Hi,

I was glad to find your site – it was helpful in preparing and passing the first exam.

I’m planning [...]]]> Congratulations to SWTP reader Eva, who passed the California Clinical Vignette exam earlier this week.  Here, some emails that preceded exam time, and an explanation of how she made it happen:

Hi,

I was glad to find your site – it was helpful in preparing and passing
the first exam.

I’m planning to take the second exam tomorrow. I just got into the
“hard” questions for AATBS. They seem absolutely ridiculous in terms
of the language used to phrase potential answers: it is sooooooo
incredibly confusing. I am considering not even taking them because it
might erode whatever confidence I was feeling so far. Are there any
questions on the exam that are like the “hard” questions? Or, do you
think I’ll be ok with reworking the medium questions and retaking the
mock exams?

Thanks in advance,

Eva

Eva,

Those hard questions are impossible, nearly unanswerable, and nothing like the questions on the real exam, in my experience. Their only value is in helping you mega-hyper-concentrate on every word in each question and answer…which you’re already doing if you’re getting the medium questions right. Probably best to do with the exam tomorrow: quit studying. You’re ready.

Good luck! Let me (or the blog) know how it goes.

Best,

Will

Thanks so much for your reply. Helps to know I was going in right direction when I decided to take a break and just focus back on mock exams. Geez, those hard questions are enough to make you really worry…taking a deep breath, eating and taking one more mock exam.

Thanks again for your quick reply-
I’ll keep you posted re: tomorrow ;)

Eva

Hey Will,

I just got back from my test. I passed!!! I have no idea how well or poorly I did other than the 17 I had to get right. I really had no sense of my performance during the test, which is frustrating. Still, I am thankful I passed and enjoying the completion of this stage in my life.

Thanks again for your help – I appreciated your encouragement yesterday very much.

Eva

ps – you were absolutely right about the hard questions – why do they even put them in there? it could just erode your confidence for no good reason. that, and i felt like the practice exams were not super helpful – the real exam was much more subtle – it was much harder to decipher the “rightest” of the right than on the practice exams….breathing easier now ;)

After congratulations, Eva accepted my invitation to share her process with Social Work Test Preppers.

The strategy of folding your paper into 10 squares (per side = 20 total per page – they give you two sheets at the exam) so that you can rate each potential answer is useful. I tend to work as intuitively as possible, trusting my gut and knowing that I have the all the information I need in my head to get the right answer. Even so, as I quickly discovered while studying, there is so much information that it is hard to keep track of it. So, the system of ranking each part of each answer can be a useful way to keep track of it and still work intuitively. Basically, at the very least, it helps you to eliminate answers more quickly and just focus on narrowing down the remaining 2 or 3 choices so that your brain doesn’t go on overload during the exam. I found that the real exam was much more subtle in its answers (it was harder to distinguish between “right” and “most right”) than the practice exams, so having a tool to knock out one or two answers was really helpful. Even so, you still have to rely heavily on your gut.

The strategy is as follows:

Make/draw 10 squares for each side of two pieces of paper:
1. fold paper 4 times (leaves you five rows) in the portrait direction
2. fold paper lengthwise (portrait) in half

see image:
3. draw a cross in each square (kind of like a window); each space allows to rate one answer
4. draw a cross in each of the four squares; each space allows you to rate one of four aspects of an answer
5. if each answer has a fifth element, you can use the center of the cross for the fifth element
6. i labeled each answer 1-4 and then added the question number to be able to go back and compare my rating with the aatbs rationale to improve my ability to rate accurately

Rating system (you’ll find this in aatbs, and i believe in gerry grossman too – they might explain better, but this is how i broke it down):

0=not something that responds to the question (wrong)
1=maybe
2=responds to question accurately (right)

Highest number = “rightest” answer; sometimes you’ll get two answers that are even – then you compare based on gut. you’ll usually fall off on the right side if one has to do with safety – assessing/evaluating suicidality/homocidal intentions or referring to a doctor/psychiatrist. In other words, you’ll have to assign a higher value to one based on the importance.

