The Elements of Applied Psychological Practice in Australia

Preparing for the National Psychology Examination

Nadine Pelling, Lorelle Burton, Nadine Pelling, Lorelle Burton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317354642
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The Elements of Applied Psychological Practice in Australia is a comprehensive and applied review of material required for basic psychological practice in Australia. This book is the first of its kind to offer a one-step resource to success in the Australian National Psychology Examination. Nadine Pelling and Lorelle Burton have provided you with everything you need and more, most notably:

• A comprehensive review of applied areas and all assessments noted as important by the Psychology Board of Australia

• Study skills and tips, including 'making a study plan' and how to manage your time

• 100 sample Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) with answers and explanations.

For anyone looking to take the Australian National Psychology Examination, this detailed, concise, and extremely easy to read book is an absolute must-have.

Beginning-level and experienced psychologists will also find the comprehensive coverage of applied practice areas a useful reference for their client-related work, and its value as a resource comes alive with its succinct presentation of client-based psychological assessment and the ethics of applied practice and interventions. This book will also be of interest to teachers of psychology and international psychologists and scholars who may be interested in how psychology is practiced in Australia.

1 Preparing for the Australian National Psychology Examination

Nancey Hoare and Lorelle J. Burton

First of all, congratulations! If you are preparing for the National Psychology Examination (NPE), then you have achieved the significant milestone of completing your degree and are getting set for the next stage in your career in psychology. You actually started preparing for this examination in your first year of studying psychology, so this is the culmination of your valuable learning and practical experiences. This chapter will provide some tips on preparing for the NPE. It will revisit and perhaps expand on some of the skills you have already developed along your learning journey.

The NPE is a test of your ability to apply what you have learned during your study program, supervised practice, or professional experience, rather than a test of your academic ability (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency [AHPRA], 2015). It goes beyond testing the discipline knowledge you acquired during your undergraduate studies and is based on actual case studies and professional issues. Therefore, you will be required to demonstrate how you would apply your knowledge to the particular case or issue in your professional practice. Preparing for the NPE will rely on applying the “tried and true” generic study skills you likely used to navigate through your academic studies.

Gathering information

A logical starting point for your NPE preparation is to gather all of the information you can about it. The Psychology Board of Australia has a wealth of information on its website about the NPE, so this is the best place to start your preparation (AHPRA, 2015; see http://www.psychologyboard.gov.au). Orient yourself to the purpose, requirements, application process, and information about sitting for the NPE, including examination dates and fees. It is also important to note information about the examination content. The Psychology Board of Australia Examination Curriculum (AHPRA, 2015) document, which you can download from the AHPRA website, provides an excellent overview of the content and the four domains that will be examined: Ethics, Assessment, Interventions, and Communication. There is also a list of recommended readings, some sample examination questions, information about the format of the NPE and the pass score required, and additional resources relating to the curriculum domains on the AHPRA website (AHPRA, 2015). If you have colleagues who have already sat the NPE, you might like to ask them about their experiences to gain a deeper insight into what to expect. Contact the Psychology Board of Australia if you need clarification about any aspect of the NPE.

Planning and goal setting

After you have oriented yourself and have an understanding of the requirements and NPE curriculum, the next step is to design a plan of study based on the curriculum. You are encouraged to set some specific goals to keep yourself on track. You will typically need to have your NPE booked up to 1 month in advance, so make sure you register in plenty of time once you know which NPE sitting you want to register for. Leaving your preparation too close to the examination time could create undue stress, so it is wise to begin your preparation as early as possible. Allow yourself enough time to review all four domains so that you feel confident and well-prepared. For example, you might give yourself 3 months to prepare for the NPE. During those 3 months, you might allocate several hours a week to your NPE preparation. Of course, all of your practical work is also excellent preparation for the NPE. List all the key areas on which you will be examined and then work backwards from the examination date to plan your study schedule.

