Most states use the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) exam which candidates must pass to gain licensure as a social worker. Some states require licensure at the Bachelors level, Masters level, and Clinical level, while other states only require Clinical licensure. (For a state-by-state listing of licensing requirements, visit this informative website.) My students want to know how to prepare for the exam, and I have some suggestions. 1. Plan ahead. Most states allow graduating students to test up to a month before graduation, which allows you to graduate with licensure. Some jobs may require a license in hand prior to applying or interviewing. You may have to register for the exam as much as a month early, and you may have to travel hours to a test site. Therefore, start planning for a test date several months ahead of time. 2. Know your state's hurdles. Some states require finger printing ahead of time and an application to the state before you can be approved to take the test. Other states require you to test before applying to the state's licensure board. If you are graduating in one state and moving to another after graduation, know the rules in the state where you plan to move. You can transfer test scores but will have to apply to the board in the state where you plan to practice. 3. Develop test-taking skills. Multiple-choice tests are similar in many ways. They require carefully reading options and eliminating bad ones. If you have a methodological approach to analyzing your answers, you will do better. This document lists some strategies to use when you have to guess. The questions often ask for the "best" answer and offer several potentially correct answers- but only one answer can be "best." Look for context and rule-out clues, like "always" and "never." If you have to guess, answers with more detail are often better, and answers related to client safety or confidentiality are often answers to the "what should you do first" questions. 4. Use multiple learning tools. Lots of people like study guides. They have varying quality- you can read reviews on sites like Amazon. Many of the questions relate to developmental theory, and podcasts can help with that sort of information. Here are some podcasts to listen to, either directly at these sites or search for them on youtube. 1. The Social Work Podcast. You can find a list of all the podcasts and direct links here. 2. Social Work Exam Prep. These brief audio clips are direct and to the point. 5. Make it mobile. There are a few exam prep apps you can download on your smartphone. I like the free app called "Social Work Lite" which allows you to choose how many questions you want to practice at one setting. You can turn waiting rooms in to study time. Similarly, if you do have paper-based study materials, scan them and save as a pdf document so that you can open them on your smartphone and read on the go. 6. Look at the free sample questions and the content areas listed at the ASWB website. This will help prepare you for the style of questions and the areas that you are expected to know. ASWB offers a paid online exam and a small booklet with more sample questions. The online exam is a good way to prepare for what it's like to answer questions on a computer, but your mileage may vary- you may not need these paid resources if you are good at using the other free resources I've talked about on this page. 7. Use a buddy system. Plan study dates with another test-taker so that you can hold each other accountable to study time. Use what works together- flashcards, quizzes, reading out loud, or just quiet time together. 8. Consider a local or online test prep workshop. Often your local social work department or chapter of NASW will know who is offering classes locally. Online classes are available- look around the web for reviews before signing up. These can be costly, at about $300 for the class offered by the Extension office at University of Michigan. However, if this is going to grab your attention it may be worth it- it's cheaper than retaking the exam in most cases. 9. If you plan to take the clinical license exam after your supervision hours are complete, enlist your clinical supervisor in test prep. Let your supervisor know your anticipated test date, and about six months early make a concentrated effort to fit some exam study practice in to each of your supervision visits. This may be via discussing theory, clinical scenarios, pharmacology, etc. 10. Do the things that will ease your anxiety. Your first step to a calm test experience is adequate study preparation, so make a plan that is SMART. The week before you drive to your test site, make sure you know the route, have plenty of time, have adequate rest and a good snack, and know the requirements for the test center regarding proof of identity and what you can take with you. Consider some mindfulness or breathing techniques to help you relax. Remember: The test is difficult, but not impossible. Most people pass the first time, and you only need a score of about 75%. Study, think good thoughts, think about the kind of supports that work for you, and relax. Best test-taking wishes to you!
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The framework for diagnosing personality disorders is in need of an overhaul. Which of the top 10 are proposed for removal
The word theory can become quite confusing…in social work ‘theory’ is thrown around and can often become synonymous with model, approach, or practice. Defining and understanding …
Attachment theory is not boring at all. Find out why every parent should know the importance of it to child's development and future life.
I’ve been spending some serious amounts of time this summer leading conversations around the country focused on the integration of social studies and literacy. And for the last few years, I…
These two acronyms help social workers succeed in their social work licensing exam by prioritizing their interventions and/or work with clients.
