Human behavior and the social environment is a major section on both the LMSW and LCSW exams. Whether you’re a case manager, therapist, or a community organizer/policy-worker, knowing human behavior and systems is a major aspect of social work’s central focus on the PIE (person-in-environment) perspective. In addition to knowing the different stages of human… Read More Human Behavior and The Social Environment
“That’s a way to see it and there is also another way to see it.” – Insoo Kim Berg“Problem talk creates problems, solution talk creates solutions.” – Steve de Shazer Practice Question: A social worker using solution-focused therapy is working with a client who is experiencing anxiety. Which of the following interventions would be MOST appropriate?… Read More Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and the Social Work Exam
Whether or not you believe in New Year’s Resolutions or think they’re arbitrary celebrations of planetary rotations around the sun, a new year often brings some voluntary (or semi-involuntary) reflection. This often involves taking inventory of where things are at in your life. This can include a relationship or a job. It may also involve… Read More Essential Steps for Passing the LMSW and LCSW Exams in 2025
Reblog Source: American Federation of Teachers. As a social worker, I knew I wouldn’t make a lot of money coming out of school, but thanks to unions I landed my first job right out of graduate school at a unionized hospital with completely-covered ($0 premium, $0 copays) healthcare, four weeks of vacation, and protected overtime.… Read More Happy Labor Day! Thank a Union Today.
One of the frustrations students face when taking the social work exam is questioning how well the exam measures how “good” of a social worker they are. After all, even if we aim to be evidence-based practitioners, much of the work we do can be highly subjective and relational–hardly something a multiple choice test can… Read More Major Changes Coming to the Social Work Licensing Exams
While it would take years to completely review the depth of psychoanalytic theory and its branches (Freudian/classical, Jungian, Ego Psychology, Object Relations, Self-Psychology…), the social work exam doesn’t expect you to be a fully trained analyst. Psychoanalytic theory can initially seem archaic or “out of use” to many students (A question I hear often: “What… Read More Psychoanalytic Theory and the Social Work Exam
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
So, what better day to think about social work than on Thanksgiving! It’s a day where hopefully most of us can take a day for self-care, or go out on the field and do some good work with charitable communities. However, in today’s #TBT post and look at one of the first founding organizations in… Read More Toward a Scientific Method: Social Work and the Charity Organization Societies
While social workers belong to both privileged and oppressed groups, we share common values in our roles as micro and macro advocates. For social workers fortunate enough to be documented, today’s a day to cross the micro to macro divide and learn more about the political process that affect our client’s sociopolitical contexts. For macro… Read More Social [Rock] The Vote
The Social Work Exam Tutor 