As a society, when did we lose the ability to study? It is crazy to me how many students don’t read the textbook and expect to “learn” everything from the lecture and very few of them take notes. I teach an online EMT course and attempt to discuss challenging topics in the “Chat” forum, one maybe two students will participate copy and paste seems to be a popular method of answering questions. Copy and paste does not to equate learning, it’s also academic dishonesty.
How should we study?
To start, put your phone down and find a place to study that is away from distractions. You need to create a study schedule that you can commit to for the week. If your study schedule must change a little bit each week, that’s fine. But you must stick to the predetermined schedule for the week. Do not wait until the night to before your assignments are due to complete your coursework or study for your exam. In fact, the night before the exam you should be taking some time to relax. You are expected to study daily so that you can avoid cramming. Cramming does not translate to long-term memory. Probably one of the many reasons the NREMT pass rates drop significantly 30 days after the class ends.
The process of studying is very cumbersome. At my institution the lecture portion of training is 8 credit hours. This means you need to spend a MINIMUM of 16 hours/week studying. This number jumps to 32 hours if you are in the 8-week course.
BEFORE going to class, you need to read the chapter. Reading in advance is a must. We cannot cover everything in class and as a college student YOU are solely responsible for covering the information in its entirety. After reading the chapter, you need to read the chapter again to highlight the important text and take notes. While taking notes you should write down questions over the information you do not understand. During the lecture write down the answers to the questions on your list. And after the lecture is complete, ask the lecturer any question that was not answered. If your class is asynchronous taking advantage of an instructor that is trying to engage in your learning process because a lot of them do not. Email your instructor and ask questions about the information you’re struggling with. If you do not ask questions, that tells the instructor you’re good to go. You then need to read the chapter again. You honestly cannot read the textbook enough and you should not be selling your career textbooks on the used market.
Studying is a continuous process over the course of the training program, and truly it continues into the working environment. You will be formally tested on a regular basis throughout your career.
Adaptive Testing
The NREMT certification test is adaptive, meaning it can determine your educational deficiencies and exploit those deficiencies until you either rise to the challenge and pass or you fail the exam. For example, if the testing system determines that you struggle calculating a Glasgow Coma Score, burn injuries or APGAR, guess what, the system will bombard you with those questions until you get the questions right or fail the exam. And of course, it is more than one topic that results in a failure.
The EMT class is the toughest class our industry takes; you know nothing or very little about anatomy and physiology and you must learn about every emergency you can encounter in the prehospital setting over 8- to 16-weeks. The EMT class is the gatekeeper to keep people from achieving their career goals. It is the foundation for everything that you learn moving forward.
