Connecting students to knowledge
and its application
Southern Utah University
Lynn White, Ph.D.
Research Design
APA Proficiency Exam
What is the APA Proficiency Exam?
This is a take home multiple choice exam to assess your understanding of APA writing style, tone, formatting, and written empirical research reports.
Why do I need to take it?
You learned about APA technical writing style and empirical research reports in PSY 2010. However, you have likely forgotten some of what you once knew. Unfortunately, there is not enough time to re-teach this material AND teach all that there is to know in research design. The expectation is that, with a bit of review and preparation, what you learned in PSY 2010 will come back to you. You will then be able to successfully incorporate this knowledge and skills into the present course on research design.
How do I prepare for it?
There is a APA writing resource link on the class homepage. There are 2 files on the resource page that are particularly important: "Writing Style Do's and Don't's" and "Sections of an Empirical Research Report". Knowing this material inside and out should be more than adequate. However, if you require more detailed explanations, please come and see me for extra help.
Open notes/book, but...
Even though this is a take home exam and you can use whatever material you wish (other than another person), you will discover that unless you understand it, you will likely not do well on the test.
Where and when do I take it?
This test is taken at home on your own. You may take the exam twice, between week 2 and week 6. However, you may not take the exam more than once in any given week. I will count your last score.
Once you take the test, I will let you know your score. However, I will not tell you which questions you got right and wrong. I want you to review all the material again before the second attempt. This will maximize your understanding of the material.