You might like to create a checklist of everything you need to study. Listing the areas you need to cover and brainstorming some strategies for how you will cover those areas will provide a good base for your planning and goal setting. Allow yourself a reasonable amount of preparation time to better distribute learning over time (rather than cramming at the last minute) to enhance your retention of the information (e.g., Donovan & Radosevich, 1999). Your study plan will mostly likely include private reading or study, professional supervision, and other structured and unstructured learning opportunities. Mapping these out and then setting realistic goals will help you to structure your learning and keep you on track. In the ideal world, NPE preparation should start at the same time as your supervised practice. However, that is not always possible, or you may have already completed your supervised practice, so it is important to be realistic about the amount of preparation time you require.

Planning also involves making your environment conducive to study. Ideally, you would have a well-ventilated, comfortable space with good lighting and minimal distractions. Sometimes, it is difficult to eliminate all distractions, particularly if you are studying at home. If this is likely to be a problem for you, plan ahead and brainstorm some alternative options. Some ideas might be to use the local library or use a space at work if your employer is amenable to this. You could even study at a friend or family member’s home if it is quieter. Even though you may have a quiet space, there are other distractions that could become problematic. For example, it is difficult to focus when your mobile phone rings or keeps alerting you to messages, new emails keep popping up, your friend pops in for a coffee, the washing machine beeps at you, the dishes need washing, you find an interesting website while you are on your computer, you hear something interesting on the radio, and so on. Distractions can also come from inside our heads. You may find your thoughts drifting off to other things and have trouble focusing. Tuning into yourself and being mindful of when and why this might be happening can help you to work out strategies to help you refocus. For example, support might be needed to assist you to address any psychological issues (e.g., anxiety, loss of motivation) that are distracting you. Alternatively, you may need to reschedule your study time to attend to any burning issues that are causing the distractions. Your past experience may give you an idea of some potential distractions and, if you think these are likely to occur, you can plan some suitable strategies in advance to deal with them should they arise.

Study schedule and weekly timetable

One of the most common ways of organising a study schedule is to start off with working out all of your weekly commitments and how much time each of them requires. Make sure you include things like travel, housework, grocery shopping, social activities, relaxation time, and any other activities, and build in some “flexible time” to allow for any unplanned events. This list needs to be comprehensive so that you know realistically how much time you have available for private reading or study. Consider the time you learn the best. Some people learn better in the mornings, and others learn best in the afternoons or at night (Roberts & Kyllonen, 1999). In reality, your commitments may not afford you the luxury of scheduling your study to your optimal learning times, but try to do what you can to schedule your study for times when you learn best. Similarly, it may not be realistic to expect that you can study with absolutely no distractions, so again, try to optimise your learning as best you can. Create a schedule where you are taking care of your health by getting enough sleep, maintaining a healthy diet, and taking time out to relax and do the things you enjoy. More information on self-care is provided in a later section of this chapter.

Weekly timetable

Once you have listed all of your commitments, the next step is to work out the days and times you have available for study so that you can do up a weekly timetable. Draw on your past successes with university study to know what worked best for you, what did not work so well, and where you can make some changes. Remember to let your family and friends know about your study schedule so that they can support you and help you establish boundaries, if necessary. Try to make your study sessions short and manageable, as these will be more productive than spending long hours at a time. Your learnings will typically involve private study, supervision, and professional practice, so each of these will be briefly addressed in the following sections.

Private study

A good place to start with your private study is to use the NPE domains and related topics and create some learning goals. The recommended reading list provided by the Psychology Board of Australia (AHPRA, 2015) is a useful resource. Develop some specific goals for each domain and work out how much time you need to cover them all before the NPE. Analyse the topics and reflect on the ones you feel most comfortable with; highlight those topics you need to further develop. You can then develop a list of priorities, starting with the areas that need major attention. Continue to work your way down the list, making sure you cover all the relevant topics. As yo...