The R.D. Exam

Yes it is a big exam, but I did not find it to be all that bad. In fact, after taking the exam, I wondered why I so nervous to begin with. And then it hit me… the blogs. Prior to taking it, I googled “ the RD exam” and came across a bunch of blogs. After reading one, I knew I should stop, but I wanted to hear what all the bloggers were saying. A majority of them expressed how hard the exam was and how they felt like they were failing the whole time. That was not my experience during the exam, though. In fact, I felt pretty confident during it. There were, of course, a few questions that I had no idea which answer was the best one, but in those cases I just had to go with my gut.

Looking back, I wish I had not read those blogs, because they really freaked me out. This blog will hopefully do the opposite and maybe even make you laugh.

I was sooo much fun to be around during my two weeks of intense studying… just ask my family.  

What did I use to study?

-Visual Veggies + Jean Inmans 2014 Study Guide (tied)… together they are a force to be reckoned with.

The Jean Inman’s study guide does not look big when it arrives, but looks can be deceiving. The plethora of information in that binder is  -lets face it-  overwhelming. However, come test day, you will find that it was helpful during the exam. Albeit, most of my questions concerned critical thinking, it was nice to have a few questions that came directly from the Inman material. Inman’s is also just a nice reference to have when you come across a question in your area of work.

Visual Veggies was phenomenal. I would recommend this to anyone taking the exam. They have hundreds of questions, but more importantly they explain the logic behind every answer, unlike Inman’s study guide questions. This software helped me understand all those foodservice calculations and strategies when it came to wording. In addition, it tracks your progress on quizzes and tests to help you better understand which domain you should focus on more. LOVED this. Highly recommend it. 

I found the medpreps iPhone app was kind of bogus. I was not really impressed with the questions; they were too straight-forward.

What’s the exam like?

For obvious reasons, I cannot talk about my exam questions. I can, however, tell you how the exam is set up and what my testing center was like.

The RD exam is a minimum of 125 questions and a maximum of 145.  Out of all your questions, there will be 25 “guinea pig” questions, meaning they do not count toward you score, but rather, may be used for future exams. And, of course, you will not know which questions fall into that category. Testers have 2.5 hours to complete the exam. I believe most, if not all, testing centers will give testing results directly after the exam.

My journey to the exam center, I could not stop looking at my flash cards.  I arrived a half-hour early to the center and stood outside the suite door waiting to be let in. In the meantime, other test takers arrived and we all anxiously chatted about our forthcoming exams. After what felt like way more than 30 minutes, we were let inside the testing suite.

First, the front desk person meant business. He quickly gave me legal forms to read over and sign. Even though I was 30 minutes early, it was nice being the first one to get situated and started. After signing the forms, he asked me to sit for a picture. This was the most uncomfortable part of the whole exam experience. First of all, there were twelve other people in the room staring at me. I quickly panned the room and every eye was on me. I was not sure if I should smile or just stare at the camera lens.  Frankly, I think they were watching to see what I did, because they were not sure how they should act either. Or maybe I had peanut butter on my face.  It took the guy three times to get a picture. The first one was taken when I was looking at everyone else and the second two I was blinking. I awkwardly sat there and did not smile… if there was ever a photo I wish I could see now, it is that one.

-My hair was a mess; for anyone who picks up on my cues, I tend to play with my hair when I am a) flirting or b) nervous. In this case, it was “a”.      Just kidding, it was “b”.

-I had absolutely no make-up on. Usually I put on mascara, blush, and carmex. On this particular morning, I rolled out of bed wearing my testing clothes (yup, that happened), brushed my teeth, ate half a piece of toast with peanut butter on it, and left.

-I wonder if the guy secretly laughs at all our petrified faces in the pictures while we are taking the exam.

After getting the picture taken, the front desk guy orders me to empty my pockets. I had a tissue in one and a TUMS in the other. He made me throw away both. Then, he took my palm prints twice for each hand. After that, I had to sign something on a machine that does not show your signature. And finally, they told me to turn off my cell phone and put all my belongings in a locker. I was then handed off to the proctor, who took me to a back red room and showed me some whips and weird stuff. I was SHOCKED.

Kidding. Actually, the proctor took my palm prints, again, and gave me ear plugs, a mini standard calculator, and scratchwork paper/pencil. Then, I entered a plain computer lab and started my exam. Oddly enough, when I sat down at the computer, I was calmer and more collected. I cannot discuss the actual exam, but I can say that I felt that my dietetic internship experience prepared me very well.  After the exam shut off, I had to take a survey. Once that was complete, the proctor led me out to the front desk guy, who printed my results.  I passed!

The End :)