Where Can I Find a Medical Interpreter Certification Practice Test?

NBCMI and CCHI encourage applicants to take the practice test before the exam to be familiar with the oral examination format. 

CCHI provides a repository of online resources and training modules to help candidates polish their knowledge and skills.

In Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish, the CHI practice test acquaints candidates with the structure and difficulty level. Create an account on the site and access these exams at your convenience. CoreCHI applicants can take the practice test ten times within six months of purchase. For a limited period, the tests are free of cost.

Additionally, CCHI hosts free webinars each month. Check out all online training modules on the website. To further demystify medical terminologies, a candidate can access the mini bilingual glossaries by filling in a small form. Though the UI of the actual medical interpreter certification exam is different from the practice exam, a candidate can access the actual exam screenshot through the training modules.

NBCMI created its practice test to ensure smooth navigation through its oral exam.

The practice test is made for familiarization. The mock scenarios are entirely different from the actual exam. Get access to credentials here. It’s a seamless process once you log in to the test CMS. In addition, you are required to complete a system check before proceeding with the medical interpreter practice test.

The organization provides candidate handbooks to give clarity on the written and oral exams. Moreover, you could attend their monthly hour-long webinars where they have 30 minutes dedicated to Q&As. Keep a check on the NBCMI website for webinar announcements. 

The Medical Interpreter Practice Test Helps Test Navigation.

It doesn’t help a candidate prepare for actual interpreting in a medical context.

CCHI’s Practice Test

It helps candidates get hands-on experience of the computer-based delivery system and information on the expected content types on the certification examination. Just create an account on the site and access all the course material, screenshots of the actual exam, and directions to the target language-specific practice test. 

The exam assists candidates in testing their interpreting skills in all three modes; consecutive, simultaneous, and sight translation.

Candidates need to record themselves on their devices since there’s no recording function within the training module. On the contrary, the actual exam has ‘record’ buttons on the screen. 

Taking a deeper dive into each of the six sections:

1. Directions to the practice exam.
2. Consecutive Interpreting which contains 11 utterances presented as audio recordings that need to interpreted consecutively. Once you record the answer on your device, you can compare it to the correct answer on the training module.
3. Simultaneous Interpreting: This section requires interpretation simultaneously.
4. Sight Translation is the section with three short excerpts from three different healthcare documents for sight translation. There are no recording of correct answers. 
5. The CHI™ Certification Exam Logistics contains details and screenshots of the user interface for the actual exam.
6. Resources. As the name suggests, this section contains various reference links to further prepare you.

Get access to your practice test by logging in here.

NBCMI’s Practice Test

The test aids students in navigating through the oral exam. Navigating correctly is essential since it might negatively affect scoring. Once a candidate logs in, they must run a simple system check before taking the practice test.

Unlike CCHI, NBCMI’s practice test has the record functionality on its test portal. A candidate can listen to the role-play scenarios and record their answers. The practice begins with the sight translation. Candidates get 90 seconds to read each of the two scripts and 4 minutes to interpret each of the document’s two parts into the target language. The Consecutive Interpreting test follows this. After completing the sample test, you can check the score on the top right corner of the screen. In conclusion, the test is designed for practice, and the types of role-play scenarios are not the same as the actual oral exam.

Is the medical interpreter practice test identical to the real test or just similar?

Practice tests can help candidates have the technical know-how on the user interface of the actual exam. It makes candidates familiar with content types and the computer-based delivery system. The role-play scenarios on the practice test are different from those on the real oral exam. In other words, it doesn’t help a candidate prepare for interpreting in a medical context.

How much does the medical interpreter practice test cost?

Medical interpreter practice tests are free of cost. However, candidates need to create an account on the portal to get access. 

CoreCHI practice tests are free of cost for a limited period, usually priced at $30.

Additional Resources