You just never know if you will win, who knows maybe this is your lucky time. Go to my previous post and scroll down to enter or just click here to get you there. Today's post will be nice and short. We worked on land forms and made an anchor chart together. They each made a land form poster and they came out cute! And something waaaaay off topic. I left this cute little surprise in our fridge for my husband. Can't wait to see his reaction when he open the fridge door. And of course I added something sarcastic in the end hehe. There is nothing more awkward than walking in a store with beer in your hand and trying to hide from possible students. I'm pretty sure many teachers can relate! HA!
Pass the LCSW Exam
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Download and print out the POSTER here (PDF file)
How does trauma and toxic stress impact the children we serve and the services we provide? We all know that during the critical period of early childhood development (0 – 3 years of age), a child’s brain is most
As social workers we are always putting out fires. Sometimes they are even literal fires, LOL. All jokes aside, it's important to realize that social workers already know the steps to take in a crisis, even if you haven't studied the theories recently. Here is a refresher for you and please let me know an example you may have had following these stages: Roberts is one of the founders of the crisis intervention model used by most clinicians today. Here are the steps defined: 1) ASSESS for safety/suicidality and provide a brief biopsychosocial assessment 2) Continue to develop RAPPORT by being empathetic and warm 3) IDENTIFY PROBLEM/what lead to crisis and what other problems are concerning them at that moment 4) Address FEELINGS and allow client to vent while validating and actively listening 5) Identify ways they will COPE with situation and how they have coped with difficulties in past 6) Create an ACTION PLAN with client, time to come to terms with crisis and attempt to resolve 7) FOLLOW-UP with client via phone, in-office counseling, etc.. Learn more about crisis intervention by clicking here! Find practice question about crisis intervention and a bunch more here.
I've been a little MIA this week in the bloggy world. SCM is my excuse. SCM stands for Safe Crisis Management, so if you gotta problem wit...
Triad is the hub for behavioral and mental health professionals. Education, community, and career resources, all specific to behavioral and mental health - for free.
I’ve been spending a ton of time this summer working with groups around the country, helping facilitate conversations around reading and writing in the social studies. It’s always a goo…
Do you remember Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development? 1. Preconventional- This is that lil' kid who follows all the rules stated to him by authority figures. The age for this stage typically is up to the age of 9. They act morally but only out of their own self-interest and to simply avoid getting in trouble or to get something out of it. 2. Conventional- An example of reasoning in this stage is one who refuses to steal bread for a starving family because it is against the law. This stage lasts from around 10-14 and focuses on not getting in trouble as well as being approved of. 3. Postconventional- High Schoolers up to adulthood fall into this stage. Becoming a vegan is one example. To some, not eating meat or animal products is personally ethical and helps reduce harm to living animals. To see a full review check the wikipedia link.
It is so important to help our students build coping skills. Having coping skills will help our students with practice academics and build social skills. Here are some tips to help organize instruction, practice and generalization of coping skills Having effective coping skills not only helps the classroom run smoother, but there are other great ... Read More about Teaching Coping Skills To Students With Disabilities
By Sarah Klein About 2.6 percent of American adults — nearly 6 million people — have bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). But the disease, characterized by significant and severe mood changes, is still dangerously … Continue reading →
Every time an ambitious PhD gets hold of a grant, it seems like a new approach to psychotherapy is born. Which is great, but can be overwhelming. Just look at Wikipedia's list of psychotherapies for a sense of how vast the literature on psychotherapy is. If you're preparing for the social work exam, not to worry. What you might reasonably expect to see appear on the exam doesn't include that whole list. Far from it. The Code of Ethics directs social workers to utilize empirically validated forms of psychotherapy. Social work schools like students to be grounded in the history of psychotherapy. In those two categories, you should be able to locate everything that might possibly show up on the exam, theory-wise. If it's not empirically validated or historically relevant, it might be interesting to learn about, but that's learning that won't necessarily help you on exam day. Here's a quick list of therapy's greatest hits--with links to Wikipedia, pruned from the longer list. A cheat sheet for your exam prep: Behavior modification Behavior therapy Brief psychotherapy Client-centered psychotherapy Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) Existential therapy Family therapy Freudian psychotherapy Gestalt therapy Group therapy Motivational interviewing Object relations psychotherapy Play therapy Psychoanalysis Psychodynamic psychotherapy Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) Reality therapy Rogerian psychotherapy Play Therapy Solution focused brief therapy Systemic therapy Transtheoretical model Twelve-step programs Remember not to overstudy. You don't need to know all of these inside and out for the social work exam. You just need a general idea of what's what with each (if that!)--some key concepts and no more. Anything missing? Comments are open.
