state, even had his picture in the Texas EMS Magazine for some of his good calls. I'm sure he missed his first try for no other reason than the test's reputation and his nervousness. I was green and figured I wasn't going to make it anyhow, so I didn't worry so much. My thoughts are that the pass/fail rate on a NR test is directly related to the nervousness factor caused by the test's reputation. Truth is the test was no more difficult than any other test I have ever taken. The difficulty factor of the NR test is just myth. Skills are skills and all the written tests follow the same criteria. The most difficult thing about the test was the fact that the questions were written in yankeese. If you can figure out what the folks from Ohio are asking you will know the answer. The material is the same. I see no reason for Texas folk to fear the NR test questions. Best regards, Donn Re: Fwd: [EMT] Passed NR! > > > > > > Mike, > > > > I find this difficult to believe. When I took my NR back in > > the early 90's the pass rate on first try was running better > > than 50%, and on second try over 80%. This included the stats > > from states like Louisiana to seem to have a greater than > > average fail rate. I think maybe somebody was blowing a > > little smoke when they quoted these stats. > > > > Regards, > > Donn > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 2, 2002 Report Share Posted June 2, 2002 There is no reason to fear the NR. The questions are written by groups of people from all over the country. I have been on one of the groups and have written questions for it, and Jane Hill just recently returned from Ohio from being on a test writing group. The standards for questions are absolutely the same as they are for the state exam questions. I have written for both. When you go to be on an exam writing group they send you several specific knowledge objectives to write questions on. You submit the questions in advance, and when you get there, the whole committee takes one question at a time and reviews it. Nobody knows who the author is, and if you're smart you keep your mouth shut because all of the questions are kicked, stomped, dissected, shot down, wrung out and almost always rewritten. Many are simply kicked out immediately. They are analyzed for clarity, directness, medical correctness, grammar, spelling, and so forth. The answers are all relentlessly analyzed and corrected so that there are never two correct answers and one clearly correct answer. When the group meets, high security is maintained. On the big table at which everybody sits, there are copies of every standard textbook, medical dictionaries, and so forth. The questions are rated as hard, medium and easy. There are never more than, as I recall, about 40 questions out of 150 rated at maximum difficulty. So you can miss all the difficult questions and possibly still pass, although you do have to pass subscales. The questions do require a certain amount of hard knowledge, critical thinking skills and problem solving, but none of them are outside the knowledge objectives, and each and every one is verified as being correct according to the standard texts and current ACLS standards. The reason some of the geezers like me have trouble with it is that they have not stayed abreast of changes in treatment modalities. An excellent example would be the treatment of rattlesnake bites which used to involve packing the bite area in ice until research showed that vastly increased the possibility of losing the limb. Others are the use of PASG, D5W, lowering BP of stroke patients, and so on. So it is very important to keep up with things. An excellent review for the exam would involve studying the latest editions of the standard texts, reading the PHTLS manual, the latest ACLS standards, and doing some online reading. eMedicine Online is an excellent source, and it is written for all levels beginning with field practice and concluding in the ER. The most important thing is to continually review. Professionals in any field must do this, and they must do it on their own. That's part of being a professional. One needs to develop a systematic way of continual review and relearning. It only takes 15 minutes a day to review a couple of subjects. Take the knowledge objectives from the National Standard Curriculum the teaching outline that follows them and start through it. When you get to a place where you don't fully understand what the score is do a Google.com search on the subject and look at a few of the hits you get. Voila! You'll improve your knowledge base many times over, and exams will be a breeze. GG E. Gandy, JD, LP 4250 East Aquarius Drive Tucson, AZ 85718 520 299-4448 home and fax (call before sending fax) 903 530-9826 cell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 2, 2002 Report Share Posted June 2, 2002 There is no reason to fear the NR. The questions are written by groups of people from all over the country. I have been on one of the groups and have written questions for it, and Jane Hill just recently returned from Ohio from being on a test writing group. The standards for questions are absolutely the same as they are for the state exam questions. I have written for both. When you go to be on an exam writing group they send you several specific knowledge objectives to write questions on. You submit the questions in advance, and when you get there, the whole committee takes one question at a time and reviews it. Nobody knows who the author is, and if you're smart you keep your mouth shut because all of the questions are kicked, stomped, dissected, shot down, wrung out and almost always rewritten. Many are simply kicked out immediately. They are analyzed for clarity, directness, medical correctness, grammar, spelling, and so forth. The answers are all relentlessly analyzed and corrected so that there are never two correct answers and one clearly correct answer. When the group meets, high security is maintained. On the big table at which everybody sits, there are copies of every standard textbook, medical dictionaries, and so forth. The questions are rated as hard, medium and easy. There are never more than, as I recall, about 40 questions out of 150 rated at maximum difficulty. So you can miss all the difficult questions and possibly still pass, although you do have to pass subscales. The questions do require a certain amount of hard knowledge, critical thinking skills and problem solving, but none of them are outside the knowledge objectives, and each and every one is verified as being correct according to the standard texts and current ACLS standards. The reason some of the geezers like me have trouble with it is that they have not stayed abreast of changes in treatment modalities. An excellent example would be the treatment of rattlesnake bites which used to involve packing the bite area in ice until research showed that vastly increased the possibility of losing the limb. Others are the use of PASG, D5W, lowering BP of stroke patients, and so on. So it is very important to keep up with things. An excellent review for the exam would involve studying the latest editions of the standard texts, reading the PHTLS manual, the latest ACLS standards, and doing some online reading. eMedicine Online is an excellent source, and it is written for all levels beginning with field practice and concluding in the ER. The most important thing is to continually review. Professionals in any field must do this, and they must do it on their own. That's part of being a professional. One needs to develop a systematic way of continual review and relearning. It only takes 15 minutes a day to review a couple of subjects. Take the knowledge objectives from the National Standard Curriculum the teaching outline that follows them and start through it. When you get to a place where you don't fully understand what the score is do a Google.com search on the subject and look at a few of the hits you get. Voila! You'll improve your knowledge base many times over, and exams will be a breeze. GG E. Gandy, JD, LP 4250 East Aquarius Drive Tucson, AZ 85718 520 299-4448 home and fax (call before sending fax) 903 530-9826 cell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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