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1

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


Hi to all,


the following is also being released on several other industry message boards tonight, before we take it back in house (with added features)for our members only use.

Gerry


Hi to all,

Ok, now bear with me this is a little unusual, NACHI has long been criticized over its current entrance exam and is used by many outside of our organization to belittle its members as being some what ?lesser? inspectors than others.

Our current entry level exam is nothing more than that, a base line that we use to admit new members and new inspectors into our ranks, even within our own organization many members have commented on this, and have asked for something more meaningful

We have been working on new exams for quite a while, having designed protocols to support a better exam, and contrary to what some believe writing hundreds of questions from scratch, this new exam will not replace our current entry level exam, but will perhaps in future be the equivalent of NHIE or other organizations higher level exams.

This is currently in a ?BETA? test format and I have some bells and whistles to add to it but before I do so I wanted inspectors outside of our organization to see what we are up to.

I am going to make this exam available to anyone who wishes to take it, NACHI member or not for a limited period of time, it is a great tool for analyzing an inspectors weaknesses and I hope that many find taking it educational.

Anyone who has previously taken NACHI?s on-line exam can log on to this exam using their existing username and password, anyone who has not availed themselves of this opportunity previously can register to take the new exam by clicking this link:

http://exams.nachi.org/signup.php once you have done so you then need to go to:

http://exams.nachi.org/exambeta/

I am doing this as part of our final beta testing, and welcome any and all constructive criticism, please let me know what you all think.

BTW, this exam has 100 questions drawn off a larger pool, and is designed to mirror various state licensing exams, I would expect that it should take about 1 hour to complete.

regards

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"

2

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


Hi to all,


Just a quick up date, with thanks to those who have taken the time to try this out, and especially to those who have made meaningfull suggestions.

Total Exams Taken: 111
Average Grade: 53.73
Number of Exams Passed: 28
Average Passing Grade: 79.46
Number of Exams Failed: 83
Average Failing Grade: 45.05

As you can see about 25% are passing this exam at this point, and I can see from the stats that the weak areas are about the same, interestingly the results this week leaving it open to non members are about the same as with our original beta test group (only 2% higher pass).

I have today loaded up about 20 picture based questions to play with, now that we have validated the basic system, it will be interesting to see how these questions perform with the added benefit of visual stimulation.

This exam will be left up until next Friday for all to play with.

Regards

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: wengelking
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.


I took the test again today, for the third (2.icon_cool.gif time. WOW, what a difference. There has been a lot of work gone into it since early June.


While I took the test, I was a little upset by some questions with more than one correct answer. When I got the score, though, it did explain that. I also had one question asking me to identify a roof in a picture that didn’t exist. I have to say that the test is looking pretty good if it is to be used as a higher standard.


Walter

4

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


Hi to all,


Thanks Walter, there are several questions in the exam with potentialy more than one correct answer, but in all cases I believe that there is one answer that is clearly the "best" answer from a home inspectors perspective,. Also some questions do have multiple selectable answers, but i hope that those are clearly marked in the question sorry about the missing photo another member also reported that to me, it appears that if I go back and edit a question the photo gets lost in the shuffle, I guess Chris and I still have some work to do.

Thanks for your input.

Regards

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"

5

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


Hi to all,


many thanks to all who took this exam in the last week, the temporary link to this exam that allowed non-members to take it has now been removed.

I would like to thank all those who took the time to discuss with me the merits of this exam and also the areas that could use some improvement.

I will publish more results from this beta test over the weekend and also discuss what further improvements that we wish to make.

we believe that this exam is technologically the best in the business, and its incorperation of photographs and diagrams sets a new standard for home inspector testing and education.

Regards

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"

6

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




Total Exams Taken: 171
Average Grade: 56.64
Number of Exams Passed: 54
Average Passing Grade: 78.91
Number of Exams Failed: 117
Average Failing Grade: 46.37

This equates to a 31% pass rate, which I concider to be quite good on the basis that not one had studied to take this exam, like you would for say a state license exam (I bet if we charged $195:00 a pop for it the pass rate would go up) ![icon_wink.gif](upload://ssT9V5t45yjlgXqiFRXL04eXtqw.gif)

Grade Brackets

Grade Bracket Total Average
Scores of 1 to 10 24 14.04%
Scores of 11 to 20 1 0.58%
Scores of 21 to 30 2 1.17%
Scores of 31 to 40 2 1.17%
Scores of 41 to 50 9 5.26%
Scores of 51 to 60 29 16.96%
Scores of 61 to 70 56 32.75%
Scores of 71 to 80 29 16.96%
Scores of 81 to 90 12 7.02%
Scores of 91 to 100 7 4.09%

As you can see from the grade braket averages nearly 33% of takers were within 10% of passing. I believe that with some additional study that 60% of members would pass this exam within a very short space of time.

Category Stats
Interiors: 53% correct on average
Electrical: 55% correct on average
Structural: 47% correct on average
Roofs and Attics: 62% correct on average
Plumbing: 65% correct on average
Heating and Cooling: 55% correct on average
Exteriors: 59% correct on average
Environmental: 58% correct on average
Ventilation and Insulation: 61% correct on average
Fireplaces, Stoves and Chimneys: 46% correct on average.

I have highlighted the "problem areas" in terms of topics, the structures area is a cause for concern especially as we know from insurance stats that this is the biggest area of claims against HI's. And I am disapointed with the scores in the Chimney areas, as this has major safety issues, however I do recognize that chimneys and fireplaces can be somewhat a regional thing.

I again would like to thank all who have taken this exam, and offered opinions on its style and performance, your suggestions and comments have ben most helpfull.

Regards

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"

7

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


I took the test in 33 minutes with an 86%. Not bad.


Gerry,

I need to study up on those I failed to get correct. What is NACHI using to help members improve their scores?

--
David Valley
MAB Member

Massachusetts Certified Home Inspections
http://www.masscertified.com

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."

8

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


Gerry:


I just tried the Beta Exam link.

Is that the Beta exam or the Entrance Exam that I just took??

--
Joseph Hagarty

HouseMaster / Main Line, PA
joseph.hagarty@housemaster.com
www.householdinspector.com

Phone: 610-399-9864
Fax : 610-399-9865

HouseMaster. Home inspections. Done right.

9

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


Hi Joe,


I resent you the correct link via PM, I think you took the entry level exam.

Regards

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"