How To Pass The Eppp Without Even Trying

"Not even the rigors of grad school and internship prepared me for what I face up now studying to pass the EPPP."

"I keep putting off my EPPP test grooming considering information technology overwhelms me. I know I need to start but I don't know where to brainstorm."

"My unabridged career has been put on hold until I pass the EPPP. The problem is that I've already failed once."

"I tried to commencement preparing for the EPPP once before, going through hundreds and hundreds of practice questions. Information technology just showed me how unprepared I actually was. I know I need to put together a report program merely I don't know where to start. I feel overwhelmed with the amount of material I need to learn."

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Do whatever of the to a higher place concerns sound familiar? These types of anxieties correspond typical feelings among those who are aspiring to become licensed psychologists.

Through almost ii decades of working to prepare students to pass the Exam for the Professional Do of Psychology (EPPP), I've listened to anxieties such as those represented higher up. In the procedure of my work, I've nerveless the post-obit tips and coping strategies that have proven constructive in helping psychology students overcome these types of fears and steer a course toward EPPP success.

1. Chief the Material.

It'due south typical for psychologists to seek some kind of quick shortcut to EPPP success. The truth is that there is no substitute to the type of content mastery that but comes later on comprehensive labor-intensive study. Realizing this early in the process can salvage much heartache and useless procrastination.

One seemingly attractive shortcut is to go through hundreds and hundreds of do questions. Make no fault: Office of existence prepared for the EPPP is being a expert and critically thinking test-taker. The problem arises when practice tests are used equally a substitute for content mastery. Often students will take so many practice tests that they simply memorize the correct answers without any real understanding of the concepts backside those answers. They discover also late that they aren't as prepared every bit they imagined.

The merely way to laissez passer a test as difficult as the EPPP is through a thorough mastery of the content. Scoring well on a practise test should be the result of content mastery and non the result of merely remembering a correct answer from a previous exercise test.

2. Don't Cram.

Cramming is another potentially attractive shortcut. You probably knew people at college who did well on tests only couldn't retrieve the material the next semester. Some people are very good at being able to cram. They can load their brusque-term memory with an amazing amount of information.

The method of cramming might work well for passing tests at university level, but when it comes to the EPPP, cramming is completely ineffective. The reason cramming doesn't work on the psychology licensure examination is the sheer book of material you'll be tested on. In social club to pass the EPPP you need to chief over 780 key terms in 11 domains. Moreover, you will be tested on these terms through multiple-choice questions that are worded in such a way to approximate authentic understanding of the fundamental concepts. To make it at that type of agreement, y'all need to do more than but cram; you need to engage your long-term retentiveness through thoroughly mastering content.

3. Prepare as Soon as Possible.

Later completing your internship and postdoctoral hours, it's easy to get into cruising mode. Ordinary life takes over and although y'all know y'all need to set up for the EPPP, all y'all practice is procrastinate.

The problem is that memories fade over fourth dimension if a person does not have occasion to access those memories. This is known as "disuse theory" and is something we discussed in Function 1 or our 3-part series on procrastination. As I explained in these posts, the longer yous put off studying for the EPPP, the more likely information technology is that you will gradually forget what y'all learned during your graduate studies in psychology. That'south why the length of time betwixt when someone graduates and when they take the EPPP is actually predictive of how well they volition do on the test.

In their commodity "Predictors of Programme Performance on the Exam for Professional Do in Psychology," Brian Sharpless and Jacques Barber shared statistics from EPPP results. They institute that candidates taking their EPPP less than a year subsequently graduation had an boilerplate passing score of 579.00. Students waiting 2-3 years to take their exam had an average score of 554.33. Those students who waited 4-v years had an average declining score of 493.60. Those waiting 6-7 years did worst of all, with an average declining score of 473.53.

Bottom line: Don't procrastinate. In fact, it'due south best to begin studying for the EPPP while you're still doing your internship. Past beginning your studies early, you will exist able to capitalize on the spacing effect that is fundamental to long-term recall.

4. Cull the Correct Training Materials.

In 2010, the ASPPB (the organization responsible for the licensure test) published the results of an EPPP exit poll. They found that those students who had studied with a commercial online company were the most probable of anyone to receive a passing score.

Of course, the most essential aspect of what constitutes the "correct" materials is how you lot study. It is smart, then, to be aware of your own learning fashion and methods, and to find the report program that reflects your needs. Are you comfortable learning with a guided online program? Practise yous need someone to keep you answerable? Or exercise you lot similar the idea of learning with peers? It's important to ask yourself these questions while shopping effectually for the correct materials.

5. Protect Your Brusk-Term Memory from Distractions.

During EPPP prep, the goal is to retain equally much data every bit possible in your long-term retentivity. In order for content to reach your long-term retentiveness it has to first pass through your working memory, also known as short-term retention. Unlike your long-term memory, which tin can agree vast amounts of information, your short-term retentivity is of limited capacity. Consequently, if you overload your short-term retentiveness it will begin to bottleneck, preventing memories from always reaching your long-term retentiveness.

