Which Study Method Works Best For The CHT Exam?
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[00:00:00] If you're an occupational therapist looking to develop your skills in hand therapy. This podcast is for you, your host, Hoang Tran occupational therapists, and certified hand therapists turned serial entrepreneur with her own therapy clinic in Miami. Hoang is an author and successful coach helping occupational therapists get jobs, develop their skills and become certified hand therapists so they can become experts in their.
Hoang worked with occupational therapists from across the United States and around the world. She talks about everything from hand therapy, skills, career development, leadership skills, money, mindset, and business. You two can become an expert certified hand therapist, business owner, and have more choices in your career.
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My name is Hoang. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist, and
I know that there are people getting ready to take the exam. This is what the second week of the c h t exam. So if you guys are taking the exam [00:01:00] I am thinking about you.
I'm praying for you that you have been study. and that you have that you trust yourself with all the answers and from the questions and stuff that are coming your way. So speaking of the exam, we are currently, the exam prep program is currently open. So if you are thinking about studying, . If you're studying already, you're thinking about what can this program do to help you.
I'm happy to talk to you more about it. I will share, if you're on Instagram, the link is in the bio. You can grab details of that program if you're on Facebook or YouTube. You can grab the link in the direction as well. Or you can always go to hand therapy secrets.com and get the details of the program.
But really one of the things I wanted to talk about, today was some of the [00:02:00] misconceptions as it comes to like how you have to study. I get a lot of questions on Hoang, what re resources should I be using? How should I be studying? How long should I be studying? How many days or how many hours should I be studying?
So I get a lot of those questions and I just wanted to address some of those today because I think there are a. Misconceptions around like how you should be studying, and I think so much about what you can do to make your lives easier to make the whole process a lot more enjoyable is just based around your awareness and what you know that you.
What you know that you need because there are a lot of different ways that you might hear, but at the end of the day, you wanna take, I always say, I share my perspective on this platform and I share what I've seen really works. And I [00:03:00] also share what I see don't really work.
, take what you need from it and leave what you don't want. Because I'm just talking, just sharing my perspective of what really, what I've seen works and what I see don't work. But part of the whole process is for you to make the determination of what you actually need based on your goals and your time.
So the misconception that I hear often is how long it should take you. I hear that a lot. How long it should take You. Some people are getting the advice that it should take you to three years to study. . And I can say from my experience of having done this for quite a bit, so in the hand therapy seeker side, I've been doing this for the last three years, but before then I've been helping therapists, not just in my community, but here at my clinic as well, is I've been able to help them achieve their.
Faster. And that's what I [00:04:00] wanna share because how fast or slow you go depends on the work that you're willing to put in, right? Cuz I do not believe that it needs to take you two to three years to study for the exam. The best time to start studying is before obviously before you know when you're gonna take the exam.
So let's say. . Let's say that you are, let me see if I can write on here. Let's say you, your qual, your, the requirements for the CHT exam is three years, 4,000 hours, right? Three years, 4,000 hours in upper extremity management. Believe it or not I do believe people have more. Hours of experience and they give themselves credit for, right?
And one of the reasons why I believe that to be true is because there is this misconception [00:05:00] that they need, these injuries need to be like crush injuries, nerve lacerations, flexor tendon injuries. And they're not every time you're working with upper extremity, no matter your. , no matter your setting.
So I spent all weekend talking to a lot of occupational therapy students. I was just at the Florida Occupational Therapy association Conference. And I met a lot of. , young OTs there, they're just starting out, and I think there was a lot of misconceptions about what make a hand therapist really entails.
Like you don't there's two tracks, like you're an OT and you work in lots of different settings, you can work, one of the goals, one of the reasons why we love OT is because you can switch, you can do Jerry. You can do school, you can do peds, you can do hands, but really, I believe this [00:06:00] hand route is really a C H T route, right?
So not everyone needs to become a certified hand therapist. Not everyone has that desire. To become one, and that's fine. But at the end of the day, as occupational therapists, we help people to become more functional. We help people to be less painful. We can help them either rehab or adapt, right?
That's what we have the capacity to do. So every which way, if you're helping someone to be more functional, , dude. They need their hands and arms. If you're helping someone do ADLs, be more functional. Dude, they need their hands and arms, right? And they need to work with them in a pain-free way. Hand CT track is not the only way, like in the sense that you have to see flexor tendon, and you have to see crush hand injuries and you.
