The Comprehensive Respiratory Therapist Exam Review

I'm writing a review because there weren't any on here, and they would've really helped me out, so this is for anyone else looking into buying this. Quick intro, I've been RRT for 10+ years and let my credential go simply due to absent mindedness, which was quite stupid, but it happened. So don't let that happen. If your credential expires and you don't catch it within 6 months, you WILL have to retest. Which if you've ever taken the CRT/RRT exam (which is easier now because CRT is just multiple choice and RRT is just clinical simulations), you know it's something you don't ever want to have to do again. And since the exam questions are not based on how people actually do things in health care, you can't just go in there with I-don't-care-how-much-experience-you-have and expect to pass because the exam has specific ways they want you to answer questions even if that's not how we actually do it in the hospital. However, I will say that experience certainly was a great benefit since you already know many clinical values, normal ranges, ect. and specific symptoms that are linked with certain disease processes. Annnywayy...As most RTs and RT students know, Kettering Seminars is pretty much the "standard" as for passing the boards, but it is highly overpriced in every aspect. So I bought this instead and I was satisfied with the layout. There were a few typos, unfortunately some of them were in the self assessment questions, but if you read it fully you will realize they simply wrote down the wrong answer letter, but the actual explanation is correct. The online content was also quite easy to set up and use, which is why I didn't buy this used because practicing the actual exams are key in passing them.I will say that the clinical simulations were superior to others in that, they show you the answers you selected as well as the answers you didn't select AND the corresponding points for each one. So for example, you can see the answers you chose and how many points they gave or took away, as well as see the answers you didn't choose that WOULD HAVE given you additional points or taken away additional points. However, they do only provide 22...the same 22. And if you're like me and can memorize stuff really really fast, they are not challenging after the second or even first time taking them unless you wait a significant amount of time between the same simulation. My other critique is although the context of the book is very helpful for the multiple choice questions, it doesn't really go over any sort of techniques for passing the simulations, because there IS a method to helping yourself out passing these...tricks so to speak. However, if you take them and read all the explanations to each choice, it's possible that you will eventually get the hang of it. But, I did go and purchase additional simulation practices. Once again, Kettering had the most options but you could only take each simulation once and need to purchase tokens. And I can't remember the specifics but the value was so bad. You would have to spend a significant amount of money to practice 22 simulations. For example, if you buy 8 tokens for 40$ they give you 6 tokens for free. You get a total of 14 tokens which equals 14 simulations...which isn't even as many as you get tested on in the exam. I did the math, it comes out to almost $3.00 for just ONE SIMULATION! And I did the math for the best value and it was still $2.50 cents per simulation. Anyway, I feel it's a really low value considering many people needing this stuff are students and don't have a ton of money....considering both exams together are around 400$. So I went with a site called Respiratory Cram. It was rounded up to $30 for a months access I believe, and although there were some glitches with the simulations, it was well worth the money. They give you tips and they have a good amount of simulations that you can take as many times as you want. They were NOT as good as the simulations provided by this book as far as choice explanation, but they were challenging. I felt like there were more than 22 to practice with, but between that and THIS book, I felt pretty confident going in. But I'm going to tell you outright, the actual exam seems harder than any practice material I looked into, but of course without the material, I would not have passed at all.So, if you're a brand new grad, you might want to spend the extra money on Kettering, but I feel if you give yourself enough time with this book you can still have plenty of info. And the NBRC and several sites offer free TMC practice exams that are good, but free practice simulations are much more difficult to find. NBRC only offered one I think, and in general there's not a lot of free options out there for the simulations. Overall, I'm glad I took a chance and went with this, and although I wanted the extra simulations, in total I only spent $130 on study material which is a long shot from the $200+ Kettering package.Hope this helps anyone out there getting ready to exam!

I received the book with missing pages

This brand new book has an AWFUL mildew smell to it! I can’t even open it! I’ve let it air out for two months and no change! I purchased this book brand new and now I’m stuck with a mildew book that was SUPPOSED to be brand new because my return window has closed! So disappointed, especially being a student and having to waste so much money on a book I have to throw away!