Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Brain Dump Sheet
187 Plays2 days ago
In this episode, Miranda and Josh dive into one of our most asked-about tools in CHT prep—the brain dump sheet. We break down what it actually is, what you should (and shouldn’t!) put on it, and how to use it strategically the moment you sit down for the exam. If you’re prepping for the CHT, this is a simple game-changer you don’t want to miss.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of Brain Dump Sheet
00:00:04
josh MacDonald
Hi, I'm Josh McDonald.
00:00:05
Miranda Materi
And I'm Randa Matieri and we are Ham Therapy Academy.
00:00:09
josh MacDonald
One of the questions we get asked most often is about the brain dump sheet, what it is, what purpose it serves, how you want to use it. So let's talk about a little bit about what we would recommend being the brain dump sheet and even kind of what it is. So Miranda, you want to kind of give us a recap of what that brain dump sheet is?
00:00:25
Miranda Materi
Right, so a brain dump sheet is basically meant to be a sheet of paper. It's eight and a half by 11. You can write on the front and the back. um It's usually used during the exam process. So it's all those quick facts that you have written down that you have memorized and you put them on this piece of paper.
Key Facts and Strategies for Brain Dump Sheet
00:00:42
Miranda Materi
Now we know, and we'll get into the details of some testing centers having a different process for this, but for the most part, it's meant to be and a half blank piece of paper, eight and a half by 11 blank piece of paper. And you put things on there like the brachial plexus, the order of nerve innervation, the dorsal compartments, tendon transfers, anything that you might struggle with where you can just write it down and quickly dump it out of your brain.
00:01:05
Miranda Materi
And then refer back to it when you're take answering test questions.
00:01:09
josh MacDonald
Yeah. And so the idea is you walk in having maybe you've crammed, maybe you didn't. Maybe this is just the stuff that you want to make sure with the fatigue of the test as it sets in that you've got this that when you walked in and normally it should happen where they start your clock and then you fill it out. Sometimes that they let you fill it out first.
00:01:28
josh MacDonald
But you've got that like when you're clear headed, you've got the tricky stuff down on paper so you can refer back to it when you're fatigued and like, oh, now I got a brachial plexus question it. 162, but you've got that, you made that easy reference for
00:01:42
Miranda Materi
Right. And I think both Josh and I have different experiences with our brain dump sheet and what we memorized and what we put on there. um For me, it was very helpful to have the order of innervation for the muscles, like the radial nerve muscles and those things, because i got so nervous on my test. I was like, oh, my gosh, I. I don't know this, but I could simply look at my paper where I wrote down those quick facts. was like, oh, yeah, that's what it is. So I think in that aspect, it was very helpful. I think maybe because i'm more of a nervous exam taker versus you. I think you had a different experience and I'll let you share that with our audience.
00:02:15
josh MacDonald
Yeah, I had gone into it knowing, gone into my studying, knowing this was super important from some of the therapists. And so I worked pretty heavily on what am I going to put on this, making sure that I got it right, right? I didn't want to put down the wrong stuff or blank on that. So I had practiced that brain dump sheet so consistently week after week leading into it. Then when I got there, they said, go, I start writing this information down. And I thought, well, why am I wasting my time or using my time to write it down?
00:02:40
josh MacDonald
when I'm comfortable with it. I know this stuff. And so I just went ahead and went into the test and didn't really at any point feel like, oh shoot, I should have written that down. I just kind of rolled question by question. So I didn't feel like I wanted to use my time to put down what I had already thoroughly learned. I knew like tendon transfers, nerve innovations, brachial plexus was all going to be like the big difficult ones, but I had so prepped for it. I didn't feel like I needed it in the moment as much.
00:03:07
Miranda Materi
Yeah, yeah, that's understandable. And I think everybody's different, right? So I think as long as you can recall, or you know those facts in some way, I would say they answer a fair amount of the exam questions based on just what's on your dump sheet. So what are some things that you see people putting on their dump sheet or what is on our dump sheet that we recommend to the exam taker?
Common Elements and Quick Reference Tips
00:03:30
josh MacDonald
Yeah. the The most common ones that I feel like everybody puts on theirs is order of innervation for the three, maybe five peripheral nerves if you count axillary musculocutaneous. The brachial plexus, the draw the lines, abbreviations is sufficient in case you get that brachial plexus question or a gunshot wound to the shoulder question. um I've seen a lot of people put um named tendon transfers. And make this all shorthand, make it quick, easy stuff to write out. But the named the name of the test and then, excuse me, the name of the tenant transfer and then what the transfer is just to make that easier to recall.
