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The EPPP is the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology.  How To Pass The EPPP Exam Without Even Trying! will teach you every...

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

EPPP Myths versus Reality- A Response

A Critique of the ASPPB Article “EPPP Myth versus Reality”


Myth #1 of 8
“Sunlight is ... the best of disinfectants.”
Louis Dembitz Brandeis
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court

The article "EPPP Myth versus Reality" on The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards website addresses what the author calls “myths ...about the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology.” 

Louis Dembitz Brandeis famously wrote “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” Brandeis was an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who strove during his career to increase transparency in the public sector. In the spirit of Brandeis, we’d like to critically explore some commonly made observations regarding the EPPP examination that the ASPPB dismisses as “myths.”

ASPPB Article Excerpt:
Myth #1: There are easy and hard versions ("the beast”) of the exam. It is unfair if you get the hard version. 
Reality: Forms of the EPPP do vary in difficulty. The passing score of each version is equated so that the level of knowledge being tested is consistent. Practically speaking, this means that the "harder” forms require fewer correct answers to pass and "easy” forms require more. It is not unfair if you get a harder version because you don’t need to get as many answers right.

Critique

The ASPPB claims that “It is not unfair if you get a harder version because you don’t need to get as many answers right.” Does this make sense? Would you rather answer ten easy questions that you are able to answer because you know the answers, or one very difficult question that is beyond your ability to answer, and that is weighted the same as ten easy questions? We think that most EPPP exam takers would chose the ten easy questions. We don’t believe that it’s logical to equate a lesser number of difficult questions with a larger number of easy questions.

What of the mental cost of trying to answer difficult questions versus easy questions? Difficult questions are more intellectually and psychologically taxing to answer. Difficult questions are likely to leave the examinee more drained of energy. Furthermore, difficult questions may have a negative effect on the test taker's levels of anxiety, confidence, and performance. These effects of difficult questions may then negatively impact the examinee's ability to answer easier questions within the test. It's not difficult to imagine how the unfortunate recipient of "The Beast" version of the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology gets shaken by difficult questions, tires, loses confidence, panics and then a downward spiral ensues in which even "easy questions" and questions of average difficulty are answered incorrectly. Contrast this unfortunate's plight with the examinee who receives a version of the test which consists of questions of easy or average difficulty. Their confidence, energy, and performance is likely to soar, or at least remain stable, as they progress through the questions.

Do you agree? We want to know! Post your comments below.

Next Post: Myth #2 of 8: A majority of people fail the exam. The passing rate is kept artificially low in order to control access to the profession.

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*http://www.asppb.net/?page=MythsvsReality, recovered 10-21-2014

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Why It's Not Okay To Study For The EPPP Examination Every Few Days

EPPP Exam Study Tips
EPPP Study Plan
You may be thinking, "I'm a good student. I know how to study. I'm doing what I need to do to learn the material to pass the Examination For Professional Practice Of Psychology." Oh, okay. I get it. You know it all. You don't need this article, so move along please. Step back from the screen so those of us who are not quite sure that we know it all can gather around, closer to the monitor.

"Hey!" you say indignantly. "I study! I study every Saturday and Sunday for ten hours each day!" That's a lot of studying. We'll give you that. But is it enough? Is twenty hours a week enough?  A hand goes up. Yes, you in the back. "Yes. Major commercial EPPP exam study programs recommend that you study two or three hours a day for at least fourteen weeks" she answers. I nod my head. That's right, I say. But, bear with me here a moment. Let's do a simple word problem.

Word Problem: Biff studies every weekend for twenty hours. John Boy studies every day for about three hours. John Boy adds up his hours for the week and he studies a total of twenty hours each week. Each examinee studies for a total of twenty hours a week. 

Question: Who gets more studying accomplished?

"There's no difference," you reply confidently. Wrong answer. 

Here's the deal. Every weekend Biff hauls out his books, flashcards, flashcard program (you do have speed learning software, don't you?), CDs, and practice tests (you are taking our free practice tests, aren't you?), and sets to work. He wracks his brain to figure out where he was last week, tries to recall what he studied, and how to pick up from where he left off. He has to go back and refresh his memory on all the material that he put out of his mind during the week. At the end of the weekend, he packs it all up again, and forgets about it until the next weekend. In fact, Biff can't wait to put the EPPP exam out of his mind until next weekend, so he can get on with his week.

John Boy studies too. Every morning he pulls out the material he was studying the day before. For an hour before he goes to his internship he reviews the material from yesterday and covers a bit more material. At lunch, and in the evenings, he puts in a little more time studying, for a total of about two to three hours daily. He never wonders where he was in his studies. He doesn't need much of a review because the material is fresh in his mind. In fact, he's been thinking about the EPPP: a lot. He thinks about it in the shower, as he puzzles over decision theory. He wonders about the difference between mean and mode as he drives to internship. In fact, his thoughts are never far from assimilating, accommodating, and reviewing the content of the EPPP exam. Over lunch he asks a fellow intern some details regarding what B F Skinner was known for. In the evening, he enchants his girlfriend with the story of how Konrad Lorenz taught ducks to imprint on him. Sometimes a particular concept is unclear to John Boy. While he sleeps, his subconscious mind continues working on the problem until he figures it out (it's called the Zeigarnik effect-- you should know this stuff). He doesn't dread a huge study session, because it's just a few hours spread over the day, and besides, he reminds himself, "I've got most of the weekend to play!"

So, I put it to you: Who's studying more? Who's studying more effectively? Who's going to pass the EPPP examination on the first try? Answer: John Boy, John Boy, John Boy. But you already knew that. 

Be like John Boy. Good night Anna. Good night Sigmund. Good night Carl.