Blog

Our California Law & Ethics Practice Test is up! If you're LCSW-bound in California, this is one of the two exams you need to pass. (Details from the BBS are here). The second is the ASWB exam. We've got five unique ASWB practice tests ready and waiting.

Get started by signing up.

Good luck!

We have a new California Law & Ethics practice exam nearly ready to launch, but first we need your help. We're looking for a handful of beta testers to go through the new exam and rationales line by line to spot typos, logic errors, repetitions, etc. This means free access to the new exam (or nearly free--it will cost a penny). 
Are you a meticulous, sharp-eyed copy editor who will be available to thoroughly comb through 75 law and ethics questions and rationales over just a couple of days?

If so, please sign up here. We only need a handful of beta testers, so it's first come, first serve.  

Please share this with other California exam preppers.

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: Our California Law & Ethics Practice Exam has launched!

Changes are coming to the California LCSW licensing process (see our earlier post). Come January, 2016, the Golden State switches to the national ASWB exam and a California-specific Law and Ethics exam. The BBS has now released a detailed outline of possible content for the L&E exam. Here are the basics:

I. Law 40%

A. Confidentiality, Privilege, and Consent 14%

B. Limits to Confidentiality/Mandated Reporting 16%

C. Legal Standards for Professional Practice 10%

II. Ethics 60%

A. Professional Competence and Preventing Harm 18%

B. Therapeutic Relationship/Services 27%

C. Business Practices and Policies 15%

The outline contains lots of details, divided into Task Statements and Knowledge Statements, which is simpler than it sounds. Tasks are the legal and ethical things you do; knowledge is the legal and ethical stuff you know. Example:

Task Statement

T17. Comply with laws regarding sexual contact, conduct, and relations between therapist and client to prevent harm to the client and/or the therapeutic relationship.

Knowledge Statement

K32.Knowledge of laws regarding sexual conduct between therapist and client.

K33. Knowledge of legal requirements for providing client with the brochure Professional Therapy Never Includes Sex.

Have questions about your specific situation and the L&E exam? This BBS FAQ page might be helpful. Anything not found in the above links should be a few click away on the BBS Exam News page.

Our Law & Ethics practice exam should be up soon HAS LAUNCHED! To get started with SWTP L&E and ASWB practice tests, sign up! Good luck on the exam!

UPDATE: Our California Law & Ethics Practice Test is available now. Go to our purchase page, click on "California," and select California Law & Ethics.  For more details, click here.

California social workers heading toward licensure have at this point probably gotten word of changes that are coming to the California LCSW licensing process. Here are the basics: California has long had a two exams--the Standard Written and Clinical Vignette. Starting on January 1st, 2016, that changes. There will still be two exams, yes. One will be a 75-question California Law and Ethics exam. The other will be the exam familiar to social workers across the rest of the country, the ASWB Clinical Exam. Details about the L&E exam are somewhat hazy. The ASWB exam is well-known. It's like a shorter, CA-specific law & ethics-free version of the CA Standard Written. There are details for days on aswb.org and multiple practice tests for it right here at SWTP. Here's that info as delivered by the BBS on their site:

Effective January 1, 2016 the Board's examination process will be restructured...A California Law and Ethics Exam will replace the Standard Written Exam for LMFT and LCSW applicants. For LPCC applicants this exam will not change. It is designed to assess the applicant's knowledge of and ability to apply legal and ethical standards relating to clinical practice. This will consist of 75 multiple-choice items administered over a two-hour period [UPDATE: CHANGED TO 90 MINUTES]. The re-exam waiting period for the exam is 90 days.

Curious about what the L&E exam will cover in those 75 questions? Take a look at the outline at the end of the LPCC Candidate Handbook. What's there is unsurprising--it's the very material that was covered in questions that appeared on the old exams: Confidentiality and Privilege, Limits of Confidentiality, Professional Conduct, Informed Consent, Standards of Practice, Scope of Competence, and Therapeutic Relationship. To help you get prepped, we'll have a practice exam (or two) up toward the end of the year. In the meantime, your Code of Ethics and select sections of the California legal code are your friends.

An additional heads-up:  no exams will be administered in California between December 1 and 31st, 2015. From the BBS:

In order to ensure a successful transition, the Board will be implementing an examination blackout period for Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) examinations to ensure the integrity of examination candidate data during the transition. The Examination Blackout Period provides more information as to what this means for you.

Keep an eye on the SWTP blog for more California exam news as it comes.

If the shift from DSM-IV-TR to DSM-5 wasn't enough, here's more change for license-bound social workers in California. As of January 1st, 2016, say good-bye to the BBS Standard Written and Clinical Exams. Say hello to a California Law & Ethics exam (for new registrants) and to the ASWB Clinical Exam (to get your California LCSW). We'll post details about the L&E exam when we have them--and, of course, be preparing Law & Ethics practice tests to help you get ready to get licensed. Here are the details, direct from the BBS:

Effective January 1, 2016, the Board's examination process will be changing. New exams will be implemented for all LCSW and LMFT candidates, and registrants (ASWs, MFT Interns and PCC Interns) will be mandated to take a California Law and Ethics Exam, as specified below.

ALL REGISTRANTS MUST TAKE A LAW AND ETHICS EXAM
Currently, the licensing exams are taken upon completion of all other requirements for licensure.  Under the restructure, individuals who hold an ASW, MFT Intern or PCC Intern registration will be required to take a California Law and Ethics Exam a minimum of once per renewal cycle while a registrant until the exam has been passed.

If a registrant does not take the Law and Ethics Exam during a renewal period, he or she will not be permitted to renew the registration until the exam has been taken. If a registrant does not pass the Law and Ethics Exam during a renewal period, he or she will be required to take a 12-hour continuing education course on California Law and Ethics in order to be eligible to re-take the Law and Ethics Exam.

Although the exam restructure takes effect January 1, 2016, a grace period has been established that allows individuals with a registration that expires prior to June 30, 2016, to renew that registration between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016 without first taking the Law and Ethics Exam.

NEW EXAMS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED FOR ALL LCSW & LMFT APPLICANTS

• LCSW Exams - LCSW applicants will be required to pass two new exams that replace the existing exams:
• • A California Law and Ethics Exam will replace the Standard Written Exam. It is designed to assess the applicant's knowledge of and ability to apply legal and ethical standards relating to clinical practice.
  • The National Clinical ASWB Exam will replace the Clinical Vignette Exam. It is designed to assess an applicant's knowledge of psychosocial principles and methods in treatment and their application, and the ability to make judgments about appropriate techniques, methods and objectives as applicable to the profession's scope of practice.