How to Pass the NBRC Therapist Multiple Choice (TMC) Exam Using RTBoardReview.net

How to Fail your NBRC Therapist Multiple Choice Exam

It may seem strange to start out with instructions on how to fail your exam. However, knowing why people fail NBRC written exams can actually help you avoid this problem. Of course the most common reason why candidates fail NBRC written exams is lack of content knowledge. Other causes of failure you can and should avoid include the following:

Taking an NBRC written exam without preparation is a very bad bet that you are more than likely to loose. You cannot pass the NBRC TMC exam without good knowledge of its content. And good knowledge of the subject matter only comes with good preparation, as provided by RTBoardReview.net.

Another common cause of failure is trying to memorize as many practice questions and answers as possible. Put plainly, this is a waste of your time. Instead, you should use practice questions and answers like those provided by RTBoardReview.net to help identify what you know and especially what you still don't understand and need to work on.

Reviewing everything you learned in school is also a waste of precious time, as well as and a major cause of anxiety and confusion among test-takers. Instead, you should limit your review to the specific TMC exam content, as defined by the NBRC and as covered by the RTBoardReview.net content links.

Cramming is perhaps the most common reason why candidates fail NBRC written exams. Besides causing even worse anxiety than trying to review everything ever learned, cramming typically results in a loss of sleep in the days leading up to the test. "Dazed and confused" best describes such candidates when they show up to take the test--and disappointed when they get their score report.

Anxiety is another a common cause of poor NBRC written exam performance. Of course, some anxiety prior to taking a test is natural and not necessarily a bad thing. Like getting "pumped-up" in anticipation of a sports contest, you need to learn how to channel the extra energy associated with test apprehension to help motivate you to excel.

The surest way to fail the NBRC TMC exam is not to finish it. The way the NBRC computes your score, every question you skip or fail to answer is counted against you. When every question counts, you simply can't afford to throw away points by omitting answers. To finish the NBRC TMC exam in the allotted 3 hours, you'll need to develop good pacing strategies, as discussed subsequently.

Our Strategy for Success

The figure to the right outlines the strategy we suggest you follow to prepare for and pass your NBRC TMC exam. Based on our experience in coaching over 2000 candidates for NBRC written exams, we recommend that you devote at least 4-6 weeks to this process. One of the most common reasons candidates do not pass an NBRC written exam is hasty or last-minute preparation. Do yourself a favor and follow a deliberate and unhurried process. Remember it was the turtle who won the race and not the hare!

For first-time NBRC written exam takers, the basic strategy is simple: proceed systematically through all 17 of the course units (about 4-5 units per week). Upon completing all units, take our practice TMC exam Unit 18). Only after successfully completing the cumulative practice exam should you schedule and take your NBRC written exam. We define success for the CRT level on our exam as a cut score of at least 66%. You should strive for our higher cut score of at least 72% on our practice TMC exam if you want to be testing at the level needed to be eligible for the NBRC CSE exam.

Master Each Unit!

For this strategy to succeed, it is absolutely essential that you get into the habit of proceeding systematically through each course unit. Normally this involves the following steps:

  1. Take an initial unit quiz (this serves as your 'pre-test')
  2. Review the pre-test to determine your shortcomings
  3. Prioritize unit content based on identified shortcomings
  4. Review the applicable unit content
  5. Take a second unit quiz (your 'post-test') to confirm mastery (score of at least 70%)
  6. Repeat steps 1-5 for each unit

What if you do not pass a unit's post-test quiz? Because RTBoardReview quizzes provide explanations for all answers, your first job should be to thoroughly review these explanations so that you understand why the correct answer is the right choice. You should also consider reviewing any applicable Web links provided for that unit. Last, if you are still unsure of any aspect of unit content, post your question to that unit's Q&A Discussion Forum. RTBoardReview staff (or your instructor if part of an RT Program group) will generally respond to these questions within 24 hours. After reviewing both the post-test answers and Web links, retake the unit quiz until you can consistently achieve a score of at least 70%. Last, we recommend that you not move forward with any new unit until you are satisfied that you have mastered each preceding one.

