Mentors are usually assigned after completion of Stage 1 (Credentials Review) or may be assigned at any subsequent point in the examination process.
The ABPP Mentee Role
- Read the manual and the website materials/resources before talking with your mentor. The exam manual can be found here.
- Make a list of specific questions to discuss with your mentor.
- Please be on time and prepared for calls with specific questions to target the discussion.
- Careful notetaking during conversation to reference when working on your application later may be helpful, especially if meeting before starting the practice sample.
- Be assertive and ask any and all questions. Your mentor knows you haven’t done this before! There are no bad questions!
- Your mentor is available for a phone/video call (or a few) and emailed questions. Be respectful of mentor’s time, try to chunk questions into one email (rather than multiple) and stop at the agreed upon time for phone/video calls.
- Please note that mentors DO NOT review written materials to provide feedback but can discuss in general terms what should be included.
Possible Pitfalls
- Poor match between mentor and protégé (i.e., senior career early career stages):
- Request a new mentor/mentee match by emailing the Mentorship Coordinator.
- Different expectations regarding mentor/mentee interaction:
- Discuss roles and expectations openly; request to change mentors if problems persist.
- Concerns about clarity in the manual or website materials:
- If you have feedback about the manual or website materials in terms of content or clarity, please email the Mentorship Coordinator who can discuss with the Board.
- Poor communication:
- Concerns about availability or timeliness of response to emails should be communicated to the Mentorship Coordinator.
- The mentor may not have the answers to all questions, but they should be able to point you in the right direction or to help you find out the answer. Contact the Mentorship Coordinator with any concerns with managing questions.
- Privacy:
- The process of mentorship is intended to be separate from the examination process. As a general rule, conversations between mentors/mentees should remain private — although when questions or concerns arise, they should be directed to the Mentorship Coordinator.
- The assigned mentor will not have knowledge of the previous steps of your examination process, if applicable. For example, if you previously submitted Stage 2 materials or participated in a Stage 3 exam, the mentor will not have knowledge of this process nor access to previous feedback that you may have been received. You may find it to be helpful to share this information with your mentor, but they will not have direct access.
Important Considerations
- Read the ABCCAP exam manual to become familiar with the process and the areas of competence that will be assessed during Stage 2 and Stage 3.
- Competencies are defined on pages 11-18 of the manual, with detailed descriptions on pages 32-56, with passing and failing examples of each.
- Discussion of the Practice Sample components are listed on pages 22-27.
- Components of the Professional Statement are detailed in the manual, section by section, on pages 22-24, with additional details in Form D (pages 73-74).
- Select materials to submit to the committee that reflect your typical practice (and/or areas of expertise) and that address the areas of competence outlined in the ABCCAP exam manual.
- Be prepared to discuss the literature relevant to your areas of practice (and/or areas of expertise) in the oral exam.
- Present your stage 2 materials in an organized and complete fashion. Be sure to number and label the 17 subsections of the Professional Statement.
- Double check to ensure that all of the relevant contextual information (e.g., de-identified session notes, de-identified test protocols) for the practice sample videos are included with your materials.
- Reviewing the APA Ethical Code and practicing with ethical vignettes is strongly encouraged prior to the oral exam.
Mentorship Coordinator: Sunnye Mayes, Ph.D., ABPP (sunnyem@med.umich.edu)