Social Work Test Prep talked to Stan Taubman of Berkeley Training Associates
via email about how he found himself in the exam-prep field, what
BTA does, and how they do it:
What's your background? How did you become a test-prep
person?
I am a clinical social worker, with an MSW from UCLA and a PhD
in Social Work from the University of Southern California. In the 7
year period between my MSW and entering the PhD program I had
clinical experience in child welfare, medical social work, private
practice, and at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute in outpatient,
inpatient and day treatment programs. It was during this period of
time that I took my own license exam. Although I had been very
successful in my clinical practice I was amazed to see how little
preparation I had received for licensure from my degree program.
Then, when I was in my very vigorous PhD program I learned to
articulate so much of what I had been experiencing (but couldn't
easily articulate) in my clinical practice. I took copious notes in
my doctoral classes, and thoroughly poured through the clinical
practice literature and research in my doctoral studies. I remember
how I wished I had this information when I had taken my own license
exam. Then, when a friend told me how ill prepared she felt she was
for her forthcoming license exam, I offered to type up and present
her with the relevant portions of my notes. Happily she found that
these materials helped her articulate what she had previously known
by intuition.....just what she needed for her license exam
preparation. I was able to use my clinical experience to understand
the issues of the license exam, and use my academic training to
articulate these issues in a way that others could clearly
understand.
I gave her permission to lend these notes to some friends who
were also preparing for their license exams, and they came back
with the same positive feedback. From that point forward requests
to see these materials snowballed, without any advertising on my
part. It then became clear that I had the seeds of a thorough
License Exam Home Study Course. Subsequently I began teaching
clinical practice classes at USC, San Diego State, and UC Berkeley
and found that, unlike many others on faculty who had strictly
academic backgrounds, I was able to present material in a way that
would be useful to my students in their future license exams, as
well as teaching what's needed for day to day clinical practice. At
that point I added workshops to our written exam preparation
materials. Initially I didn't set out to create a business, but
Berkeley Training Associates is something that grew in response to
demand out of these experiences.
How does BTA differ from some of the other exam
preparation services?
QUALITY: Quality is our most important characteristic. All BTA
materials are written by a licensed psychotherapist who has had at
least 10 years of clinical experience in at least five different
practice settings (fields of practice) as well as at least 10 years
of experience teaching on the faculties of major universities. No
BTA materials are written by any individual with less experience
than that. Although other programs offer complementary consultation
as part of their home study package, all BTA consultations are
provided by an author of the materials. I believe that no other
social work exam preparation service can make this claim. I have
heard customers say that they have been frustrated by consultations
from other programs in which the consultant provided an opinion but
without any documented reference. All BTA consultations provide
documented references for our information whenever requested by the
customer.
I believe that no other California based social work exam
preparation service can make this claim. This quality is evident to
our customers. When we are contacted by someone who is considering
purchasing home study materials we often provide them with the name
and phone numbers of other exam preparation programs so that they
can compare the quality of information they receive.
SOCIAL WORK SPECIALISTS: Our social work exam preparation
materials have been written only by social workers, and the
majority of our advertising outreach, workshops and sales are
specifically developed for social workers. None of our social work
exam preparation materials have been written by MFT's, nor are they
materials that were originally written for MFT's and then modified
for social workers. I believe that no other California based social
work exam preparation service can make this claim.
INTEGRATED PREPARATION FOR CALIFORNIA'S TWO EXAMS. Perhaps
because we specialize in social work exam preparation we are keenly
aware of the fact that both the LCSW Standard Written Esxam and the
LCSW Clinical Vignette Exam use exactly the same Content Outline.
The major differences between the two exams is (a) the amount of
emphasis across these Content Areas and (2) the question format. We
provide customers with a single set of Home Study materials that
address the content of both exams, while also providing them with
specialized Practice Exams for each type of exam. This provides the
customer with a unified set of information, but specialized
experience with the two exam formats.
COMPLEMENTARY PHONE CONSULTATIONS. As noted above, all BTA
consultations are provided are provided by an author of the Home
Study Course materials and provide customers with documented
references for the information presented in the consultation
whenever requested by the customer. In addition, we make Phone
Consultations available to the customer's supervisor as well as to
the customer..
PRICE: Our prices are somewhat lower than those of other major
exam preparation services for comparable types of products. Also,
BTA prices include sales tax and postage.
UPDATES: Throughout the year we seek feedback from customers who
have completed their exams for feedback about what aspects of our
materials were helpful or not helpful. We also ask about what
additional information might make the materials more useful for
future exam candidates, and we regularly update our materials based
on this feedback. Previous customers who have not yet taken their
license exams are entitled to receive complementary copies of these
updates.
FLEXIBLE AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCTS: Our customers have the option
of purchasing a Complete Home Study Course, but those who do not
need all components of the Complete Home Study Course have the
option of purchasing Home Study Course components separately.
PRACTICE EXAMINATIONS: BTA Practice Exams are available in the
customer's choice of either Online or Printed in a book. Also we
provide 5 Practice Exams for the Standard Written Exam and 8
Clinical Vignette Practice Exams. Customers who choose the Online
version have a full 5 months of access and can take the Practice
Exams and clear answers as many times as they choose during this
period. (Others have fewer exams or their online exams are
accessible for a shorter period of time) Additional months are also
available at a small cost. In addition to our Practice Exams our
Complete Home Study Course also includes over 250 Clinical Review
Questions which serve as a posttest of the information in our
License Exam Review Workbook. The following are additional features
of BTA Online Practice Examinations (note that some of these
features may be available in Practice Examinations of other
companies); all answers are fully explained, both why the correct
answer is correct and why each incorrect answer is incorrect;
customer can switch between exam mode (where answers are hidden)
and study mode (where customer can choose to see the question's
category, answer, and explanation for the answer); answers are
stored if the customer leaves the website and returns later; the
Practice Exams have a timer on the screen; scoring is automatic and
analyzed by exam Content Area.
