Howdy!, theweatherprediction.com has gotten many message from those wanting to find out how they can prepare for the AMS (American Meteorological Society) CBM (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) comprehensive test. At this point theweatherprediction.com is ready to answer the call. First, I need to give an important notice. The information on this page is NOT supplied by the AMS, the practice questions given are NOT from the AMS and I can not guarantee all information below is accurate or current. You should check the AMS website for all the latest information about the test. If you follow all my advice below you should pass. Before taking a test it is important to learn as much as you can about this opponent you will be facing. The test is 100 multiple choice and true/false questions. Passing is 75%. This is important to know since you will need to concentrate for a full 100 questions. You also know you can miss 25 questions and still pass. The 75% threshold is good news since a 75% represents a middle "C" grade. This can be equivalent to making C's in all meteorology courses. Add to that there is no guessing penalty on the multiple choice and true/false questions. You are bound to get some credit for questions you have guessed at. Never leave a question blank! Go into the test with the mindset you will make at least a 90%. The official study guide for this test is found at the following link: http://www.ametsoc.org/amscert/cbmstudyguide.html You will need to go through every topic given on the AMS study guide. Keep paper and pencil with you and write down each new concept you learn by going through the various websites. You should be able to fill up an entire spiral notebook with concepts and information. I would recommend taking at least 2 months studying for the test. You should put in at least 100 hours of full attention study within that time frame. For tests like these you may hear that they are very difficult to prepare for. You will either know enough to pass or you will not. However, putting long hours of study WILL HELP YOU. For example, it can make the difference between a 72 and a 78. In other words it can be the difference between passing and having to take the test again. That brings me to the next point. You do not have to pass the test the first time it is taken. There are up to 3 tries to pass the test. It can even be attempted again after the 3 tries with a 1 year waiting period. Do not take it for granted you will have multiple attempts to pass. Go into battle ready on the first attempt. A common question I get is what topics need to be studied. The test is drawn from a huge test bank of questions that cover all topics given in their study guide. The best way to study is to go through all topics. What the study guide from the AMS does not provide is practice questions. There are many practice multiple choice questions on theweatherprediction.com website. I must stress these are NOT questions written by the AMS and the topics covered will not be comprehensive to the AMS test and some of these questions will cover topics the AMS may not have at all. It can not hurt to go through all these practice questions. An answer key is provided with each practice test. Answer every question in the practice questions below and then check your answers. For any question you get wrong figure out why the right answer is correct. Again, these are resources provided for practicing the answering of multiple choice questions that deal with meteorology concepts and these questions are not provided by the AMS. 100 practice meteorology questions: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/wxtest/test/ 15 practice tests with 20 questions each on various meteorology topics (300 questions total): http://www.theweatherprediction.com/quizzes/ 500 Haby Hint questions (in 50 question increments): http://www.theweatherprediction.com/hhquizzes/ The next bold step you can take in your study pursuits is to read the entire theweatherprediction.com website. Get another spiral notebook and fill in up with concepts and information you have learned and reviewed. Go through topics under the heading "weather prediction education and resources": http://www.theweatherprediction.com/ Read all Haby Hints: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/ There are several very good textbooks out there you can read to help with your studies. The following are recommended. Highlight all important concepts you run across in the books. Reread an Introduction to Meteorology textbook Reread a Climatology textbook Tim Vasquez, "Weather Maps Handbook" Tim Vasquez, "Weather Forecasting Handbook" Tim Vasquez, "Storm Chasing Handbook" Roland Stull, "Meteorology for Scientists and Engineers" Eric Conway, "An Introduction to Satellite Image Interpretation" Ronald Rinehart, "RADAR for Meteorologists" Peter Chaston, "Hurricanes!" Peter Chaston, "Thunderstorms, Tornadoes and Hail!" Patrick Abbott, "Natural Disasters" You will likely find the test has a mixture of easy, moderate and difficult questions. You want to make sure to get all the easy ones right and most of the moderate ones right and do the best you can with the difficult ones. Here is additional advice: If you finish the test early do not leave. Check your work until time is up. This can make the difference between passing and not passing. Read the questions and answers carefully. Many people are going to miss about 5 questions they would think they should have obviously gotten right but they either misread the question or did not read all the answers. Check your work carefully and check it more than once if you have time! Don't miss questions you should get. That brings me to the end of my suggestions. Good luck on passing the big test! |