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STUDY TIPS

Maddie

If anyone has tips, post'em here.

Here's a couple to start you off:

1.  READ THE REQUIRED BOOKS.  Almost everything (and I mean like 95% or more) of the exam is straightout of the books.

2.  BUT DON'T READ THEM COVER TO COVER.  There is a list of what chapters to read for each Domain - follow it.

3.  REMEMBER THE CSE RULE - everything is from the point of view of the "ideal" association CHIEF STAFF EXECUTIVE.  A bunch of questions will relate to the CSE's relationship with the CEO - CHIEF ELECTED OFFICER (eg Board President).

4.  MOST IMPORTANT MNEMONICS - 

SPIE - Scan, Plan, Implement, Evaluate.  These are planning steps in the correct order.  TONS OF THE QUESTIONS ARE SPIE QUESTIONS asking what should come first (SCAN - eg survey), for example.

M2M-S2S - Member to member, staff to staff.  The ONLY exception is when the CSE talks to the CEO.

I'll have more later.

Replies to this Topic

Christopher

Where is the list of chapters for each book mentioned in #2?

Maddie

Just uploaded it!!  Check the file cabinet - book chapters by domain, I think it's called.

Peggy

Thanks Maddie - I htink the other thing I'm learning is how to read - not scan - the test questions. I know we need to look for "detractor" words like first, after, etc. Others you can think of or things you learned about reading the questions?

Peggy

Just saw the question guide in the file cabinet - great. Found this tip particularly helpful

 

Which answer is focused on the thinking of the CSE rather than a staff specialist?

LERP-Legal, ethical, relational, procedural

 

Maddie

Yes!  Remember I'll be in the chat room tomorrow at 3pm if anyone has more questions. Don't forget to look through the file cabinet for lots of good stuff.

For the domain notes, you'll notice that they are all pretty repetivie, which makes sense since everyone takes notes on the same books. So take your OWN notes - but these will help you see what "testable items" everyone is pulling out of the readings.  

Use the scenarios, too.  On my exam, there were NO scenario questions (eg description of a situation, plus 3-4 questions about it) - but that doesn't mean there won't be for yours.  Scenarios help you think about things from the "CSE" point of view.

Everyone finds the practice questions very helpful - but many of them have wrong answers.  Which seems annoying, which it is, but think of them as more about how the questions are worded with the multiple choice answers.  There will almost always be two fairly obviusly incorrect answers - but of the two possibles, you have to figure out which is the BEST answer.  That's the hard part.

Talk to you tomorrow!

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