CSP Exam Content

Study Guide (this link takes you to the page where you can download the Study Guide).

***NOTE: This material is provided by the Board of Certified Psychometrists (BCP) as a general guide for your test preparation.  The exam may consist of but is not limited to the specific topics mentioned below.  Percentages refer to approximate amount of the exam that is devoted to that domain.

The CSP exam consists of 120 multiple-choice items. Each examinee has 150-minutes (2.5 hrs) to complete the exam. The minimum passing cutoff is 71.6%. 

updated 3/31/2022 

I. PRE-TEST ISSUES (DOMAIN I…18%)

A. Review of records: Questions to ask

1)      Demographics (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity and primary language, handedness, education)

2)      Nature of pathology (e.g. site of injury, date of onset, severity, reported symptoms and difficulties)

3)      Premorbid physical or psychological issues (e.g. disabilities, mental illness, alcohol or substance abuse)

4)      Has the examinee been tested previously? How recently? What tests were used? (Consider whether valid to re-
        test; what alternative tests to use if necessary.)

5)      Stressors, acute and chronic (e.g. fire, flood, death of loved one, divorce) that could call score-validity into
        question)

B. Testing environment

1)      What are the general standards for the testing environment?

2)      What accommodations/modifications may be needed: What tests cannot be used? What changes need to be
        made to the testing environment and/or procedures? Consider the following as some of the modifying variables
        you might encounter.

Ÿ   Agitated

Ÿ   Impaired mobility (use of wheelchair, hemiplegia, casts and slings, neck brace, etc.) 

Ÿ   Aphasic / dysphasic (receptive or expressive)

Ÿ   Impulsive

Ÿ   Aggressive

Ÿ   Incarcerated or on a locked psychiatric unit

Ÿ   Color blindness / color deficiency

Ÿ   Pain

Ÿ   Compromised activities of daily living (ADLs)

Ÿ   Presence of interpreter or third-party observer

Ÿ   Cross cultural issues

Ÿ   Resistant to testing

Ÿ   Easily fatigued

Ÿ   Seizures/epilepsy

Ÿ   Hemiparetic

Ÿ   Sensory impairment: vision, hearing, touch

Ÿ   Sensory sensitivity

3)      Are there considerations that can effect your or the examinee’s safety?

C. Neurocognitive / Neuropsychological concepts. Working in the field of brain behavior relationships requires us to
       understand some basic concepts. Knowing these can be important to your test administration, your observations, as well
       as your safety and that of your examinee. As examples, consider the following:

  • Anhedonia

    Micrographia

    Aneurysm

    Neologism

    Apraxia / dyspraxia

    Perseveration

    Arteriovenous malformation (AVM)

    Practice effect

    Aura

    Premorbid

    Basal and ceiling

    Prosody

    Bilateral / unilateral

    Recency / primacy effect

    Bradykinesia

    Response latency

    Circumlocution

    Semantic / serial clustering

    Confabulation

    Seizures: grand mal / generalized tonic-clonic (GTC), partial, partial complex, petit mal absence)

    Coup-contracoup

    Set maintenance / set loss

    Embolism

    Short-term memory

    Executive functions

    Telegraphic speech

    Halo effect

    Testing the limits

    Ideational praxis

    Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

    Intrusion

    Tremor (resting and intention)

    Lateralized

    Thrombosis

    Long-term memory (LTM)

    Universal precautions

    Malingering

                                              

D. The presentation of examinees with a history of various illnesses / injuries / impairments (i.e. the ecological validity of presenting symptoms). Consider the following as examples:

Attention Deficit Disorder / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD)

Agraphia / dysgraphia

Hydrocephalus

Asperger’s syndrome Akinesia / dyskinesia

Ischemia

Alzheimer’s disease

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Amnesia (e.g. anterograde, retrograde, global)

Learning disability

Aphasia / dysphasia

Malingering

Ataxia

Mental retardation (Intellectual Disability)

Autism

Multiple sclerosis

Cerebral palsy

Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS)

Cerebrovascular accident (CVA)

Orthopedic injury

Dementia

Parkinsonism

Dysarthria

Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS)

Dyslexia

Substance abuse

Dysnomia

Sundown Syndrome

Down’s Syndrome

Tardive dyskinesia

Embolism

Toxin exposure

Encephalopathy

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Epilepsy

Tremor: resting, intention, high and low frequency

Hemianopsia / Hemianopia

Visual disturbances (e.g. diplopia, acuity, field cut)

Hemiparesis

Lesions: left hemisphere, right hemisphere, frontal lobes, occipital lobe, parietal lobes, temporal lobes, cerebellum, brain stem, hippocampus

E. Explanation of testing / evaluation to examinee (In the event that the examinee raises questions or concerns; you should have some awareness of the following

     issues and the extent to which you can address them.)Purpose of testing

1)     Informed consent

2)     How information will be used

3)     Confidentiality

4)     If / how feedback will be provided

5)     Explanation of testing procedures

6)     Discussion of effort

7)     Release of information to family, companions, third-party payers, court and attorneys, etc.

8)     Effect of third party observers

9)     Working with interpreters and 3rd party observers

II. TEST ADMINISTRATION (DOMAIN II…52%)

  • A.    List of tests to know (i.e. quantitative data) - see Study Guide for a list of tests. We recommend some familiarity with all versions of the previously listed tests as the basic prerequisites for taking the CSPe. Special emphasis will be on currently used versions.
  • Review test materials: Be familiar with protocols and manuals (especially the Wechsler scales). 
  • Which tests can interfere with one another?

B. Commonly used abbreviations

(DK, NR, Q, WNL, Sx, Tx, Pt, etc.)

