Examination Tailspin.

Social Work License Exam Tailspin (c.2009, WTB)

 Get free help here!

More free help is available on Social Work Search.

 

You can do it!!!

  Very interesting…  Something to think about once the Social Work License Exam is in the past.

• Which symptom most clearly distinguishes a consumer diagnosed with _______ from one diagnosed with _______? 
• Which symptom is (most/or/least) likely to be present with a consumer having _______ disorder?
• In a given situation, the social worker’s priority is?
• While assessing a (consumer/or/situation) for a immediate need for intervention, a social worker would focus (most/or/least) on ______?
• Which would be the first step a social worker would take in helping a consumer with ________?
• In this situation, the social worker should hold the first interview with/or/speak first with) _________?
• Faced with a given (situation/or/consumer), the social worker should first _________?
• Given this particular consumer with these symptoms, the appropriate diagnosis would be ________?
• The best definition of ___________ for social workers to use as they attempt to ________ with a consumer under _______ circumstances would be __________?
• In a _______ treatment group with consumers who have _________, the _______ phase should be followed by the _______ phase.
• When presented with ________ symptoms, and in trying to make a diagnosis of ________, a social worker should first rule out _______?
• If presented with a consumer who exhibits ________, the most important task for the _____ social worker to do at this time would be?

  OK, so what can one do with this information (above)?  Several lists of basic social work concepts are available which one could use to create practice questions using the templates above.  The lists are available here and there.

  So what are you waiting for???  Go for it!

  If one ventures over to the Association of Social Work Boards’ Website, one might notice that there is a section called, “Examination Content Outlines”.   OK>>> Wait!!! Before you go on… thinking you know what I am going to say, listen for a moment.

Sometimes a Flower is Just a Flower (c.2009, WTB)

  Sure, anyone who has signed up for the examination or who has taken an Examination Prep class is familiar to a certain extent with these outlines.

  BUT.… Question:  Have you tried to study for your exam using the provided Outline as a strict guide?

  In other words, have you ever thought about how all those available study guides get written.  Sure, there may be some who have somehow gotten some inside info and then there are others who have either taken and memorized an actual exam or paid someone to do it for them.  Perhaps even they polled previous examination takers to learn about the content.

  But I would be willing to bet, that no matter what method they used; no method could be as reliable as that of following the provided outlines, then creating a study guide based on predominant applicable substance, theory, facts and then couching it within a context of real-life professional social work practice.

  So, I am not suggesting that anyone ignore any examination preparation materials.  I AM Suggesting that one consider organizing allthose other study materials around an actual current outline, as provided by the ASWB.

  After all, quoting from the ASWB Website regarding who writes the actual examination questions; their response is:

“Social work practitioners across the country are contracted and trained by ASWBto write and edit potential items for the ASWB item pool.  All examination items must meet with the approval of the ASWB Examination Committee before being pretested. All examination items are pretested before they are included as official scored items.

  In other words, the ASWB has the first, mid and last word on the content of the test.

  ANDthey have provided us with an outline that has subcategories as well as indicators of how much weight a given section will have on a given test.  The obvious value of the ASWB Examination Content Outlines is the product of combining: (A) The fact that ASWB essentially authors the examination; with (B) the fact that the same organization (ASWB) is providing us with the outlines; and (C) The fact that good educational practice would hold that if ASWB provides candidates with this examination outline prior to the examination and also offers this outline as a primary ingredient in their “study guide”; then it is highly probable that the examination and the outline share a great deal in common.

  The heaviest section on the Masters Examination is “Direct & Indirect Practice” which weighs about 22% of the total examination.  The specific content items include:

1. Intervention models & methods
2. The intervention process
3. Intervention techniques
4. Intervention with couples and families
5. Intervention with groups
6. Intervention with communities and larger systems
7. Consultation and interdisciplinary collaboration

  My suggestion would be that one begin to use such specific content items as a backbone for her or his study guide. 

  Certainly, it will not be easy to identify which “Intervention models and methods” to study; but one should probably assume that having a working knowledge about the 5 most popular models could be sufficient.  Any reliable purchased study guide, such as the one the ASWB provides, would be the best place to get basic information as to which models or theories might be most likely to appear on the examination.

  By a “working knowledge” I mean that this person should:

1. understand the theory behind the model;
2. know (perhaps by diagram) the model itself (like as a working system);
3. be familiar with the primary concepts and assumptions of the model or theory;
4. have an idea about how the model  can be applied to practice; and
5. become accustomed to thinking along the lines of what one would do with this model in a variety of given real-life professional social work situations.

  So, in short I would suggest that one take the applicable Examination Content Outline as provided by the ASWB, then apply something very similar to the brief “working knowledge” development steps I proposed above to each individual line of the outline.  Pay special attention to whether or not you understand every single term in the outline.  And finally, I would give the appropriate weight to each outline section studied.

