Test Prep for Comps

[ussdfiant]

I am the wife of ussdfiant, and a first-year doctoral (Psy.D.) student. I'm taking the first part of the Comprehensive Exam in January and was wondering if anyone knows of any test preparation materials I can get to study from. I have some old tests from my Master's program, but I didn't have mulitple choice tests in every class, some classes just assigned essays or papers for the course grade. So I need additional materials to study from to prepare for this exam. Thanks!

bd-bear

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[psych101]

Are you talking about a comprehensive exam that is part of your grad program? If so, that will be particular to your program -- all programs are relatively different, and some don't even have formal "tests" to meet the comp exam requirement. Talk to other folks in your program and see how they have successfully prepared. Good luck!

 

[ussdfiant]

Are you talking about a comprehensive exam that is part of your grad program? If so, that will be particular to your program -- all programs are relatively different, and some don't even have formal "tests" to meet the comp exam requirement. Talk to other folks in your program and see how they have successfully prepared. Good luck!

Sorry, I couldn't get on SDN before today.

Yes, I'm talking about Comps for my program. But we've been told by faculty members that there are national licensing exams and materials for those tests would be useful to study for this test. The comps might be different per program, but I would imagine they're all testing basically the same knowledge- -Ethics, Psychopath, Theories, Techniques, etc. I was just wondering what some others have used to prepare.

 

[psych101]

Okay, just wondered since comps at various programs can be so different (e.g., essays, oral exams, waiving the comp requirement by teaching psych 101) – which seems so incredibly stupid but that’s another topic altogether…I guess you could get study materials designed to help you prepare for the EPPP (Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology) -- the national licensure exam given by the ASPPB (Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards) [http://www.asppb.org/]. This study material can get pretty expensive, but it's cheaper if you get it used. Check Ebay often. Although people try to scare you (especially the test prep companies), material on the EPPP really does not change drastically from year to year, so you’re safe studying from prep materials that are even several years old. The 2 big test prep companies are:

1) AATBS (Association for Advanced Training in the Behavioral Sciences)
http://www.aatbs.com/main/intro.asp?inv=110578

2) AR (Academic Review) http://www.areview.com/

Also, join the EPPP Prep group on Yahoo Groups : [http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=eppp+prep]
There are typically people selling used materials there, as well as ongoing discussion about test prep and access to helpful study guides prepared and posted by group members. But don't let the group get you too freaked out, those people can get pretty obsessive at times.

It doesn’t hurt to review Intro or other basic textbooks, or to review Psych GRE study materials – although some of this stuff might seem pretty basic, you should probably make sure you know it.

Good luck!!!

 

[ussdfiant]

Thanks for those suggestions, I will look into them all.