NEED HELP!: National Home Inspector Exam (NHIE)

I heard there was a question/answer key for the NHIE out there a while back…PLEASE somebody email that to me so I can study THAT and pass this crazy exam. I’ve taken the NHIE twice now and both times received a score in the mid 400s (a minimum 500 is needed to pass). I’m only allowed to take it one more time per Kentucky and then have to take and pay for a pre-licensing course again (which didn’t teach me NEAR as much as the InterNACHI courses did). As I saw on posts before, there’s an issue with the relevancy of the NHIE and many have called into questions whether it’s legit, a scam, a joke, etc. It’s even been dissolved in IL. This is holding me up from getting my official license here in KY and I see my “failing” partly due to questions on the test that are no where near relevant to my study materials and InterNACHI courses. I also took classes and performed live inspections and PASSED with great scores, so what’s up? No time for family sob stories and all going on with me here, but I just can’t see paying another $225 only to “fail” again and then have to pay for pre-licensing again. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. My email is ccurtis10000@gmail.com. Thanks everyone!

Nachi.org/practice is what i used. I just passed Illinois on the first try. They say IL is still based on the national exam.

Thanks, Joseph. Congrats on that and yes, I’ve gone through that many times. Thanks for the IL update, too. I’ve seen several questions on the NHIE that don’t agree with what I’ve learned, so that’s frustrating too. Really questioning if the NHIE should be used at all. Hopefully, someone can email me some help. Take care!

I used the NACHI practice questions. The NHIE is CAKE. Don’t sweat it. Just study.

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Perhaps it’s a comprehension issue?

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Most of the questions I had were based on ethics in business practices. They threw in some trick questions such as what’s wrong with this photo. Well the photo obviously had several defects so it was a crapshoot. It was also pretty intense regarding stucco questions. I haven’t seen any houses in Missouri or Illinois with stucco so that made it challenging as well

The NHIE multiple choice questions use the best answer answer system so while a choice may have some correct information it is not necessarily “the best” or most complete answer.

Thanks for the info and suggestions everyone! I’m back to the books and am set to take it again in mid November. Guess I need to study lawn irrigation systems more, really? We don’t even inspect those, right? I still think the test is illegitimate and not as relevant as it should be for a requirement before being granted a license here in the Bluegrass. Thanks again guys!

You probably just need to relax. Tests test your ability take a test :slight_smile: Like I said, don’t sweat it. Stop worrying, and be confident. Study the material and you will do fine.

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Love that advice. Thanks Juan and God bless!

Go through the entire test and answer all the questions you can. Skip the questions you don’t know the answer to. In some cases, a later question will help you answer a previous question. Then go back through the unanswered questions again. Skip, again, the questions you can’t answer. Then go through the unanswered questions again. Take your time. You have 4 hours. More than enough time to go through the test, several times. And as Juan already stated… RELAX…

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Are you sure about that?

www.homeinspectionexam.org/state_regulations.php?state=illinois#state

Same as always. Illinois test just adds some legal and ethics questions.

The dissolved issue for IL was on this forum several years back, so I think the info is outdated now. A picture was posted on here where the state of IL said it was involuntarily disbanded as a non-progit org and many at that time on here referred to the NHIE as a scam. Made me skeptical, but it’s encouraging to hear good advice and that so many have successfully passed it. Thanks!

When I was studying for the Florida test I found this helpful since it told you right then and there if you got it wrong or right. Just make sure to actually “X” out of the pop up box or you will have a ton of them behind the open page.

http://www.nachi.org/practice.htm

Hopefully third time is the charm. Best of luck!

I am impressed with your resilience in attempting to become a home inspector. I encourage you to continue in your quest for knowledge so that someday you can represent home buyers of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the most significant investment they ever make in their lives!

I realize you have no time for family sob stories and all going on with you, but I am very interested in the motivational force driving you to become a home inspector. Where do you come from in your past life that provides the necessary assets to become a building investigator? What do you expect from this endeavor and how long do you expect it will take to achieve that?

The answer to this likely has a large bearing upon your ability to pass the NHIE examination. In light of the many home inspectors who feel licensing and testing is illegitimate, a scam and a joke, it’s very likely that the NHIE examination is rigged, seeing as so many have also experienced your dilemma.

I for one also remember questions on the examination that seem to have no relevancy whatsoever with home inspection standards. There were questions there that only my father and grandfather would even know what they were talking about. There were questions about buildings in other parts of the country that did not exist in Nashville Tennessee! What’s up with that!?

It seems that they are trying to determine if the examinee was capable of contemplating “the best answer”. After all, it is multiple-choice and they are giving you the answer someplace. As others suggested, skip those questions and continue with the examination as the answer is often found further on in the test, or it may just jog your memory.

As for your request for a question/answer key for the NHIE test, you should realize that the test you are taking, have taken, will take, is not the same test as the person sitting beside you in the room. The test is generated from a large pool of questions that are randomly selected for that particular testing session.

It is quite apparent that you have learned one very important thing through all this. The ability to come to this message board and ask people about what you don’t know, or how to do. People here are just so helpful in providing you an opinion of what they think the answer may be, even when they don’t know. That takes great camaraderie to stand up in public and do this. It should make you proud. Unfortunately for you no one has the question/answer key for the test, which would likely land them in jail if they did possess such a document.

It’s really a bummer that this damn test is holding you up from getting your official license there in Kentucky. I live just across the state line and no one was building any houses in Kentucky at the time, but now that they are, I believe I would be reluctant to try to take that Kentucky examination for fear that I may fail such a rigged test.

I also cannot see paying another $225, simply to fail the test in a state where I wouldn’t be doing that much business anyway.

Maybe someday they’ll have a prelicensing course that will teach you everything you could possibly want to know about residential and commercial building inspection and provide you a direct line (even while you’re on site conducting an inspection, through an “emergency forum”) consisting of hundreds of home inspectors and vendors that could research and give you an answer to your questions. This course would also allow you to go back when you’re done with your inspection and take a course on the subject matter that you are lacking in. It would be a course that even your state would accept as “continuing education” so you could maintain your home inspection license in the years to come. These folks would even write you a narrative to put in your inspection report so you waste no time in providing that in-depth inspection report expected by your client who is investing in the greatest purchase of their lives…

Just maybe, someday someone will come up with an organization that could provide all these things except a proxy to take the NHIE test for you.

Chris,
You may want to consider studying the stucco & EIFS courses through interNachi since there were a lot of stucco questions on the exam. I have found all the interNachi courses helpful.

Best, Mark

I am having the same issue. I have studied a ton going all the way back through my books from school in Arizona. I even bought a Home Inspector Exam secrets book that was supposed to help pass the first try! Then I decided to come here and have been practicing the 2000 questions, which is daunting, but I think it has helped some. I feel more relaxed and as many of you have said that is the key. Any advice from anyone in Arizona? Thanks-Nick

www.nachi.org/education.htm

Thanks Nick, I am already a certified home inspector I just need to pass the silly state test for Arizona. The only prep that is offered here is in the form of 2000 practice questions which are not anything like the NHIE.

Memorize everything you can from the current code check books You can not afford to miss a single question about things like rise and run, tempered glass requirements, etc.

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