The other thing to keep in my mind is that all these test prep companies make money off of our anxiety – so, really, managing your anxiety is going to be the most important aspect (at least, it was for me). Just to give some balance here – some people study months and months. I studied all day for four days for the first exam, and studied three straight days for the second exam. I took the second exam two weeks after I got the BBS notice (about six weeks after exam 1). I know I do better if I study a lot before the exam because of the way my brain works, I forget a lot of stuff quickly – so go with what works best for you. To some extent it is about what you know, but mostly it is nailing the strategies – understanding what to look for and how to knock out incorrect answers as quickly as possible. If you study the knowledge base in the best way that works for you (cramming vs. studying every day over a longer period of time) and then really focus on specific strategies (such as the squares) that help you understand the “rules” of how the test works, and you’ll be successful.

Three things I did that helped:
1. Since your time doesn’t start until you hit “enter” on the computer, take your time setting up your squares. it actually helped me focus, and feel more prepared by taking that time. It slowed down my nervous energy a bit, and got out a little anxiety by doing “busy work”.

2. I focused on visualizations for days ahead of time – seeing the “congratulations, you passed!” message when i hit enter at the end; calling friends to tell them; updating my facebook account to say LCSW; etc. Whenever I started to experience some doubt or anxiety, I went straight back to one of those visualizations and the feelings of relief and excitement they engendered. I also imagined myself going through questions and clicking on answers to get the “green” button that comes out of the aatbs practice exams when you get the answer right.

3. Know ahead of time how much time (more or less) you have for each question and give yourself some buffer time. For example, I knew that I had about 2:30 per question – or about :50 minutes per 20 questions to give myself about :20 minutes of time of buffer for the second exam. It helped me keep my pace without having to figure it out during the exam. It’s also nice to know you have time to go to the bathroom, eat a snack if your brain is drained, etc.

Hi, I’ve been reading your blog while studying for the LCSW written exam and wanted to first of all say that I appreciate all the useful information, resources, and reading about your trials and tribulations.I’ve been using the AATBS TestMaster as one way to prepare and [...]]]> From my gmail inbox:

Hi, I’ve been reading your blog while studying for the LCSW written exam and wanted to first of all say that I appreciate all the useful information, resources, and reading about your trials and tribulations.I’ve been using the AATBS TestMaster as one way to prepare and was wondering if you remember whether the AATBS questions were very much like the actual test questions or not. I’m wondering because I find answering the free questions available on the other sites you have links to on your blogspot a lot easier than the AATBS questions. I postponed my original test date because I scored so much more poorly on the AATBS questions that I thought if the BBS questions were more like them, I’d be in trouble.

Also, I wanted to ask you about the actual test day because I’ve heard that staff are strict at testing centers re: belongings. So the things that you can’t bring in with you like cell phone, you need to leave in your car but you can keep things like your wallet and car keys with you? Anything else? I’ve also been wondering how I’m going to last 4 hours without any food or drink. Someone told me there’s a water fountain but you mention eating a Greens bar during a break from the written exam and I’d like to know how you did that. Are there no lockers for test takers at the sites?

Thanks again for your blog. By sharing your experience, it’s definitely helped me.

Thanks for your email! Very glad the blog is helping.

First, re AATBS. I think their materials over-prepare you–for both exams. And I agree w/ what I’ve read elsewhere: The hard AATBS questions are much harder than any on the actual exam. For standard and vignette, I went in after scoring in the 70%s on the AATBS practice tests. Did I just sqeak by or did I ace the tests? No way to know; they don’t tell you. If you’ve run their questions and other questions and are generally on the ball about the exam, I’m guessing you’re ready.

Re proctors and food and keys: Yep, they’ve got their rule book and they go by it…in a very friendly way (at least in El Monte). Wear a top without pockets and prepare to empty pant pockets into a flexi-folder they keep for you till the end of the test. I brought a plastic grocery bag w/ Greens bar and water and kept it on a shelf in the proctor room. No objections from anyone on that. I wouldn’t plan on going four hours w/out eating anything. Too long. Plan instead on regular breaks–one each hour worked for me. For the second exam (two hours long), I took a water/bar/bathroom break at one hour, then came back out for a second bite of bar a half hour later ’cause I felt my attention flagging. When running AATBS practice in exam mode, I kept the same schedule, ate roughly the same food–supposedly that helps.

Note: You get only five minutes for a bathroom break and have to give an electronic thumbprint to get back in to the exam room. For both exams, my thumbprint didn’t match on the first try. They had to pause my exam so I wouldn’t lose time while reprinting. No big deal, but maybe good to know about ahead of time.

Hope that answers your questions. Good luck!

