Passed PPD and PDD
Last week I took PPD on Wednesday afternoon and PDD on Thursday morning and passed both on my first try. I studied for a total of 5 weeks.
Three things that helped me the most for these two exams:
1. This community blog. I referenced this almost every day.
2. Studying for both PPD and PDD at the same time. Seems like people spend a lot of time trying to figure out what's on each exam. Why not just spend that time studying? I know there's a lot of opinions on this, but it seemed to work for me to just study both.
3. This is the big one. After seeing the vast amount of information that these two exams cover, I figured I'd have to change up my studying technique compared to what I did for the other exams. For these, I studied in the same way that we take the exams. By that I mean doing 4-5 hour spurts of studying without taking any breaks. Sure, your brain will probably get tired (mine definitely did) after hour 3, and you might not retain as much info for hours 4-5, but what this does is it gets your brain ready for the long exam. Force your brain to keep reading and analyzing the material even when you're exhausted. Because that's what the exam will expect you to do. I felt focused and very little fatigue all the way through both exams, even when taking them a day apart, and I know it's because of this study method. I believe doing a 5 hour spurt 3-4 times a week is far better than studying 40 hours in a week and taking frequent breaks. At least that's what worked for me.
Anyway, thought I'd add a different take. Hope it helps!
Oh, and one more thing, buy Elif's practice exams. She did an awesome job.
-
The whiteboard wasn't great. However, NCARB did say that with the introduction of the whiteboard, they'd reduce the amount of equation questions. I found that to be true on the exams that I got. The main trouble I had with it was trying to resize the window. It glitched for about 10 seconds. Overall, I didn't have to use it often, and it wasn't too much of a nuisance. I do miss that pencil and paper though!
-
Congratulations. A question about the whiteboard - are you able to use the text tool - the keyboard - for the whiteboard? I like taking notes and the text function is way better than that horrid pencil tool. I so wish they would bring pen and paper back for the on-site test takers!
-
Joseph Mills , i'm considering doing the same thing...well not exactly i put a day in between the two...lol. i have ppd and pdd sceduled back to back. I think its best to study together and sit for the exams. I have usually put a week or two in between before. I'm a little nervous but I think i can do it. Can I ask you how much work experince you have, i think these exams are also based on what you know and have done in work.
Need encouragment before I change the DATE!
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
6 comments