NACHI Online Inspector Examination

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1

Originally Posted By: eharden
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Having never taken the A$HI inspection test,(is there such a thing, if so) can anyone tell me how the exam we had to pass to become NACHI members compares?

–
Eric Harden


First Choice Inspection Services


"That which does not kill me, makes me stronger."
2

Originally Posted By: gbeaumont
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Hi Eric,


Here’s my 2 pence worth I believe that most expeienced inspectors should be passing our on-line exam with over 90% passing scores this would equate to a NHIE pass rate. I would expect an inspector who scores below 90% on our test to fail NHIE.


The real trick with NHIE is to know your weak areas, and study like hell to pass those topics, as in therory you could get 95% of NHIE questions correct but still fail (if you get every electrical question wrong for example, you fail)


I hope this helps

Gerry

--
Gerry Beaumont
NACHI Education Committee
e-mail : education@nachi.org
NACHI phone 484-429-5466

Inspection Depot Education
gbeaumont@inspectiondepot.com

"Education is a journey, not a destination"

3

Originally Posted By: Nick Gromicko
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Differences:


NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is free to all. Other national examinations charge a fee each time.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is built with the latest server-side technology for increased security, but implements widely compatible client-side technology so that almost anyone with a web-browser (new or outdated) can use the system from anywhere. Proctoring is available everywhere too. Other examinations require you to travel.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is different every time you take it. Mathematically there are billions of versions of NACHI's Online Inspector Examination. Other exams only have one or two versions.

National statistics about NACHI's Online Inspector Examination are automatically updated ever time someone takes the exam and these statistics are publicly posted instantly for all to see. Other national examinations refuse to release even their pass/fail rates.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination's pool of questions is compiled from experts and actual inspector from all associations. Other exams have only used members of one association to produce their pool of questions. NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is a living document that constantly evolves.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is the official NACHI entrance exam. Other associations allow anyone to join without taking any exams.

You can take NACHI's Online Inspector Examination from the comfort of your own home with a dial-up modem. If an examinee's connection is lost mid-exam, they can simply reconnect and start where they left off.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination uses optimized, low-resolution graphics for fast page loading.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is not about NACHI. It is not association specific like other exams.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination was built with scalability in mind. Each question (and its answers) includes image support so that images can be added for further illustration. Each question can also support an unlimited number of answers for further scalability.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination permits examinees the opportunity to double-check their answers and correct mistakes before they submit them (within the time constraints of the exam).

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination uses a weighted scoring system. Questions that have safety implications or cover larger issues count more than questions that have less serious implications or are geographically regional. In other words, questions that test to see if you know things every inspector should know are weighted heavily. Questions that test to see if you know things that are near the outside of the scope of a home inspection or newly introduced, untested questions are weighted lightly. Other exams count each question equally.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is very secure. Each exam is dynamically created using advanced randomization techniques. The data is then stored server-side, making it nearly impossible to cheat the system.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination produces a custom evaluation screen which summarizes your areas of strength and weakness. The summary even includes a color pie chart. Other exams offer little or no summary.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination (a living document) is developed in accordance with accepted psychometric standards, insuring an unbiased, valid and reliable assessment of inspector skill, knowledge and experience. NACHI has a full time former university research analyst monitoring the exam. Other examinations are very association specific, and never evolve.

NACHI used several reasonable methods to come up with our passing score of 75, including a version of the Modified Angoff Technique used by other inspector examinations. It is interesting to note that this method determined our passing score should be set at 71. It is also interesting to note that the average score is failing.

NACHI's Online Inspector Examination's pool of questions and answers were not each drawn subjectively from a single reference but are generated using input from inspectors and experts from all over the country. Possible answers and the actual wording of the questions are also subjected to this industry wide scrutiny. NACHI's Online Inspector Examination is a living document that keeps up with the times.

More people have taken NACHI's Online Inspector Examination than all other inspection examinations combined. Furthermore our system has built-in intelligence which constantly calculates and recognizes everything from individual repeat improvement to overall industry knowledge trends. All this combined with constant nationwide expert participation and improvement makes NACHI's Online Inspector Examination the industry standard for assessing inspectors.

http://exams.nachi.org/stats.php
http://www.nachi.org/aboutexam.htm


Nick

4

Originally Posted By: gsutterfield
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.


Nick


You forgot to say Amen when you finished ![icon_wink.gif](upload://ssT9V5t45yjlgXqiFRXL04eXtqw.gif) ![icon_wink.gif](upload://ssT9V5t45yjlgXqiFRXL04eXtqw.gif) ![icon_wink.gif](upload://ssT9V5t45yjlgXqiFRXL04eXtqw.gif)

I was looking for more

5

Originally Posted By: Scott Patterson
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.


eharden wrote:
Having never taken the A$HI inspection test,(is there such a thing, if so) can anyone tell me how the exam we had to pass to become NACHI members compares?


I assume you are talking about the NHIE. The only ASHI exam is the Standards and Ethics exam. ASHI did away with their other exam when ASHI created the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors, back in 1998.

The NHIE is a psychometrically designed exam (Designed by psycommetricains). Castle Worldwide was hired by EBPHI to help develop the exam. The first step was to come up with the job of a home inspector and what knowledge is needed to be a home inspector, the was called a Role Delineation Study.

