I'm taking the EPPP really soon and my practice test scores are still not high enough to pass. I feel like I have a lot of the content down but I'm just bad at taking the test. I read really fast and I'm looking for strategies for slowing down on the test. I took a full length practice test yesterday and I thought I was going slowly but finished in under 2 hours... I find it hard to give the questions more time. But clearly I need to. Any advice?
EPPP Test Taking question
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I got 50%s and 60%s on every practice test I did. I don't think I ever broke 70%. I was well into passing the actual test, and finished in just over half the allowed time. If you read the EPPP threads on here many people have this experience. I think the practice tests are MUCH harder than the actual test.
I coded my wrong answers on the practice tests and only studied those areas (e.g., I/O). Why bother to send time reviewing and reviewing brain anatomy or diagnosis if you got those areas down? I also crammed the definitions in some areas (again, I/O mostly; the I/O differentiations among constructs seemed to me to be ridiculously fine-grained...). Focus up on the areas you're weak in and studying can be really efficient.
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I disagree... I felt that the difficulty of the questions on the actual test were comparable to most of the practice tests out there. That said, I think the grading is much easier... I was getting mid to high 60% on the practice tests and passed easily. Everyone says 70% is the cutoff but I don't think that's accurate. I also had ~90 minutes left over when I was done.
I also think lots of practice tests and brushing up on your weakest areas are the way to go.
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It's of course a matter of personal opinion, but I agree that I felt the actual test questions were easier (and more straightforward) than those of the prep exams I took, other than for the retired test questions, which were comparable. And like MCParent, I think the highest practice exam score I ever got was a 69%.
Also agreed that taking practice test after practice test and reviewing the missed questions/areas seemed to be the best use of my time.
As for slowing yourself down, maybe you don't actually need to? But if so, possibly try making yourself read each question twice before answering? Try it on a practice exam and see how it affects your time.
Also agreed that taking practice test after practice test and reviewing the missed questions/areas seemed to be the best use of my time.
As for slowing yourself down, maybe you don't actually need to? But if so, possibly try making yourself read each question twice before answering? Try it on a practice exam and see how it affects your time.
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Not totally catching what you mean....you said you did worse on the practices than the real exam, but thought the real exam and practice exams were equally hard? To what would you attribute the worse performance on the practice exams then (I attributed my difference to question difficulty)? Not sure what you mean by "grading is much easier" either; do you mean the percentile shifts the mark? I don't think every state uses percentile to do cutoffs.
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Probably just not explaining myself clearly. It's not a big deal, I was just trying to say that from what I had heard from multiple sources, everyone says "you need to answer 70% of the questions right to pass!" when I don't think that's actually the case, and the real scoring is more lenient. I felt the real EPPP was of similar difficulty to the practice tests I took, in which I was regularly scoring in the 65-70% range, and my scaled score was in the 600's (most states use 500 as a cutoff). But I'm assuming my percentage of questions I answered correct was more likely in that 65-70% range.
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Agree
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Might have been the practice tests I had, but the actual exam was much easier. I probably was in the low to mid 70's at the highest on my practice tests, and my actual score was a bit higher than those. I also felt that the actual exam items were more straightforward than my practice tests, with less tricky wording.
Might be sort of the similar to how at least at my Uni intro psych (especially foundations) can be quite challenging because it covers so many different areas in psych and since you have specific profs making the midterms there can be some very specific questions..but the final is super-easy because the Uni makes the exam (no specific prof) and they use questions essentially from a test bank. (these questions are quite general, and a lot of the time two answers are totally ridiculous)
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I can't say which is easier because I was much more anxious during the EPPP than I wa during practice tests so my memory is suspect. When I walked out of there I was terrified that I had not passed. The reality was that my experience was the same as others have posted. Low 70s was best I got to on practice test and nailed the EPPP.
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Success ! if u r too anxious, u may benefit from a beta blocker (like Inderal), ask you PCP, as it's pretty good for social performance w/o affecting your cognitions.
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Or, maybe some behavioral interventions such as mindfulness and relaxation exercises.
