So, after 6 years of graduate school, a year of hellish internship in Ohio, and a 200 page dissertation, I now have to take a licensing exam. This exam covers all areas of psychology. Thus far, it has cost me an arm, a leg, $1000, and a ****-ton of sanity in order to register to take the written exam (which will be in March). The oral exam will be in July. Yesterday, I received the study materials that I paid an additional $1000 for (I'm sharing it with two other poor souls). I took a "practice" exam to see what areas I need to focus on. I scored 46% on it. Yeah. I have a PhD in psychology, and I got a 46% on a practice psychology licensing exam. What exactly did I learn in the last 7 years? The study materials suggest studying 5 days a week for 3 months before the exam. I only have two months before the exam and haven't started. And I don't want to study 5 days a week. That whole full time job thing is getting in the way. So, there's my stress rant. Feel free to post commiseration, advice, and pity.
That's good, would you like to expand on that? You'll be alright, you'll figure out what the test is looking for and then drill it.
TT - I was headed that direction as a last semester undergrad in child dev and family studies. What you're going through (after years of study) is exactly why I decided on law school. Good luck, I feel your pain.
Calm down. I can commiserate -- I did 4 years of medical school and 5 years of residency which came down to an afternoon of oral exams with tight-lipped examiners under exceedingly stressful conditions to determine whether or not I was competent at what I had been striving to become for years and years. If I can do it, you can do it. First, realize that most of these exams do not really test your ability to do your job in the day-to-day sense. They test, among other things, your ability to memorize a lot of inane facts that academic shitheads think are important. Do not be discouraged that they value things that you do not, but realize that you must play their game by their rules. After you pass you get to do things the way you want to. Second, break the information down into sections. Sit down with a calendar and plan to spend several days or a week on each section, and get comfortable with it. Leave enough time to do everything twice so that you will find the subjects you do not retain well. Once identified, make study sheets or notecards for these subjects and work hard on them. Leave enough wiggle room in your schedule to add a day or 2 here for a tough area. and leave the time closest to the exam for review of a mixture of all subjects. If you are sharing materials with people who you can work with, meet up regularly to go over things together/quiz one another. You will find each others' deficiencies and push each other to overcome them. You will have to study evenings and weekends. This will not be fun, but you will get used to it. Remember to take a quick break now and then, but also remember that you have been preparing for this for years -- don't let your focusness waver. Best of luck to you. It may not be fun or easy, but you can do it. And when you pass, you are done and you get your life back.
My Advice to you is to get and watch many episodes of The Bob Newhart Show and Frasier on DVD and to start drinking heavily and catching a few Dr Phil shows.
Tropheus, sounds a lot like the bar exam eh? If you haven't taken it yet prepare to feel exactly like the OP soon.
You have an good education from a good school. If you review the things you're weak on you'll do fine. Remember the upside-down U shaped curve of stress/performance. A little stress will motivate you to study. A lot of stress will distract you. If I were you I'd review things at work which directly apply to your job when you get a chance. Then I'd study a few hours each day on the weekends. The orals are just to make sure you pass the sniff test and are not dumb as a stump, a wigged-out lunatic or a blatant psychopath. Good luck. And know that you'll do better the second time after you fail the first one.
Can't you just watch "analyze this" a few times and be done with it? Everything you need to know can be found in movies. Oh, and I see my sister naked in that picture. Is that bad?
What's the pass rate on the test? In terms of % of examinees, not raw score. If 75% of examinees pass, just think of it as you only have to be smarter than or know more than the other 25%. -edit Don't know if you are taking the EPPP, but I did find this encouraging tidbit:
Get a grip. When I took the bar several years ago, there were women and children screaming and falling motionless on the library floor from the stress. Relax as much as you can. Do as much as you can do. You will be fine. There's nothing more you can ask of yourself.
Is it Scan-Tron? When in doubt, use the Genesis method: A-B-A-C-A-B.... 30% of the time, it works every time... Good luck!
my advice to you would be to drink heavily. after that, settle down and study. you'll do fine. find a good quiet place to study with no/little distractions. i recommend a library at SMU.
If I had a PhD in clinical, I could schedule an office visit for you. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), even though I was accepted to such a program back in the 70's, I chose not to go through with it. Only help I can be is to suggest that you study as much as you can until you have to take that exam. I imagine if you really apply yourself (you're very bright or else you would not have gotten this far), you'll do quite well on that exam.
Sawbonz- awesome, thanks so much for that link! I am indeed taking the EPPP. The mean for graduates of my program is 156, so that's about a standard deviation above the pass score, which means people who graduated from my program generally pass the exam. I do still need to study my *** off though. I am just about done with my jurisprudence exam, which is ridiuculously hard. Now on to the real studying.
