For years now I have been advocating a six-month study process for the CBET exam. Not that it takes six months to review the material, but to have the information retained into your long-term memory you must review the material several times. This is one approach that will help you become certified. Another is to have a plan.
I mention a plan because in the past month I have given two CBET review seminars, one in North Carolina and one in Indiana. The attendees were quite capable, but very few of them had an actual plan. Their plan seemed to be “get certified,” but that is a goal and not a plan. So, if your goal is to become a CBET, by all means make a plan. By making a plan, I am suggesting you should know when you want to test and how you are going to become prepared for the big day.
The amount of time you have for study should determine when you test. A good example is one of the attendees at a recent review seminar was preparing for finals in their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. I suggested since this was their last semester of the bachelor’s degree they may want to attempt the CBET exam after they finished the degree. So, instead to testing this spring, my advice was to wait until the fall testing dates. You need a realistic period for your studies so you can accomplish your goal.
Another part of the plan would be to have a study partner. Someone you can bounce ideas off of and someone who will keep pushing you to put in the required time to become fully prepared. Most everyone that wants to become certified knows someone that also wants to become certified. I would suggest contacting this person and see if you can work out a plan so you can share the experience. Look for someone you can trust to put in the work and keep you motivated and you should be able to do the same for them. This person could be a coworker, former coworker or possibly a former classmate. I know I studied with my former lab partner from school. I’m proud to say the process worked for both of us.
In preparing your plan, make sure you are aware of the exam percentages. By far the largest part of the exam is about medical technology and problem solving. Approximately 50 percent of the exam is on this section. So, you should be well versed in all the equipment that could be on the exam. If you are a general biomed, this is the area of the exam you deal with on a day-to-day basis and you should do fairly well. But, if you only work on anesthesia equipment, you will need to put in a fair amount of time looking at other technologies such as the lab or labor and delivery, just to name two areas you are likely to see questions on.
[quote font_size=”18″ color=”#8bbd3f” bgcolor=”#fff” align=”left”]“If your goal is to become a CBET, by all means make a plan. By making a plan, I am suggesting you should know when you want to test and how you are going to become prepared for the big day.”[/quote]
You will also need to look at your education and your experience when making your plan. Many people in the HTM field entered with an electronics background. This is great as long as you realize that if you have not had a college course in anatomy and physiology you will need to dedicate extra study time to this area to perform well on your exam. I always stress the need for a good comprehension of medical terminology for anyone taking the CBET exam. I have seen where one might not know the answer, but they knew the question was asking about a nephron. As long as you knew where that was located you would probably get the correct answer because one of the answers was kidney. You just had to know the relationship between the question and the answer, i.e. nephron and kidney.
Make sure your plan includes a thorough electronics review. Most everyone who takes the exam scores the worst (percentage wise) on electronics. It’s a small section of the test and with so few questions in this area many people overlook putting in the required time. In a approximately 25 questions the exam will access your knowledge of AC and DC electronics as well as digital and the basic principles of electricity. I know self-studiers who have scored a 2 in this section. With a little focused review you can increase this score easily. Everyone knows you rarely troubleshoot to a component while at work, but the test will access your skills in component troubleshooting. So, don’t overlook the elementary electronics such as the resistor color code or which side of a diode is the anode as opposed to the cathode. The test is hard enough by itself, you must get correct any questions that could be answered by Ohm law, etc.
Last, but not least, don’t stay up trying to cram the night before. If you follow your plan you will be well prepared. We all know that cramming for a test usually does not produce the results we are looking for.
I hope you find this information useful. Best of luck in reaching your goal of becoming a CBET.
