980 Questions/Answers to the NHIE....Free!

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by fcarrio

Jim,

Noel Zak flew into New Hampshire to pitch her "Independent" test to our legislators.

If you and any other member will E-mail what questions and answers that you have I can use them to refute her testimony about NO ONE having the Q & A. to their tests.

I need this information BEFORE the 16th!!!!

I'll send you 980 that came as a free bonus on eBay. They are on their way to you, now.

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

Originally Posted by jhagarty

Which "NHIE" did you take?
The "ASHI" Version or the "EBPHI" Version?

The EBPHI version.

I also have the EBPHI Certificate.


PS:
Last year I received a letter from the EBPHI asking me to participate in helping them develop / re-write their test.

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

Originally Posted by jbushart

I'll send you 980 that came as a free bonus on eBay. They are on their way to you, now.

Thank You!

Does anyone else have Q. & A's from their test?

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

Originally Posted by jhagarty

I have a couple of thousand questions that date back to 2004 (and prior years) that were alleged to have been ASHI and/or NHIE Test related.

Send me your email address and I will forward them along....

jJoseph.hagarty@comcast.net

Joe,
THANK YOU!


This is GREATLY appreciated!

please send to......

FCarrio@Comcast.Net

[James H. Bushart]

Speaking of licensing....

This is a side note of something funny that happened, today.

I received a copy of a quarterly newsletter from a group of Kansas City female real estate salespeople, today.

The main article was the President of this little group just tearing me up...calling me everything she could think of...for daring to suggest that real estate salesmen have something at stake in our bill.

Anyway...right smack in the middle of this butt-chewing assasination is an advertisement from one of my fellow Missouri MAREI members (who also opposes the bill), promoting his company.

We have been having a good laugh out of this. Not too much else to really laugh about in this licensing business, though.

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by fcarrio

I took & passed the NHIE in Massachusetts and there were no questions on any "State Laws".

Just to clarify:

Many states, including Illinois, used ASHI and took the NHIE on as the state test. They added some questions about the state law, since the test was for Illinois licensing.

BUT, in Illinois, once they had the test, they gave it to an independent, professional testing service and this service changes, added to and massaged the test (including pschometric parameters and pictures and computer applications and all that stuff) and expanded on it.

The result? Illinois required the 250 + "full members" of ASHI, who ASHI wanted to have grandfathered, to, at least, take the test. If they didn't pass it, they would be required to take the 60 hour pre-licensing courses.

Guess what happened?

Only 41% of these 250+ full members passed the test!!!

It has been long known, at least in Illinois, that the test questions and answers were easily available to full ASHI members. These are the guys who wanted to transition from actually doing inspection to becoming pre-licensing and continuing education instructors (Beats crawling attics, don't it?).

But, the state (and their independent testing company (AMP) fooled them.

It just don't pay to try to BS a BS artist.

The problem with all independent tests is who has access to the test and who administers it. When this question is dealt with, progress can be made.

Hope this helps;

BTW: I also passed the NHIE. Got the certificate and everything. The state requires them to provide such documentation if you pass the state exam.

Hoist on their own petard!

[Richard L. Bennett]

Most tests are a joke

I do not care if they are high school - collage - cpa etc. they all can be taught

Tests that are designed to make one think is where it is at -- example if you miss a question the test will continue to ask questions in your weak area to see if it was just bad luck as well as when you get a question correct it will continue to test you in that area to see if it was just luck then it will grade you good or bad on a weighted scale

Nachi's test is real close to being right -- If a test is just "memory" it is junk

Basic knowledge is good but CAN YOU INSPECT A HOME

I bet that NACHI members could put a test together that would rock

Remember we are not trying to kill people but to find out if they can inspect a home in a professional manor - we are not trying to build one

----
Questions like:

Is this safe
Is this about to fail
Is this broke
Is this wrong
Is this something that you should know about
Is this going to cause you problems down the road

----

Please remember that we have a client that needs to know the condition of what they are buying and that is our job,

Quality reports are going to be our bottom line and if the report software is wrong we will not be able to sue the software company - so lets go back to what we are really trying to do and

Do it

rlb

[James H. Bushart]

I think that ICC has it closest to being right.

Open book test with questions that combine facts from several chapters. It is not a memorization of fact, but the ability to apply them to a situation.

Add to that the most important ingredient of all ---- the ability to communicate. This is where inspectors fail more often than in any other area, IMO, and something none of our present testing methods address.

The ability to observe, to find a defect, and to describe it intelligently....cannot be memorized or quantified in a written test.

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by jbushart

I think that ICC has it closest to being right.

Open book test with questions that combine facts from several chapters. It is not a memorization of fact, but the ability to apply them to a situation.

Add to that the most important ingredient of all ---- the ability to communicate. This is where inspectors fail more often than in any other area, IMO, and something none of our present testing methods address.

The ability to observe, to find a defect, and to describe it intelligently....cannot be memorized or quantified in a written test.

