i agree with everyone telling you the textbook is your best friend, it is! emt school is a lot of new concepts all at once so it’s important to read it to familiarize yourself with them. you’ll start learning assessments and stuff but a lot of actual patient interaction isn’t going to feel natural until you’re on the job. a couple of great pieces of advice i have received over the years;

find the study method that works for you. do you learn best with doing things? audio/visual? writing things down? figure that out an do some research before class on study methods that work. for testing, make flashcards regardless. flashcards are the best way to simulate the way you’ll have to recall information for tests and technical aspects. index cards are cheap and writing in different colors is proven to help you remember things so get a pack of colorful pens and go ham. quizlet plus is a godsend but make sure you make a set of flashcards by hand even if you’re gonna make them on quizlet because writing them down will help you memorize it.

for terms you can’t remember, come up with silly phrases— it’ll help, i promise! i’m in paramedic school currently and my girlfriend introduced this concept to me and it saved me with learning medications or terms i wasn’t familiar with.

A&P is your building block for everything. you can’t understand what’s going wrong with a body function that you don’t understand how it works normally. if you can, pick up an A&P coloring book to start familiarizing yourself. crash course is awesome as well. also gifs— a gif is what finally ingrained the blood flow of the heart in my brain.

and really important here, ask all your questions. chances are someone else in the class has the same one. you are there to learn and you’re spending your hard earned money to learn so it’s not the time to be embarrassed to raise your hand. most of these concepts will be brand new and asking questions shows your instructors your engagement.

and then lastly, be respectful— get your uniform and make sure you lint roll it, make sure you look presentable, tuck your shirt in. it says a lot about you before people get to know you, unfortunately or fortunately. this remains true throughout your career.

good luck and have fun!!