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Yeps
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Thanks everyone! I feel much better now. I've been getting 60-65th% on Psych Prep... I just got an 85% on a retired Academic Review. I come from a school psych background which feels like a big disadvantage content wise plus my super fast reading skills are actually not an advantage on this test. Back to studying!
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seems like u r on track..keep working it
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Pretty much my same experience. FWIW I used academic review's online deal. The last 4-6 practice tests I took I was finally passing. Then, I went in and took the test and all the "difficult" questions that tripped me up on the practice tests werent there, and there were a few more "softball" questions than I expected (like where it's so easy you re-read it to make sure it's not a trick?).
That said, as far as test taking strategies, what helped me (historically I do things too quickly, rush, and dont read carefully enough) was to pace myself. 40 min in, take a break. 5 min. 40 more min, take a break, etc. That usually got me to where I could finish with right over an hour left, and that ended up making the biggest difference. Realizing there was no reason at all to rush, and in fact, rushing + fatigue was how I was sabotaging myself was very helpful. On the practice test and the actual test, I also marked 20-40ish q's I wasnt confident about and went back afterwards and re-reviewed each and every one of those. Good luck!
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I took the exam recently in March and passed on the first go. I was scoring in the 70% on practice tests and finishing them very fast. However, the actual test felt very different to me, and it took me nearly the entire time to complete it (I took one 10 min break 70% in). I too am a fast reader, but factor in nerves, and you will slow down.
I ended up wishing I had taken the actual practice test at the center because I think it would have helped me feel more confident in the actual testing environment, as the questions felt very different from what I had studied, but I passed anyway.
Takeaway....skip the caffeine before the test (your nerves keep you alert), and take the PEPPO if you can afford it.
I ended up wishing I had taken the actual practice test at the center because I think it would have helped me feel more confident in the actual testing environment, as the questions felt very different from what I had studied, but I passed anyway.
Takeaway....skip the caffeine before the test (your nerves keep you alert), and take the PEPPO if you can afford it.
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As they've said before, I studied the materials and found the practice tests to be harder than the actual test. I had to take it to get my license at a masters level and got a 70% without taking classes devoted to several content areas.
On a side note, I've never heard the rationale for including I/O on the EPPP. Is there one? If the best is that we should be generalists then it seems like the inclusion of other elective material might well be equally or more meaningful.
On a side note, I've never heard the rationale for including I/O on the EPPP. Is there one? If the best is that we should be generalists then it seems like the inclusion of other elective material might well be equally or more meaningful.
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Congratulations!!! You have passed a huge professional hurdle. It is a great accomplishment.
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Exito
I would like to see the retired test questions if possible.
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ill send u the free resources
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Could you make the resources available to others? I'm interested.
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I know this is a relatively old forum but I wanted to add my two cents because that's exactly how I felt yesterday.
took it today and PASSED - even with running out of time. I had to come on and say this, because I kept looking for reassurance. I never made it past 60% on an AATBS test. I scored 60 pretty much every time. I failed the PEPPO a week before the EPPP with a score of 470. I studied for 8 months and was completely discouraged. After failing the PEPPO I bailed on AATBS and read ALL of psych prep documents and started doing random AR tests that someone had passed down to me. Scored between 65-69% on all of those. All of my colleagues said that they never got close to 70 so I tried to stay positive. I used the AATBS cue cards to review and had a decent handle on most of them. Stats I had no clue, but luckily there were no calculations on my version of the exam.
The test was way easier than any of the practice exams. Everyone says this and it's true! The ethics questions were the most challenging, I felt, and represented issues that you would rarely ever see in real life! Best advice I got was to answer EVERY question and flag it if you don't know the answer. I didn't have time to go back to any of my flagged responses, and with the last 2 minutes actually randomly clicked answers for the remaining 15 questions without reading them (while crying in my chair). Got just under 600, so I presume without guessing those last ones I would have crushed that stupid little test. The other best piece of advice I got was to write "I WILL PASS THE EPPP" at the top of my whiteboard. I may have also added "The EPPP is my bitch!"
So for all of you who are scoring crappy on the practice tests and, like me, are 99% certain you are going to fail - you can do it!!! If you're scoring around 65% you are ready - take it and get it done so you can have your life back
