Psychology Oral Exam Study Strategies Part 2

Psychology Oral Exam Study Strategies 101 (Part 2)

Evelyn Jagpat O’Halloran, Psy.D.

While this is an exciting time, preparing for and taking the Psychology Oral Exam may also evoke anxiety and fears. This is very natural. However, it can distract you from fully focusing on your goals and diminish your energy, motivation and concentration. Therefore, before I share more study strategies, the first task at hand is to minimize anxiety and put things in perspective. In accomplishing this, the best and most powerful tool in your arsenal is maintaining a positive attitude. So, just how do you do this?

Just about anyone who knows me well knows that I am a big sport fan. I love to see the way games and strategies are executed on a professional level. I also admire the time and dedication professional athletes put into their professions. They don’t hold back and they are efficient at optimizing their potential and continually fine tuning and enhancing their expertise and skills in general. They know that these are crucial elements in performing at a more elite level. They are also essential in helping them to execute at their highest levels. One other crucial component for success for every good sports team and even players in individual sports is that they formulate and follow a plan for success…aka, playbook for success. Below are some suggestions which I have personally found to be crucial elements in accomplishing my own goals in life and which I used to help me prepare for and pass the Psychology Oral Exam. You may also find them helpful as you develop your own strategies for accomplishing your goals, one being, passing the Psychology Oral Exam and becoming a fully licensed psychologist.

Playbook for Success

1) Power of Positive Thinking: The most important tool in your arsenal of personal assets is positive thinking. This addresses the quality of your thought life! While natural abilities and talents are important, they are not in and of themselves sufficient. Whether or not you maintain a positive attitude is also very critical. A healthy positive attitude will take you a long way in resolving problems, facing and overcoming challenges/adversity and embracing and more fully optimizing opportunities. Your thinking influences your emotional experiences, your appraisal of the situation, your ability to engage in cognitive flexibility, your creativity, your problem solving abilities, your ability to define goals, your level of motivation, your level of endurance and sustained effort and outcome.

2) Outlook and Self-Perception: Look beyond the Psychology Oral Exam and visualize your goals. Your outlook about your future and your place in the world will determine how far you think you can go and what you think you can achieve. Your self-perceptions will likewise either enhance or limit your progress and ability to achieve your goals. In essence, you will only reach as far as you see yourself capable of being and you will not stretch beyond what you think you are able to attain. Unfortunately, many people drastically underestimate their true potential. Take some time to get to know you better and to reconnect with yourself. Develop a more accurate picture of your interests and unique experiences, gifts, talents and abilities. Give yourself permission to dream without judgment and self or other imposed limitations. Then, dear to make an investment in those dreams. Once you dream it you likely have the unique ability to achieve it. Remember, others do not have to believe for your dreams to become a reality. Give yourself permission to be successful!

3) Self-doubt: Your belief in yourself is also critical. This addresses the issue of plaguing self-doubt. Self-doubt clouds the issue. It also limits your ability to perceive things accurately and exercise flexibility and creativity. It simply produces fear, anxiety and inhibition. It also limits your capacity to perform.

4) Power of Self-Talk: Beware! Your attitude is impacted by those statements you make to yourself, both positive and negative. You will achieve what you believe and say to yourself. Monitor self-talk and beware of cognitive distortions, negative predictions and emotional reasoning. Don’t let negative and self-defeating self-talk go unchecked. They will sabotage your future if you let them.

5) Healthy Connections: Beware! Others around you may also impact your attitude. You must remember to not be passively or reflexively shaped by the negative attitudes of others. Our interpersonal relationships shape who we are and our attitudes about ourselves. That is why it is important to actively and continually work on building healthy and positive relationships. Make a choice to surround yourself with positive and affirming people. Gather support from others. Also, be affirming and offer support to others. Remember, like attracts like, so be that which you want to attract in your own life!

6) Commitment to Excellence: Make a commitment to achieving your goals. This involves being disciplined and investing the personal time and energy required. Formulate a study schedule and stick to it.

Also, make a commitment to doing your personal best. Invest in you. You deserve no less than your best effort. Determine what you need to succeed, develop a concrete, plan and then invest in the process fully. As needed, re-evaluate your strategy along the way to determine whether it is effective. Be flexible and make needed changes.

A key part of the foundation of success also involves making sure that you set realistic goals which will aide you in achieving success. This speaks to not engaging in wasted effort and inefficient strategies. What resources or tools can you utilize which will optimize your efforts and support successful outcome?

7) Role Models: Look at those who traveled the road before you. Are there others who have taken a similar path or faced similar challenges? Who are your role models of success? What can you emulate and adapt for yourself? What is it that they have taught you not to do? What were some of their pitfalls? Which can you avoid?

8) Believe! Believe in your dreams and in your ability to achieve them!

Believe in your ability to face problems, challenges and adversity.

Believe in you capacity to approach problems, make good choices and find reasonable resolution.

Believe that the fulfillment and happiness you seek is attainable when you strive to be more authentic and a fuller expression of who you were uniquely made to be in this world.

9) Learning from Mistakes and Adversity: Remember, mistakes are not endings or failure. They are life lessons. Adversity is a normal part of life. It is often an essential part of our preparation for something better and for functioning at a higher level. Every adversity and challenge provides an opportunity to grow, learn, and achieve our personal best. The process of resolving and overcoming problems, challenges and adversity also helps us to enhance existing skills and develop new ones. Through this process we also develop a richer understanding and appreciation of who we are.

Adversity and problems also provide pathways to connection with others. These interpersonal bonds help us to empathize and connect with others and to feel understood and cared for. Through these connections, we realize that we are not alone and that we are not so different than others around us. We also learn to more fully and deeply appreciate and respect the dignity and integrity of all human beings and their capacity to triumph over difficult circumstances. This also includes a greater capacity to accept and forgive human frailty and imperfection, even within ourselves.

10) Living in Balance: Make an active plan to maintain balance in your life and manage your anxiety. This includes attending to every aspect of your being (mental, emotional, physical and spiritual). Make a personal commitment to feeding these different aspects of yourself daily just as you would nourish your body daily. Take the time you need to treat yourself with the dignity and respect you deserve and to take care of your personal needs. Considering your different aspects of being, what are some of your unmet needs? What are some of the things you can do that will bring you joy and make you feel more nurtured, physically fit, enriched, challenged, fulfilled, calm and at peace? Also, by choosing to live a healthier and more balanced lifestyle, you will inspire others around you and more powerfully impact them than you would through words alone.

11) You Have What it Takes: Finally, remember that you have been well trained and prepared to approach this next milestone, which is: preparing for and passing the Psychology Oral Examination. Embrace the challenge and pursue the dreams planted deep inside of you! Our Psychology Oral Exam study materials were created in an effort to help you do just that.

My very best wishes for your success in this and all that you do!