Splint all the time. I think that's a misconception that those are the only ways to become a hand therapist. You can actually be a hand therapist in any setting. I was a [00:07:00] hand therapist in acute care every single time, a fracture of any form or fashion. , I was there. In acute care you can see burns and that's a ton of them as well.
In the nicu, I had the opportunity to work in the NICU for two years, and those babies had ha, let me tell you, one of the worst splints I ever remained. that took me like two hours was on a baby. Girl, I was gowned up. I was straight sweating. I could feel the sweat run down because I was so stressed of making the splint.
, but there are so many opportunities to work in hands that you might not be giving yourself credit for of, seeing these patients every time I worked with , decrease and function a stroke patient like these craniotomies and they, their opposite sigh wouldn't work. And you're arranging them and you're doing preceptive [00:08:00] like tactile things and you're just trying to get them to actively move.
These are all upper extremity things and I don't think that you're, you may not, you might be missing out on giving yourself credit for actually. Doing. Than you think, right? So it does not have to be only in outpatient setting right now. When you start to study for the cht, is it helpful to be in an outpatient setting?
Absolutely. Majority of the tests relies on your understanding of anatomy, biomechanics, and understanding the nature of injuries, and then understanding the types of surgeries that go. . So when you start to study and you understand those things, and you see those things, it makes studying that much easier.
So is it very helpful? Absolutely. So depending on your setting, it can really help you. But the misconception is that you have to study for years before. [00:09:00] Sit for the exam and I do not believe that to be true. So I just wanted to talk about some of the ways in which you could think about studying.
So if you are at three years, . And really think about it, you guys, 4,000 hours is two years full-time work, right? Two years of full-time work. So if you were just, part-time per die and barely working, that's completely different. You just track your hours, right? But let's say you are in your second year and you have about 3000 hours.
This is a great time to start studying, especially if you already have the position, and it's a great time to study and give yourself 12 months. Give yourself 12 months. Cuz let's face it, the first couple months you get started it's oh, it's, you're not going that fast. And then you get a little fire kick up your ass and you start studying.
And then you might need a little bit break depending on the holidays, whatever is going on in your life. But it gives [00:10:00] you a nice cadence of studying, right? So that you're not on this uphill trajectory pattern that is, is, like neck breaking. So if you have those, the best time is to give yourself this, right?
So when I talk about the people in my program who sign up, I have a really nice breakdown. And ev I always say everything is like on a bell curve. Let me see my pen. Everything's on a bell curve, right? So I got 20% of my people who fall into this. They're like, Hoang, I already know. That I don't wanna waste time.
I just get me in, get me done with this exam. Because the return on investment for me is that I have this for the rest of my life. I have this for the rest of my career. So my other 20% are the ones that like have failed. , try to do it themselves failed. And these are my two biggest one. Now, the 60% in the middle are the ones [00:11:00] that actually need it the most.
Cuz they have the years, they have the hours and they keep putting it off. And it's because here's some, here's the thing is that they think that it needs to be hard because some point in their career someone told them it was hard, right? It's a story that people. Been feeding you. And I think that if you can change how you approach it and how you think about it, you can actually make it easier.
Am I saying it's easy? I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying that it doesn't need to be that hard and that what we can do a lot of the times is we can take co, like a complex concepts and we can actually dial them in to see and find easier ways. To do things right, there are easier ways to do things.
So when it comes to setting if you want it to take two years, it will take you two years. If someone told you, Hey, you gotta study this two years and you believe [00:12:00] them, then you will take two years to get it done wherever your focus. Your energy will go there. So if you think it's gonna take you two years and you want to study alone, you'll struggle alone and you'll do it alone.
And you'll buy into programs or into resources that just. , you do it by yourself. So much of it is, I'll buy this book and then I'll buy another book and then I'll buy another book and then I'm gonna do this program where I'm just watching shit by myself and I will try to figure it out by myself.
So it's a good amount of people who sit in there and struggle, right? There's a portion of those people who do end up joining the program cuz what happens is they. , I wouldn't say waste, but they spend 2, 3, 5 years struggling by themselves and then giving up hope and then trying again and giving up hope, and then trying again until maybe they run into a program like mine, [00:13:00] right?
