Senioritis: The last stretch of hours before licensure

Brodie Vissers / Burst / Used under licenseWe all remember the last semester of high school. A new life chapter was approaching. Our childhood was ending. We would soon experience the freedom of the college world.

It was scary to know that we would be on our own, but we were itching to leave. We knew the quality of our work did not reflect what we were capable of, we just wanted it out of the way. I even remember calculating how much I had to do to just barely pass my classes and coast through the rest of my school year. It did not matter that more difficult times and more responsibility were imminently ahead of us, we just wanted to be done with high school. We called it “senioritis.”

Nearing the end of your 3,000 hours towards licensure can be eerily similar.

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What can I share from my license exam? (Part 1 of 2)

Basics of California Law 5th edition coverIt is essential to the fairness and validity of any testing process that those who take the test are who they say they are, do not attempt to cheat on the test, and do not reveal any information about test content to those who have not yet taken the exam. This is certainly true with license exams, which are considered high-stakes tests because failing can directly impact one’s professional standing and job opportunities.

Violating exam security or subverting a license exam, one of the forms of unprofessional conduct that can lead to discipline from the Board of Behavioral Sciences, occurs most commonly when someone who has just taken their exam shares its content with others who have not yet taken the exam. “Subverting,” as it is used here, means impacting the integrity of the exam; while sharing content is perhaps the most common way this happens, it certainly is not the only way it could occur.

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The TV therapists who do the job well

Petr Kratochvil / PublicDomainPictures.net / Licensed under Creative Commons ZeroAt the risk of being exposed for the nerd I am, I’ve been closely following the TV show The Flash. It tells the story of the superhero dubbed “The fastest man alive.” When I sat down to watch a recent episode, I read the description before starting. That description noted that the main character was going to be attending a therapy session with his wife. I immediately became skeptical. Most movie and TV therapists act unprofessionally, unethically, or some combination of the two (for example, the therapist in 13 Reasons Why).

I didn’t know whether to continue watching, for fear that a bad therapist would ruin the entire show. I recognize the irrationality in that thought, but I’m proud of my education and my profession. I have a hard time supporting those who portray it poorly.

I decided to stick it out and give the show a chance, and I am glad that I did.

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