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Here's something to help you get prepared to pass the social work licensing exam. It's part of our ongoing, intermittent, free question series. Put yourself in this social worker's shoes and figure out what you would do?

A woman tells a social worker that her son has been misbehaving wildly ever since starting kindergarten, over a month ago. He's angry and irritable, throwing frequent tantrums. He's defiant and argumentative over small things. And he's been exhibiting a troubling vindictive streak, cruelly evening the score with his younger sister, escalating petty squabbles into full-blown battles. "He's turned into a little monster," the woman says. What diagnosis is the BEST fit for the son, given the limited information the mother has provided?

A. No diagnosis is indicated

B. Oppositional Defiant Disorder

C. Intermittent Explosive Disorder

D. Conduct Disorder

What do you think?

Let's look at DSM criteria for the offered diagnoses and narrow our way down to an answer.

Conduct disorder is characterized by theft, destruction of property, and other serious rules violations. Not what's being described here.

Intermittent explosive disorder involves tantrums and a failure to control aggressive impulses over a year-long period. Closer, but not the best fit.

Oppositional defiant disorder looks good for this. It involves everything mentioned--anger and irritability, defiance, and vindictiveness. That's your best bet...but read the find print. To diagnose ODD, behaviors have to be present for six months. This month-long onset of symptoms looks to be connected to the start of a new school year--something many have first-hand experience with.

That leaves one answer: A, no diagnosis.

How best to help the distressed client and her son? That's a question for another vignette. But normalizing and assessing stressors from school seem like good places to start.

For lots more vignette practice covering the wide range of material that can appear on the social work exam, try our full-length practice tests. Get started here.

Happy studying!

Ready for another practice question? Here's a vignette about an truly awful boss. No reason!

A client reports that her boss changes his mind every day, likes to sow chaos and discontent among his employees, and is incapable of apologizing when he gets things wrong--even when he makes a staff member cry. The client wants to know what this cluster of behaviors is called. What can the social worker tell the client is the boss's likely diagnosis?

A. The boss has antisocial personality disorder.

B. The boss has narcissistic personality disorder.

C. There is not enough information to diagnose the boss.

D. The boss has impaired empathy.

What do you think?

As with a lot of social work exam vignette questions, you may find yourself recalling situations and people similar to those that appear in the vignette. "I've had a boss just like that...and he definitely had NPD." So you select answer B. But be careful! While bringing your personal experience into a question may give you helpful clues, adding details to what's in the vignette can get you into trouble. Is there really enough information in the vignette to meet criteria for narcissistic personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder? Let's see...likes chaos, changes mind, can't apologize. Sounds like a deeply terrible boss. But given what's presented here, it's not possible to determine whether he meets DSM criteria for either disorder. There's just not enough information presented.

So that leaves two answers to choose from--no diagnosis or impaired empathy. The boss certainly sounds like he has impaired empathy. But you're being asked for a diagnosis; "impaired empathy" isn't a diagnosis.

In your work, clients may have asked you to diagnose a coworker or loved one based upon reported details. Even if you have a strong suspicion, the answer there is most likely going to be the same as the answer here: unless you've had a chance to sit down and formally assess the person, not enough information to diagnose.

That's one more type of question you're ready to face on the ASWB exam. The more practice questions to encounter the better. Get started with more than 900 practice questions by signing up. Happy studying and good luck on the exam!

You've reviewed the anxiety disorders material in the DSM by now. But do you know it? Know it, that is, well enough to correctly answer questions about the material on the social work licensing exam? SWTP practice tests cover anxiety disorders and lots more. Sitting down with a full-length practice test--170 questions, four hours--is the best way to get prepared to sit down and take the real thing. Here, in the meantime, is a one-off--a free practice question based on the anxiety disorders chapter of the DSM.

A woman tells a social worker that she no longer goes to the movies. "Sitting on the aisle isn't enough," she says. "I keep thinking about trying to get out of there through the crowd." When she was younger, the woman used to go to movies and concerts regularly. "It's been years," she reports. "I wouldn't be able do it. Standing on line? Sitting in a crowd inside? I'll binge watch shows at home, thanks very much." What is the MOST likely diagnosis for this client?

A. Specific phobia, situational type

B. Social anxiety disorder

C. Agoraphobia

D. Adjustment disorder, anxious type

What do you think?

You may sympathize with the woman's preference for binge-watching TV over going out to movies or concerts. But what the woman describes may not be just a preference. "I wouldn't be able to do it," she says. An anxiety disorder of some kind is likely present. But which one? Let's take the answers one at a time.

Adjustment disorder is "the development of emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to an identifiable stressor." It might be helpful to think of adjustment disorder as a cousin of PTSD. Here, there's a more phobic quality to the client's fear. Additionally, the fear and avoidance have persisted for years, while adjustment disorder is generally a shorter-term diagnosis.

Social anxiety disorder has its appeal here, but the client's fear isn't specifically social. Social anxiety disorder is characterized by fear of being exposed to possible scrutiny of others. This can be part of fearing crowds, but other diagnoses get at this fear more directly.

Specific phobia, situational type is even more alluring. But it's not the best of the choices offered here. This sounds like situational type specific phobia. And, if there were no other diagnosis that covered the precise symptoms the client describes, than that would be the diagnosis. Specific phobia, situational type can include many different things--fear of airplanes or elevators. It includes fear of small confined spaces or the dark. But there's another diagnosis that addresses fear of lines and crowds, and of feeling trapped. That diagnosis is...