So maybe they end up finding my videos on YouTube and start watching it, and, Oh my God. This woman is saying that I could do it in a different way and I'm here just to say it's possible for you to do it in a different way. Like you don't have to do it yourself. It was always when I was studying for it, do it by yourself.
Keep reading and try harder, right? Keep reading and try harder. Doesn't always work. Imagine as a therapist, you tell your patients that, right? It's the same thing. Imagine you telling your patients, oh, just try harder. Go home, do this exercise at home by yourself. . It doesn't work. Sometimes it does not work.
A lot of our patients need so much more of our help than, we might assume that they do. I actually ran into an old professor of mine at the conference. Her arm is completely jacked up. Severe distal radius fracture her. She's developing a stiff tan. She has no pronation. Funny enough, she has decent supination, but she [00:14:00] has no pronation.
Her elbow is stuck at 30, and what I'm gonna tell you right now is every single person that I have ever worked with who has a distal radius fracture, Let's not just say distal radius fracture. Anyone who cannot supinate and pronate their arm ends up with a shoulder dysfunction. They end up with a shoulder dysfunction because of compensatory types of movements.
Now, wherever she's going, , great therapist and everything, but the recommendation, or maybe she said she assumed because she herself is a therapist. Now remember, she's my own professor, so she's an ot and she is just I can go twice a week and I can do it myself. The hell you can with that kind of arm.
With that amount of stiffness. With that amount of pain, oh, I don't have. , you don't have pain. When you don't move. You don't have pain when I'm not touching you, but the minute I touch you, I guarantee you have pain [00:15:00] because every time I touch you, you are pulling back. So to assume that when you're in that much pain and you have those many restrictions, that you can do it on your own.
I, no. I told her, listen, I'm not your therapist. Obviously I was just talking to her, but here's my recommendation. If you were my mother, . If you were my friend and you came to me with that arm, let me tell you, I would not say twice a week. I will guarantee you I'd be very firm in my recommendation that it needs to be a minimum of three times a week.
That would be a minimum of this. And these are things if you could just do one thing, right? But why is it that we tell our patients. They need to come to us for help when we are not willing to get help, when we recognize that we need it, right? So part of the method, the misconception really, and the method of studying is really so much of it's just recognition.
Recognition of what kind of help you need. And then don't deny [00:16:00] yourself that. Don't deny yourself that, because method one of studying will take you two years. If you're not in a rush. . And if you don't mind struggling, then take two years and try to do it yourself and feel defeated. And cuz I, that's who I speak to, that's who I speak to.
Maybe I'm only speaking to a small percentage of people, but that's who I speak to. The other group of people I spoke to are people who said, I, they're much older, they've, been through much of their career and said, I've always thought about becoming a CSG and I just never.
the pain of regret. Now, do you want to be that because you can have longevity in your career and your longevity starts now? . And no matter where you are, your longevity starts. Now I have 22 years in the business. 22 years. And I can tell you right now if I had 20 and 30 more to go, I would not want to do the things that don't give me purpose and don't give me joy, cuz that's just miserable , right?
Don't [00:17:00] wait until you, you're in such a pain point that you're d. And what does that mean? It means like you're fearful of losing your job. You're fearful, you're about to move and you want choices in where you wanna work, right? Don't wait until you hate your job and think, I'm gonna go and open my own business.
And you don't have the know-how to speak in a way that brings people into and stay in your clinic, in your. Because your patients are so much smarter now than they were 20 years ago. They're 30 years ago. So make sure you know who you're getting your advice from. As a small business owner, it's important for me, especially my staff the therapists who come in and work with me, it's important that they know what to do, but they also know why they're doing what they're doing because patient.
Do require that for the most part, majority of people, and especially that the [00:18:00] healthcare system nowadays requires people to come out of pocket more and more, that you're gonna have to show the value of what you provide. And the way I see it is, we show that when we understand what we're.
and then we, because we fundamentally understand, we're able to explain it in a way that they understand. So that's why I like to take what I consider, some of the com complex concepts of hand therapy, and how can we simplify it in a way that helps you when you're studying to understand it, and then that way you're able to make decisions better and faster.
right? So one of the methods to study and do it on your own, right, number two is to study in groups. Now you can study in big groups, you can study in little groups, like small one-on-one groups. It requires you finding that right group now and finding those groups that can be challenging.