  Finally, I would use all that study material that has already been purchased and all the texts, handouts and notes from classes to fill in that outline from top to bottom.  Don’t be surprised if you end product looks and feels like a study guide — the kind you would typically purchase.

At the link provided below, I have installed an English Standardized Exam Vocabulary Quiz. It emphasizes a command of antonyms, analogies and word parts.

Work with it.

It can probably help you improve your Social Work Licensure Examination Score. This quiz contains vocabulary for college bound and college graduate levels. If you have a significant degree of difficulty with this quiz, then you can be fairly confident that your level of command of Upper Level English Vocabulary is a factor in your Licensure Examination Success or Failure.

Give it a try. You have nothing to lose.  Click here.

Goose! (c.2009, WTB)

  Why?  Because the materials for the LMSW and LCSW Exams are very similar in regard to Non-Clinical subject content.

  Consider this: While LCSW and LMSW licenses are different and for diverse purposes; the MSW or the MSSW degree is typically required for either License.  One student might go through their degree on a Clinical / Mental Health Track or an Administration / Policy Track during the last part of their Masters-level degree.  BUT at the same time, both students would have taken virtually the same accredited classes for the primary portion of their Masters training.

  Therefore, one could deduce that much of the non-clinical examination content is probably VERY similar — if not identical — between the two (LMSW and LCSW) Examinations.

  There are around 1,000 flashcards all ready to use on this site.  And many of them probably apply directly to the LMSW Examination even though they are labelled for LCSW and LSW study.

  Either way, you will be studying valid information.  So, go for it!!! 

  PS: More Social Work Exam Flashcards can be found at the Flashcard Machine site.

  The Purpose of this is to help professional social workers to enhance their use of common vocabulary terms.

  Why? A stronger command of the common vocabulary used in Professional Social Work could lead to more effective Social Work as well as a higher success rate on Social Work Licensing Examinations.
While the existence of this work does NOT in any way suggest or imply a deficiency of common Social Work Vocabulary in any accredited program or agency; successful graduation from an Accredited Social Work Program does NOT necessarily guarantee that each candidate has mastered a professionally effective use of the common professional vocabulary.
Let this serve as a positive challenge and/or informative source to those who are growing in the Social Work Profession.  And particularly to those who are trying to prepare for Licensing Examinations.

  Below is a partial list of such terms that are likely to be on the Exam.

  Become familiar with definitions, relationships between terms, and how one would use the term in a professional context.

