Eppp failed and new advice.

[Havanesebeepop]

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Hi all,
I did my eppp on Sept 3 and failed with a 363. I'm hoping to retake it and need some advice. So I took aatbs course and studied for 6 months on and off. I realize maybe I didn't take enough exams. I did probably 13 exams so only a few twice. I was scoring in the 70s. When it came to the exam i found the questions to be not similar at all which was tough! I'm thinking of ditching aatbs and going with psych prep. Any studying advice would be great.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

Agree. That is very low. Are there certain domains you are really struggling in that are bringing your score down that low? I'd start by looking there.

 

[Psych1118]

Hi
I took the epPp a couple months ago and found the questions to be very similar to the aatbs exams (way more then psychprep)
Prepjet also had good practice exams.
I focused on mastering the main areas that are heavily concentrated on. I’m also wondering if your increasing scores are because you had already taken the test before and it was memorizing ?

 

[Havanesebeepop]

Hello everyone. Thank you for you help. Upon reflection. I think i do have test anxiety and did not study the highlighted domains enough. I think aatbs material also overwhelmed me. I didn't find the aatbs questions to be similar to the exam. I found the exam to be poorly worded and it felt like alot of the material on the exam was random. I should also say i didn't answer 10 questions so iono if that could have impacted me passing. It was such a tough experience to go through. In my cohort everyone has passed so I felt very alone.
But alot of people i know passed with psych prep. So I'm going to give it a shot! I'm going to try to aim to take the exam on Feb.

 

[Havanesebeepop]

This doesn't add up to me. Using a study program for +/- six months and taking 13 exams with scores in the 70s should equal a passing rate-- certainly well above 363.

I might consider if test-taking anxiety or weak test-taking strategies were at play? Can you look back on your practice tests and see why you were getting the scores you were getting (were you scoring strong in areas that are not heavily weighted on the EPPP and scoring weak on the heavy-hitter topics? Were you noticing practice effects that did not actually reflect mastery of the knowledge? were you scoring in the 70s consistently?)

Thank you for this thoughtful reply. Yes i do think that i did not have mastery of the material and was experiencing some practice effects. My last two exams were 70s so i thought i was ready. I don't think that was true.

 

[foreverbull]

Frustrating!

How did you study? Reading? Audio? Taking notes of written materials? If your study method was more passive, I’d suggest combining different ways of studying and taking notes for maximum effect.

It sounds like test anxiety may have also gotten in your way. Deepening/slowing breath, self-coaching, etc. might help, as well as replicating the test environment as much as you can during practice tests. Remember that there are EPPP versions floating around out there that have harder questions but are scored easier than the other versions, and all tests have several sample questions that aren’t scored, so try to remind yourself of this so as not to be thrown off by tough questions.
Flag maybe the very hardest 25-30 questions to come back to and use what you generally know about the topic and elimination to pick the best of what’s available.

You might try to get practice tests from another company/other hand-me-down tests to combat the practice effect issue.

Best of luck!

 

[BuckeyeLove]

I second the practice test recommendation. Get as many as you can from as many different test prep companies, and just go to town on them. For me the EPPP was more of a game than a test of my knowledge content pertaining to the practice and study of clinical psychology. There is just no humanly way possible that one can know all of that content verbatim (unless you're a genius). I had this approach with my forensic boards written test as well (where they give you 26 pages of books, articles, and case law, that again, no modal human could ever know verbatim).

 

[Alisab1985]

I second the practice test recommendation. Get as many as you can from as many different test prep companies, and just go to town on them. For me the EPPP was more of a game than a test of my knowledge content pertaining to the practice and study of clinical psychology. There is just no humanly way possible that one can know all of that content verbatim (unless you're a genius). I had this approach with my forensic boards written test as well (where they give you 26 pages of books, articles, and case law, that again, no modal human could ever know verbatim).

I agree.

 

[Havanesebeepop]

Frustrating!

How did you study? Reading? Audio? Taking notes of written materials? If your study method was more passive, I’d suggest combining different ways of studying and taking notes for maximum effect.

It sounds like test anxiety may have also gotten in your way. Deepening/slowing breath, self-coaching, etc. might help, as well as replicating the test environment as much as you can during practice tests. Remember that there are EPPP versions floating around out there that have harder questions but are scored easier than the other versions, and all tests have several sample questions that aren’t scored, so try to remind yourself of this so as not to be thrown off by tough questions.
Flag maybe the very hardest 25-30 questions to come back to and use what you generally know about the topic and elimination to pick the best of what’s available.

You might try to get practice tests from another company/other hand-me-down tests to combat the practice effect issue.

Best of luck!

Hi - I think I was to passive in my learning - I spent alot of time making notes and reading them over and over again. I'm trying to psych prep audio files and finding them way more useful/helpful.

What other suggestions do you have for studying? I took notes but I found that time consuming.

 

[foreverbull]

Hi - I think I was to passive in my learning - I spent alot of time making notes and reading them over and over again. I'm trying to psych prep audio files and finding them way more useful/helpful.

What other suggestions do you have for studying? I took notes but I found that time consuming.

You might look for flash cards online or EPPP apps that have flash card questions. I found some in different subject areas for free online here and there, but I didn’t use that route much.

I did a mix of reading, notes, audio, and practice tests, and I found that it worked pretty well, but of course everyone is different in terms of what is most effective for them. I do think the audio will help you as long as you are actively listening and thinking about the material as you listen.

Best of luck!

 

[Farnad]

Hi all,
I did my eppp on Sept 3 and failed with a 363. I'm hoping to retake it and need some advice. So I took aatbs course and studied for 6 months on and off. I realize maybe I didn't take enough exams. I did probably 13 exams so only a few twice. I was scoring in the 70s. When it came to the exam i found the questions to be not similar at all which was tough! I'm thinking of ditching aatbs and going with psych prep. Any studying advice would be great.

Hello.
I failed with 393. I am a Matsres level Psychologist, studied PrepJet, Academice Review books, abd Retired Questions (approximately 2000 Qs)
I am not good at Stats... Also on actual exam I saw many questions related to studies/research on suicide, gender, genetics, Race, that I could not find on any of the study materials I used.
Please advise.My license is expiring soon and don't want to be jobless. Unfortiabtely, Licensing boards are not giving Grace period due to COVID. Thank you for your time.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

Why can't you just renew your license and keep you job? I'm confused. What state are you in?

 

[Farnad]

MI...LARA is giving one time 6 months extension due to COVID that I had...