Now you can find a stranger and it works for you. But one of the things that I warn when [00:19:00] people work in groups is that you want them to be very similar to you. . And what do I mean by similar to you? Similar in the study ethic, right? Just like a work ethic. You want them to be the same, because if you're studying with someone who doesn't really wanna study, if you're studying with someone who's making excuses for not studying, then you're caring them and that's gonna bring you down.
It's going to slow you down. So just have an awareness of who you study well with, and. , be okay with saying Hey man, I'm good. Peace out . So who here, you could, if you're tuning in live , you can leave me a comment, you can slide into my dm, but who is like in the method one of studying alone, trying to figure it out by yourself.
Who's in the bucket of number two, trying to find a study partner and study together, whatever, and that can be really tough, because if you're studying with someone else, then it's. Students, teaching students. So one of my one of [00:20:00] my members in the past was like, I'm studying in this group, and she's I feel like it's the blind leading the blind, because when we have questions, we really don't have anyone who's gonna sit there and really explain it to us.
Right. , what are you gonna do? So the third method, which is wasn't available back then. So there's a lot of people like, oh yeah, Hawaiian, I wish your program was available when I was studying, it would've made my life so much easier, right? Because it would've I've developed this program out of the need that I had when I was studying, but I, the need that I have to help my own therapist in my own clinic feel.
Successful, feel confident and feel like they're able to understand these concepts and be able to understand them faster. So it's really my method. My method is, and I've shared it multiple times, but I'll share it again. One of the things that I do is just chunk the information down. So if you're in my program, I'll chunk it for you.
But if you're studying on your own, try to chunk the information down into bite size [00:21:00] pieces, right? So that you can reduce how overwhelmed you. . My other method is I teach using I like to use a blackboard, right? Or a whiteboard, but I teach via video format. So how you see me talking to is how I will like, draw out my lecture and geared towards the students that are in my program, based on their experience, right?
So the key thing is just making sure. It's fine because in the program everyone comes in with different layers of experience and what's so great is when one person asks a question, everyone else gets the benefit of the answer. They get the benefit of the question, and they get the benefit of the answer.
And man, therapists have a hard time ask, like they have a hard time asking questions, but I think most people do. So it's not unusual, it's not uncommon, but the way we structure our program and with the way the curriculum is, it's just helpful [00:22:00] to to set it in a, you're in a private setting, you're in a safe setting where you can ask your questions.
and not feel oh my God feels so stupid asking. Or, done in a way that. Gives you more support and empowerment to say, oh my God, I'm gonna ask this question. Tey, I'm gonna get the answer. Everyone else will get the benefit of listening to the answer, right? It's just so outside of chunking the information down, think about how you could study in a way that doesn't just require you to read all the time.
Now, I provide in my program videos like, and they. Very particular types of videos to help simplify some of these concepts. Cuz when it's complex, you gotta simplify it and then you gotta make it complex again, right? So essentially that's the method. So you learn through visual, you learn through auditory methods, and you learn through kinesthetic methods, right?
So the key thing is, I know that a lot of you , go to [00:23:00] YouTube, go to different pages and stuff like that, to, to research like different topics. And that's wonderful. This is why, I, myself, hand Therapy Secrets has a YouTube channel, right? And that's wonderful and great, but the key thing is when you are in a time and environment, time and age, right?
where we have more information than 20, 30 years ago where we had like barely any information. We thought we had information then compared to now, it's like crazy. So what happens is you can get inundated with so much information that you don't know which information is correct and how to weed through the shit essentially.
Right. . So the method three, which is like applying and joining a program, like the hand exam prep program, is that, it's, we really try to simplify it so that you can feel that. , you can [00:24:00] get your studying done in a short period of time with less stress, less overwhelm, and without the need to read constantly, especially if especially with everyone being as busy as they are, especially with
Yeah. Like the thickness of the information, it's just dry, right? It's just dry. And that's where I think a lot of times people give up. But I think that we have such a need right now for our therapists, for occupational therapists to understand what you're doing so that you can explain why you're doing what you're doing.
