12.3 Test-Day Timing, Tutorial, Survey, and Pacing

Pacing the Appointment You Actually Have

The EPPP appointment includes more than item-answering time. Part 1-Knowledge item time is 4 hours 15 minutes, and the Part 1 test appointment also includes 5 minutes for candidate acknowledgment, 5 minutes for tutorial, and 5 minutes for survey. Part 2-Skills item time is 4 hours 10 minutes, and the Part 2 appointment includes 5 minutes for candidate acknowledgment, 9 minutes for tutorial, and a survey.

Candidates should know these components before arriving so the appointment does not feel surprising. The acknowledgment and tutorial are not content review time. They are part of the testing process. Use the tutorial to understand the interface, navigation, marking features, and any directions shown on screen. Do not rush through unfamiliar instructions just to begin a few minutes earlier.

Pacing should be based on completing all items with enough time for marked questions. Part 1 has 225 total items, with 175 scored and 50 pretest. Part 2 has 170 total items, with 130 scored and 40 pretest. Pretest items are not scored and are used for future exam development, but candidates cannot tell which items are pretest. Treat every item as if it counts.

A practical pacing method is to divide the exam into checkpoints rather than trying to calculate every minute perfectly. For Part 1, candidates can check progress after roughly each quarter of the total item set. For Part 2, candidates should expect longer stems and applied judgment, so checkpointing helps prevent over-investing in one scenario. If an item remains uncertain after careful reading, eliminate clearly wrong options, choose the best answer, mark if useful, and move on.

Part 2 pacing has a distinctive challenge: scenarios may contain multiple roles, systems, and ethical pressures. Read for role first. Ask whether the psychologist is treating, evaluating, consulting, supervising, or coordinating. Then identify risk, consent, competence, documentation, and jurisdiction issues. This sequence prevents candidates from being distracted by extra details.

A test-day pacing routine can be:

1. Use the tutorial to learn tools and navigation.
2. Answer the first pass steadily without trying to identify pretest items.
3. Mark only items where a later review is likely to help.
4. Use checkpoints to avoid spending too long on any one item.
5. For dense scenarios, identify role, risk, data needed, and next step.
6. Return to marked items after all questions have an answer.
7. Avoid changing answers without a clear reason from the stem.

Physical readiness matters as much as timing. Arrive 30 minutes early, bring two valid forms of identification, and plan for a long testing session. Eat, hydrate, and manage medications in a way consistent with your ordinary functioning and test-center rules. The final day is not the time to experiment with new routines.

Pacing is not about finding a secret conversion between correct answers and scaled scores. ASPPB uses a 200-800 scale, and equating procedures matter. The candidate's job is to answer each item with disciplined reasoning, complete the exam, and avoid preventable administrative or time-management errors.