ASWB Exam Study Guide

This month’s blog for the LCSW and LMSW ASWB exams focuses on a topic that is sure to show up on your exam: fees. There are a number of different payment-related scenarios that can show up on the exam: What to do when a new client can’t afford your fee for service? What to do when an existing client has a change in income and can no longer pay for therapy? How to address a client who is refusing to pay? How we will approach each of these scenarios varies from situation to situation. When a new client can’t afford your fee If a new client presents for treatment and cannot afford your fee, the

Last month’s social work blog covered the topic of group formation. We did an overview of the stages of group formation and offered a free application practice question. We wanted to do something unique this month with our practice question. Rather than offering a new topic and question, we are doing something a little strange. We are using the same practice question, but are changing it from an application question to a reasoning based question. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out last month's blog to see how you do on the question as an application question. Then come back here to

This month’s ASWB exam prep blog for the LMSW and LCSW exams covers a topic likely to show up on your ASWB exam: groups. Specifically, we are delving into the topic of stages of group formation. Group questions on the exam can show up in a variety of ways. They may test your factual knowledge on stages of group formation through a recall or application question. You also could see a reasoning based question testing your clinical skills in working with groups. This month we are going to focus on factual recall regarding groups. Next month we focus on how groups show up in the ASWB’s reasoning

As a clinical social worker, you are expected to have some basic knowledge of medical conditions. It is important to be aware of medical disorders that can impact or present as psychological disorders. This comes as a surprise to some of our customers preparing for their ASWB social work exams who often see this as being outside of their scope of practice. While we should never make medical diagnoses or recommendations, we do want to make sure we know when to refer clients back to a physician for further evaluation. Ruling Out Medical Conditions Why is it so important to rule out underlying

As we prepare to take the masters and clinical ASWB social work exams, many of us lack experience working with court mandated clients. It is possible you could see a question (or a few questions!) on working with this client population. Regardless of your experience in this area, we want you to be ready! In our ASWB Masters and Clinical Exam Preparation, we offer practice questions around this topic to ensure readiness. Today we’ll review some considerations when working with court mandated clients. We'll wrap things up with a FREE LCSW (also applicable to LMSW!) practice question. What is

No matter what setting we are in, termination is a part of our work with clients. Whether we see a client for 1 session or for several years, the ultimate goal should be getting a client to a place where they meet their identified goals and termination occurs. Your ASWB licensure exams (whether LMSW or LCSW) are likely to have at least a couple questions surrounding termination issues. Today we’ll discuss some key points on termination, how this could show up on your social work exams, and will wrap things up with a practice question. When is a client ready to terminate? How do you know if a

If you’re preparing for your ASWB Clinical Social Work Exam, transference and countertransference are two topics you definitely want to familiarize yourself with. As a coach I get a lot of questions on the differences between these two topics. Many social workers confuse the definitions of transference and countertransference and assume both warrant the same response. As we'll discuss throughout this blog, transference and countertransference require very different actions both on the exam and in real life. What is Transference? Transference is a dynamic that occurs in therapy between the

Minor consent for treatment is a topic I get questions on multiple times per week as an LCSW coach. So what is informed consent? Informed Consent Definition Informed consent is defined as the process for getting formal permission for treatment and services before engaging in treatment with a client(s). What makes minor consent for treatment so challenging is that rules and laws surrounding informed consent for minors vary state to state and this is a national exam. While you are licensed by your individual state, the licensure exam is the same across all 50 states. Because this is a national