Do You Feel Apprehension about taking the CELBAN?

Mihaly also discovered that when we have a low level of skill, but then we experience an increased level of challenge, we go from apathy, to worry, to anxiety.

What is interesting is that those are the emotions we experience when we are consciously incompetent: when we know what we do not know.

Many people feel that about their English proficiency tests. They are conscious and aware that they have not obtained the required scores. As a result, they experience apathy manifesting in a lack of motivation. Or. they experience worry and anxiety manifesting as a lack of confidence.

And yet the root of both the lack of confidence and motivation is an underdeveloped skill set.

Is that how you have felt?

Alternatively, what Mihaly found was that when we have a low degree of challenge and increased skill levels we go from apathetic to bored to relaxed.

Think about when you have experienced a relaxed state of being because you have developed the skills to perform and are in less demanding situations.

What Mihaly was really after, when he studied athletes, artists and musicians was the state of flow that people experience when they have both skills, or competencies, and a high degree of challenge.

What he found is what happens when we have a medium to high skill level and a medium to high level of challenge. It is in these states that we experience a sense of excitement (arousal) or a sense of control over ourselves and the situation.

There is a certain level of engagement and confidence that we feel when we have the skills to meet the challenge. The internal celebration is because we have become consciously competent.

We are aware... and... we are able. 

Now imagine what that would be like for you to experience that degree of confidence when you sit for your exam.

But, there is one more level or state of being that Mihaly discovered, that he called, "Flow."

The flow state isn't about everything being easy. In fact, a high degree of challenge is required to enter the flow state.

And I think we can agree that the CELBAN exam is highly challenging: especially that 10 in listening! 

What Mihaly discovered is that optimal experiences happen when we are in a flow state.  

According to Michaly, it is when we have developed our skill levels to meet increasingly challenging situations that we function at our best. Answers come easily. We know what to do. We have a clear mind and deep focus. We are in optimal shape to overcome the challenge before us.

It is when we are in a flow state that we are unconsciously competent. We simply do things without thinking about it, even in challenging situations.

Think of a time when you have experienced the flow state: when you were in a challenging situation, but you knew exactly what to do, because your skill levels were so highly developed.

How did you feel?

Imagine what it would be like to feel like that entering into an exam situation. What would that be like?

Are you wondering how this concept of flow relates to the CELBAN and CELBANPrep University courses? (Or have you already figured that out?)

Consider this:

• A score of 7 or 8, on the  CELBAN, (Writing, Speaking, Reading) represents the ability to communicate clearly, in English, in moderately demanding situations. Moderately demanding means moderately challenging.

The Colleges of Nursing of Canada want to know if you can read, write, and speak in English in moderately challenging medical situations.

• Meanwhile, a benchmark of 10, for CELBAN listening, says that you are able to both hear and listen in demanding situations. Again demanding means challenging.

So that means that The Colleges of Nursing want to know if you can correctly interpret what you hear, in English, in challenging medical situations.

Where does that fit on the flow diagram?

Right. All of the questions on the CELBAN exam are meant to be moderately to highly challenging.

It follows that what you experience during the CELBAN will then depend on your skill level. If your skill levels are high you will experience excitement, arousal, a sence of control and maybe even enter a flow state.

Imagine that! 

Otherwise, if you lack the skills, you will be plagued with insecurity, worry, self-doubt, and a lack of confidence that manifests as a lack of motivation or apathy.

• What kind of scores will you get when you feel that way? 

The thing is, it doesn't have to be that way.

Because the founder of CELBANPrep University, Kim Kara, studied Mihaly and the concept of flow during her Master in Adult Education, she has integrated these concepts into all of the courses she has created. Everything at Celbanprep university is about assisting you in developing your skills so that  you can enter the exam with confidence, excitement, and maybe even enter a state of flow.

That is why Kim teaches a vask skill set that enhances your ability to create and interpret English communication in moderately demanding to demanding  medical contexts when it comes to:

1. Interacting with others both at work and in the community.

2. Understanding information.

3. Giving and Receiving multi-step instructions, and

4. Getting things done.

For CELBAN reading, CELBAN writing, CELBAN listening and CELBAN speaking.

That is what Kim and CELBANPrep University is all about: transforming insecurity into confidence through skill development so that Internationally Educated Nurses go from the anxiety of conscious incompetence to experiencing flow as unconsciously competent communicators at home, at work and in the community.

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