WORKSHOPS: All BTA exam preparation workshops are taught by the
same individual so that those attending more than one type of
workshop receive information that is consistent, integrated with
information received at the other type of workshop, and without
irrelevant duplication of information. All handouts and sample exam
questions provided at BTA workshops are written by the same
individual who wrote the components of the BTA Home Study Course.
Again, this means that the handouts received in a workshop are
consistent with and integrated with information provided in BTA
Home Study Course materials.
PASS GUARANTEE. We do not present customers with the concept of
a "pass guarantee." It appears that companies which do so (a)
don't really guarantee passing, but actually guarantee a refund,
(b) have multiple requirements which must be met in order to
receive the refund, (c) charge the customer for the "pass
guarantee," (d) apply the refund only to a portion of the amount
paid by the customer, (e) require that the customer return their
study materials, even though it is likely to have the customer's
highlighting, underlining, and marginal study notes, thereby
greatly reducing the likelihood of the customer claiming the
refund. We have been contacted by many customers after failing the
exam after having used study materials which came with a "pass
guarantee," and we always ask these customers if they have claimed
their refund from the other company. Although I can recall a few
such customers saying that they inquired about such a refund, I
can't recall a single customer ever saying that they actually
received such a refund....usually because the customer decided that
they didn't want to part with their study notes, but sometimes
because one or more of the technical requirrements for the refund
were not met. We can understand why a company might need to have
such requirements in order to afford to offer a "pass guarantee"
but we have not be willing to relate to customers in this way.
Note, however, that BTA does offer a Satisfaction Guarantee.
Customers may return materials up to 30 days after receiving them,
for a full refund of the amount paid, and without having to give a
reason for the return.
PASS RATE: We don't advertise a specific "pass rate," although
we do survey customers to determine their pass rates and we have
found pass rates as high or higher than those advertised by other
companies. As you may know, the general pass rates for LCSW license
exams varies dramatically from one six month period to another.
General pass rates for the CA LCSW Standard Written Exam have been
as high as 72% and as low as 32%. General pass rates for the CA
LCSW Clinical Vignette Exam have been as high as 65% and as low as
38%. Obviously the pass rate for those who use a particular
company's study materials will be much higher when the general pass
rate is much higher, and will be lower than that when the general
pass rate is much lower than that. A valid and meaningful
presentation of a company's pass rate would have to (a) present
these variations, (b) be based on a very large sample, (c) be based
on a truly randomly selected sample of customers (or inlude each
and every customer), (d) and, ideally, the data should be collected
and analyzed by an independent, financially disinterested
researcher. The analysis should not be based on skewed data
collection such as presuming that those who do not claim a "pass
guarantee" refund must have passed their exams, or presuming that
spontaneous contacts from customers are just as likely to arise
from successful exam candidates as from unsuccessful exam
candidates. To my knowledge, no company that claims a simple,
single pass rate (such as "our pass rate is x%" has ever described
its methodology for determining the "pass rate" nor has made their
raw data available for scruitiny. I realize that comparisons on
other variables might be of interest. As you recieve input from
other companies which might address issues other than those listed
here, please feel free to contact me so that I can describe BTA
with regard to that issue....and please let me know if you have any
follow up questions.
How do you go about writing sample questions? How do you
keep tabs on the real exam as it changes over time?
BTA's sample questions are written based on the author's (a)
doctoral level training in test instrument construction, (b)
clinical experience, (c) conversations with scores of practicing
clinical social workers annually, especially those who constitute
the audiences of the author's in-service training workshops, and
(d) literature review. We keep tabs on the real exam as it changes
over time by (a) carefully reviewing the Candidate's Handbook (for
California) and ASWB materials describing its license examinations
and (b) conversations with recent exam candidates. Although we
never seek the wording of specific exam questions we are interested
in descriptions of topics covered on the exam, topics emphasized on
the exam, level of difficulty, and question format.
Have you seen key differences between students who are
prepared and not prepared for the exam? What do you think is the
most important part of effective exam preparation?
Although all of our customers have prepared for the exams, we
often meet exam candidates who have not prepared for the exam at
our in-service training workshops. The major differences we've
observed are that those who prepare for their license exams.... -
are less influenced by the many misleading rumors that circulate
about the exam - are more confident, and therefore more secure, in
knowing what to anticipate on the exam - are more articulate in
explaining their answers to exam questions, rather than primarily
relying on intuition - are better able to manage the time pressure
of the exam BY FAR, the most important part of EFFECTIVE exam
preparation occurs when the exam candidate takes what they are
reviewing for the exam and applies it to their clinical practice
with actual clients. So many of BTA's customers tell us things like
"Since I've been studying for the exam I find that my clinical
practice is actually improving. I'm more articulate in my case
documentation, my assessments are more thorough, I'm considering a
wider range of diagnostic possibilities for my clients and better
able to validate my diagnostic conclusions, and my treatment plans
are more clinically meaningful....not just a way to meet
administrative requirements." Customers who have this kind of
experience always seem to do much better with their exams than
those who find their exam studies to be "academic" and unrelated to
actual practice. That's why we've found it so important for BTA's
exam preparation materials to be written by an author with
extensive clinical in-service training experience, not just
academic experience.
Find Stan Taubman and BTA on the web at Berkeley Training
Associates.