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Here's a free practice question to help you get ready for the social work licensing exam:

A 15-year-old boy is court-ordered into therapy after several brushes with the law, including charges for breaking and entering, assaulting a classmate, and driving a stolen vehicle. Although the boy witnessed all these incidents, he appears unconcerned and denies he was involved in any of them. The MOST appropriate diagnosis is:

A. Conduct disorder

B. Schizophrenia

C. Antisocial personality disorder

D. Substance abuse

What do you think?

Here are the steps to getting the question answered. First, ask yourself what type of question is this? That's easy. It's a DSM question. DSM questions usually involve either just knowing the answer out of the gate or using process of elimination to get to the correct answer. Let's do that.

Schizophrenia involves a break with reality, usually evident in the form of hallucinations or delusions. This client shows no symptoms of psychosis. Strike answer B.

There is no indication that the client has a substance-abuse problem. Strike answer D.

Now you're left with two plausible-seeming answers. This happens all the time as you're taking the ASWB exam. Choosing between the last two answers standing calls for you to dig deep into your social work info in these cases.

So, what do you know about conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder?

Even if you don't recall much about either, there's a way to get this answered. Personality disorders are lifelong, correct? How old is this client? Just 15. Can you even diagnose a personality disorder at 15? You don't need to know the answer to that last question to have just enough gut feeling to push you toward one answer over the other.

(Yes, most personality disorders can be diagnosed in teens. They rarely are. Antisocial personality disorder is usually reserved for people over 18.)

So, with some narrowing down and a little bit of common-sense guesswork you have your answer: A, Conduct disorder. Conduct disorder is the preferred diagnosis when a child acts out in ways that are incompatible with the rules and laws of society.

And now you're that much more prepared to go pass the ASWB exam. Want to get lots more preparation? Sign up for SWTP complete practice test!

Happy studying and good luck on the exam!

How well do you know the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder? This video journey through a DSM practice question will test and strengthen your PTSD symptom knowledge.

How best to narrow down to the best answer? Sometimes, with DSM questions especially, you just have to know the material. How to learn the material? Practice tests.

Complete exams, about DSM and a myriad of other topics covered on the ASWB exam, are available on the site. Sign up, get practice, get licensed. Good luck on the exam!

Here's a free practice question for the social work licensing exam. See how you do:

During a meeting with a social worker, a client suddenly becomes enraged. She stands up, slams her fist on the desk, and throws a book across the room, breaking a picture frame. How should the clinician FIRST respond?

A. Shout for help.

B. Order the client out of the office.

C. Speak in a calm, soothing manner.

D. Tell the client to sit back down in order to discuss whatever is upsetting her.

What do you think?

Not sure? Sometimes the best way to approach questions like these isn't to think back to textbook teachings. It's to imagine yourself in the situation. A client starts acting out, throwing things, breaking things. What would you do?

Shout for help? Shouting for help is a valid option if the clinician is or is about to be physically attacked. But in this situation, it risks escalating the angry behavior.

Order the client out of the office? If a clinician orders a client to do something, the client may interpret this as an attempt to gain general control over her behavior, and may (most likely) become angrier.

Discuss issues? The client is probably past the point of being able to talk rationally about the source of her upset. Talking about it now will probably only lead to more rage.

Which leaves just one answer, however vague it may be: speak in a calm, soothing manner. This is the correct answer. Most people cannot maintain intense anger in the face of a calm, soothing response.

Is that what you'd do? Is that how you answered? Either way, you're now that much closer to being prepared for the ASWB exam. To get much more prepared, sign up for SWTP's complete, 170-question practice tests.

Our tests have rationales, like the ones above, for each answer of each question. Plus a suggested study link for more details about the question topic. Like this one about handling patient (aka client) anger.

Happy studying and good luck on the exam!

A new ASWB exam practice question video walk-through. This one's about social worker burnout.

A psychiatric hospital social worker tells her supervisor she's been feeling irritable, exhausted, restless at night, and unsure of her ability to do her job anymore. She's thinking of quitting. The supervisor suggests a new hobby, some exercise, and time with friends. How is the supervisor most likely conceptualizing the social worker's complaints?

Get the offered answers plus strategies about how to narrow down to the correct answer. Follow SWTP on YouTube or Facebook to get these as they post. For complete, 170-question practice tests for some serious ASWB exam prep, sign up!

Here's a quick practice question to keep you on your toes.

A man brings his 16-year-old son to a therapy appointment to have him assessed for depression. His son has started wearing black and has dyed his blond hair black. The boy denies he's depressed and says that all his friends dress the way he does. According to Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, which crisis is the client experiencing?

A. Industry vs. inferiority.

B. Autonomy vs. shame and doubt.

C. Identity vs. role confusion.

D. Intimacy vs. isolation.

What do you think?

For a question like this, you can strip the stem down to its essentials: a teenager and Erikson. The question could be much simpler and ask the same thing: What is the central conflict for teenagers according to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development?

Either way, it's handy to know the stages. But even if you don't, you might be able to figure it out. Let's walk through the options together: Industry vs. inferiority. Sounds like middle school (it's actually 6-12). Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (sounds like infants or teens…let's leave that one for a second). Identity vs role confusion (sounds very teenage). Intimacy vs. isolation (sounds like the partnering years. 20s, say. And it is-20s-40s).

So, with this, we've narrowed down to autonomy vs. shame and doubt and identity vs. role confusion.

Which one sounds more like a teenager to you?

Think of the teenagers in your life. Think of  yourself as a teenager. Trying to develop a sense of self. Struggling with the question, "What do I want to do with my life?" Sounds like one of the options more than any of the others: C, identity vs. role confusion.

Sometimes "sounds like" is the best you can do on the ASWB exam. And that's fine. You don't need to have the answer immediately at your fingertips for every single question. If you can narrow to two options and take your best guess, that's sometimes the best you can do.

To avoid having the entire exam feel like mysterious guesswork, it's best to get to exposed to lots and lots of practice questions as you prep for the exam. And that's what we've got here (sign up to get started!).

Happy studying, good luck on the exam, and with whatever Eriksonian stage you're grappling with right now!