2.2 Part 2-Skills Domain Map

The six-domain Part 2 map

EPPP Part 2-Skills assesses applied decision-making in independent practice situations. The candidate is not merely asked whether a concept is familiar. The candidate must decide what action is most professionally defensible given the client, setting, risk, culture, evidence, competence boundary, documentation need, and consultation context.

The official Part 2 domains are scientific orientation, assessment and intervention, relational competence, professionalism, ethical practice, and collaboration-consultation-supervision. Assessment and intervention is the largest domain at 33%. Ethical practice and collaboration, consultation, and supervision are each 17%. Relational competence is 16%, professionalism is 11%, and scientific orientation is 6%.

The large assessment and intervention weight does not make Part 2 a treatment-manual test. A strong response often combines assessment, intervention, ethics, relationship, and professionalism. For example, a risk-assessment scenario may require immediate safety planning, culturally responsive communication, documentation, consultation, and respect for the client's rights.

Part 2 items should be practiced with verbs. What should the psychologist do next? What should the psychologist clarify? What should be documented? What should be communicated to a client, collateral, supervisee, school, court, insurer, or colleague? What should be adapted because of culture, disability, language, age, or setting? What should be referred or consulted about because it exceeds competence?

Scientific orientation deserves attention even though its weight is smaller. It shows up whenever a psychologist must interpret evidence, monitor outcomes, evaluate whether an intervention is working, or avoid overclaiming a conclusion. Applied practice is not just warm judgment; it is evidence-informed judgment under real-world constraints.

Relational competence is also broader than being supportive. It includes alliance building, empathy, cultural humility, rupture repair, power awareness, and communication that fits the client and setting. A technically correct plan can still be the wrong answer if it ignores the relationship or imposes a culturally insensitive response.

Professionalism and ethical practice overlap but are not identical. Professionalism includes competence, boundaries, accountability, self-reflection, workload, documentation habits, and responsible use of authority. Ethical practice focuses on standards, rights, consent, confidentiality, conflicts, multiple relationships, and welfare. Many scenarios test both.

Collaboration, consultation, and supervision require systems thinking. A psychologist may need to coordinate with physicians, schools, attorneys, agencies, community supports, or interdisciplinary teams. In supervision, the correct response may involve feedback, monitoring, documentation, gatekeeping, or protecting clients from supervisee errors.

Part 2 preparation should feel like rehearsing professional decisions. After each practice scenario, write a one-sentence rationale: I chose this because the facts show risk, consent, competence, culture, evidence, or supervision demand. That habit turns the domain map into applied reasoning.