My RD Exam Experience

You've "survived" through those chemistry's, the internship, and now... the biggest test of your life. How do you plan on studying? There are so many ways successful registered dietitians have met their mark and passed, but I thought I'd share with you all how I studied and also my testing experience. My mantra for this test was: "I can do hard things". I wrote it on a post it and put it on my steering wheel repeated it to myself a couple of times in the exam along with Ariel McVicker, RD. 

Studying: I started studying after Thanksgiving, around the same time I found out that I would be traveling for Air Force training the entire month of January. I thought with the holidays and now this school, early February would be the perfect time to take it. I studied anywhere from 1.5 hours/day to 10 hours/day, it varied. While I was away at the First Sergeant Academy I was not able to study during the day, it was a busy course and I wished I could have studied the entire time away, but we had our own assignments, group work, and things that we had to accomplish there. On the weekends while I was in Alabama, I did study almost the entire day, I would wake up hit the gym or run and then bust out the material. I used EatRightPrep and the Inman Review as my study material. I also joined 2 different FB groups and would listen to "Chomping Down the RD Exam" podcast on my runs which was very helpful. Initially I wanted to expose myself to as much material as possible however, shortly after I began studying I realized I needed to keep it simple and limited my resources. I also would use Krause's Food & the Nutrition Care Process when I needed a more in depth explanation or if I was particularly struggling with a topic or process. I also used YouTube videos from Ninja Nerd who I can not rant and rave enough about. He is absolutely amazing on the topics he has and I think he's brilliant. I hope to be like him someday when I grow up about nutrition practices. He helped me grasp some things I was struggling with for sure. 

On Monday February 8th, I decided to log into the Pearson CDR website to see what was available. The week before I had checked and there was noon times until March. But something just told me to look and there was an 8 am on Friday the 12th. I swallowed big, I knew it was meant for me and clicked through to sign up. There it was, starring at me- my test date. I took that week and studied about 2 hours each night, maybe. I am working full-time at the base and I had an extremely busy week after drill and I was extremely stressed, but felt that I had to take a stab at it. It had been a couple month now and I just honestly wanted to be DONE studying. My brain wasn't absorbing much more and I felt like I needed to just go for it. I never felt "ready" per say, I just wanted to be done to be honest lol. 

I woke up at 1:30 am on the 12th, busted out my worksheets I had made with all the most important material (or what I thought was, lol). I had a bowl of oats with blueberries and peanut butter- it hit the spot and I knew this would keep my full till I completed the exam. The testing center was only 15 mins away, I arrived 30 mins prior to settle myself, tell myself "I can do hard things", and ensure I was after all in the right place. The test center procedures were no worse than when I took the GRE, very controlled but only took a few mins to get me in my seat. We were offered noise cancelling head phones- I slid those babies on and also a calculator which I was NOT expecting. I had expected to use the on screen one so I was very pleased about that, then we were given this test flip booklet that was dry erase and of course a marker to write with. I clicked the tutorial and started jotting down some lab values, mnemonics, formulas, and the exchange list as it went through just to get it out of my head and easily assessable in front of me. Then I saw the first question and my heart began racing and was pounding in what felt like my throat- this continued for many questions and then it subsided and I was in the zone. I remember checking around question 60-70, then again at 86, then around 110, then 123. I checked my time 33 mins remaining, I took a deep breath and pressed. I refused to allow myself to look at the number of questions, I just read each twice and answered. Then it stopped. I swallowed so hard. Then a survey- I knew this was coming and I did something I absolutely wasn't supposed to do, I clicked next, then next again, and again- without answering a single one of the survey questions, I don't even know what they asked..... I couldn't take it. It let me though, so I did it until I saw the end screen. I saw my number... and I saw congratulations, but my eyes just searched in disbelief till I saw the word "pass". I blinked a few times and a smile just took over my face, my hands immediately popped up to cover my mouth and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't get out of that room fast enough. I took a half-assed breath and raised my hand- turned and made eye contact with the lady behind the glass window. As I waited for her, I wanted to scream. I asked if I would get a print out & she pointed to the front desk, it was there waiting for me. I grabbed it from the gentleman there and quickly fumbled my key for my locker, almost forgetting my wallet and phone. I ran down the steps out to the front of the building into my car. I screamed, I clapped, I'm sure I made some ungodly sports like noises and then called my mom. She answered after two rings and I just said, "I DID IT, oh my god mom, I finally did it!!!" and I could hear her happiness pouring out of the phone. It was such an amazing moment and still a week later doesn't feel real. I spent 5.5 years of my life working on this one goal and it finally has come to flourishing. My husband happened to be working at a food bank near our home in Perrysburg, I surprised him and showed up. He had been my rock through this entire thing, he had listened to me talk about food additives, nutrition components, lab values, and everything else I memorized for months. I could see in his eyes how proud he was of me. It's funny because I was in complete and utter shock and disbelief that I passed but the people that loved me the most knew I could do it and had no doubt in their minds that I would on the first try. 

As far as the test goes, to be honest that was one of the most difficult tests of my life. I felt the questions were vague and none of which I had ever seen before. I didn't expect to see the same questions as I had practiced however, they weren't even in the same realm of material other than the research questions and I had one on food borne illness that was straight forward. My test had about 5-6 calculations; food service, tube feeding, PN, and a budget type one. I honestly invested so much time memorizing those I kind of wish it would have had more of them on there. From what I can recall, I had a lot of management questions then the next most frequent type was from domain 2. I honestly, can't remember a single question or how it was worded. I suppose that's stress and a coping mechanism of some sort hahaha. But it was a very difficult test, I could almost always remove at least 2 answer choices which was good. I didn't feel that I was absolutely bombing it, but I felt as if I was going to have to re-take it. I did not feel confident when I reached the last 20 or so questions. 

Overall, this has been such a long and tiresome journey to all be wrapped up some quickly and swiftly with a click of the mouse. I think that is why it feels so surreal and hard to grasp that I am now a registered dietitian. Life is good and I can tell you that this is the greatest and most challenging thing I have ever accomplished in my entire life. I can't wait to see what my next chapter has in store. Thanks for reading!