ASWB Exam Study Guide

Last month’s blog focused on the differences between adoption dissolution and adoption disruption. We offered a FREE ASWB practice question on this topic to prepare you for your LMSW or LCSW exam. Last month’s blog feature a recall question. This month, we are back with a reasoning based question on this topic. Adoption Disruption vs. Dissolution: First, here is a quick review of the difference between these two things: An adoption disruption is when an adoption is terminated before it is legally finalized. An adoption dissolution is when an adoption is terminated after it is legally finalized

Adoption Dissolution vs. Disruption Adoption dissolution refers to the the ending of an adoption after it has been legally finalized. If the end of the adoption takes place before the adoption is legally finalized, this is considered a disruption. For example, if a person is in the final stages of adopting a child and decides to not go through with the adoption, this would be considered an adoption disruption. However, if the adoption has been legally finalized and has to be terminated, this is known as dissolution. Why do Adoption Dissolutions Occur? Adoption dissolution is rare. This is an

Last month’s ASWB exam prep blog for the LMSW and LCSW exams covered the topic of parenting styles. We reviewed the characteristics of the four main parenting styles: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out last month’s blog for the factual information on this topic. We wrapped up with a reasoning based question, but want to circle back to offer a question testing your factual knowledge. Today’s free ASWB practice question is an application question on parenting styles. ASWB Exam Parenting Styles Application Question: A social

This month’s FREE ASWB practice question for the LCSW and LMSW exams covers the topic of parenting styles. Parenting styles refer to the standard strategies, behaviors, attitudes, and emotional climate parents use in their child rearing. There are four main parenting styles we will cover today. The four most common parenting styles are: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. Four Parenting styles Authoritarian parenting can be thought of as strict and controlling. With authoritarian parenting, parents exert control through power. They believe strongly in stated rules and if

The past two months, our LMSW and LCSW blogs focused on the ASWB exam changes that began in January of this year. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the first and second blogs in this series. This will be our third and final month focusing on these changes. We didn’t plan on doing a third blog on this topic. But we had so much positive customer feedback on how helpful it was to see how a 4 answer option question changes to a 3 answer option question that we decided to do one more! So today will be a final set of practice question that first has 4 answer options and then changes to

Last month we wrote about the ASWB Exam Changes for the LMSW and LCSW exams for 2023. (If you haven’t already, we encourage you to check it out! Additionally, here is a direct link to the ASWB's announcement: https://www.aswb.org/testing-enhancements/). We had really positive feedback about the practice questions we put in last month's blog. Test takers shared it was helpful to see how a question would look changing it from 4 answer options to 3 answer options. So we decided to offer another example of that change this month! We will give you a free practice question that is a traditional 4

We’re writing today to share an important update coming to the ASWB exams. This change impacts both the masters level LMSW exam and the clinical level LCSW exams. The ASWB announced: "In January 2023, test-takers will begin seeing a mix of three- and four-option questions. Before that time, all exams include only four-option questions.” Additionally, test takers now have access to food! Test-takers will be allowed to get a snack from their lockers and consume it in the waiting room during the exam. Do keep in mind the timer for the exam does not stop during this time. Why the change to 3

The past couple months’s blogs highlight two therapy theories that can show up on the test: Gestalt and Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Today’s blog covers another of the many therapy theories that can show up on the ASWB exams: Structural Family Therapy. For the ASWB exams, you need to know a little bit about a lot of therapy theories. Our ASWB LMSW and LCSW exam prep programs cover the many theories you'll want to know for the exams. Today we give a brief introduction into Structural Family Therapy. For those of you interested in learning more, TDC has an excellent and engaging 3 hour CE course

Part I Welcome to Part I of our two-part blog series regarding DSM-5-TR updates. Earlier this year, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) released the DSM-5-TR, which includes updates to the DSM 5. Before you panic, let me reassure you that most of the changes are minor. The primary purpose of the updates is to clarify the descriptive text of certain DSM disorders. Most of the changes include minor phrasing updates and grammatical changes. The criteria sets remain essentially unchanged. The significant change in the DSM-5-TR is the addition of some new diagnoses, which we review here. Let

As we discussed last month in our blog on Gestalt Therapy, a challenge of the ASWB LMSW and LCSW exams is the breadth of content that can be tested. In particular, many different therapy theories can show up on the test. So today we cover another less commonly tested theory: Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Interpersonal Psychotherapy Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is an evidence-based therapy for Depressive Disorders, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Phobia and some Eating Disorders. IPT improves interpersonal functioning, thereby decreasing presenting symptoms. IPT is brief and