And I think that really can not only promote you as the person who knows, how to help people as the expert in your area. It's not just to help you to know that you know what you're doing, but when you feel good about what you're doing and you actually helping someone in a way that gives them the outcomes.
Do you just feel good? Don't you just feel good when that happens? Like I was working with a It turned out to be a nerve [00:25:00] issue. When we work with people with a fracture or. Stiffness, then you know where the problem is. It's like wherever the stiffness is. If I have a distal radius fracture, I know exactly where I need to push, pull.
I know how to massage. I was talking about that over the weekend with one. F one of the people in the conference where she had a fracture, and we talked about scarring, and we talked about like how to move edema, the different types of edema that you could have how to move the scar, how to move the fingers when they're stiff, how to think about moving the elbow, what, what's the strategy.
Because I was able to explain why, she's not my patient, but because I was able to explain why I think she's gonna be able to take that to her therapist and work together with them so that she can get the best possible outcome. I was working with this [00:26:00] OT that has thumb arthritis and.
Thumb arthritis doesn't have to be painful. It can be because the joint is not sitting where it's supposed to be sitting, and so the muscles are too tight in one direction and too weak in another direction. So just explaining that to her that she can actually get help. She should go to a therapist.
Part of what we do is we want to. the use of our services. If you are a therapist and you are not going and getting therapy services yourself when you need it then you're doing yourself a disservice. She really needed the therapy. I'm like, go find a certified hand therapist or someone in your area that you know, knows how to work with thumbs and, make sure you get the right splint if that's what you.
there's a time and place for splints. It's not everything, and it's not all the time. Get the [00:27:00] manual treatment that you need to put the joint back in the best position. , move those muscles, get the hand a little stronger. Do you just retire? Do you wanna spend the rest of your retirement? If you retired 65, and you live for another 20, Do you wanna be in pain and not be able to use your thumb?
Thumb is 50% of the work of your hand, so you know it's worth getting help. So this is one of the reasons why I think it's so important for us Occupational therapist. If you are interested in the hand therapy world, , you can start to improve your skills, right? And then if you decide you wanna be on the c h C track that you just know that you need the years and you need the hours.
And if you've been a therapist for over five years and it's a goal of yours, I [00:28:00] promise you that goal won't go away. That goal will haunt you until you get it. , right? That goal will haun you. You'll regret I've met people who regret not doing the things that they wanted to do. So instead of regretting, instead of thinking, oh, the only method for me to study and to pass is to study alone and struggle.
Really wanna encourage you and think about the possibilities for you to join into a group mentorship program, like the exam prep program that's going to structure you in a way. That helps you to be successful, right? The order in which you study makes a difference. Let me say that again, . The order in which you study makes a difference.
When I work with a distal radius fracture, I always make sure that their fingers are moving first. Why do I do that one? Cuz I need to avoid developing a stiff [00:29:00] hand. The reason why I wanted to avoid. A stiff hand is because the fingers were not fractured, the fingers did not have surgery, and the last thing I want is for the hands to get so stiff that they might need another surgery to release at tendon or to release the capsules, right?
That's usually number one. Number two is finger and hand stiffness is extremely painful. Once the hand gets really stiff, it becomes really hard to mobilize. as even though in a distal radius fracture the wrist is important cuz that's the part that's broken. The hand needs to start moving first, right?
For those primary reasons to avoid surgery where you didn't have surgery before. To avoid causing more pain, more stiffness, more therapy, unnecessary therapy, we can get rid of the finger stiffness first. Thirdly is because all the tendon. That move the fingers, your [00:30:00] extrinsic flexors and your extrinsic EC sensors, they all move the fingers, they pass through the wrist.
right? And if we can get those tendons moving, those tendons gliding, it will also help us move the risk better and faster. There is an order in which to do things, and even with your patients, there's an order in which to do exercises. There's an order in which to strengthen. If you start strengthening someone before you start actually getting better range of motion and movement, you can cause a lot more.
right? The order in which you do things in therapy is very beneficial to the patient. So is the order in which you, the order in which you study can benefit you, right? Starting on. The hardest thing is that you don't understand that you have absolutely no experience in, makes it really challenging to keep going.
