You Make the Call…Testing time

These are people who could end up working on me or my family someday. I would like them to actually know what they are doing, not cheat their way through.

I’d blow the whistle…

(P.S. This comment written while sitting post for the old private service. Why do I keep picking up shifts here.? LOL)

The Road Doctor is absolutely right. Cheating, in and of itself, is inherently bad, but for anyone in the emergency services, it can be fatal (usually for someone else), whether it’s cheating on a medical licensing exam, on the pistol range, in a hazmat class, or anywhere else.

I have to agree, say something. If they don’t have the integrity now they won’t have it later.

I echo the above. Integrity is paramount. I’d have a word with the instructor.

Integrity is important, but it’s extremely common for students to use practise exams that area available at any bookstore. They’re more to prepare you for how the questions are asked so that you can prepare how to present your knowledge. The NREMT exam was such a large bank of question, it’s impossible the student could have every one. Could this be what’s going on?

My first impression, like Mat said, this may be a practice test.

Since 2007 the national registry uses computer-based testing
http://www.nremt.org/nremt/about/CBT_home.asp

So unless they are all going to the LaPlata (MD) test center, I would not worry.

Mike

In this job, you would hope that those that are placed in positions where lives are truly at stake some times (although not all that often!), would have the required grounding and core knowledge to be able to pass their big exams without cheating!

However, like Mat and Mike state, there needs to be some fact finding before the decision in made about how you handle it.
If however, it is a blatant attempt to cheat the system, then there is no other option than reporting him.

Hey 999, aren’t you on holiday?

Id first question if its not a past exam paper/practice test.

If it is a copy of the exam they are going to be sitting then you need to report it.

This is the part that gave me pause;

<>“Also amongst their study materials is what you believe to be a copy of the exam. It is formatted differently than the other study materials and is clearly not part of the Department’s materials.”<>Past test or not, if you have any question if the study material is legit, I believe you have the right to speak to the instructor.

Time to ask the student where he/she got this ‘study’ material from.

Of course, you are hoping this student is not cheating, and they got this practice exam from a past student, the professor, the book store, or maybe the Space Monkeys but you need to know for your own sake.

Integrity is part of the job. No one wants to looks bad, but cheating is not the way to looks good either.

I see what you’re thinking here, but I would have to ask if the copy of the exam is anything like the test. Hopefully it would be a study guide and not a copy.

However, you’d have to speak up. I’d like to think that I would.

There are over 2500 questions in the CBT database and you may get 60-100 of them and if you retest you never get the same questions again. The student isn’t going to pass his first time if he needs to rely on that old test.

The issue is not whether they need to be booted just for having questionable material, the issue is to determine if the ‘study material’ itself is in violation. These are people that may work on you or me one day. Report the suspicion. If legit, no harm done. If in violation, situation resolved, integrity maintained.

We just went through this with DC… do you want to be in any way associated with similar headlines in your own area?

Make the report.

- F4