Who this is for:

Different strategies work for different folks. Some can pass an exam in two weeks, whileothers may require more than one attempt. I wished to make this strategy
comprehensiveso I have written this for folks taking the exam with only a rudimentary understanding of laboratory science. You know what an antibody is, but the fella who
kept interrupting theprofessor made it impossible for you to learn anything else. Maybe your Professorexhausted his/her own own knowledge by this point. Perhaps you
crammed for every exam in school, learning nothing substantive in the process. You may even be taking theexam after being out of school for several years. Whatever your
situation, I’d like youto understand that you

will

pass this exam, by following a few simple steps.

About the exam:

You need to score 400 points out of 1000 in order to pass. That’s all you need – 400. Easy questions are worth 10 points; moderately difficult ones are worth more; difficult
ones can be worth up to 25 points. All you need is 400. How do you know if you’re ready to score400 on the real exam? Referring to labce.com, if you can score 75% + on
subject tests; 65%+ on 100 question review mode; or 55% + on computer adaptive testing mode, then youhave a good shot at passing the ASCP exam. I’ve heard mentioned
that if you’re still getting very difficult questions around #80, the computer is essentially throwing high valuequestions at you, hoping you can guess correctly and bring your
score up to 400. If you’regetting very easy questions repeatedly, then you’ve already passed and the computer just wants you to go away.

Survival Kit (for those who aren’t sure what to get):

This is the survival gear you need. It is essential and comprehensive. I wouldn’t take thisexam without the following:Polansky review cards (THE best resource)LabCE.com
subscription – absolutely essential for questions and learningSuccess in Clinical Laboratory Science (Ciulla) – to be used as your reference textbook Clinical Lab Science
Review (Harr) – for questions and learning

How much time do I need to study?

Very subjective. Depending on how hard you work on this, you will need more or less timeto prepare. Two to three months is

more

than adequate if you have an extremely poorunderstanding of lab science.

Okay fine but what do I DO?!

Take a Labce practice test in 100 question test mode. Don’t look at any resources. Justfinish it to see what score you would get. Randomly guess on everything if you need to.
It’sKewl – a blue legged squirrel would score 25% by random guessing so you’ll score around25-35% if you learned the bare minimum in school. You may be worried about
ahorrendous score. Don’t be – trust me on this.Separate your

Polansky

review cards by subject.

Chemistry, Blood Bank,Hematology, Bacteriology and Urinalysis requires 95% of your attention because these subjects comprise 95% of your exam.

Open up the

Harr

Review book. Examine its organization. Each subject is subdividedfurther into subtopics (for example, Microbiology is divided into gram positive cocci; grampositive bacilli;
anaerobes, enterobacteriaceae, etc). Your cards are organized in a similarmanner. Notice that each ~50 question subtest in the review book corresponds to only ahandful of
review cards.Each

Harr

question comes with an excellent explanation. If you don’t know a subject AT ALL, go through the entire individual set of questions for that subtopic – read eachexplanation
– look up the pertinent facts in the few review cards you’re holding in yourhands and mark it up. If it’s not there, then tell that fact to @!#*$ off because it’s notimportant.
Do this for every question in that subtopic. By the end of that set of questions, you’ll have learned the entire subtopic and noted what you need to remember on
yourcards.Do the above for every subtopic you have difficulties with. It took me 1-2 days persubtopic. Keep in mind that while there are many subtopics, only a few are
important forthe exam. After you finish each subtopic (say you finish the enterobacteriacea questions in

Harr

), doa 50 question subject test in labce, corresponding to the subtopic you just completed (eg.do Bacteriology in labce if you finished enterobacteriacea in

Harr

: do Hematology in labceif you finished wbc disorders in

Harr

). Getting a poor score is okay. Most people scorearound 50%. But every question you get wrong is a new fact you’ve learned and underlinedin your cards.I attempted to do
as many of the Labce questions as I could. A classmate did 100 every day – that’s phenomenal. Someone else did 300 every day – that’s wild. I did a thousand intotal. Do as
many as you can, and learn from every wrong answer. Highlight the facts youlearn in your

Polansky

cards.By the end of your study period, you’ll notice that only a certain percentage of your

Polansky

review cards are highlighted with facts you didn’t know. The more you know when you start studying, the less marked up your cards will be. Either way, it’s
thesehighlighted facts that you need to review, ideally every few days.

Additional notes:
Don’t buy the BOC book. The explanations are not helpful. What’s the point of buying aninferior book with thousands of questions when you won’t even get to all the
questions inthe good review sources listed above (Labce and the book of questions from

Harr

)? Thesame goes for textbooks. You don’t need them for this exam.In my opinion, class notes are utterly useless unless they’re diagrams or tables. Properunderstanding
requires that you create your own visual aids in between answeringquestions. Don’t waste time staring at monotonous text or reading the gibberish we tend to jot down in
class. Those notes have a place and it rhymes with recycling bin.Each day, try to recall all of the important information you learned that day. Some will alsodo this as part of a
weekly group meet. I can’t stress enough how important it is to recallthe information you’ve learned. If you understand something well and wait 2 weeks tothink about it
again, you’re liable to forget what you understood so well just a short whileago. Attempt to recall as you’re about to fall asleep every night and it will be fresh in yourmind in
the morning (an added bonus is that it may knock you out like a light). Therefore,review early in the morning, as well.Picture the branches of bacteriological charts or certain
key antigens in blood bank. If youcan’t recall something, look it up immediately! Learning is all about layering knowledge. When you take the time to do several layers
(learning, doing questions, drawing charts) your recall will be solid.Use my high yield charts or make your own. But please know the relevant information!Good luck!

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