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Happy New Year! It's 2018! It's the year you get licensed!

With the new year comes the new NASW Code of Ethics and the new ASWB content blueprints. Both kicked in for social workers and exam preppers on 1/1/18.

SWTP is ready for them both!

We've updated our exams to reflect the new categories and new category-to-category weighting in the ASWB outline (aswb.org has details, if you're curious). And we've updated and added new ethics questions to each exam and the Ethics Booster to reflect changes to the Code of Ethics.

To read more about the changes to the Code (the more vital of the two updates for all social workers), read the new version of the code linked above, and/or take a look at these two helpful summaries:

• Ethics Alive! The 2017 NASW Code of Ethics: What's New?, by Allan Barsky
• Eye on Ethics: New NASW Code of Ethics Standards for the Digital Age, by Frederic G. Reamer.

Most of the significant additions are related to the use of tech for social workers. Email, Googling clients, etc.  We'll post a free new-code question or two on these pages soon--stay tuned!  With the articles above, you'll have everything new you need to know to be ready for practice (and real) ethics questions. Remember, there's a lot of ethics on the exam. Be ready. Practice tests will help.

While we were updating, we also checked every single suggested study link to ensure you're getting the best possible additional information on all of the topics covered on the exams. (If you find a better one for any question, please don't hesitate to let us know.)

If you want to get licensed in 2018, we want to help you! One way to get started: Make a public pledge to pass the exam this year: Retweet SWTP here or share via SWTP on Facebook.  "This year I get licensed!"

Ready to start? Get underway with real-time, realistic SWTP exam practice by choosing exams here.

Happy studying, good luck, and congratulations in advance!

It will be a busy autumn for us at SWTP. Along with updating exams to reflect NASW Code of Ethics changes, we'll be making sure all practice tests reflect changes to the ASWB content outlines. What does this mean for you? Very little.

ASWB content outlines detail the wide array of material that may appear on any given version of the social work licensing exam. We've compared the old and new outlines. The changes, by and large, are not wildly significant. Category names get a little makeover. Some content has been added, some pruned. The overall effect to you, the social work exam prepper: negligible.

Take a look for yourself, if you like. The current versions-which become ASWB history on January 2nd, 2018-are posted here.  The new versions are posted here.  Handy diagrams showing the before and after differences are here. See? No big.

We'll have practice tests reflecting all coming changes up soon. In the meantime, whether you're prepping for a 2017 or 2018 exam date, get started with practice tests by creating your own exam bundle here.

Happy studying and good luck on the exam!

Future Licensed Master Social Workers, the web is here to help! Passing the LMSW exam doesn't have to feel like some impossible stunt. Your exam prep doesn't have to wear you out or empty your wallet. First, of course, sign up for SWTP's practice exams. Each question has its own suggested study link to help you deepen your knowledge and ready you for the exam. Elsewhere on the web is advice and guidance by the digital bucketful. Here are just a couple of sites to check out--ten tips, flash cards by the hundreds.

• Ten Tips for Passing the LMSW Exam
• Hundreds of Free LMSW Flash Cards from Quizlet

Good luck with your test prep and congratulations in advance on your LMSW!

Here's a basic recently posted by the ASWB on their Facebook page:  A state-by-state listing of Social Work Regulatory Boards.  Links get you to the starting line where you can figure out local licensing requirements and test details.  You're underway!

Update: Here's SWTP's version of the same list--Social Work State Licensing Boards--newer, better.

(By the way, the links up top will get you to SWTP's Facebook, Twitter, etc.  And, if you're on Pinterest, so is SWTP. There's also a new, SWTP-moderated Social Work Exam Prep Google+ community.  See you there.)  

Here's a blog that used posting as an alternative to making flash cards--exactly the way SWTP got started (also on blogspot, once upon a time).  Studying for the Social Work Exam's plan of attack:

I will create posts that follow the content areas in the ASWB "Content Outlines & KSAs" booklet.  You can find that here: [aswb.org]. The section on human development, diversity and behavior in the environment encompasses 31% of exam content, so that is where I'll start...

The twenty-something posts include details about attachment, childhood development, several diagnoses (schizoaffective d/o, substance abuse disorders...), crisis intervention, suicide assessment and more.

Worth a browse!