It has been a while since I saw an update on this thread -
I passed y'all! With a 533, scaled score of 77 (For NY).
Flash back to 2018. I was finishing my internship and in the process of graduating. One of my internship supervisors told us interns about the EPPP study process. She advised us to study 2-3 hours per day, several days per week.
Inside my head, I laughed and laughed..
Oh how naive I was.
At the end of internship (August 2018) I was 5 months pregnant. I hoped to take the exam before giving birth but life had other plans. I did a postdoc that was accomodating of my pregnancy. My pregnancy was somewhat high-risk, and so between that and a physically exhausting commute EPPP fell to the back burner. I focused on postpartum recovery until about mid 2019. Around then I studied with two other people based off of Academic Review. For me, reading AR at first was slow because it was dense, and I did not really do too many exams because the material took me so long to read.
By end of 2019, I found another job. Its stability offered me the stability I needed to study. Started studying late into 2019, beginning of 2020. I think around this time I switched to Prepjet, supplementing with Psychprep audio. I scheduled my exam for May 2020. And then...
COVID-19.
In March 2020 we could not go in to work physically. Trying to figure out the new demands of my now-remote job took me about a month to get accustomed to. Was not used to caring for my son, working and studying at the same time. My exam fell just outside the cancellation window but I decided to just push it back to August 2020.
I am not sure why, my memory does not serve me well, but I did not feel ready in August either so I pushed it back again to Nov 2020 lol. Might have been due to anxiety, lol.
Around this time my scores on different domains varied. I would be 70-80% on one domain one day and 20 percent on another. I would study Clinical on Monday, then study Developmental Tuesday and discover that Dev made me forget about Clinical. So I switched it up. I would AIM to study the main 6 (Clinical, Abnormal, Developmental, Ethics, I/O, Bio). My goal was to master these and then go back to Social, Learning/Memory, Test Construction and Stats later.
I reiterate - this was the GOAL, not the reality. I find for myself that as long as I was flexible, realistic that in these COVID times it was impossible for every study session to happen the way you want it was fine. I also aimed to eventually incorporate exams at least 1x per week. There were days when I was able to wake up at 5 am, pray, 5:30 start my workout/audio study and get in some audio before work; review flashcards here and there, and read 2-5 hours per day. On days that I was exhausted I would fall asleep on my books after putting my son to sleep. (My partner was away at school at this time, and so it was just me).
By October 2020, though I was hitting a wall. On Prepjet exams, I was getting like 50-60s on sub domains. I went domain by domain and realized - I could probably get another 10-15 points just by addressing the other domains I had not been focusing on, such as Social. Sure enough, learning about the Elaboration Likelihood Theory etc made a difference, and now I was seeing scores on PsychPrep practice exams in the 70 range.
But still - I did not feel quite READY. I really wanted to pass before the holidays. But there was a day, 2 weeks before my scheduled exam in November 2020. that I wanted to come and ask what others what they thought of my practice scores. I was even thinking of paying a EPPP coach. But I sat myself down and looked within. I said to myself, "If you have to ask others, then you are reassurance seeking. And if you are reassurance seeking, instead of just knowing, then it means you are not ready." It was painful to reschedule, but I think I made the right decision. I rescheduled for January 2021.
Aight so - first time Prepjet scores Dec 2020 to January 2021 - 72, 77, never finished exam 3, 66 (it was a difficult week), 63 (I took exam 5 literally 3 days before - a very hard week, Sunday before I had a funeral, and the day after my exam another funeral). Exam 6 scores was 56. I made an extreme point to go through each domain after the exam, look at my weaknesses and aim for mastery. In clinical my weaknesses are family therapy; in Developmental, remembering all the different Piaget stages annoyed me at first, for I/O recalling all of the...well just remembering all of it was hard lol. But my PsychPrep scores, which I took in December, were better (like mid 70s) because I just had more time to study and had less life stuff. Like I said on my last post I crammed - please do not do that!
Common questions -
Which study materials did you find helpful and why? I found Prepjet, Psychprep and AR all helpful for different reasons. Prepjet reading is concise. Psychprep's exams are really nice. AR was great for depth and to ensure you REALLY understood the material - which is what I was aiming for.
How did you do it with so many life demands? I work full time, my husband is wrapping up school in a different city. My postpartum recovery was challenging. Flexibility was key. I also work in an exempt setting so I did not have the pressure of time (not yet or as much as others).
Did you study with others? Sometimes yes. I think I have been in at least 5 different study or support groups. Some passed before me, some did not work out which was ok
COVID took everyone for a loop. It's all good.
What did studying look like for you? Reading, keeping a binder (kinda like middle school) with different sections, was my main strategy. Tried to use the Leiter flashcard method but I did not keep up with it. Also tried to use Quizlet flashcards but did not keep up. However if I had more time I think I would have.
Any other tips? Always be honest with yourself. What was your thought process when looking at that question? Did you get tired on question 176 and read too fast? Can you eliminate? Even if you never saw that theory before what other clues might you deduce? Are you tired as you read? Distracted? Angry? Sad? Know thyself.
What was the day of the exam like for you? TERRIBLE. terrible. TURR-bull. It was cold outside. Dropped my kid off crying at the nanny in 23 degrees weather (that is cold for us in NY). Anxious the whole way to the site. I think out of anxiety I used the bathroom twice and lost like 5 minutes each time. Ended the exam with 7 minutes left. And that silly questionnaire! Argh.
Any other feedback I can offer let me know. I have enjoyed reading other people's detailed stories so I am happy to pay it forward.