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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:

Directions to the practice exam.
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.
Simultaneous Interpreting: This section requires interpretation simultaneously.
Sight Translation is the section with three short excerpts from three different healthcare documents for sight translation. There are no recording of correct answers.
The CHI™ Certification Exam Logistics contains details and screenshots of the user interface for the actual exam.
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

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Does your company need a domain specific language test?

What is a general proficiency assessment?

Language tests are often delivered using a general assessment – meaning they are not customized to any specific industry nor level – in order to allow for as many companies/people to be able to take the test. The way the same general proficiency assessment can be used to test a doctor or a bilingual staff member is by specifying the different levels of proficiency required for the different positions. A language test is assessing various levels of proficiency, so it would make perfect sense that it can assess various levels of employees.

What is a domain specific language test?

Many companies will start their search for a language test by saying something to the effect of “I am looking for Spanish test for Banking.” This is not necessarily wrong, or even not the best idea, but it is important to understand what exactly you are asking for, so you know what you will be getting. If a company were to properly develop a proficiency test for one specific industry, and further, one specific position, technically the test should not be able to be “passed” (if you have the industry and position specified, then the level would also be specified) by someone who does not have intimate knowledge of that position. This test becomes more of a performance test – as it will measure one’s ability to perform in a specific role, within a specific industry. The catch is that, if this was to be done correctly, you would also need the raters to be people with intimate knowledge of the position being tested. The reality is that 99% of the “domain specific language tests” out there simply change the theme of the test. For example, a general proficiency test may ask, “Tell me about the last meeting you had work. Do you think the meeting was productive for all in attendance? If you were to call a meeting, would you do anything differently?” If this were a domain specific test for healthcare administrators, the question could be modified to, “Tell me about the last meeting you had at the hospital. Do you think the meeting was productive for all in attendance? If you were to call a meeting, would you do anything differently?” Do you see how much it changed? Not much.

What is the right test for your company?

While domain specific tests do not make the test any more reliable or valid, they may provide a certain degree of comfort to clients. However, when making a decision as to which testing company you should use, it is recommended to use whichever you determine to be the best test, regardless of whether they offer a domain specific test for your industry, because the reality is the overall test structure and benefits is what will determine the overall success of your program, not the theme of the questions.

A disclaimer of sorts.

Since this blog entry is appearing on Parrot’s website, I thought I should mention that Parrot has no stake in this decision. Parrot does offer domain specific language tests, so they are certainly asking me, the author, to write a persuasive article in either direction. This article was created to simply inform companies looking to develop language testing programs in their businesses what the realities of both options are. If you choose the test that delivers most impressive experience to your users, at the price you want, and with all the tools you need to successfully manage your program, you can be confident that you have chosen the best test for your company!

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