The test blue print was made from the RD study and home inspectors from around the country were invited to help write questions for the exam (many had did not belong to any association). The process for writing the questions is complicated and was guided by Castle. Part of this process is the verification of the question, it must be verified in a nationally published book that is current (IRC,NEC are used). No trick questions are allowed.

The exam is offered by Promisor (PSI), they proctor the exam. PSI is the largest exam proctoring/administrating company around.

This is why this exam is being excepted by the multitude of states around the country and this is the reason that my state went with the NHIE as it was the only exam on the market that could meet the standards that our States Attorney General required. One of those standards was that the exam had to be legally defensible in a court of law.

OK, enough history.

Before I took the NHIE, I read as many books as I could get my hands on that had to do with light construction. The following books will help you the most. The Carson Dunlop Illustrated Home is a great book. Carson Dunlop Home Reference Book. All of the Code Check Flip Books.

Some say the NHIE is a hard and difficult exam, and some say that it is an easy exam. I thought that it was a good exam that tested my knowledge of light construction and related defects. As for my background in the construction industry, I had none. All my knowledge came from the home inspection school I attended and books.
6

Originally Posted By: Nick Gromicko
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.


by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education: “The test developer usually assembles an item pool that consists of a larger set of items than is required by the test specifications. This allows for the test developer to select a set of items fro the test that meet the test specifications. The quality of the item is usually ascertained through item review procedures and pilot testing. Often, a field test is developed and administered to a group of test takers who are somewhat representative of the target population for the test.”


Here's the first of many flaws any research analyst would quickly notice:

The NHIE was formed using an item pool that was drawn solely from inspectors who passed the NHIE's predecessor, the ASHI exam. It is equivalent to determining the words to ask for a spelling Bee by asking for suggestions from only those children who have spelled those certain words correctly. You know what your item pool is going to be!

In this case, the NHIE was trying to offset its intrinsic flaw by seeking legitimacy in reference books. This second flaw caused the NHIE to be code biased. An old roof that has a leak is something that should be reported by a home inspector. In other words it should be within the NHIE's framework for the test that describes the extent of the domain, or the scope of the construct to be measured. In the real world, where the home inspector's job is to find defects, not legitimize their discovery, such defects like roof leaks exist without there necessarily being a code violation that can be referenced. This is the NHIE's second intrinsic flaw.

I can point to many others which NACHI's Inspector Examination is free of.

We all know of both excellent and horrible inspectors who have passed the NHIE. This is because the NHIE is very poor at determining competency of inspectors especially in those areas most needed to service and protect consumers.

Nick

7

Originally Posted By: Scott Patterson
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Nick with all due respect, you are wrong and the information you are responding with is old.



The first NHIE exam was based on the old ASHI test, as no other questions were readily available. All of those questions have been replaced for a couple of years and all of the questions on the NHIE were written by the multi association and non association group of inspectors, who had taken the NHIE and been in the business for over three years.

Who and when did you speak with Castle?

The current item pool has a couple of thousand questions in it, none are from the original series of exams. A valiant effort was made to insure that none of the "old" questions were left in the item pool.

As for a roof leak? You lost me on this one. I would hope that we would not need to test a prospective home inspector on an old roof leak. You will find questions relating to roofing defects.

As for the quality of the inspector, no test can determine this. The NHIE will test the knowledge of a person not the quality of the work they will ultimately perform. Although knowledge and quality can at times go hand in hand.

On a final note, I ask you how many states that are licensed and require an exam accept the NACHI test? I don't know of any. Our board has had two calls this past week that I am aware of asking if our state will accept the NACHI test for the state required test, both were told no.

Does the NACHI test have a place in our profession, sure it does. Anytime you can take a test to test your knowledge you increase your ability and knowledge.

8

Originally Posted By: Nick Gromicko
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." Licensing can do neither for inspectors. I don’t mind licensing because it helps NACHI but I am conscious of what it is and what it can never do.


Nick

PS. I spoke with Castle in May of this year and received a letter from Yates Perkins of Castle dated May 23, 2003.

9

Originally Posted By: Blaine Wiley
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Quote:
Having never taken the A$HI inspection test,(is there such a thing, if so) can anyone tell me how the exam we had to pass to become NACHI members compares?


Well to answer your original post, I will tell you how I did. I will probably post a similar response in the other thread where the NHIE is being touted, but that is neither here nor there.

My county adopted the ASHI model for licensing this year, just before I decided to open. When I went to get my normal county license for business, I was told of the requirements, one being the to pass the NHIE. The passing score is 500 or better.

At the time I took the test, I had a little over 7 years experience as a home inspector. I had not performed an inspection in over 9 months, and didn't open a book prior to walking into the Promissor office. I took the test in a little over an hour, and passed with a good score.

I do find the NACHI test easier for only one reason. The technical questions are about the same, but the NACHI test seems to have some throw away questions. The NHIE does have many questions with 3 or 4 good answers, so you have to pick the most appropriate.

In either case, I think passing any test simply states that you have the minimum amount of knowledge required for the basic duties. How you use the knowledge practically, and continue to learn will be what separates the better inspectors from the losers.

Blaine