Category: EPPP Preparation Materials

Does the thought of taking the EPPP give you anxiety? EPPP exam prep is an undertaking that can be stressful in and of itself. On one hand, stress can motivate us to meet deadlines and pursue our goals. On the other hand, though, stress can get in the way of something we want to accomplish like passing the EPPP.

For example, imagine you are taking the EPPP tomorrow. It’s the night before the exam and you are so worried about passing that you spend the night tossing and turning getting no sleep. When your alarm goes off in the morning you’re still immersed in worry. You rush through breakfast, forcing oatmeal down your anxious stomach, you briefly review your notes, and you head out the door. When you get to the testing center you check in, sit down, and reach for your pencil. It’s not there.

Now, it’s likely that a forgotten pencil will not be enough to send you home to sit the exam another day. A forgotten pencil can, however, leave you more anxious than you already are on exam day. You’ll expend much needed mental energy on finding a replacement pencil. And such anxiety, when it has passed the point of being helpful and motivating, can cloud your brain and disrupt your ability to do your best. This is not an ideal scenario for your goal of passing the EPPP.

Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, in his Ted Talk “How to stay calm when you know you’ll be stressed,” gives insight on how to deal with stress before it even happens. A trip to the airport without his needed passport got him thinking of the possibility of putting systems in place “that will prevent bad things from happening.” He describes something called “pre-mortem” which is when “you look ahead and you try to figure out what you can do to prevent those [bad] things from happening.”

See his full talk below:

 

Further Reading:

• Stressed from EPPP study? Know the warning signs.
• Relieving the Stress of EPPP Study

Passing the EPPP takes time and dedication like it’s a part time job. When something absorbs so much of your time and energy, it’s important to do everything you can to ensure success. Here are seven practical steps you can take to boost your odds of passing the EPPP before, during, and after the exam.

Before the exam

1. Mimic the study environment

Once you know where you’re taking the exam, check out the testing center and see what noises and surroundings might accompany you as you take the test. Will it be dead quiet? If so, then take a few practice tests in the dead quiet.

Furthermore, take a practice test under the time constraints you’ll have during the real deal. For instance, you might have about one minute per question give or take. Set a timer for one minute to know what it feels like to answer one question within that timeframe. Continue reading →

If your mind drifts off at some point during EPPP studying, you’re not alone.

Judson Brewer, Psychiatrist and author of The Craving Mind, says in his Ted Talk, A Simple Way to Break Bad Habits, that “about half of us will drift off into a daydream” while trying to pay attention to something.

Brewer explains how bad habits, such as losing focus, are formed and how we can achieve focus with curiosity. He says,

“The paradox here is that mindfulness is just about being really interested in getting close and personal with what’s actually happening in our bodies and minds from moment to moment. This willingness to turn toward our experience rather than trying to make unpleasant cravings go away as quickly as possible. And this willingness to turn toward our experience is supported by curiosity, which is naturally rewarding.”

See Brewer’s full talk below.

We’ve told you that you don’t have to be a genius to pass the EPPP. Though the assertion still stands that it takes hard work and dedicated study to pass the EPPP, as opposed to inherent talent, it’s possible to cultivate a bit of genius.

First of all, what is a genius? Continue reading →

Beliefs and Results

“Expect good results, and you’ll get them. Believe in yourself, and you can achieve anything….”

Do these statements sound familiar? A common mantra of the self-help industry is that all it takes to accomplish something is believing you can.

But do expectations, in and of themselves, actually produce results? Does the mere fact you strongly desire to accomplish something ensure that you actually will? Think of a time in your life when you were excited to attend some enjoyable event, only to have everything go wrong there. It never even occurred to you that it would be anything but a great time, but for whatever reason it wasn’t.  However, you eventually excepted it and moved on.

Continue reading →

Grit is the passion that drives us to press through our short-term goals, like passing the EPPP, so that we can achieve our long-term goals, like becoming a psychologist. It has been said that grit is all you need when it comes to accomplishment. Though John Wayne may disagree, when it comes to achieving goals, it takes more than just true grit.

Psychology Today’s Michelle McQuaid points out why grit isn’t everything.

She explains that

“without the strengths of curiosity, optimism, social intelligence and self-control grit can lead you in jobs you aren’t suited for, stuck on ideas that will never work and in relationships you should have let go of.”

Continue reading →