The [00:31:00] order in which you study makes a difference because when you start studying in a particular order, . One thing that you can do is compound your knowledge, right? Which you study. In my program, I've broken up very particularly so one of the reasons why I study hands and wrists first is because when we're studying hands and wrists, we study about fractures.
Now, bone is bone. So if there's a fracture, there's a fracture, there's a fracture, no matter where your fractures are. Bone heals pretty much the same way. And if you understand that concept, you'll be able to apply it to the hand, the wrist, the forearm, the elbow and the shoulder, right? So you see how when you study in a particular way, you can compound.
What you know, into more areas and more so that you don't have to struggle so much. There is an easier way of doing things, and my goal is to help [00:32:00] you find that. My goal is to help you to realize that it's possible that you can study in less time. that it's possible for you to study in ways that are easier for you to study in u utilizing different methods that you might not.
The people who are talking to you might not have used themselves, so it's hard for them to make that recommendation for you to use. It is possible for you to do it without all the overwhelm, without beating yourself up, without putting it off. Most therapists put off the CHT exam for years and then when it becomes really painful, because they might want to move and they're gonna lose, they're not gonna, they're not gonna have as easy of a time finding a new job.
They're gonna want to ask for a raise, and they have not yet done anything different. Than they've been done doing for the [00:33:00] last 10 years. So it's really hard to go in there and say I, des I wanna raise because I'm doing X, Y, and Z. All sorts of things. Like I talk to a lot of people who potentially want to have their own practice.
One day when you have your practice one day, . The way I describe entrepreneurship is it's you eat what you kill, right? You're a hunter. You eat what you kill. So you've got to be able to bring in the patients. You have to be able to attract people to you. And then you have to treat them in a way, speak to them in a way that helps them understand why they should stay with you, why they should pick you as a certified hand therapist.
And it's. It's easier when you have the cert, you know when you have the certification than it is when you don't, right? Because then guess what? You're always trying to explain away why the fuck you don't have it. , right? So you can just be like I'm a certified hand therapist. That's a second.
I know how to help [00:34:00] you. I've seen this before. I know how this works. And I'm a certified hand therapist and I've had opportunities to treat X, Y, and Z. So way in which you can do things that are easier. And essentially that's the. , right? There's several methods. You can do it by yourself. You can try to find your own groups and try to study, or you can join a program like the exam prep program and just get ahead of the game and get methods and curriculum that actually work to speed up your process.
If that's something that interests you, then I invite you to apply for the program. I'm gonna be closing enrollment November 16th, so if you're interested, please go to hand therapy secrets.com in Instagram. The link is in the bio, and if you're on Facebook or YouTube the link is below and just apply for the program.
Doesn't mean that you're in, it, doesn't mean that that it's right for you. I'm happy to get on a call and talk to you. I actually was talking to someone today. I've actually ruled certain [00:35:00] people out because if they're not yet ready, I don't take students. I don't take members who are two years out.
right? I don't take it if you don't have a certain if you haven't yet started and, but you're also lacking in skills because you've been working in other areas, it's can be really overwhelming to come into the exam prep. So I was talking to someone today who has two years of experience but does not have the.
Like little too far away from the hours. And one of the reasons why I do that is because I wanna help you be successful and I don't want you to give up when it's, when you do something, when it's too hard, you tend to give up. So there's an order in which to do things that can make it easier for you.
So if you don't have the years, and you don't have the hours, or you don't really don't have the experience, it's gonna really help propel you to study in a faster way. One of the things I recommend is [00:36:00] the mentorship program that's our month-to-month program. It's much easier, it's much lighter. , it is all wrapped around treatment.
How do I get the best outcome for my tr my patients that are coming to me? How do I do, how do I get the best range of motion? How do I place my hands? How do I think this problem through? , I'm doing X, Y, and Z I'm getting this amount of emotion. How do I get more emotion? I'm trying to strengthen someone and I'm doing this, and this, and they don't seem to get better.
So we have an opportunity to sit and collaborate and say, okay, let me, what are you doing? These are some techniques that I use, and then here's how to think through it so that you can become more independent over a period of time and start doing that yourself. And when. Start that process of critically thinking and saying what works and what doesn't work.
Studying for the exam becomes that much easier. Treatment is a huge portion of studying [00:37:00] for the exam. And so that's one of the reasons why if you're not yet ready I recommend the mentorship program, but if you've, you have the years, you have the hours, and. You're committed to studying for the chd, then the exam prep program can help you do it in.