Agoraphobia. To make a diagnosis of agoraphobia, outsized fears need to be present at least two of the following: Using public transportation; being in open spaces; being in enclosed spaces; standing in line or being in a crowd; being outside of the home alone. The client above appears to fear standing in line and being in a crowd in an enclosed space. She may just barely meet criteria for agoraphobia. But "just barely meeting criteria" isn't a choice here. You have to choose A, B, C, or D.

C--agoraphobia--is your best pick.

For more reading about anxiety disorders, including agoraphobia, try:

• Anxiety Disorders (Wikipedia)
• Anxiety Disorders (Psych Central)

And, for more practice, get started with SWTP's full-length practice exams here.

Happy studying and good luck on the exam!

Let's revisit the DSM for today's free practice question. Flipping randomly into the purple book, just as an exam item writer might, we land on the Sexual Dysfunctions chapter. Here are the disorders contained therein:

Delayed Ejaculation (what it sounds like)

Erectile Disorder (ditto--difficulty in obtaining or maintaining an erection during sexual activity)

Female Orgasmic Disorder (delay, infrequency, absence or reduced intensity of orgasm)

Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (what it sounds like)

Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder (persistent or recurrent difficulties with vaginal penetration)

Male Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (More than six months of deficient or absent sexual/erotic thoughts and desire)

Premature (Early) Ejaculation (within 1 minute of penetration and before individual wishes it)

Substance/Medication-Induced Sexual Dysfunction (what it sounds like again)

Here's a sample question:

A client reports difficulty maintaining an erection when having sex with his wife ever since their honeymoon ended, a year ago. The problem occurs during what he describes as "vanilla" sex. As he reports details, the client seems fairly irritated, but not especially haunted by the issue. What set of specifiers is MOST appropriate to add to the diagnosis of erectile disorder:

A. Lifelong, situational, mild

B. Acquired, situational, mild

C. Lifelong, generalized, mild

D. Acquired, generalized, mild

What do you say?

This is one of those questions where you just need to know some definitions--or be able to suss them out with a little common sense. Here are the specifiers for erectile disorder:

Lifelong (present since the individual became sexually active)

Acquired (present after a period of relatively normal sexual function)

While we don't have details about the client's honeymoon or pre-marital sex life, we have to go with the contents of the question. Acquired is the better fit here. Hey, look, two answers already eliminated!

Generalized (not limited to certain types of stimulation, situations, or partners)

Situational (only occurs with certain types of stimulation, etc.)

The client's problems occur only during "vanilla" sex. We're quickly narrowed down to the answer. But we'll keep going. Mild, moderate, and severe are measures of the client's distress. Those specifiers don't describe symptoms, but the client's reaction to the symptoms. This client is irritated--a low level of distress. "Obsessed" or "unable to function" would be indicators of a more moderate or severe level of distress.

Also note, the problem has to have persisted for at least six months for a diagnosis of erectile disorder to be made.

TL;DR: Our answer is B, acquired, situational, mild.

For more reading about sexual dysfunctions in this chapter and beyond, take a look at:

• The Psychology of Sex (PsychCentral)
• Sexual Dysfunction (Wikipedia)

And, of course, your DSM-5 is a friend as you prep DSM-5 questions--especially the desk reference edition.

For full-length practice tests covering the wide range of questions that can show up on the social work licensing exam (not just DSM!), sign up and create your exam bundle!

Let's all keep going. Here's another free practice question to help you get prepared to pass the ASWB exam.This time, we're digging into the Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders chapter of the DSM. The disorders included there are:

Reactive Attachment Disorder (inhibited, withdrawn behavior toward adult caregivers + emotional disturbance + history of neglect)

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (child actively approaches and interacts with unfamiliar adults)

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Intrusion symptoms and avoidance following exposure to trauma)

Acute Stress Disorder (Symptoms following between three days to one month of exposure to trauma)

Adjustment Disorders (Emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to stressor, within 3 months of onset)

Got it? Here's a question:

A woman tells a social worker that she's been "a wreck" ever since being sexually assaulted a few weeks ago. She says she's been irritable, lashing out angrily for no apparent reason. She reports being hypervigilant and having difficulty concentrating. In which of the following categories do these symptoms belong?

A. Intrusion Symptoms

B. Negative Mood

C. Dissociative Symptoms

D. Arousal Symptoms

What do you say?

Not sure? Well, here are each of those categories spelled out.

Intrusion symptoms:  Recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive distressing memories; recurrent distressing dreams; flashbacks; distress in response to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event/s.

Negative Mood: Persistent inability to experience positive emotions.

Dissociative Symptoms: An altered sense of reality of one's surroundings and one's self; an inability to recall an important aspect of the traumatic event/s.

Arousal Symptoms: Sleep disturbance; Irritable behavior and angry outbursts; hypervigilance; problems with concentration; exaggerated startle response.

So, you have your answer! (It's D, right?)

One category of symptoms didn't make it into the A-D list. Avoidance Symptoms: Efforts to avoid distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings associated with the event/s; efforts to avoid external reminders of the event/s.

Another quick question:

The woman is reporting these symptoms within three months of the sexual assault, so the MOST likely diagnosis for her would be _________________.

PTSD or acute stress disorder?

Unless you skipped the info up top, you know the answer. Acute stress disorder is diagnosed between three days and one month since a trauma. For PTSD to be diagnosed, at least a month has to have passed since the trauma occurred. The best diagnosis for the woman is acute stress disorder.

There you have it. You're ever-more ready to pass the social work licensing exam. For more questions from the DSM and all parts of the content outline, sign up for SWTP's full-length practice tests. Each test has thorough rationales and links for additional study. Get started now! Good luck!