To think this is going to look so bad and I will be viewed poorly by new employer

[DemiS2000]

I start a new job Monday and they had first aid training at work booked for today so I was added on to it. We watched the presentations and did the practical and then we had a 24 question assessment at the end on what we had learnt. We had to get 80 percent or more. We had 2 x tries to pass, so if we didn't get 80 percent the first we could go again I failed both times. Will I be viewed poorly by my new employer. She was there on the day aswell

I train a class very similar where you have to hit 80% to pass. I've taught it every for 28 years now. For fun I did the test and barely made it. Tests are nerve wrecking. Don't be hard on yourself. You are also nervous because it's a new job. It'll be ok.

You'll be fine OP - you're not far off the pass mark so you'll likely pass next time. I wouldn't make a huge deal out of it but say that you're keen to brush up on your knowledge and retake asap.

Pretty sure anyone currently with children in nursery will be having nightmares tonight after reading that.

Is being paediatric first aid trained a requirement or expectation of your role? Is it in the job spec?

I know its best practice for all or most to be trained but legally only one member of staff on site at a time needs to be first aid trained

Looking for positives, you're clearly capable of learning if you've managed to learn that legally, only one member of staff on site at a time needs to be first aid trained.

So you'll be able to pass the multiple choice assessment if you keep on doing it. And then you'll be safer to supervise the children, meaning there's less risk of somebody dying because you're waiting for the one first aid trained member of staff to come out of the toilet or going unpaid because the one first aid qualified person has had to go home sick.

Then yes, it's an essential part of the role
I would suggest studying - hard - and retaking the test (or even the whole course) at your own expense
This would reflect very well on you in your new employer's eyes

They sound like an excellent organisation when it comes to child safety

And this is exactly why parents should not be trusting their child with nurseries 😆

Failing a multiple choice test doesn't make you not safe to work with children. It might just mean that to begin with the OP will need to call a colleague if there's an incident. Some people are just not good at these sort of tests.

Hopefully the op just needs to keep trying.

This.
go in first, don’t wait for them to speak to you. Say you very concnered you failed. Explain what you have said here. Tell them you are committed to passing asap. Ask what they now expect of you.
take responsisibity and accountability for fixing it,

.

For the purposes of tonight I wouldn't worry. I don't think your job is at risk. But as a person that is working with young children I suggest you make a point of learning all the health and safety so you can ace the test next time and, more importantly, keep those children safe.

Obviously it's not going to be viewed well. The nursery will want everyone trained for several reasons, but on a practical level it will mainly affect whether they need to think about the requirement when doing the rota. It may also make them concerned you won't be able to progress.

Presumably you have other qualifications? How have you managed to get through those tests? Maybe go to your manager on Monday and tell them you have difficulties with tests but X is how you overcome them and see if you can work out how you can apply that to the first aid test.

If your issue is that you forget everything you knew when you're staring at the page - that used to be me. I used to get very nervous in exams that were important and go blank when staring at the question sheet - I could answer things easily outside the test environment but it all went flying when I sat down with that question paper. I found practicing in a test environment (important - just sitting with exam papers at the kitchen table didn't help, it had to be in an official room, silent, no phone, clock on the wall ticking away, ideally with someone "invigilating", etc.) really helped. I would sit in the practice and talk myself into taking my time, going through whatever mnemonics I'd practiced, jotting down as soon as I got in whatever important facts/formulas/etc. I was liable to forget, reading the whole exam paper, etc. Doing that a lot (and I mean a huge amount) enabled me to do the same on real tests. I don't go blank anymore.

I know it's hard but try not to let it get you down. It's probably stress that makes it so difficult and being more stressed will just make things worse.

I would honestly just blame the 'new job' nerves. Don't go down the route of saying that you're not good with tests in general, as this will be viewed less sympathetically.
Best of luck for next time!

Poor nurseries. Good nurseries wouldn't hire someone who doesn't have what they deem an essential part of the role.

At my DC's nursery, they are all qualified in first aid. It was one of the questions I asked before agreeing to send them there.

It’s not ideal. But it really depends on whether the employer sees this as “that’s okay, not everyone passes the first time, you can try again next month” or whether it’s “gosh this is just basic common sense stuff that everyone should know.” And you’re not going to know until you get in there tomorrow.

But I would say as long as you haven’t misrepresented your experience, skills, qualifications etc during the hiring process, you will most likely be fine.

Holy shit @Itiswhatitis80 really? Look I agree with others it falls out of your head, like the driver theory test over here but I know every year or so we have inset days for this reason.. it's never been needed but it's still a good idea to have the basics

OP some people are a bit panicky with tests, multiple choice can make you overthink & second guess yourself & you passed the physical part, which I've found harder, just try again & revise

That’s really appalling

Could you go with a different first aid training provider? I have attended one and two day training events with St John and I don't recall a written test (only practical skill test) at the end.

But you can become a parent without any first aid qualification at all.

So? It’s their own lookout if they fail to keep their own child safe.

As a nursery practitioner first aid is essential - I doubt you can work without it

I'd not want my child at that nursery!

All staff should be able to do basic first aid - accidents, choking etc.

I'm assuming this is the first time you've done the first aid course and so aren't yet fully qualified as a L3 practitioner?

If you're employed as unqualified, don't worry about it, the nursery will have sufficient qualified staff, and hopefully next time you do the course you'll be more familiar with what the answers should be.

Was it a one day course? I would expect a paediatric first aid course to be two days, but maybe things have changed since I last did one.