What Is the NHS Audio Typing Test and How to Prepare for it?
Maybe you’ve applied for your dream job at the NHS, or perhaps this is an important stepping stone for a future job!
Either way, the Audio Typing Test is an essential component to landing a job as a communications officer,+ or control operator role in the NHS. For such an important role, the test can also be a significant source of stress for applicants.
Take the NHS Audio Typing Practice Test to improve your score.
In this article, we will discuss what the NHS audio typing test is, talk about why the NHS requires its future employees to take the test, what to expect, and how to best prepare for it!
Read on to find out more about:
A rundown of the NHS
What the audio typing test is
How to prepare for the NHS audio typing test
How touch typing could help you
Tips for taking the audio typing test
Some of the most commonly asked questions about the test.
Let’s get into it!
laptop, hands, gadgets
Table of Contents
What Is the NHS?
The National Health Service (NHS) is the United Kingdom’s publicly funded healthcare system.The NHS is one of the country’s largest employers and it provides a wide range of medical services to the public. As such, many people dream of landing a job in the NHS.
While the audio typing test is crucial to be hired, it is also important to remember that the NHS is pretty strict with its hiring process. Therefore, you can expect that it has more aptitude tests in store for you to answer. With that said, it can be helpful for you to try answering practice tests by well-known employment test publishers like the SHL.
What The NHS Looks for In Candidates
The NHS expect their employees to have proper qualifications. Aside from typing skills, they also require a high level of reading, numeracy, and information technology abilities. They may request GCSEs or other similar credentials.
You may be able to join an internship through an administrative function and proceed to a more senior administrative or typing role through further training and certifications while advancing your knowledge of medical topics and terminology.
Of course, you must also possess the appropriate personality traits at your workplace. As a typist, for example, you are expected to work precisely and carefully to meet deadlines, make use of medical terminology, pay close attention to detail, operate as part of a team, and use your initiative while delivering an immediate response.
An audio typing exam is a type of criticall test commonly used in emergency services. In fact, it is used by the United Kingdom’s NHS emergency services to evaluate applicants. This medical typing test aims to find candidates with the best typing speed and accuracy, listening skills, and linguistic aptitude.
You can enhance your medical field skills with a practice medical topic typing test. This will help you familiarize yourself with medical terminologies. Thus, it will widen your health vocabulary. You will be surprised how typing can help you expand your knowledge and deepen your understanding.
Additionally, since you are familiar with the spelling and terminologies, you will find it easier to type quickly and accurately when you do audio typing work.
999 Call Handler Audio Typing Test
Emergency call handlers respond to 999 calls at ambulance operation centres (AOC). Their job is to collect vital information regarding the condition of the patient and specific location and enter it into a computer system.
In life-threatening situations, they may be required to provide basic first aid instructions over the phone.
You’ll have to take a number of challenging tests to obtain information effectively while remaining calm through several real-life stress simulations when you take the handler audio typing test.
You will listen to a prerecorded 999 emergency and type up as many of the details as feasible for this assessment. To pass the real typing test, you must have a speed and accuracy of roughly 30 words a minute.
You do not have to type verbatim, but you must include all essential information and everything you enter must make sense, including proper spelling and punctuation.
Audio typing tests are assessments commonly used to measure a person’s typing, listening, and language sills. Outside the medical field, it is a testing system used in fire and police services in the UK. If you are someone looking to get a communication officer position, then will likely undergo an audio typing test before getting hired.
What to Expect from Communications Officer Typing Tests
The first audio will be of a single individual reporting a fire at a neighbour’s house.
The second segment will be of someone reporting a burglary at their home.
The third clip will be of a single individual reporting a fight between two persons at a nearby public house.
This audio is a transcription of a woman reporting domestic violence.
The last clip is a transcription of a citizen reporting a major road traffic collision.
How Do I Pass an Audio Typing Test?
Using a medical subject typing exam, you may improve your understanding of medical themes and expand your medical vocabulary while practicing your typing skills.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
You might practice with a normal dictaphone if you just want to fake your way in without successfully completing a course. However, eventually, the truth will out. You should expect them to put your skills to the test before hiring you, so start practicing as early as you can.
