by Andy Burman, PRIM&R Blog Squad member
PRIM&R is pleased to bring you more blog posts from the PRIM&R Blog Squad. The Blog Squad is composed of four PRIM&R members who are devoted to blogging prior to, during, and after the 2010 Advancing Ethical Research Conference.
I have a confession to make.
I took the 2010 Certification Examination for IRB Professionals. I failed the 2010 Certification Examination for IRB Professionals.
The whole process has felt lonely to me. I studied for hours and hours in earnest by myself, I took the pre-test by myself, I freaked out about the poor results on my pre-test by myself, I scrambled to study harder In preparation for the exam by myself, I drove 45 minutes to the nearest testing center by myself, I took the four-hour, 250-question exam, sharing the room with folks coming and going taking their 15-minute examinations on topics like grain bin safety, by myself. It was easy to feel alone, and while I know there are others out there who share similar experiences. I just didn’t know where to look.
I am very much looking forward to meeting many of you next week at the 2010 Advancing Ethical Research Conference. While much of my focus during the conference will be on the Small Research Institutions Track, I am most looking forward to IRB 101sm: Biomedical Research, the pre-conference program that I am scheduled to attend. It is at these workshops that I hope to learn the valuable information that will help me work toward my goal of passing the 2011 exam and gaining the CIP credential.
If there are other folks like me who plan to sit for the exam in the spring, come find me at the conference. You might see me in my red PRIM&R Blog Squad shirt, so feel free to approach me, and we can talk about how we can help each other prepare. Study groups are an exciting and highly encouraged route, but for those of us not in large institutions or metropolitan areas where a number of people locally are taking the exam, this could be difficult. I’d love to discuss study and support groups that we could set up online, or organized via web conference, that would be beneficial to all of us wanting to pass the exam.
The CIP exam should be difficult. The bar should be, and is, high. But the process of success or failure on the exam doesn’t need to be a lonely one.
See you at the conference!
Andy, fantastic blog. I think it would be really helpful to people studying, taking, and renewing their CIP to have a strong community of folks to bounce questions and have pop-quizzes with (my colleague and I do that to my staff). I know that there is a CIP group on LinkedIn (I belong to it) and that, IMO, it is a severely under-utilized group. I would love to see a virtual location where people could meet up and have casual conversation about the CIP.
Agreed!! I am in the LinkedIn group too, but it was fairly quiet. I studied too the same way and was exteremely nervous and felt alone in the whole process. My attempts to get a study group together didn't pan out and so I was left to my own path towards CIP certification. I'd love to share some strategies that I used and would love to hook up with my fellow blog squad member! It'd be neat in general to have a easier, more interactive place to come together and study, but in general develop for CIP certification or just further develop. Some folks really urge an attempt at a Second Life approach. Maybe the three of us could do this and start a group?
I was also going to say, although you didn't pass… congratulations on the attempt. I was terrified and I know others are too. Some don't even attempt it because their afraid of the test experience and results. So way to go.
I may plan to take mine in March 2012. I am prepared to do it all alone now, because I do not want others to know (my employer, my friends, family, the pressure etc.). Hence, I appreciate any online support group vert much.
If you haven't already, I would recommend you check out Andy's February 2011 post (http://primr.blogspot.com/2011/02/cip-help-is-available.html)regarding the CIP exam. In that post, Andy provides a link to PRIM&R's CIP Facebook page. PRIM&R also has a LinkedIn group for individuals interested in the CIP exam (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1705567&trk=hb_side_g). Hope that helps!
I have had the same experience as Andy. It is tough without proper guidance. Would like to connect with Andy for more specific advice. The next exam is in March and hope there is sufficient time to focus on the CIP to be successful.
PRIM&R's CIP Study Group Facebook page is a good resource to start networking and connecting with others taking the exam: http://www.facebook.com/groups/182123301822689/?fref=ts. In addition, as mentioned above, you might want to check out PRIM&R's CIP LinkedIn group(http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1705567&trk=hb_side_g) to connect with others who are taking or are preparing to take the exam.