Opportunity to shadow psychometrist

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neuronstudies

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I'm an undergraduate and have the chance to shadow a psychometrist conducting neuropsych tests in a medical setting (not private practice). I eventually want to go into neuropsych myself and was wondering how I could make the most of this opportunity?

I have a list of some of the tests used and read up on them a bit, but I would love to know more beyond, "this test measures verbal learning," because most online resources aren't too specific (maybe I'm looking in the wrong place). I would also like to know if there were certain questions I could ask the psychometrist that would be informative. I would love to learn more about how to administer some of the tests and when some might be used over others.

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I'm an undergraduate and have the chance to shadow a psychometrist conducting neuropsych tests in a medical setting (not private practice). I eventually want to go into neuropsych myself and was wondering how I could make the most of this opportunity?

I have a list of some of the tests used and read up on them a bit, but I would love to know more beyond, "this test measures verbal learning," because most online resources aren't too specific (maybe I'm looking in the wrong place). I would also like to know if there were certain questions I could ask the psychometrist that would be informative. I would love to learn more about how to administer some of the tests and when some might be used over others.

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I would (seriously) ask them how to stay passionate and interested...and the specific methods they use for avoiding scoring/norming errors and careless errors. Accuracy is the name of the game here.

I was a psychometrist for 2 years (prior to PhD), but probably shouldn't have done it the 2nd year, After a year, I had some serious fatigue going on with the nature of the work. I also had the vague notion that we were doing a whole lot of work, but I wasn't clear how impactful it was in the end for some (many?) cases-- nature of the healthcare system, limitation of the tests, limitations of brain science and/or available psychiatric/neuroligcal treatment options, etc.

Its all very fascinating for a while, but for some, it can get rote or boring fast...especially if it's just not your particular thing or passion. As an example, I think the last time I did a full WAIS was 2 years ago or so. It was a transplant presurg eval at the VA, and I knew clinically/ethically that I needed to do it, as I had some concerns after my initial evaluation. But, frankly, I didn't really want to do it. Giving these tests when you are largely bored by them is probably not a good thing.
 
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As an aside, a few tests seemed a real pain the ass to learn...at least compared to their overall ROI/value.

For example, I don't know how widely the Ruff-Light Trail Learning Test is still used, but it took a long time for me to get that (it was more the speed/reaction time aspect as opposed to the trail learning aspect for me)...and if I went on vacation for more than a week, I lost it for a day or 2. :)
With Block Design, my extremely poor visuospatial skills necessitated that I stare at it for a good 10 seconds before I could be confident it was right or sketch for the psychologist how it was flawed (you have to be able to visually mirror the image since they are across the table from you). There were one or 2 other tests that i just hated and had trouble staying motivated to even attempt to learn.

That said, @WisNeuro is right, most are easy to do.
 
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