Failed a competency exam in PsyD program.

[mgrinsh]

I am a rising 4th year in my PsyD program. I had to take comps (competency exam) last week. I was notified today that I did not pass. MLA is 80%, and I got 78%. I am feeling pretty crushed, to say the least. I keep spiraling regarding my purpose in the field and my stupidity. This comp exam mildly reflects the EPPP, and if I'm not fit to pass this exam, I don't know what makes me think I will pass the EPPP. I feel like a failure and beneath my colleagues as well.

Wondering if anyone else has had experience with this. I know that this shouldn't reflect my abilities in the field, but I can't help feeling like it does, and it also reflects my knowledge and intelligence.

(I'm retaking the exam)

Anyway, any advice, reflections, or personal experience is very welcome.

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[futureapppsy2]

I am a rising 4th year in my PsyD program. I had to take comps (competency exam) last week. I was notified today that I did not pass. MLA is 80%, and I got 78%. I am feeling pretty crushed, to say the least. I keep spiraling regarding my purpose in the field and my stupidity. This comp exam mildly reflects the EPPP, and if I'm not fit to pass this exam, I don't know what makes me think I will pass the EPPP. I feel like a failure and beneath my colleagues as well.

Wondering if anyone else has had experience with this. I know that this shouldn't reflect my abilities in the field, but I can't help feeling like it does, and it also reflects my knowledge and intelligence.

(I'm retaking the exam)

Anyway, any advice, reflections, or personal experience is very welcome.

My comp exams were not multiple choice, but anecdotally, about half of my cohort failed 1 or more sections, so it wasn’t uncommon to fail—all but one person passed on the retake. As a faculty member, I can say work with the faculty to figure out your weaknesses and study hard to address them before you do the re-take.

 

[R. Matey]

it also reflects is one measure of my knowledge up to this point in my training and intelligence.

There. Fixed it for ya 🙂

 

[Sanman]

There. Fixed it for ya 🙂

Wait, you are telling me someone can be a competent psychotherapist without knowing who Lightner Witmer was?

 

[borne_before]

I’m extremely familiar with this spiral: “I keep spiraling regarding my purpose in the field and my stupidity.” Been there (like a hundred times).

My comprehensive exam was brutal. All essays that we orally defend later. The year after my cohort, they moved to a portfolio format but we were expected to go through a kind of academic hazing with the old model.

One of my questions was on educational accommodations. I argued that accommodations should be highly individualized and cited research showing that extended time isn't particularly helpful for ADHD, but has strong support for dyslexia. One of the professors, who had a reputation for being combative and frankly a bit of a jerk, grilled me hard. It set a really hostile tone, and I walked out feeling humiliated.

I actually did really well on other questions, but got totally thrown off by a few. I struggled to articulate my thinking under pressure, and the whole thing just rattled me. Afterwards, I felt like a *******. Like I didn’t belong.

And, honestly, I thought I was one of the stronger students in my cohort, especially in stats, research design, theory, etc. So it was a real ego check (that I probably needed). As an aside, I would later realize that I have much stronger listening comprehension skills that verbal expression skills.

They let me come back a week later to present a case, and I crushed it. A year later, I defended my dissertation. That experience could’ve been a major setback.

But instead, it became a turning point. I rallied. I prepped, practiced, relied on my support system, and built something I was proud of. Could have killed the vibe of the summer.

Sometimes, the format just doesn’t capture your knowledge or potential. As others have noted above. That doesn’t mean you don’t belong here. It just means this moment is hard, and maybe a call to dig in, not a sign you’re not enough. But you still have to play the game, bro.

You’ve got this. Use it to rally.

 

[R. Matey]

Wait, you are telling me someone can be a competent psychotherapist without knowing who Lightner Witmer was?

Lol, I mean Witmer jokes get a chuckle at conferences but mostly patients just look confused.

 

[borne_before]

Lol, I mean Witmer jokes get a chuckle at conferences but mostly patients just look confused.

The only thing I know about bro is there is an award in school psych for him...

 

[Sanman]

The only thing I know about bro is there is an award in school psych for him...

He was a guy who's name you are only aware of because James Cattell was greedy. Facts.