Improve Your Typing Speed With a Touch Typing Speed Testing
Typing by touch rather than sight means that you can already type without glancing down and looking for the letters. This means that typing quickly is automatic for you. Try to aim for this level of mastery. This will ensure your speed and accuracy and will likely help you ace the audio typing exam.
How Touch Typing Works
This typing skill is based on muscle memory. Your fingertips move without conscious thinking.
Touch typing allows you to type up to ten times quicker. Many individuals battle to type 10 words a minute. A proficient touch typist would be typing 50-60 words a minute. That’s an hour compared to six hours to complete the same quantity of work.
Adults can type 20 or even 30 words per minute by searching and prodding, but you can still double or triple their typing speed and cut their computer time in half.
Accuracy is also crucial – you will not be quick at touch typing when you’re not accurate. You hit at least three keys for every error rather than one – the incorrect one, delete, and then the proper one: that’s three times slower than doing it correctly the first time.
Your speed will improve with practice. Consistency breeds precision; the use of the same fingers for the same letters each time eliminates errors.
Get a tape player or digital recorder and practice with an audiobook, or simply listen to the news with working on your typing speed. Using this same principle when practicing for the medical topics typing test.
Tips When Taking the Audio Typing Test
Wear headphones when performing the typing test to guarantee that you are not disturbed by outside noises.
Pay particular attention to your grammar and spelling when typing since you will be graded on those, too.
Make a note of the names of the locations, the number of individuals engaged, and so on.
Practice your typing abilities in the lead-up to your typing tests to ensure you reach the required number of words per minute.
Ascertain that you have captured all pertinent information. This does not just mean names and places. For example, take note if there are any impediments that the response team may face when answering the situation.
Practice Resources and Tools
Like anything, practice makes perfect!
There are many tools available to help you perform well in the NHS audio typing test.
Consider giving yourself at least a week or two to prepare for the test, to make sure you go into the exam feeling as confident as possible.
Touch Typing
The best way to become both faster and more accurate with your typing is to learn how to touch type.
Touch typing involves learning the correct finger placement on the keyboard. There are many online typing tutors and software programs designed to help you practice touch typing.
Try websites such as TypingClub, Keybr, and Typing.com for touch typing lessons and exercises to improve your typing skills.
Practice Tests
You would be surprised how many employers require their applicants to be precise, fast typers!
Online practice tests help you to see just how close you are to a good typing speed of about 30-40 words per minute.
Even if you already have a good typing speed, it is a good idea to keep practicing.
Oftentimes, typing accurately is extremely difficult under pressure. Consider having someone watch you type or listen to music while you type to make sure you can perform well both under pressure and with distractions!
Learning how to recognize and spell common medical terminology will help you accurately spell medical words you are likely to encounter in the typing test.
This can be more challenging, but skimming a medical dictionary in your free time is a great way to familiarize yourself with some commonly used terms.
Are There Specific Typing Speed Requirements for the NHS Test?
To pass the test, applicants must have a typing speed of about 30 words per minute.
This is where touch typing may come in handy, which allows you to type about 50-60 words a minute with practice.
It is also important to remember that the test also evaluates your accuracy as well as speed.
Why Is Typing Fast and Accurate So Important for the NHS?
Typing both quickly and accurately is important in numerous healthcare settings with the NHS.
For example, healthcare professionals often need to document patient information and medical histories and need to be accurate.
Meanwhile, 999 emergency phone centers require perfect speed to document information properly.
Conclusion
By completing the audio typing tests, you could become a valuable member of the UK’s emergency service and medical network. Who knows, that call where you put your audio typing skills to the test could possibly mean the difference between life and death.
This all-inclusive preparation bundle will provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date practice for the multiple SHL evaluation examinations issued to NHS job hopefuls. You can also take the Criticall test prep that includes aptitude tests as well as typing tests to improve your performance.
Sarah is an accomplished educator, researcher and author in the field of testing and assessment. She has worked with various educational institutions and organisations to develop innovative evaluation methods and enhance student learning. Sarah has published numerous articles and books on assessment and learning. Her passion for promoting equity and fairness in the education system fuels her commitment to sharing insights and best practices with educators and policymakers around the world.
Take the NHS Audio Typing Test to improve your score today.
