ABPP Clinical Psychology study materials
ABPP Clinical Psychology study resources

ABPP Clinical Psychology study guide

ABPP Clinical Psychology · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

ABPP Clinical Psychology is a specialty board certification offered by the American Board of Professional Psychology, an independent credentialing body that is not affiliated with this study platform. ABPP describes its purpose as serving the public by promoting quality psychological services through the examination and certification of professional psychologists engaged in specialty practice. The credential is intended for licensed psychologists who have completed doctoral training and supervised experience and who wish to demonstrate competence in clinical psychology beyond entry-level licensure. Because ABPP certifies specialists through examination, candidates should expect an assessment of applied clinical judgment rather than a recall-only test: case conceptualization, treatment planning, ethical decision-making, and professional standards are the natural center of gravity for a clinical specialty oral examination. Topics on this exam: Clinical Psychology Specialty Practice and Professional Psychology Ethics and Standards. The ABPP Clinical Psychology study guide has 2 sections and about 850 words.

01

Clinical Psychology Specialty Practice

This domain asks whether you can move between assessment, formulation, intervention, and outcome measurement the way a practicing clinical psychologist does, rather than reciting one orientation's vocabulary. Expect items on psychometric decision-making (sensitivity, specificity, base rates, positive predictive value), diagnostic reasoning under the DSM-5-TR framework, evidence-based intervention selection, and risk assessment. Know the difference between nomothetic instruments (norm-referenced tests, structured interviews) and idiographic methods (functional analysis, self-monitoring), and when each is defensible. Be able to explain why a test with high sensitivity and specificity can still have poor positive predictive value in a low-prevalence setting; that is a recurring item.

426 words, about 2 min
02

Professional Psychology Ethics and Standards

Ethics items test whether you can apply the APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct to concrete facts. Know the five General Principles (Beneficence and Nonmaleficence, Fidelity and Responsibility, Integrity, Justice, Respect for People's Rights and Dignity) as aspirational guides, and the enforceable Standards as the operative rules. The most frequently tested standards concern informed consent, competence, multiple relationships, confidentiality and its limits, boundaries of competence, record keeping, fees, and research/teaching conduct. Informed consent requires capacity, disclosure of risks and alternatives, voluntariness, and documentation; it is ongoing, not a single signature.

424 words, about 2 min