Take the TMC Practice Exam

The TMC practice exam is structured to simulate real NBRC TMC exam. Like the real thing, this practice exam includes the same number of graded items (140) which are weighted according to the same content categories as specified on the current NBRC content outline. Like the unit quizzes, our TMC practice exam also gives you feedback on each and every question, including the correct answers and their explanations.

When Should I Take the Practice Exam? Due to its importance as a bridge between the course and the NBRC TMC exam, we recommend that you take our practice exam only after completing all 17 of the courses content units, including getting a high score of at least 70% on each of their quizzes (above our CRT cut score). We also recommend that you complete the TMC practice exam at least 2 weeks before you are scheduled to take the NBRC exam. This important set aside in your schedule will give you the time needed to review any persistent areas of misunderstanding you have identified, as well as help avoid the anxiety that last minute cramming always causes.

Should I Set a Time Limit When Taking the Practice Exam? We definitely recommend timing your practice TMC exam. Because that the NBRC requires that you answer an extra 20 non-graded questions in the specified time limit, you'll need to pace yourself to complete about 1 question per minute. Based on this pace, you should be able to complete our practice TMC exam in about 2½ hours. If you take significantly longer to complete our practice exam, you'll need to work on your question pacing before taking the actual NBRC exam.

What Do I Do with My Practice Exam Results? With their detailed item feedback, our practice exams becomes a critical learning tool in your path to success on the applicable written exam. First, your overall score on this exam tells you how well you have learned and retained the content covered in the course and on the NBRC TMC exam. To gain better knowledge of your performance, we recommend you spend 10-15 minutes analyzing your results by exam section. To make that job easy, we provide an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to quickly compute your section scores and identify areas needing additional review (section scores < 70%). You can download the applicable tool at:

http://rtboardreview.net/public/tools/TMC_spreadsheet.xlsx

In addition to assessing your overall exam and section scores, careful review of the test item explanations should help further your understanding of the important concepts likely to be tested on the NBRC TMC exam. Review of the test item explanations also can help you identify any remaining areas of weakness that you need to address before scheduling your NBRC exam date.

What if I Don't Score Well on my Practice Exam? If you carefully follow the strategy we outline here, it is highly unlikely that you will do poorly on our practice TMC exam. In the unusual case that you score below 70%, it's "back to the books." In this case, careful review of the test items you get wrong on our practice exam should help you identify the content areas and course units that you need to review. You may also want to consider supplementing RTBoardReview.net with the Comprehensive Respiratory Therapy Exam Preparation Guide available from Jones and Bartlett Publishers at http://www.jblearning.com/catalog/9781284029031/.

For Those Who Have Previously Taken and Failed an NBRC Written Exam

If you have previously taken an NBRC written exam, you are taking this course because you did not achieve a passing score. Although you likely are unhappy with this outcome, this event actually gives you a significant "heads-up" over those who have never taken this exam. First, because you are experienced with the testing procedures, you should have less anxiety going through that process than that experienced by first-timers. Second, you have in hand a score report that tells you exactly where on the exam you did well, and where you did poorly. To use this valuable information, we recommend that you compute a % correct for each of the 17 sub-scores on your NBRC Score Report. For example, based on the following section of an NBRC Score Report:

III. INITIATION AND MODIFICATION OF INTERVENTIONS  
     E. Ensure Modifications are Made to the Respiratory Care Plan 11/19

you would compute the % correct for the Ensure Modifications are Made to the Respiratory Care Plan subsection (III-E) of the TMC exam as 11/19 = 0.63 x 100 = 58%. After computing the % correct for each subsection, we recommend that you flag every subsection on which you got less than 70% of the questions correct. You should then set these flagged subsections and their corresponding book chapters as high priority in preparing to retake your exam. You should still review the sections corresponding to NBRC subsections where you scored above 70%, but only after attending to your high priority needs.

Adapted from Scanlan, CL, & Heuer, AJ, Eds. (2015). Comprehensive Respiratory Therapy Exam Preparation Guide. 2nd Ed. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.  http://www.jblearning.com/catalog/9781284029031/