How to Study for In-Class Exams (EMT-B)

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NJpilot63

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Hello All,

I've just started EMT class in New Jersey, it's a hybrid class so all of the lectures and some quizes are online, skills sessions, practical exams, and written exams are all in class which meets once a week. We're generally responsible for approximately 4-6 chapters per week, then have an exam on those chapters when we meet.

I'm 2 weeks into the class and I've only had one exam. On that exam I received a 72, which is passing, but low and a little too close for comfort in my opinion, (Anything below a 70 means you get remediated then retested, if you get below a 60 or get below a 70 on the restest, you fail the class).

I was wondering what others did to study, or if anybody had studying tips. All I did to study for said exam was go through the online lectures throughout the week, then the day before the exam read the review and vocabulary pages, and that obviously was not enough.

The class and becoming an EMT is something very important to me, so I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get high scores and ultimately pass this class.

Any and all tips or suggestions for studying is more than welcome.
 
Do you have a book? If so, read it. It's a very easy read and should cover most (if not all) of what you need to know for your test. Then supplement that with going back over lectures.
 
I just finished my EMT-B class. The first day of class our instructor told us if we read our chapters from the beginning to end and did our workbooks we would be fine.

That's basically what I did. Like you, every week we were responsible for reading 4-6 chapters in our EMT text book, and I would read every chapter from beginning to end, even the little side notes in the text book. I would also look up terms I had trouble understanding. Then we had our workbook, which wasn't required for the class, but our instructor told us doing the workbook would help, so I did it.

I did that every week and passed every exam, no retests. Also we had to have an 80% or higher to pass. If you had a 79% it was considered failing.


So I would just hit the books, read your textbook through and through. If your having trouble understanding a term or a topic, research it online, lots of good knowledge all over the web. Oh and ask questions in class!
 
@NJpilot:

I'm sorta in the same boat as your are. I failed one test & re-tested and passed it. When I re-read the chapters for re-testing, I realized that I didn't read it well the first time. So, now I'm taking my time to read the chapters and outlining and also clearly highlighting when the instructor emphasizes something in the book. The notes I take in the book prior to class, I use a blue pencil and when the instructor emphasizes something I use a red pencil. It takes a lot of repetition for this stuff to sink into my brain. I also have a companion workbook with practice quizzes. It's been 20 years since college, so getting back into an academic mode is tough for me
 
Read the chapters they are lecturing on before attending the class session. Take good notes during the lecture, but make sure to pay attention and process all the information. Then, with your notes, go back into the book and fill in your notes with more detail, things not mentioned, etc. I also recommend doing the review questions for each chapter. Most of the time you can just answer them in your head, no need to write down info (unless it helps you to write it)

The biggest mistake I have made in EMS classes is studying stuff I already know. If you know something, don't even bother writing it down or studying it. I like to make a "cheat sheet" with all the details, numbers, terms, or facts I don't know and study that before a test.

Make sure to group study and to attend any extra practice or review sessions your school offers.
 
I took notes on my chapters in outline form. Highlighting then taking notes.
Classmates said it was excessive and was told I didn't have a life. However I passed all the tests in national registry type questions and passed the class with a 96%.
I am now teaching classes to EMT B and even have paramedics sit in on occasion for continuing education credits.
 
A common problem I see is people studying for many hours. It's difficult to seriously focus and retain information for that time. I'd keep study time limited to no more than one hour, and I would frequently take breaks.

Another mistake I saw was study groups. Study groups are good for practicing skills if you guys aren't goofing off (probability of goofing off is high), and horrible for studying what's in the book.

A big mistake that limits people literally is they try to learn only what's on the test, what's within their scope of practice, or what they think is useful. Often the information they filter out would have (in)directly helped them in a test or scenario, or fill in the gap. I find that a lot of things that I would've consider useless actually helped me learned even more later on.

I am an arsehole for saying this, but trust no one. Unfortunately, people will lie to you because they want to appear knowledgeable and competent. Just because they are an instructor, a veteran paramedic with over 10 years of experience, etc., doesn't mean they know the right answer. If they think that they should know it, and they don't, they will lie to you. They also tend to parrot what other people say if they consider them great. Take what they say with a grain of salt.

Although you might be a visual, auditory, or tactile learner, don't limit yourself to only one specific learning style. I find that often people who limit themselves to how they learn limit how much they learn too. It drives me nuts when somebody interrupts me when I try to teach them something "Hold up! I'm a visual learner. Please draw it for me." The person teaching you may not be good at catering to your specific learning style.

At the same time, know your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning, and take advantage of that when you can. Your strengths and weaknesses may not fit in a specific category; they might be odd. For example, I am a God awful auditory learner (probably from years of practice ;)). When somebody talks, I listen more carefully, and I tend to make up for my weakness by taking notes. I'm really good at remembering numbers and letters so acronyms and lists usually are very easy for me to remember regardless of how much sense they make. If I remember the first letter, or how many things there were, my mind will fill in the blanks for me.

A simple example would be when I was memorizing the Singh Vaughan-Williams Arrhythmia Classifications, I made up the acronym NBA-C.

Class I Na+ Channel Blocker
Class II Beta Blocker
Class III Amiodaraone/Sotalol (Potassium Channel Blocker)
Class IV Ca2+ Channel Blocker
Click to expand...
Now everytime I think about the classification, I think of the National Basketball Association, and I don't even like basketball.

So definitely pay attention to how you learn, and take advantage of it, but also don't limit yourself because of it.
 
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