C. Categories of tests

      Attention / concentration

Abstracting

      Memory

Intelligence

Perception

Academic achievement

Motor

Personality

Integration (visuomotor, oral-motor, sensory-motor)

Aptitude

Language

Effort

Executive functions

D. Neuroanatomy (specific to brain-damage effects upon testing)

Hemispheres of the brain and their gross functioning

Corpus Callosum

Lobes of the brain and their gross functioning

Ventricles

Parietal (left and right)

Limbic system

Occipital

Hippocampus

Cerebellum

Thalamus

Brain Stem

E. Behavioral Observations (i.e. qualitative data)

1)     Descriptive vs. interpretive

2)     Structured vs. narrative

3)     Formal use will require some form of Likert scale or rating system

4)     Accurate informal notations will assist the Neuropsychologist to analyze and support quantitative data. Providing an example can be helpful especially if you’re unfamiliar with the terminology. You should, however, familiarize yourself with terms and categories such as the following:

Ability to understand directions

Emotional control (i.e. lability)

Letter-number reversals / transposing

Affect: range and appropriateness

Emotional blunting

Maintaining / losing set

Ambulation / gait

Error usage

Mania

Apathy

Extraneous motor activity

Mood vs. affect

Appearance: dress and grooming

Extrapyramidal symptoms

Need for repetition

Attention / concentration

Eye contact

Neologisms

Auditory comprehension

Fatigability / stamina

Overall affect

Bradykinesia

Frustration tolerance

Paranoia

Circumlocution

Hallucinations

Pencil grasp

Color awareness and/or deficiency

Handedness

Performance anxiety

Column misalignment

Hemineglect / inattention

Perseveration

Concrete

Histrionic

Persistence

Confabulation

Hostile vs. friendly

Phonetic skill

Delusions

Hypomania

Practice effect

Depressed affect

Impulsivity

Response latency

Distractible

Inhibition / disinhibition

Safety of examinee or examiner

Echolalia

Intrusion

Shifting ability / mental flexibility

Effort and level of cooperation

Irritable

Shy or outgoing

Encouragement: amount needed

Lateralized motor signs

Spatial disorientation

Effect of premorbid conditions on current test session

Spatial neglect

Speech: fluent, concrete, pressured, tangential, confabulatory, spontaneous conversation, telegraphic (mostly nouns, lacks small functional words), increased or decreased output, lack of prosody

Social appropriateness

Thought content: disorganized vs. cohesive

Validity of testing

Stimulus bound

Thought process (e.g. tangential, obsessive)

Visual tracking

Suspiciousness / overly cautious

Tremors (while resting or during action)

Word finding difficulties (WFD)

Use of assistive devices (e.g. hearing aids, glasses, augmentative communication)

III. POST TEST (DOMAIN III…25%)

A. Common standardized scoring: You will need to be familiar with standardized methods of reporting scores, with understanding how the normative scores relate to one another, with their individual means, standard deviations and ranges. Consider the following terms as possibilities:

1)     Z-score

2)     Percentile

3)     T-score

4)     Stanine / sten

5)     Deviation IQ

6)     Mean, mode, median

7)     Normal distribution

B. Terminology (Consider these as examples.)

 

Criterion referenced test

Percentile Score

Standardization

Errors of omission, commission

Regression to the mean

Stanine

False positive / False negative

Reliability

Validity

Interference task

Sensitivity

Face validity

Likert Scale

Skewed distribution

Predictive validity

Mean, median, mode

Specificity

Ecological validity

Measurement error

Standard Deviation (SD)

Construct validity

Normal Curve / Bell Curve

Standard Distribution

Variables: dependent and independent

Pattern analysis

Standard error of measurement


IV. ETHICAL / PROFESSIONAL / LEGAL ISSUES (DOMAIN IV … 5%)

Consider the following as examples of the areas of information that the CSPe might cover:

ADecisions regarding ethical standards

1)     Ethical vs. legal

2)     Standards vs. restrictions

3)     Procedures and process

B. Ethical standards

1)     CSP, NAP, APA, NAN, ACA, NBCC

2)     Purpose of licensure and certification

3)     Dual relationships

4)     Answering examinee’s questions

5)     Release of Information (ROI) / Disclosures

6)     Psychometrist supervision

7)     Professional limitations

C. Patient confidentiality

1)     Informed consent

a)     Duration and purpose of testing

b)     Right to decline or withdraw and possible consequences thereof

c)     Potential risks and benefits

d)     Disclosure to third parties

e)     Right to access results and data

f)       Time constraints for release of information

g)     Record retention

2)     Regulations can vary by setting

a)     Clinical

b)     Research

c)     Forensic

d)     Rehabilitation (acute, long-term and community)

e)     Child assessment (e.g. age of consent, custodial parent, guardianship, school assessment)

f)      Older Adults

g)     Psychiatric units

h)     Private practice

i)       Military

j)       Educational Vocational

3)     Confidentiality can sometimes be breached without signed consent of the examinee:

a)     Court order / forensic evaluations / workman’s compensation

b)     To the parent or legal guardian of a minor

c)     Suspected abuse of child or vulnerable adult

d)     Peer review, accreditation, quality assurance

e)     Clear and imminent danger to self or others

f)      Third-party payers

D. Terminology that could appear on the CSPe

1)     Protected Health Information (PHI)

2)     Institutional Review Board (IRB)

3)     Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

E. Test security

1)     Standards for administering, scoring, and interpreting

2)     Copyright standards

3)     Third-party observers

4)     Use of computerized testing and scoring programs

5)     Storing and archiving of data

 


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