According to Erik Erikson, there are a series of eight psychosocial crises' that neurotypical individuals pass through from birth to late adulthood (Crain, 2011
In 2015, theFirst Presidency urged Latter-day Saints to assist with the refugee crisis affecting millions around the world. That crisis continues today. Here are 4 simple ways you can help.
Prepare with our ASWB Masters Review and ASWB Exam Questions. ASWB Masters Exam help and sample ASWB Masters questions. Learn more.
The following article describe the detail information about the level sociology exams which help to build career. Sociology is the have a look at of civilization — how people communicate in…
It’s not Duck Season! It’s not Wabbit Season! It’s almost Testing Season! The time of year when schedules get crazy and your pacing goes out the window! One of my least favorite things about testing season is the post-game talk of the students. After the test is over, despite the fact that they swear that they won’t talk about it, they of course DO talk about it. So they come in my class after a three-hour testing block and the kids start talking about the test. And invariably, some kid will talk about something and some other kid will say “holy $#@!! Is that what that part was about? I totally thought it was asking about blahblahblah” Aha. Here lies the problem. It happens on my classroom assessments, in district assessments, on the FSA, SAT, ACT, ASFAB, GED, GRE, and any other alphabet-soup of a test. Kids don’t understand what the question is asking for. For example, the question asks kids to analyze, but they describe. Or it asks them to contrast but the kids compare. I’d like to propose that over the next couple of weeks, as we get closer to testing season, that we explicitly teach what those “power words” are and what they mean and what a kid should do if given that word in a test. It depends on where you take your words from, but the internet (which, I know, I know, is NOT the authority of everything) often uses the “12 Power Words”. Every teacher does NOT have to teach every one of these words. But when they come up in your class over the next few weeks (and they should come up frequently), STOP! And explicitly teach the word. (Honestly, if your class is not tackling at least SOME of those words, then your class is not hitting a lot of higher order thinking.) It shouldn’t take a lot of time. A couple of minutes, at most. Which is worth it if your kids are mastering Tier Two Vocab. What do I mean by teaching it explicitly? Well, when that word comes up in an assignment or assessment or whatever, I will stop the class and see how many students can define the term with their shoulder partner. Then (because kids will so often tell us that they understand things when they don’t) I will either solicit a few student definitions or give them my own. I will have the kids practice their acquisition of the term by having them do a turn and talk where each partner uses the word in a real sentence about anything they want. We will share those out, too. I will have each team practice using the term by making a content-related question. We will talk about the type of answer the question (the one we began with) is asking for. Is the question asking for you to compare? What would a compare answer look like? For example: Based on the document, infer the author’s point of view. Turn to your partner and see if you can explain what “infer” means! Who wants to share with the class? Student A had a great definition! Infer means to get something out of words that isn’t “right there”! Turn to your partner and use the word “infer” about something in your life. Mine is “I can infer from the fact that you’re not answering my texts that you don’t want to talk to me”. Now, use the term “infer” about something regarding the Treaty of Versailles. “I can infer from the fact that Germany has to pay a bijillion dollars, that it’s kind of a punishment” Now, what would an “infer” answer look like? It should include us getting something out of the document/text/cartoon/whatever that isn’t “right there”. How do you teach the “power words”? What steps do you take? How can you really hammer this home in the next few weeks?
Final reflection on my experiences and Knowledge from Core Module 1- Overview: I am writing this essay to show the reflection of the PGCAP reflection on my though, knowledge and experiences, also…
The word theory can become quite confusing…in social work ‘theory’ is thrown around and can often become synonymous with model, approach, or practice. Defining and understanding …
(Glenn posted the original version of Structure Strips on his History Tech site several months ago. He loves the idea of Structure Strips so much, he’s sharing it with us here at Doing Social…
Two helpful acronyms for social workers taking the LMSW (or LCSW) social work licensing exam.
Positivists believe society shapes the individual and use quantitative methods, Interpretivists believe individuals shape society and use qualitative methods.
Defense mechanisms are tools we use to protect ourselves from external or internal impulses that may be inappropriate. The defense mechanisms can be categorized as complex and primary…meanin…
The word theory can become quite confusing…in social work ‘theory’ is thrown around and can often become synonymous with model, approach, or practice. Defining and understanding …
Problem Solving Activity: Develop your own question checklist using this tool. Structured questions for broad and deep analysis of your problem.
