Philippine Psychometricians Licensure Exam Reviewer : Be a Psychometrician: A Comprehensive Reviewer

This is a review of the more than 200 pages straightforward reviewer (Be a Psychometrician: A Comprehensive Reviewer, by Ryan B. Coroña, Leslie B. Gazzingan and Jo-ann E. Porillo, 2014), is an easy to read and useful guide for those looking for material to use in their review and to practice answering questions. Please note that the reviewer is just one of the several materials and references used by SPARK Psychology Review Center for their review. Together with this reviewer, I was also provided of their handouts/pamplets (video lecture included) whose content are not reflected in the same reviewer.

This review is solely the opinion of the blogger (Tino Repaso) and not the rest of the admins of the FB fan page of the Philippine Psychometrician Reviewer. The review is a constructive feedback to the authors and Mr. Jason Go who provided me this reviewer and the other review materials used by SPARK.

Among the basic parts of the reviewer include:

Insights on How to Have an Effective Review
Diagnostic Test
Points to Review for: Abnormal Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Theory of Personality, and Industrial Psychology
Questions for: Abnormal Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Theory of Personality, and Industrial Psychology
Answer keys: Abnormal Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Theory of Personality, and Industrial Psychology
Appendices
Answer Sheets
References

In the "Insights on How to Have an Effective Review", the authors highlighted that the purpose of the licensure exam is to "eventually uplift the status of psychology as a licensed profession." Several practical tips and information were also given like:

Questions in the Licensure Examination are NOT all about common sense.
Use of analytical skills and questions are situational that evaluate your learning aptitude
Know how to properly eliminate options - use basic knowledge.
Be mindful of qualifying terms: Except, Whic of the following is not, Select all that apply, etc.
You are allowed to write (mark/emphasis on key terms)on the questionnaire - BUT NOT THE ANSWER SHEETS (only answer on the answer sheets and it should be kept clean, no dirt/smudges, etc).

The 50-item Diagnostic Test include questions on General Psychology not only focused on the four subjects. Score interpretation for those who get a 35-50 score means good retention of psychological data and those with 0-14 score on the opposite stream are qualified to have poor interpretation of psychological data and are advised to do an intensive review.

A short pointers or introduction are provided for each of the subject. In Abnormal Psychology there's an emphasis on DSM 5 since it was rumored that it will be used in the licensure exam. But today there's information and another rumor that it will be DSM IV-TR instead, still, reviewers are advised try to learn both. The succeeding 200-item questions in the reviewer are geared and heavy on DSM 5. Given that, browsing through, it seems I did not encounter the 5-part axial system and the axis 5 Global Assessment Funcitoning Scale (GAF). No questions also on ICD 10, Ethical Principles, few questions on psychological theories on the causes and development of psychological problems.

The introductory part of the Psychological Assessment made highlight on test development and a list of several key terms like a glossary. It also mentioned the Code of Ethics for Philippine Psychologist. Browsing through the questions I did not encounter any problems that would ask you to do some simple computations. It was more on statistical concepts. No mention or questions about Filipino authored Psychological tests, as well as on ethical considerations.

For the Theories of Personality, as always, Freud was given emphasis. Other theorists mentioned include Erikson, Adler, Jung, Sullivan, Horney and Fromm, Skinner, Bandura and Rogers. Part of the TOS on the Theories of Personality is the identification of relevant Filipino/indigenous concepts in understanding personality, not a single question in the reviewer is found. But anyway 80% of the questions per the TOS will be largely about the theories.

Points to review for Industrial Psychology briefly discussed about I/O Psychology history, Job Analysis, recruitment, training motivation among others. It should be noted that in the questions there were items about benefit and compensation and using Philippine context and mentioned of agencies like SSS, DOLE, and POEA.

In conclusion, I may not agree with the authors' branding or calling it as a comprehensive reviewer. Especially if we based its content/questions with what were outlined in the TOS. So it is not TOS-compliant with the above cited lack that I pointed out. My gauge for a comprehensive reviewer is one that contains and covers review questions outlined in the TOS. Also reviewing the formulation of the questions, they are not geared towards application and knowledge utilization, so it is not akin to being an outcome- based assessment based approach which the PRC Board of Psychology mentioned will be the format of the licensure exam for Psychometrician. Questions like application, evaluation, discussion, differentiation among others are rare, instead the emphasis of most of the questions is on drawing out or identifying factual information considered to be basic or least complex of the cognitive system categories of the Bloom Taxonomy.

I believe the reviewer is a work in progress that should be further improved and updated on its succeeding years. Still, I and we should congratulate the authors for their pioneering work of producing this first ever reviewer for the Psychometrician Licensure Exam. So if you still have some spare cash to invest on your review by all means order a copy of this reviewer. Despite some of its lack and shortcomings, still, it was an effort commendable of the authors and should be recognized, so bili na kayo para may remembrance at mapag-practice-san.

Some testimonials about the reviewer:

Kyle Victor Jose As a student of the review center, the handouts have everything needed to be discussed and to be reviewed in accordance to the TOS except for Sikolohiyang Pilipino which seems to be the only missing thing. Generally, I'm really grateful that this has helped me a lot. In fact, this is everything. Thank you.
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