Social work license

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…

Write it down, put it on your mirror, say it to yourself over and over--because it's true! You will pass the social work exam. Now go do it! Congratulations in advance!

It seems that straightforward knowledge questions have been phased out of the social work licensing exam over time. You're not likely to see something asking, "The areas in Freud's tripartite theory of personality are:" Too dry, simple, and unsocialworky to make it onto the test. (You know the answer: Superego, Ego, Id.) Be less surprised to see vignettes that draw upon your understanding of various theories, while also testing your basic social work grounding. "A mother brings her…

These two acronyms help social workers succeed in their social work licensing exam by prioritizing their interventions and/or work with clients.

You can pass the social work licensing exam. It's just a matter of time, effort, and a little bit of luck. Thousands pass the exam each year. There's no reason you can't join them. Here are four steps to take to get there with confidence: Face forward. Exam prep is going to eat up some of what used to be free time or time spent on other activities. For a while, you'll have to set aside some things in order to focus and get where you're going: social work licensure. Prepare. Getting ready for…

You've probably seen the stats. Not everyone who takes the social work licensing exam comes out with the desired PASS on their results page. It's kind of like the bar exam that way. You make time,...

Prior blog post has more detailed information about how I studied to pass the ASWB LCSW exam. Stepping back, I took a bigger picture approach to studying. I realized that I didn’t need to get too caught up in knowing all the content in the clinical social work world. The majority of the test is NOT recall, so you don’t have to know everything about every topic. Most questions are scenarios and you need to correctly answer what you would do FIRST or what would be your NEXT step. Here’s how I…

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 …