I recently took the NBCMI oral exam and would like to share my experience, particularly in relation to the practice exam created by Rosa Patricia Ospina, which I used to prepare.

The first part of the exam, which focuses on sight translation, was similar in difficulty and length to the practice exam. In fact, one of the texts in the actual exam seemed to mirror a consent form from the practice test.

The second part, however, had some differences. As in the practice exam there were 12 scenarios, but in the actual exam they were shorter each containing four utterances instead of the eight featured in the practice exam. I noticed that the length of utterances gradually increased from scenario 1 to scenario 12 in the actual exam. Also each utterance in the actual test ranged from 2 to 5 units of meaning (or chunks) with about 3 units being more dominant. The practice exam seemed to include often utterances with five or more than five units of meaning, making the longer sequence of idea units harder to recall.

Regarding vocabulary, there was a notable difference; the practice exam included more challenging terminology, particularly names of medications, while the actual exam did not feature these complexities. Overall, I found the national board exam to be easier than the practice exam.

I was very pleased with how well the practice test prepared me for the actual exam. I think Rosa did a fantastic job constructing it, and it's wonderful that she's making it available for candidates. I hope she’ll continue to create more practice tests and make them available as there aren’t many resources like it available.

​

Olga G., Michigan