Totally and completely agree, Jim.

(Sorry I stopped ingoring you It won't happen again )

[Dale Duffy]

Couldn't agree more Jim,

The ability to observe, to find a defect, and to describe it intelligently....cannot be memorized or quantified in a written test.

Regardless of what the defect is, an inspector must be able to relate this to the buyer in a way which they will understand what the concern is, explain what the options are to have repairs made, and what could also happen if the repair is not made, and also what might be uncovered when the subject item is "opened up" to see the complete picture.

Flat roofs are a prime example of how an inspector must be able to relate a problem to a client that probably does not understand we cannot see what is under the roofing material, maybe the plywood needs to be replaced, maybe roof joists need to be replaced. As we all know most people think we should know what is hidden under that roof surface.

So if an inspector simply hands a client a piece of paper saying to have the roof "Further Evaluated" by a contractor and adds a picture of the screwed up roof surface without explaining to the client "Why", well all the testing proctored or not will not help that client before they make a decision to purchase.

All those questions on that exam are pretty much worthless in my opinion also, even if they are memorized, completely worthless if an inspector cannot talk intelligently about all those questions, not just answer them.

[John Cahill]

I endorse an open test with a test bank of thousands of questions. If you can memorize them its great. The ICC tests are open book and products like CodeCheck are great.

Testing technical or code based data does not assure a good inspector but it does not hurt either.

Defect recognition skill is imperative and I don't know anyone testing effectively for that.

Because home inspection is visual I think the majority of test questions should be supported with an actual picture. I know inspectors who will miss a technical written question and nail pictures perfectly.

Apprenticeship is vital in other industries yet this business has little of it.

Communication skills are vital and again there is little of that. Most inspectors cannot diagram an English sentence (guilty).

I say make the test questions public. Then focus on defect recognition, communication and experience.

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

Quote: Jim Bushart:
think that ICC has it closest to being right.

Open book test with questions that combine facts from several chapters. It is not a memorization of fact, but the ability to apply them to a situation.

Add to that the most important ingredient of all ---- the ability to communicate. This is where inspectors fail more often than in any other area, IMO, and something none of our present testing methods address.

The ability to observe, to find a defect, and to describe it intelligently....cannot be memorized or quantified in a written test.
End Quote:
--

Originally Posted by dduffy

Couldn't agree more Jim,

Regardless of what the defect is, an inspector must be able to relate this to the buyer in a way which they will understand what the concern is, explain what the options are to have repairs made, and what could also happen if the repair is not made, and also what might be uncovered when the subject item is "opened up" to see the complete picture.

Flat roofs are a prime example of how an inspector must be able to relate a problem to a client that probably does not understand we cannot see what is under the roofing material, maybe the plywood needs to be replaced, maybe roof joists need to be replaced. As we all know most people think we should know what is hidden under that roof surface.

So if an inspector simply hands a client a piece of paper saying to have the roof "Further Evaluated" by a contractor and adds a picture of the screwed up roof surface without explaining to the client "Why", well all the testing proctored or not will not help that client before they make a decision to purchase.

All those questions on that exam are pretty much worthless in my opinion also, even if they are memorized, completely worthless if an inspector cannot talk intelligently about all those questions, not just answer them.

Dale & Jim,
Both of you guys are right on the money!

If you have to have a "National" test the ICC is the way to go!

After I paid $225.00 passed the EBPHI / NHIE all I got was a worthless certificate!


When and IF you pass an ICC test the certification can be used to get a City, State, or Federal job!

[John Cahill]

Originally Posted by fcarrio

When and IF you pass an ICC test the certification can be used to get a City, State, or Federal job!

and then your INDEMNIFIED

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

Gosh, I hope Joe Hagarty is wrong and most of those questions aren't off the NHIE.

As a 30 year inspector, I looked at them and realized that at LEAST 40% of them had nothing to do with what a home inspector would do OR need to know OR have any use for.

My next door neighbor is a HVAC trainer. I showed them to him and I had time to go home, refill my wine glass and go back before he quit laughing.

This has got to be a joke - half of those are embarrassing and idiotic AND a huge waste of someones time unless you're taking a 6 month to year long course in home inspecting and trying to fill space or time or both.

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

Dan,
I purchased a CD off the INTERNET in 2005 that was supposed to be a study with sample questions off the NHIE. Costs me $19 and got to me in a couple days. I did it to prove to someone who didn't believe such a CD even existed and that is was readily available. I went through it and in fact many of the questions were strictly code questions that had absolutely nothing to do with home inspections. The majority of those questions dealt with construction applications and "how" to build something rather than what it's purpose was. One in particular that stands out was doing concrete estimation. There were others on fasteners, etc. I wish I had my $19 back as I had nor have any intention of using it. Ive heard from several other sources that there is always a lot of code type questions on the NHIE or whatever the name is this year. In fact I had one fella tell me that if you study just the code Check books you can squeek through the test.