Three Basic Principles of Test Expertise
On some tests, if a question seems particularly difficult you
spend significantly more time on it, since you’ll probably be
given more points for correctly answering a hard question. Not so
on the EMT-Basic. Remember, every question, no matter how hard,
is worth a single point. There’s no partial credit or A for
effort on the tough ones. And since there are so many questions
to do in so little time, it would be against your interests to
spend 10 minutes getting a point for a hard question and then not
have time to get quick points from three easy ones later in the
test.
Given this combination—limited time, all questions equal in
weight—you’ve got to develop a way of handling the test to make
sure you get as many points as you can as quickly and easily as
you can. Here are the principles that will help you do that:
1. Feel Free to Skip Around
One of the most valuable strategies to help you finish the
questions in time is to learn to recognize and deal first with
the questions and scenarios that are easiest and most familiar to
you. That means temporarily skipping those that promise to be
difficult and time-consuming, if you feel comfortable doing so.
You can always come back to these at the end, and if you run out
of time, you’re much better off not getting to questions you may
have had difficulty with, rather than missing material you can
ace, since you may not have gotten those questions right anyway.
Of course, since there’s no guessing penalty, always fill in an
answer to every question on the test, whether you get to it or
not. Remember, too, to work on those scenarios that have the most
related questions, so you maximize your points.
2. Learn to Recognize and Seek Out Questions You Can
Do
EMT-Basic questions and scenarios, unlike items on the SAT and
other standardized tests, are not presented in order of
difficulty. There’s no rule that says you have to work
through the test in any particular order; in fact, the test
makers scatter the easy and difficult questions throughout the
test, in effect rewarding those who actually get to the end.
Don’t lose sight of what you’re being tested for along with your
knowledge and thinking skills: efficiency and cleverness. If
trauma assessment questions are your thing, head straight for
them when you first open the test. As we’ve suggested
before, don’t waste time on questions you can’t do. We know that
skipping a possibly tough question is easier said than done; we
all have the natural instinct to plow through test questions in
their given order. But it just doesn’t pay off on the
EMT-Basic.
3. Use Process of Answer Elimination
There are two ways to get all the answers right on the EMT-Basic.
You either know all the right answers, or you know all the wrong
answers. Since there are three times as many wrong answers, you
should be able to eliminate some if not all of them. By doing so
you either get to the correct response or increase your chances
of guessing the correct response. You start out with a 25 percent
chance of picking the right answer, and with each eliminated
answer your odds go up. Eliminate one, and you’ll have a 33 1/3
percent chance of picking the right one, eliminate two, and
you’ll have a 50 percent chance, and, of course, eliminate three,
and you’ll have a 100 percent chance. Increase your efficiency by
actually crossing out the wrong choices. Remember to look for
wrong-answer traps when you’re eliminating. Some answers are
designed to seduce you by distorting the correct answer.