Unfortunately, nearly people today written report in environments that systematically overload their short-term memories. The worst correspondent to cerebral overload is the distractions caused by smart-phones and email. I recently shared a study from Time Magazine that pointed out that "there'south evidence that as your encephalon becomes accepted to checking a device every few minutes, it volition struggle to stay on task even at those times when it's not interrupted by digital alerts." On elevation of that, switch toll (the loss of focus when nosotros're pulled away from a chore, even if only for a separate second to glance at a message) has an issue on the brain's ability to focus that lasts up to 15 or xx minutes.

At TSM nosotros spend a lot of time encouraging practices of meta-attention and focus. Last year nosotros identified 5 all-time practices that successful students utilize for staying focused during their EPPP test preparation. Not surprisingly, the most of import of these is merely turning off distractions. Successful students brand certain that all audio, visual, and vibrating notifications are turned off on their devices during times of study. If they are studying on the computer, they make sure that tabs are not open for email or social media services. This enables the brain's working memory to be entirely focused on absorbing the information information technology needs for passing the EPPP.

6. Develop a Written report Plan and Learning Strategy.

Sadly, many people'southward approach to EPPP exam training involves piddling more than than rote learning, which uses up unnecessary time and cognitive resources that might be better practical elsewhere. The problem isn't that rote learning doesn't piece of work, but that it takes three or four times as long as a more strategic study programme.

This is something I found in my own experience preparing for the EPPP. Equally I explained in an interview concluding year with Robin Phillips, back in 1995, I had about a calendar month to master a ton of materials for the EPPP. Like a lot of people, I went to a weekend EPPP workshop and found myself completely overwhelmed. At that place was just no way I could learn everything I needed to know through rote memorizing. It was like trying to get a drinkable of h2o from a burn hydrant. The workshop didn't teach me how to accept these armfuls of material and know what to practice with it,  how to appraise my strengths and weaknesses, how to develop a course of study, and how to consolidate, retain, and recall the data needed for the test. Given the book of EPPP study materials earlier me, and the very short period of fourth dimension before sitting the test, I knew I needed to do something very dissimilar in my preparation if I was going to pass. In detail, I needed a road map forhowto written report, together with a methodology to guide me.

Very quickly I developed a study plan and learning strategy. I drew on various theories of retentiveness and learning to guide my written report. These theories and methods, all of which have subsequently been afterwards integrated into the TSM model of exam preparation, included things such as:

• Elaborative Rehearsal
• Elaborative Encoding
• Method of Loci (memory palace)
• Clustering/Chunking
• Interference Theory
• Spaced Learning and Repetition
• Mind-Mapping
• Primacy/Recency Theory
• Blocks of Time Principle
• Listening While Reading
• Positive Reinforcement
• Eliminating Distractions
• Notation-Taking by Hand
• Mnemonics
• Listening While Reading
• Positive Reinforcement
• Eliminating Distractions
• Note-Taking past Hand
• Mediator Effectiveness Hypothesis
• State-Dependent Learning Opportunities
• Finding Your Learning Style (Audio, Visual, Kinesthetic)

An effective learning strategy as well needs to include an honest look at your schedule. When you lot sit down to do your EPPP studying, information technology's crucial to make an activeness plan that will structure your studying for each day. What you lot desire to avoid is feeling similar you are pond in a sea of information that totally engulfs you lot and overloads your working retentiveness. And then don't bite off more than you tin chew, but make a realistic program of what yous tin can commit to each day. Then try to put everything else out of your mind and just focus on that. Y'all should also be asking yourself questions such every bit the following:

1. When exercise I need to be fully prepared to have the EPPP?
2. How much fourth dimension each mean solar day do I need to devote to my EPPP test training?
3. What personal sacrifices am I prepared to make to carve out the necessary fourth dimension for my EPPP grooming?
4. Am I relying on rote learning, or am I strategically incorporating retentivity and learning techniques into the report process?
5. Have I assessed the ways I learn all-time and have I integrated these learning methods into my EPPP preparation?

Further Reading

• How to Succeed at the EPPP Without Ruining Your Life
• How to Develop an EPPP Study Schedule (and other communication after a two-time fail)
• How to Fix for the Eppp Exam When You're Non Feeling Motivated

At TSM, we accept a team of researchers and engineers that take spent years studying the EPPP, as well every bit studying various theories of memory and learning, in order to identify the most effective means to structure your written report time. Nosotros take put together a series of online tools that can break downwards your EPPP studies into manageable parts that can be tailored to your unique schedule. If you oasis't already enrolled for ourcomplimentary trial, now might be a good time to consider doing that.

Source: https://blog.taylorstudymethod.com/6-steps-eppp-success/

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