EMT students forced to retake exam after error

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WECT) – Questions and an investigation surround a class at Southeastern Community College in Whiteville, where state officials want to know if students in the class already had the same questions that would end up on a state exam.

According to the State Office of Emergency Medical Services, Jonathan Smith, a professor at the college, gave students a study guide that had 66 questions related to the NC EMT Intermediate State Exam.

Some students who were in the EMT intermediate class at SCC last spring say that Smith gave them a study guide to help them prepare for their written examination. However, students say that once they took the state exam, they realized many of the questions were also on their study guide.

An investigation team with the Office of Emergency Medical Services has since completed its investigation and found that although Smith did give his students a study guide with blank answers, Smith thought the material given to him came from a different community college's final intermediate state exams, and did not know it would be on the state's test.

According to state officials, no further action will be taken against Smith. Still, some EMT students who admitted that they had completed the same study guide, then taken a smilar test and passed it now have to retake the exam, and aren't very happy as a result.

The college plans to help those students prepare for the test free of charge.

Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Southeastern Community College released a statement saying, "We are satisfied with the results of the DHHS investigation, which state that the instructor did not know the material compromised the North Carolina EMT-Intermediate State examination, however, we deeply regret any inconvenience that this incident may have caused impacted students. The College will conduct comprehensive review sessions at no cost to the impacted students. We are committed to assisting them in meeting their EMS career goals."

Copyright 2012 WECT. All rights reserved.