What to Expect
Once you complete your NRCME training, you can use your National Registry Number to schedule your exam.
The NRCME exam is designed to evaluate healthcare professionals’ knowledge and skills necessary to perform a CDL medical exam. It consists of multiple-choice questions covering various content areas including medical history, physical examination, diagnostic testing and clinical guidelines, and the ability to determine overall driver fitness to operate a commercial vehicle.
Here’s what you can expect on your test day.
Upon Arrival at the Testing Facility
When you arrive at the PSI or Prometric testing center:
- Facility personnel will ensure your pockets are empty, and any personal items will be secured in a sealed bag. Paper and pencil are provided.
- Breaks aren’t allowed during the 2-hour exam, so eat a snack, sip some water, and use the restroom beforehand.
Pre-test Warm Up
- At the direction of a test administrator, you will first complete a 5-minute warm-up to make sure you know how the testing software works
- If you encounter technical issues during your exam, you must alert your test administrator immediately
Anticipating Exam Questions
Here’s a little more perspective on the questions what you might encounter on your exam.
Questions are designed to gauge knowledge in three areas:
Recall
Your ability to tap into
memorized facts
Application
Conclusions you draw from provided clinical information
Analysis
More complicated questions and your ability to problem solve
The exam seems to focus more on application and analysis type questions.
So, relying on memorization alone may not get you a passing score. You must understand how to apply foundational information.
Some questions are sequential.
You will be given a case-based question about a hypothetical commercial driver, and then answer questions requiring you to assess and analyze the specifics of the provided driver scenario.
Taking the Exam
The NRCME Certification Exam consists of 120 questions, 100 of which will be graded. If you aren’t sure of an answer, you can skip that question and come back to it at the end (time permitting). You must achieve a score of at least 71% to pass the exam.
You’re Done!
Once you have completed the exam, you will get your results immediately. The testing organization will send your results directly to the FMCSA.