Took a few days off prior to exam day to make sure I knew stuff. Took the AATBS exam #5 in one sit-down, as suggested. Scored 76%–kind of iffy, right on the border. Good enough not to cancel, though. Full steam [...]]]> So here’s what it was like. What I did. Maybe helpful, maybe not.

Took a few days off prior to exam day to make sure I knew stuff. Took the AATBS exam #5 in one sit-down, as suggested. Scored 76%–kind of iffy, right on the border. Good enough not to cancel, though. Full steam ahead.

Spent the next couple of days reviewing the boldfaced stuff in the AATBS books, retaking the test questions there. Reviewed the rationales for the exam I’d just taken–right and wrong answers. Finally got to the AATBS flash cards. (Could’ve done without them.) Half-listened again to a few of the prep CDs.

They call it cramming.

Weekend: Studied. Watched “W.” Saw people. Tried to take it easy. The exam loomed large.

Exam eve. Managed to sleep. But sweat through my nightshirt. Had to change, 3am. Can’t remember last time that happened.

Exam day. Woke early. Had an egg. (Someone said that’s supposed to be good for test taking.) Drove to El Monte–got there fast. Against traffic, I guess.

Sat in the office park parking lot alongside other early arrivers. Listened distractedly to the Slate Political Gabfest. Butterflies. Tried reviewing some flash cards. Couldn’t focus, gave up.

8:30. Check-in time. A regular, first-floor office in a nondescript building. Two proctors, both very friendly, no nonsense. A handful of test takers–no one else there for the LCSW exam that I could tell. The woman I talked to was there for the three-hour embalming exam. She seemed pretty confident–said she’d been working with dead bodies for seven years.

They have you empty your pockets, hang up your jacket (nothing with pockets allowed). No watch, cell phone, etc. They take your picture–I smiled encouragingly, as planned (a good tip). They take an electronic thumbprint. And then…it’s on.

A cubicle, a computer, a piece of scratch paper, a couple of pencils, a pair of foam earplugs. 200 questions, 4 hours.

On the AATBS online exams I took at home, I got the 200 questions done fast–with an hour to spare. This took longer. Not sure why. Maybe nerves, maybe I was taking more care, rereading questions. I stopped to breathe in my chair at 10 questions, stretched at 25. Took breaks every 50 questions.

They have you sign out to go to the bathroom. Take more than five minutes and the exam’s over for you. They have you thumbprint back in (in case, I guess, you swapped yourself with your better-studied twin or clone).

Can’t talk content–that’d be trubble with the BBS. Can say I studied a bunch of stuff that didn’t show up on the exam. But that didn’t mean I was overprepared. The first 50 questions went okay. But at the end of the second set of 50 I thought, I may not pass this thing. I was marking each question I wasn’t sure of. And there were a lot of them.

A break and a Greens+ Chocolate Energy Bar were helpful. (Really like those.) Got some momentum going for the next 50 questions. The proctors walked the room every ten minutes or so to check for…whatever it is that people who have emptied their pockets, etc. can do and shouldn’t. Someone on the phone in the proctor room toward the end made me put the earplugs in for a little while. Otherwise, calm, quiet, nothing in there to distract.

I’d answered all 200 questions with a half hour to spare. Took another quick break, then revisited the questions I’d marked. I think there were 39 of them. Thirty-nine questions that I wasn’t sure about–that I liked two answers on–that I wanted to recheck. Seemed like a lot. And time was counting down.

They say not to change answers. But I changed a couple. The whole screen hiccuped to the right as the timer went from 10 to 9 minutes. I sped through the last of the marked questions and decided I was done. I was going to finish the exam and not let it finish me with expired time.

Heart athump, I breathed, hoped for the best, and hit “End.” Time elapsed: Three hours and fifty-five minutes.

Are you sure? it asks. Yes. Really? “Y-E-S.”

Then, an eight question survey about your test-taking experience. How was the facility? Excellent. How were the proctors? Excellent. And so on.

Then, a few clicks. Done. Finish. Next.

And suddenly, results. A thin bar across the screen. Questions given: 200. Questions completed: 200. Questions marked: 39. Result: PASS.

I sat for a while. Relief, fatigue, emotion. More relief, gratitude. Sigh.

Back through the door to where people were checking in for the afternoon exam, looking glum, tense. A print-out: “Congratulations!” And thanks. And, “See you for the next one.”

And that…was that.

One down, one to go.