Happy New Year, MSWs! If you haven’t heard about it yet, one of the biggest changes that’s been making a buzz has been the ASWB’s plan to change the social work licensure exams this year. What does this mean for preparing?
One of the reasons I’m passionate about helping other therapists get licensed is because of the freedom licensure provides. If you’re straight out of graduate school, it’s the gateway to your first job. If you’re further along, it’s a gateway that can potentially allow the freedom of independent practice. Freedom might look different to everyone—for… Read More The Private Practice Start-Up
Quiz time again! A social worker is working with a 21 year-old transgender college student who has reported several panic attacks since starting university. The client has reported no known triggers and is doing well academically, however stating that it’s often accompanied by severe stomach cramps or indigestion. What should the social worker do FIRST? A.… Read More Medical Conditions and the Social Work Exam
Quiz time. During the interview process, what is the MOST important thing a social worker should know that will strengthen their assessment skills? A. Always performing an assessment at the beginning of treatment. B. Assessment is an ongoing process that occurs at all stages of treatment. C. An assessment can only be done after a… Read More The Secret of Assessment
One of the most common challenges students I work with face is not so much their grasp of the content (you earned your MSW, after all), but a struggle with “reading” what the question is asking for. Let’s look at the following question for an example: “A social worker is working with a 25 year-old… Read More Social Work Exam Tip: Breaking Down the Question and Staying Where the Client’s at
Notice: As LMSWExamTips transitions to material for both the Masters and Clinical Examination, the blog will go on hiatus until the end of the year. Tutoring services remain unchanged. Thanks!
As we conclude this Memorial Day, a day that means many things for people across the country: gratitude, grief, or calm remembrance, I wanted to dedicate a post to social work with the military. Many social workers themselves either come from military families (self-disclosure: in my case, my father), or are servicemen and women themselves.… Read More Social Work with the Military
One common stressor I’ve seen with students I tutor is that oftentimes they are under a sort of pressure (to varying degrees) from their places of employment, and/or themselves to pass the exam. Sometimes passing the licensing exam means being able to keep their current job, or becoming employed at all.
One of the most striking ideas I encountered in all of my graduate school reading assignments was one attributed to Dan Siegel, “We feel, therefore we learn.” (Source) In other words, we must connect to something before we integrate it as part of ourselves. One of my favorite professors loved Dan Siegel and his research and… Read More Learning with Emotion and through Relationship
“You need to make mistakes in rehearsal because that’s how you find out what works and what doesn’t.” – Clarke Peters Some time ago, I had written a post about battling text anxiety. One of the hopeful takeaway points is that if you’ve graduated from your MSW program, you already know this stuff. The test,… Read More Dress Rehearsal: Taking A Full Practice Exam
The Social Work Exam Tutor 