00:04:04
Miranda Materi
Yeah. And I think other things I've seen is sensation like the monolith filament testings, like knowing 3.84 to 4.31 is diminished protective sensation. So writing those down, I've seen, I've seen where they do two point what's normal, fair, poor,
00:04:19
Miranda Materi
um And then I know on the back of our brain dump sheet that we recommend it's the primary and secondary muscle movers. So if you're taking that exam test and you're like, oh, I know that that's an elbow flexor, but what are the secondary ones? You can quickly look at your brain dump sheet and see what those secondary movers are.
00:04:36
josh MacDonald
I think provocative tests might be a good one also. If you're not comfortable with, let's say, shoulder provocative tests or elbow or some of those, there can just be such a giant list of them. So just writing down HK for Hawkins Kennedy and Mears and just quick reference and then group them or learn them in These are label tests and these are um for rotator cuff tears and these are for impingements.
00:04:51
Miranda Materi
Right.
00:05:03
josh MacDonald
Just grouping those together so you have some some template of what to use. Yeah.
00:05:08
Miranda Materi
And then another thing that you could put on there and just know everybody's brain dump sheet is different, right? It's meant to be custom to you and and what you may be struggling to remember. So other ideas are common compression sites for the peripheral nerves like median radial ulnar nerve. What are those common compression sites or what are those common pathology sites? Another one could be anastomosis could be on there. So there's a lot of variety that you could have on there and it's it's really meant to be individualized for
00:05:38
Miranda Materi
Thanks, Sam Taker.
00:05:40
josh MacDonald
Yeah.
Customization and Exam Preparation Tips
00:05:41
josh MacDonald
I'm also a fan of leaving a little bit of space on there for what I'll call taking notes during the exam. Maybe it's questions you want to come back to later and you can jot down question number 32 and then some prompt about why I want to go back to that. A or B as the two option answers or question 52 and something about like which which tend to transfer test. So you've got little notes jotted. So when you're done, if you have time, you can go back to those questions. You've marked them. They're easy to find and you get some prompt. So you're not starting from scratch on that question. You've got something to refresh your memory on it.
00:06:17
Miranda Materi
Yeah, that's a great idea. Another thing I know, different exam centers have different options. So it is supposed to be a blank white sheet of paper. However, we've had members say I was given a tablet. We've had paint members say they were given a dry erase board. So Just to be prepared, I would call the exam center in advance and see what they offer and know that if for some reason you get a tablet, HTCC, the certification commission wants to know about it and they want you to report it because that could be, um you know, if that that flags that test center so it doesn't happen to other people, but also lets them know um that you could potentially be, or what they told me at the conference was that you could potentially retake the exam based on something like that happening.
00:07:03
josh MacDonald
Yeah. I think if I walked in and I got a little whiteboard with a big fat marker on it, I might've just panicked. Like I didn't even necessarily need it. I think I might've panicked saying like, this is not how it's supposed to be.
00:07:14
josh MacDonald
What else is going to be different? Yeah. The idea of trying to write down the brachial plexus with ah with a dry erase marker that's a quarter of an inch wide on a little whiteboard, and I would have lost it.
00:07:22
Miranda Materi
I know.
00:07:23
josh MacDonald
Yeah.
00:07:23
Miranda Materi
I know. Or even a tablet, right?
00:07:24
josh MacDonald
Nope.
00:07:25
Miranda Materi
Like, you're like, where's my piece of paper?
00:07:25
josh MacDonald
Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:28
Miranda Materi
That's not supposed to happen. But, you know, both of both of us have had members email us and say, you won't believe this. This is what they gave me.
00:07:35
josh MacDonald
Yeah, yeah. So we definitely encourage, like Miranda said, reach out to that test center ahead of time. Find out what do you give them? Do you allow people to fill it out before the time starts or does the time start first?
00:07:47
josh MacDonald
They are usually supplying the print the pencil and the paper. So just know going in so there's less variables to worry about. And if you're not going to use it all that much, then you don't need to worry about it. But yeah, go in prepared. That helps for sure.
00:07:58
Miranda Materi
Yeah, definitely.
Resources and Closing Remarks
00:07:59
josh MacDonald
Yeah. Well, if you have more questions about brain dump sheet or prepping for the test, that's what here for. We have all the stuff on our platform for Hand Therapy Academy, all the things to help you study and pass the exam with a 98% pass rate that we've got. So reach out to us, email info at handtherapyacademy.com or our social media platforms, Hand Therapy Academy.