Ready? Set. Study!!!
You’ve completed all of your course requirements. You’ve completed and mailed your application for temporary licensure. If you’re lucky, you’ve already found employment and if you’re not so lucky, you’re looking at good prospects. As if your plate isn’t full enough, now you can prepare to jump through the last hoop on your way to licensure as a psychologist, passing the EPPP. So what should you do to prepare for the test?
Here are a list of Do’s and Don’ts:
- Do determine if you have the time to dedicate to studying. Truthfully, right now is the best time to begin studying. Your life is already organized around school and it would be easy to fill this time with studying for the EPPP. It’s harder to get the time back once you fill it with something else.
- Don’t start and stop studying. Once you begin to study, stick with it and see it through. Stopping and starting will just prolong the process and I promise you, you will forget information you’ve already learned because of the lack of consistent practice.
- Do create a consistent study schedule and stick to it. Protect your study time at all costs. Regular, consistent practice will help you retain the tremendous amount of information you will need to learn. Repeated practice is key to learning.
- Do choose the right study materials. The biggest mistake you can make is to just purchase the most popular study materials. Do your own research to determine what study materials fit your learning style. How much interaction with information is necessary for you to learn? Does it help to have flash cards? Does listening to someone on CD help? How helpful are interactive videos to go along with the material? Is access to practice tests important to your learning? Study materials are expensive, so choose wisely.
- Do study! No matter how smart you are, how many psychology courses you have taken or had the pleasure of teaching, you must study for the EPPP. There is a vast amount of information from various areas of psychology so it’s unrealistic to think you won’t need to expose yourself repeatedly to the material. It’s necessary to become familiar with all the areas presented in this test, not just the area you may plan to specialize in or have an interest in.
- Do connect information from the various domains covered on the exam whenever possible. Information on the EPPP is often covered in more than one domain or topic, so when possible make connections between these topics. Further, when possible give life to what you are learning. For instance, connect various symptoms or disorders with clients you are currently working with or have worked with in the past; when you are learning about different types of memory connect this with information you learn about the various areas of the brain and neurotransmitters involved in memory as well as disorders of memory. This helps to create a web of connections that are better understood and therefore better encoded in your memory.
- Don’t panic! I know this might seem overwhelming right now. But the truth is, it is possible to pass and some of your professors needed more than one attempt at it. So do relax and get ready to jump the final hurdle on your way to licensure.
La-Toya Gaines, Psy D, graduated from both the MA and PsyD programs at MSP. Dr. Gaines became an associate faculty member at MSP in September 2015. Previously, she served at MSP as an adjunct faculty and embedded supervisor for practicum students at Common Ground – OACIS. While completing her doctorate degree, Dr. Gaines also served as adjunct faculty at Oakland Community College in Southfield.
