LCSW Exam Study Guides

It's nice to have some help as you're preparing to pass the licensing exam. Maybe lots of help. It's a big exam with potential content spanning just about everything you've learned in school and in social work practice. But there's no need to get overwhelmed. And there's no reason to do it all by yourself. Many, many social workers have travelled this road before you. They've passed the exam. And they've left their wisdom all over the net, on flash card sites, on blogs like this one, and have gone to work creating practice tests--based upon their experience--for various exam companies. Google will get you to lots of those.

Study guides are also easily tracked down via Internet search. Here are two that come up early have the advantage of being completely free: This (semi-outdated) pdf from University of Missouri-St. Louis. And this free (with sign up) study guide from Social Work Test Prep. Those should keep you busy for a while. If you find others that are great, post for others in comments. Passing the social work licensing exam is a team sport.

The Code of Ethics - Responsibilities to the Broader Society

Knowing the NASW Code of Ethics means knowing the entire NASW Code of Ethics. To be prepared for the clinical social work exam, it's wise to dig past the micro practice principles in the code and continue all the way through to item #6, "Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities to the Broader Society." That includes four subsections: social welfare, public participation, public emergencies, and social and political action. Here are those sections with details:

Social Welfare
Social workers should promote the general welfare of society, from local to global levels, and the development of people, their communities, and their environments. Social workers should advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs and should promote social, economic, political, and cultural values and institutions that are compatible with the realization of social justice.

Public Participation
Social workers should facilitate informed participation by the public in shaping social policies and institutions.

Public Emergencies
Social workers should provide appropriate professional services in public emergencies to the greatest extent possible.

Social and Political Action
This one's got several paragraphs--we covered it in an earlier post.  As it says there, it shouldn't take you by surprise to see this material appear on the exam. Public participation and political action have been on the rise, and social workers have either been a part of it or have wrestled with whether or not to be a part of it. That, of course, includes exam writers. What are they most likely to create questions about? Whatever's on their mind.

Read the entire NASW Code of Ethics here. Then read it again. This is important stuff--for the exam and beyond. Enjoy!