Congratulations to SWTP reader Eva, who passed the
California Clinical Vignette exam earlier this week. Here,
some emails that preceded exam time, and an explanation of how she
made it happen:
Hi, I was glad to find your site -
it was helpful in preparing and passing the first exam. I'm
planning to take the second exam tomorrow. I just got into the
"hard" questions for AATBS. They seem absolutely ridiculous in
terms of the language used to phrase potential answers: it is
sooooooo incredibly confusing. I am considering not even taking
them because it might erode whatever confidence I was feeling so
far. Are there any questions on the exam that are like the "hard"
questions? Or, do you think I'll be ok with reworking the medium
questions and retaking the mock exams? Thanks in advance, Eva
Eva, Those hard questions are
impossible, nearly unanswerable, and nothing like the questions on
the real exam, in my experience. Their only value is in helping you
mega-hyper-concentrate on every word in each question and
answer...which you're already doing if you're getting the medium
questions right. Probably best to do with the exam tomorrow: quit
studying. You're ready. Good luck! Let me (or the blog) know how it
goes. Best, Will
Thanks so much for your reply. Helps
to know I was going in right direction when I decided to take a
break and just focus back on mock exams. Geez, those hard questions
are enough to make you really worry...taking a deep breath, eating
and taking one more mock exam. Thanks again for your quick reply-
I'll keep you posted re: tomorrow ;)
Hey Will, I just got back from my
test. I passed!!! I have no idea how well or poorly I did other
than the 17 I had to get right. I really had no sense of my
performance during the test, which is frustrating. Still, I am
thankful I passed and enjoying the completion of this stage in my
life. Thanks again for your help - I appreciated your encouragement
yesterday very much. Eva ps - you were absolutely right about the
hard questions - why do they even put them in there? it could just
erode your confidence for no good reason. that, and i felt like the
practice exams were not super helpful - the real exam was much more
subtle - it was much harder to decipher the "rightest" of the right
than on the practice exams....breathing easier now ;)
After congratulations, Eva accepted my invitation to share
her process with Social Work Test Preppers.
The strategy of folding your paper
into 10 squares (per side = 20 total per page - they give you two
sheets at the exam) so that you can rate each potential answer is
useful. I tend to work as intuitively as possible, trusting my gut
and knowing that I have the all the information I need in my head
to get the right answer. Even so, as I quickly discovered while
studying, there is so much information that it is hard to keep
track of it. So, the system of ranking each part of each answer can
be a useful way to keep track of it and still work intuitively.
Basically, at the very least, it helps you to eliminate answers
more quickly and just focus on narrowing down the remaining 2 or 3
choices so that your brain doesn't go on overload during the
exam.
I found that the real exam was much
more subtle in its answers (it was harder to distinguish between
"right" and "most right") than the practice exams, so having a tool
to knock out one or two answers was really helpful. Even so, you
still have to rely heavily on your gut. The strategy is as follows:
Make/draw 10 squares for each side of two pieces of paper: 1. fold
paper 4 times (leaves you five rows) in the portrait direction 2.
fold paper lengthwise (portrait) in half 3. draw a cross in each
square (kind of like a window); each space allows to rate one
answer 4. draw a cross in each of the four squares; each space
allows you to rate one of four aspects of an answer 5. if each
answer has a fifth element, you can use the center of the cross for
the fifth element 6. i labeled each answer 1-4 and then added the
question number to be able to go back and compare my rating with
the aatbs rationale to improve my ability to rate accurately Rating
system (you'll find this in aatbs, and i believe in gerry grossman
too - they might explain better, but this is how i broke it down):
0=not something that responds to the question (wrong) 1=maybe
2=responds to question accurately (right) Highest number =
"rightest" answer; sometimes you'll get two answers that are even -
then you compare based on gut. you'll usually fall off on the right
side if one has to do with safety - assessing/evaluating
suicidality/homocidal intentions or referring to a
doctor/psychiatrist. In other words, you'll have to assign a higher
value to one based on the importance.
The other thing to keep in my mind
is that all these test prep companies make money off of our anxiety
- so, really, managing your anxiety is going to be the most
important aspect (at least, it was for me). Just to give some
balance here - some people study months and months. I studied all
day for four days for the first exam, and studied three straight
days for the second exam. I took the second exam two weeks after I
got the BBS notice (about six weeks after exam 1). I know I do
better if I study a lot before the exam because of the way my brain
works, I forget a lot of stuff quickly - so go with what works best
for you. To some extent it is about what you know, but mostly it is
nailing the strategies - understanding what to look for and how to
knock out incorrect answers as quickly as possible. If you study
the knowledge base in the best way that works for you (cramming vs.
studying every day over a longer period of time) and then really
focus on specific strategies (such as the squares) that help you
understand the "rules" of how the test works, and you'll be
successful. Three things I did that helped: 1. Since your time
doesn't start until you hit "enter" on the computer, take your time
setting up your squares. it actually helped me focus, and feel more
prepared by taking that time. It slowed down my nervous energy a
bit, and got out a little anxiety by doing "busy work". 2. I
focused on visualizations for days ahead of time - seeing the
"congratulations, you passed!" message when i hit enter at the end;
calling friends to tell them; updating my facebook account to say
LCSW; etc.
Whenever I started to experience
some doubt or anxiety, I went straight back to one of those
visualizations and the feelings of relief and excitement they
engendered. I also imagined myself going through questions and
clicking on answers to get the "green" button that comes out of the
aatbs practice exams when you get the answer right. 3. Know ahead
of time how much time (more or less) you have for each question and
give yourself some buffer time. For example, I knew that I had
about 2:30 per question - or about :50 minutes per 20 questions to
give myself about :20 minutes of time of buffer for the second
exam. It helped me keep my pace without having to figure it out
during the exam. It's also nice to know you have time to go to the
bathroom, eat a snack if your brain is drained, etc.