I have a lot of sympathy with the Lactnet member who asked for help finding
photos for exam preparation. I, too, was a very isolated exam candidate when
I first wrote 11 years ago (I'm still isolated--only 2 other IBCLCs within
500 km, which is why Lactnet is so wonderful for me). I live in an area
where there are only about
300-400 babies born within a 2 hour driving radius, and my experience as an
LLL Leader hadn't given me the opportunity to see a lot of breasts in any
detail. My hands-on experience was limited, and in those days there was no
formal
way (such as following around another LC) to go to get some of that
experience. The visual part of the exam
really scared me. I volunteered at the hospital, offered to do home visits,
looked at lots of videos
and photos, and at as many breasts as I possibly could over the couple of
years I prepared for the exam.

The best experience I got, however, was an assignment from a course I took
from Chele Marmet's Lactation Institute AFTER I was certified. We had to
examine 25 women's
breasts and chart our findings. We had to find someone who had had a breast
augmentation, reduction, a supernumerary nipple, inverted nipples,
lactating, non-lactating, etc., etc. It was quite an assignment for someone
living in a small town. I know that I had been considered a bit of a weirdo
BEFORE asking women in town if I could look at their breasts, but this was
definitely confirmed AFTER this assignment. Women were wonderful, though,
and some actually sought me out when they heard what I was doing because
they had concerns about their breasts.

It was so very helpful to have an excuse to ask women to help me, and the
experience was excellent, confirming for me that I already knew a lot about
breasts and the wide range of normal. I really didn't think I had a hope of
meeting all the requirements of the assignment, but fortunately, with all
the requests I made whenever I was with a group of women wherever I was (I
carried the assessment forms with me), I think I got everything.

Isolated candidates may want to consider using exam prep as an excuse to
increase their experience in this way. (But I still think it's helpful to
see photos
to prepare yourself for the flatness, non-lifesize experience of the exam,
or to increase experience. I have NEVER, in nearly 20 years of breastfeeding
involvement, seen an abscess, for example. I see no premies because they are
shipped 500 km south of here, etc., etc. Those of you living in high
population areas may not really understand just how difficult getting a
broad range of experience can be for some of us.)

Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC
Peace River, Alberta, Canada
mailto:[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Kathleen G. Auerbach <[log in to unmask]>
Date: June 16, 1998 3:35 PM
Subject: ON PRACTICING WITH PHOTOS


>Visuals often make the difference between people who have a decent amount
>of clinical experience and those who are primarily "book learners".  (Each
>has its place, of course, but those who have learned primarily through
>books with little hands-on experience do less well on the IBLCE exam.)
>
>To assist people planning to take the exam, I have offered a prep workshop
>that focuses on visuals (in the mock exam).  However, people often do not
>bother to take such workshops (I am not the only one who offers them) or to
>ask about them until they are practically ready to take the exam!
>
>That is too late!  In my experience working with a few hundred people over
>the past several years, taking such a workshop at least 3 months in advance
>of the exam is the best way to use the experience. This provides the people
>with TIME to continue to learn without being rushed and tempted to cram
>(which does NOT work!).  It also enables them to learn from their workshop
>experience HOW to read questions and then gives them TIME (again!) to
>practice writing questions.  When one practices writing the questions, one
>learns quickly how to read them for waht they are asking, NOT for (who
>wrote this?! what is the trick? and other errors that practically guarantee
>selecting the wrong distracter.)
>
>I can certainly appreciate the desire of people to look at visuals.  My
>workshop next year will offer even MORE of them than in previous years.
>But, June is not the time to be looking for them when the exam is in July.
>Those of you in this particular predicament this year would do well to look
>at the pictures you DO have access to in books, journal articles, and the
>like and to study WITH some other people (even if they are not taking the
>exam).  Remember: many questions are not looking at the ONE RIGHT answer,
>but the ONE BEST answer given a particular situation.
>
>Those people planning to certify (recertify) in future years who feel they
>need more visuals should look into the workshops offered in this regard
>well in advance of the date of the exam.
>
>Pre-test anxiety does not help one pass an exam.   Preparation does...
>
>Good luck to you all....
>
>     mailto:[log in to unmask]
>
>"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
>disguised as impossible situations."
>Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
>For LACTNET quilt raffle: http://together.net/~kbruce/kbblact.html
>WEB PAGE: http://www.telcomplus.net/kga/lactation.htm
>LACTNET archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html
>