Easier, fashion. But yeah, I just wanted to come on and talk and dispel the myths and dispel the misconceptions of like how long it needs to be, how many hours you. Study depends on how you retain and study, right? So some people need a few more hours than others. Like I tend to be someone who reads.
So my need to read, people watch the videos first, take their notes and then read. Because when they watch the videos first and they start to understand the concepts, when they go and they read in a particular way. M catch the concept, catch the keywords [00:38:00] so that time isn't wasted. Reading chapters that by the time you get to the end, you don't even know what you read.
right? So that's one way of doing it. Some people come into the pro, they are auditory learners, and and funny enough, that's me too. I love buying into different coaching and mentorship programs where I get to listen over and over because I need repetition. But once I understand a concept, like I get it cuz I'm not much for memorizing, right?
So I, what I don't do is, Pop quiz people. I'm not a pop quiz person. I can't stand that crap. It's like all of a sudden I'm doing whatever pop quiz, it's like getting smacks in the face. I don't know. My brain wasn't even on that. You gotta put yourself in the best environment to be successful.
And sometimes it's that auditory, I just listen to it. And listen to it. Yeah. Cause the first time you listened to something, you might hear it one way, but then when you have a better understanding or you did the. , [00:39:00] right? Because you applied what you know. Then when you listen to it again, it's like you're catching other things.
So I tend to be a visual learner, an auditory learner, and then the way I teach is I use my body. We have cheat sheets and I encourage you to use it to make your life easier. Everything is how do I make my life easier? How do I make your life easier? and I do spend a lot of my time thinking about that
How do I make it easier? . As you're studying, as you're studying, think about how far you know, think about you, think about how far you've come, think about what you need to do. Your own awareness. Your awareness of what you need is the most important. Be careful with listening to everyone else who doesn't.
They don't have the same need that you. And it's, it is a struggle because if you're constantly hearing it, it's hard to push it outta your brain, but understand that you know your needs are your needs. Have an awareness of your [00:40:00] needs. If you have a restriction on time, if you have an external barrier on time, programs like this will help you buy back some of that.
right? Because not everyone is the same. Not everyone studies the same. So don't think that because someone else studied one way that is the same exact way that you're studying. Find your truth. One of my students, she is a listener, so she has a long drive. So she just listens on she listens on the car ride there and back.
She listens when she's doing. , her exercises or her crafts and stuff like that. So people have found ways to, to utilize a program that just helps them, speed up and put them in the best environment to help them be successful. So your awareness of what you need is really key. And nobody can do that but you, I always have, I had an a.
And it's, it goes back to anticipating problems, [00:41:00] right? Get good at anticipating problems. That's a whole nother conversation. Get good at anticipating problems For myself, and I can only speak for myself, I just knew like there are certain times in my life and I still do it. where I know that I need the accountability.
I need someone outside of myself to give me some feedback and to let me know if I'm on the right track and be a complete outsider knowing that I know give me the feedback and the information that I need so that I can make the best decisions. Because there's. When you ask your family and friends, you gotta be careful because they love and care about you.
So that already clouds their judgment, right? So anyway I just wanted to clarify some of those those misconceptions and I wanted to talk about those different methods with you. I hope it really helps you if you are considering studying for the. , if you're currently studying for the exam, keep those things in mind because there are just easier ways of doing [00:42:00] things.
All right? So I hope that helps. If you didn't wanna speak out loud here in the public forum, by all means send me a message or apply for the program and then send me a message via email. All right? I will talk to you soon. I think the rain ended and I'm gonna try to get home. Alright. So I will talk to you guys next time.
Thank you.
Hey, thanks for listening to Hoang's world podcast. If you are brand new to the hand therapy world, head over to my website, www . Hand therapy secrets.com, where you can get started with some of our free guides and paid programs for both OTs and PTs diving into the world of hand therapy. Or if you've been listening for a while watching on our YouTube channel and you think you could benefit from developing and moving your career further along in hand therapy, reach out to me and my team at info @ Hand therapy.secrets.com and tell us exactly what you're looking for, By the way, if you know someone who could benefit from today's [00:43:00] show, please share.
Thanks. See you on the next episode.
