Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Exam & Study Resources

Exam & Study Resources

Study Aides | Exam Info | How to Study for Your Exams

Study Aides

General

Anatomy and Physiology

Nutrition

  • The Westin A. Price Foundation – A nonprofit, tax-exempt nutrition education foundation. This site offers a lot of information, including news articles, journals, and videos, about food, farming, and the healing arts.

Herbs

Point Location

  • Acuxo – An online acupuncture resource, notable for its large acupuncture-related and detailed image gallery. A point location resource, reference, and research for acupuncture practitioners, chiropractors, allopaths, and acupuncture students.

Acupuncture and TCM

  • Studyblue – A study resource with class notes, flashcards and more for acupuncture, biology
  • TCMstudent – loaded with study aides for Acupuncture and TCM theory, point location, etc.
  • Shen Nong – miscellaneous TCM resources
  • Yin Yang House – miscellaneous Acupuncture and TCM resources, articles and forums
  • Cat’s TCM Notes – for all students of Chinese medicine
  • TCM Student Study Tools – charts, tables, articles, practice tests, references, and many other resources

Kinesio Taping

Exam Info

Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CSTCM) offers free workshops to students and alumni to help you prepare and study for CSTCM Proficiency Exams and NCCAOM Board Exams; please see the flyers posted around school for more information about these workshops.

How to Study for Your Exams

Most students are concerned with time availability for study, their memory/recall function, making correct choices on multiple choice and true/false questions, and how to write descriptive essay answers. The attached outline will assist you in study techniques and test-taking.

Four hints to improve your abilities

  1. Remember to remember. MEMORY. After reading a paragraph or a page, close your eyes and mentally review what you have just read and mentally tell yourself that you WANT to remember that information. Concentrate on it. This improves memory, shifts information into long-term storage for easy recall. We remember what we DESIRE to remember.
  2. Sharpen your observation. Pay close attention to what you see and hear. Use mental imagery. Shut your eyes and mentally review and imagine. Notice details. Really look closely at things you study.
  3. Practice recall. Forgetting is most rapid soon after learning. Therefore, it helps to make a deliberate commitment to repeat and repeat again and review the information immediately. Repetition helps affix the fact or image in your brain / mind.
  4. Concentrate. Eliminate distractions. The brain functions best under conditions of intense concentration centering on one thing at a time. Avoid studying while fatigued or under noisy conditions. Don’t try to study where there are competing visual images, such as TV, fighting for your attention.

Study Habits

  1. Determine what the exam is to be about
    1. Speak to the instructor and ask what specifically will be covered on the examination. Verify this with other students in the class when necessary.
  2. Prepare for study
    1. Remove distractions.
    2. Set up the study area. Only one subject, text and notes at a time.
    3. Relaxation exercises, meditation and center yourself.
    4. Study to soft background music.
  3. Study orientation
    1. Mudra method.
    2. Read class notes, edit, hi-light.

Tests Made Easy

  • Set-up time management discipline.
  • Use positive self-talk (i.e.):

“From this moment on I now remember instantly and automatically all that I have studied and learned for my mind always remembers. My memory is perfect and always plays back in full anything I desire to remember. My memory now works perfectly and automatically. During my exams

I am alert and totally self-confident. I am completely relaxed. I answer all questions quickly and accurately. I remember and recall everything that I have studied easily and accurately. I remember all that I have studied.”

Self-talk for education: “I can do it now. I am now achieving all my goals. I enjoy learning the Dynamic Learning way. My memory and recall ability is perfect. I intuitively know the right answer at the right time. I always remember what I need to know. My memory is perfect; I am powerful. I am dynamic.”

Visualization

Visualization for success is vital to achieving success. To visualize, close your eyes, relax and begin to project images… the vital visualization method is for test-taking.

First, decide that you can imagine or imagine symbols. For example, constipation is visualized as colon tied in a knot. Loose bowel movements as a colon with a broken/loose faucet. A painful knee is a knee with lightning rods around it. These are simple visual images. To remember remedies. repeat the name of the herb 7 times and visualize the symbols that it remedies 7 times.

The use of tape recorders and repetition is highly suggested.

Test Taking

Study, review, and then close your eyes. Bring your hands into the MUDRA pose and repeat the 4 cycle method.

Sleep Learning

Use a cassette recorder with auto-shutoff feature and AC power cord or converter. Use quality cassette tapes, record information that you wish to memorize / assimilate. Buy, if you can, a 24-hour timing device from Radio shack.

Do not attempt to stay up and listen. Sleep. Sleep and learn. Sleep learning is repetitious. Each cassette must be played min. 7 times and more if possible. Tape material carefully with soft background music if possible.

To improve your study skills, request a copy of the student study skills self-help guide from the office.