Thanks to Caroline in Wisconsin for sharing her thoughts on preparing for the CPLP Knowledge Exam:
"Trish,
I just passed the exam earlier this June. My main tip: find a study buddy or group!
I was in a study group with four other employees in my firm (three of us took the test in June and all passed) and two are taking it in the next window. We did the same thing [used teachbacks to teach each other the material].... picking one AOE per week.
We met once a week via phone (since we're all in different cities). We had a homework assignment each week. We had to come up with ten or more questions (or something similar) from that particular book [ASTD Learning System].
Sometimes it was a matching, sometimes [multiple choice] questions.
I found making my own questions forced me to read the books [ASTD Learning System] more.
I find that the questions in the books weren't very helpful as it was the same text that was regurgitated.
Once we put the context of the books into our own words, it made us think more.
I found myself reading more, plus looking at things from a different perspective.
Having taken the test once before and failed, I realized that my questions needed to be more scenario based, rather than regurgitating the text."
[Trish's note:] I spoke with Caroline by phone - as a follow-up to her email - and added the notes in [brackets] above to provide a little more clarification.
Caroline's Message:
DON'T PRACTICE RECALL, PRACTICE APPLICATION!
(Remember Bloom's Taxonomy? ;-)
Caroline and her study partners used the CPLPCOACH.com Practice Exams in addition to creating their own questions and helping each other through teachbacks, by using the books in the ASTD Learning System as a content library.
The CPLPCOACH.com Practice Exams are written in the same style as the CPLP Knowledge Exam - all mutliple choice questions with four (4) possible answers - with a mix of application-level and knowledge recall questions.
Curious to try the same CPLP Practice Exams that Caroline and her team used to be successful earlier this summer?
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