Ok, so I just took the standard exam two days ago. I bought the AATBS material – bronze package. I took four days off of work – and studied Thursday through Monday. I took it Tuesday and passed. The material is super extensive and, in my opinion, complete overkill. I didn’t need to know half of what I studied. I believe these companies make their living off of the anxiety produced by having to take these exams…it is in their interest to foster it. That said, the piece that was extremely helpful was going through the online exams, and reading through the rationale for each question – right or wrong. The key element is learning to read each question carefully to look at 1) the relevant information about the clients – what they present with or what they ask for; and 2) paying attention to what the questions ask EXACTLY. Most of the answers really come down to which right answer do you do first – in other words, how do you prioritize the right actions because most options include at least two “right” answers. Hope this helps for those that follow. Oh, and the highest overall percentage I got on the practice exams was 68% – the lowest I got was 52%.
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I have been studying with AATBS materials (for written standard) and was very frustrated with the questions and written study materials. I was scoring about 63% on practice exams. I just switched to BTA where I’m scoring in the 70′s. Anyone with insight as to whether or not I made the right switch? I’m worried that the BTA questions seem easier – much easier and whether or not they are preparing me enough for the exam. Nervous Nelly.
I’ve started studying for the clinical vignette using AATBS. I will update as I study and whether or not I pass the second exam, but so far am very frustrated with the online exam prep. I bought the clinical vignette silver study materials. I am only on the “easy” questions at this point. The rational page is so frustrating! You have to scroll up and down to figure out why not to pick the wrong answer, and why to pick the right answer – there are tons of “see rationale for answer 2″. It is a very poorly designed system, to say the least. I don’t know about the gerry grossman materials, but i would not (at this point) re-buy the aatbs materials for the clinical vignette portion of the lcsw exam prep.