by ikaros » Sat Jun 03, 2017 12:46 pm
Thanks for the well-wishes.
My decision to make the switch was a combination of a few different things. My firm will reimburse me for a test if I pass it. So with the exception of one time, where I made a dumb mistake (that I still think was open to interpretation) on the PPP vignette and it cost me $210, I've been able to test for free. Multiple choice has never been a problem for me, and the vignettes always piss me off. The possibility of never having to take another vignette was appealing to me. Maybe it's how my brain works.
Another reason was that even if I fail PPD and PDD each once, I still only sit for the tests 4 more times (I know this is assuming I pass them the next time). With 4.0 the absolute minimum number of times I'd have to sit for a test was already 4. Twice as many tests to study for, twice as many opportunities to make dumb, costly mistakes, and the potential to retake tests effectively doubles. I know SD is vignette only, and should be easy, and I know that breaking the rest of the info up into 3 tests instead of 2 makes it more manageable. However, the idea of putting myself through this inconvenient and annoying process as few times as humanly possible was enticing.
From all I could tell, reading opinions of people who've seen the test and tested themselves, the quality of questions has improved. I know everyone is going to have differing opinions about it, and lots of people were experiencing time issues (that freaks me out a lot). That made it a really difficult decision to make. Part of me just wanted to continue on with 4.0. But the idea that most of 5.0 the questions didn't require you to memorize arbitrary facts, and instead ask you to analyze information to arrive at the answer, made more sense to me. I go through these forums on a regular basis, and I try to take every opinion with a grain of salt--good or bad. I try not to take anything at face value. There are a lot of people that get on here to vent their frustrations. I can relate, but I don't find it helpful to me. A lot of people failed 4.0 tests 4 or 5 times, alleging that the test was a random grab-bag, or NCARB is trying to be difficult or tricky. I don't know that I believe them. I get random questions here and there, and it's frustrating to me too, but I've gotten pretty good at spotting which people are just here to complain. The majority of the well-thought-out posts that I've seen on here are positive about the changes, and feel like their working knowledge is being tested more than their random textbook knowledge. I felt this was a good sign.
The fact that the majority of 5.0 study materials weren't out at the time the tests went live was disconcerting to me. I hesitated taking them for a long time. I waited and watched, and worked with my firm to acquire study materials. Even having read through them myself, I'm not sure they're adequate yet. It's obvious in many cases that the information was simply reorganized. There are a lot of typos, and I've found instances where the wrong image was used for an example. I've had a difficult time knowing it was the right choice, and after studying for two months, I'm even more worried at the vastness of the subject matter than I was when I started.
For better or worse, I'm stuck in 5.0, and I have hope that NCARB made the right changes for the new iteration of the tests. Even if I fail one or both of the tests in the next week (my hope is that I pass at least one), I'll know that I worked hard. I'll know that I put in hundreds of hours of studying for both tests, and over the next two months, I'll simply focus on my weaker areas to make sure I don't fail again.
I probably should have checked the timestamp on your original post. I didn't even realize that it was made a month ago until you responded. I appreciate the advice on time management. It's the thing that worries me most. I've usually finished early, with enough to revisit all of the questions I wasn't sure about the first time around. I'm worried that I won't have as much time to do that this time around. But the fact that the majority of the complaints since October have been about running out of time, I'm fairly certain I'll be hyper-aware of it. Is it true that you can choose to do the cast studies first? Is it organized similar to 4.0, where you can select between different sections of the test? If that's the case, I'm planning to take the case studies first, so my brain is alert and sharp. It seems to be the best way to approach the test. Did you experience the same lag on the case study questions that others are reporting? If I had to choose, I'd rather experience that lag at the front end of the test, so my stress isn't compounded with fear of running out of time on those questions.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. I see you posting on here a lot, and when I do, I always pay attention. You seem to be one of the more reliable sources of information on these forums. I hope you passed PPD when you took it. If so, I'm assuming you've just got PDD to go?