• Belonging: Inclusion versus Exclusion
• Social Support: Emotional versus Instrumental versus Tangible
• Legal versus Moral
• Degree of Impact: Direct versus Indirect, 1st Person versus 2nd Person
• Levels of Belief, Knowledge and Action:  Individual, Interpersonal, Social, Formal, Institutional, Communal, National, Cultural
• What Is versus What Should Be: Ontology versus Morality
• Epistemology: Faith versus Empirical Proof
• Prejudice versus Discrimination
• Establishment of Fact: Power dictates what is Fact versus others tell Truth/Fact to Powerful
• Evaluation versus Assessment
• Leadership: Dictatorship, Oligarchy, Committee, Democracy, Anarchy
• Economic System: Capitalist, Communist, Socialist
• Theism: Polytheist, Monotheist, Atheist, Agnostic, Secular Humanist
• Objectives versus Goals
• Judgment: Subjective versus Objective
• Levels of Need: Basic needs, Security needs, Social needs, Self Actualization needs 
• Crisis versus Emergent versus Elective versus Dormant
• Assessment, Treatment, Recovery / Rehabilitation, Preventive / Education
• On-The-Scene Command as Relatively Determined by Context and Setting: Lethality / Danger / Safety, Medical / Emergent Care,
  Administrative Turf
• Ways of Knowing in Clinical Setting: By Observation, By Report, By History
• Levels of Involuntary Care: Emergency Custody Order to hold for Lethality Assessment, Temporary Detention with Hospitalization, Commitment to Treatment Facility, Order to Complete or Comply with Treatment Regimen.
• Principles into Morals: Values versus Virtues versus Ethics.
• Assumption versus Known
• Logic, Reasoning, Process
• Inductive versus Deductive
• Learning Mode: Verbal Auditory, Visual, Tactile, Experiential, Metaphysical Sensory, Combination
• Conceptualization of Higher Power Involvement: Pre-Enlightenment Bound, Enlightened Thinker, Both Pre-, and Enlightened.
• Concentration and Monitoring Point: Task Centered, Relationship Focused, Situation Focused
• Locus of Control: Inner, Outer
• Description of Relationship: Correlation versus Causation versus Chaos
• Conceptualization of the Center: Average, Normal, Mean, Median, Mode
• Deviation versus Abnormal
• Above versus Below the Mean
• Violence: Physical Violence, Verbal Violence, Emotional Violence, Passive Violence, Sexual Violence, Psychological Violence
• Progress versus Process: (eg., Recording client sessions.)
• Stress: Distress versus Eu-stress
• Focal Point of Attention: Strengths-Based versus Problem-Based
• Diagnosis: Presentation versus Etiology versus Pathology versus Prognosis.
• Decision Making: Consensus versus Majority Rule
• Medication Administration Frequency: qd, bid, tid, qid, prn
• Disorder / Disease CoMorbidity versus Complications
• Policy: Social Policy versus Public Policy
• Government: International, Federal, State, City / Municipal, Community, Organization, Family, Self
• Cultural versus Subcultural versus Counter-cultural
• Typical Roles of Other Professions who Work with Social Workers: Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Primary Care Physician, Nursing Assistant, School Counselor, Juv. Court Advocate (eg., CASA), Probation / Parole Officer, Ins. Precertification Screening Agent, Nurse, Occupational Therapist, Dietitian / Nutritionist, Clergy, Support Group Peer Leader, Rehabilitation Counselor, Child Protection Worker, Community Green Warrant / TDO / Section Evaluation Worker, Police, Judge in Juvenile Domestic Court, Client’s Parent, P.O.A., Spouse, Closest Relative or Life Partner.
• Level of Involvement in Intervention: Primary versus Adjunctive versus Indirect versus Consultative.
• Dimensions of Assessment: Ecology versus Genealogy versus Future, Ecomap versus Genogram
• Locus of Awareness and Symptoms and Traits into Conceptualization of Self: Egosyntonic versus Egodistonic
• Source of Motivation for Altruistic, Community-Level Action: Perception of Self Guilt, Self Motivation, Pragmatism / Opportunity, Salvation, Sense of Duty.
• Confidentiality versus Anonymity
• Questions: Open-ended versus Close-ended.
• Type of Methodology and/or Data: Quantitative versus Qualitative versus Mixed
• Evaluation Type: Summative versus Formative
• Abuse versus Neglect versus Failure to Act
• Victim versus Survivor
• Personal Finance: Gross Income versus Net Income versus Worth versus Disposable Income
• Kubler-Ross’ Stages of Grieving (DABDA)
• The Scientific Method
• Cycle of Violence.
• Third-Party Payers: HMO, PPO
• Communication: Direct, Indirect, Implied, Inferred
• Conflict Style: Assertive, Aggressive, Avoidant
• Stages of Crisis Intervention
• Stages of Group Development
• Criteria for Inpatient Care: Lethality, Psychosis, History of Lethal Behavior, Lack of Preventive Supports, Medical Urgency
• Steps in Referring a Client to another Social Worker:
• Process for Addressing Expressed or Inferred/Observed Client Concerns Regarding Another Social Worker:
• Obligations to Client versus obligations to other Social Workers.
• Handling situation with Medical Lethality:
• Handling situation with determined or inferred high potential for physical violence:
• Collecting Debt from Clients:
• Dealing with An Impaired Peer:
• Ethical Dilemma with Students:
• Clashing Rules: When one is faced with a contrast of “acceptable witnessed co-worker action versus agency policy versus professional ethics versus Law.
• Descriptors for Groups: Heterogeneous versus Homogeneous.
• Primary Mode of Attention to: Detail, Context
• Human Assumption / Assignment of: Rights, Entitlements, Privileges
• Levels of Sanction: License, Permit, Accreditation, Certificate
• Minority versus Majority
• Approaches to Diversity Intervention: Placating / Denial, Tokenism, Sudden Radical Reform, Punitive, Inclusive / Humanistic, Regulation-Driven, In Defense of the Organization
• Charity: Benefactor versus Beneficiary versus Intermediary
• Social Stratification based on: Race, Skin Tint / Shade (eg., Light versus Dark versus Tanned), Sex, Gender Identity, Class, Ability, Health (known or perceived), Income / Wealth, Heritage, Ethnicity, Age, Political Affiliation, Education, Group Affiliation (Religion, Political, Corp.), Rank / Position,
  Popularity / Appeal, Current Usefulness
• Motivations: Obligations versus Expectations versus Opportunities
• Deterrence: Punishment versus Prevention versus Induction
• Purpose of Study / Investigation, Descriptive, Exploratory, Explanatory
• Clinical Focus: Client-Centered versus Task / Problem-Centered
• Relation to the Norm: Deviation versus Compliance

  If you know other terms that should be on this list or if you know of sources that properly define these terms, please send them in via comments.