 

[.Calamity Jane]

He was a guy who's name you are only aware of because James Cattell was greedy. Facts.

I'm very curious what you mean by this

 

[Sanman]

I'm very curious what you mean by this

Witmer started his PhD studies under Cattell at UPenn in Experimental Psychology. Cattell abandoned his lab and quit UPenn before Witmer got his PhD because Columbia offered him more money. Witmer then went to Germany and got his PhD under Wundt. Came back and took the position at UPenn that Cattell abandoned. He got interested in child psych and ended up founding the fields of Clinical and School psychology.

If Cattell never quit UPenn, Witmer might have been some random experimental psychologist at another university that you never heard of.

 

[R. Matey]

If Cattell never quit UPenn, Witmer might have been some random experimental psychologist at another University that you never heard of.

My favorite bit about Witmer is that he was, by all accounts, a real vicious critic of any idea that wasn't his own. Some say that's the reason historians of psych didn't spend a lot of time on him.

 

[.Calamity Jane]

Witmer started his PhD studies under Cattell at UPenn in Experimental Psychology. Cattell abandoned his lab and quit UPenn before Witmer got his PhD because Columbia offered him more money. Witmer then went to Germany and got his PhD under Wundt. Came back and took the position at UPenn that Cattell abandoned. He got interested in child psych and ended up founding the fields of Clinical and School psychology.

If Cattell never quit UPenn, Witmer might have been some random experimental psychologist at another University that you never heard of.

Interesting!

 

[Sanman]

My favorite bit about Witmer is that he was, by all accounts, a real vicious critic of any idea that wasn't his own. Some say that's the reason historians of psych didn't spend a lot of time on him.

Supposedly, he didn't get along with Wundt either.

 

[R. Matey]

Supposedly, he didn't get along with Wundt either.

With his supposed level of self-importance, I believe it.

 

[cara susanna]

We actually had so many people fail one that they ended up challenging it and winning

 

[PsyDr]

1) So you missed one or two questions. By your response, you probably missed a few questions about catastrophizing.

2) Let's do a practice question

The most likely explanation for your test scores is:
a. You are a dumb dumb who did well in undergrad, did well on the GRE, got into grad school, did well in 80% of grad school, ...all by chance.
b. You didn't study some random subject enough.
c. You got a good ole case of the "test anxiety", and it affected your performance.

3) Psychologists do many different jobs. Those jobs have different requirements. I would do poorly in futureapppsy2's job, R Matey's job, borne_before's job, or Sanman's job. They would probably do poorly at my job. That doesn't mean they/we are bad psychologists.

 

[cara susanna]

Also, in real life you don't have to memorize things like you do for comps. You can look up answers or even (gasp) consult

 

[Sanman]

1) So you missed one or two questions. By your response, you probably missed a few questions about catastrophizing.

2) Let's do a practice question

The most likely explanation for your test scores is:
a. You are a dumb dumb who did well in undergrad, did well on the GRE, got into grad school, did well in 80% of grad school, ...all by chance.
b. You didn't study some random subject enough.
c. You got a good ole case of the "test anxiety", and it affected your performance.

3) Psychologists do many different jobs. Those jobs have different requirements. I would do poorly in futureapppsy2's job, R Matey's job, borne_before's job, or Sanman's job. They would probably do poorly at my job. That doesn't mean they/we are bad psychologists.

OP,

Based your response, it looks like you have waited until your 4th year of grad school to fail at anything (or at least anything that mattered). You had a good run. This is the first of many failures in this field and in life. Your choice is to wallow in the misery of failure or pick yourself, dust yourself off, and understand that failure happens. The only meaning it has is the that you have decided to do something difficult and challenge yourself.

The alternative is to never try to do anything difficult ever again. Does that sound better?

 

[smalltownpsych]

My experience in the doctoral program was characterized by several major obstacles and setbacks and as I persisted, I became a better psychologist. One thing that helped me was making a conscious effort to apply the knowledge that I was attaining to my own self care and strategies for efficacy. One particularly challenging thing for me was being amongst a group where I wasn’t in the higher end of the distribution with most cognitive measures.