Sunday, February 14, 2010

I passed!

I am happy to report that I passed the LICSW with flying colors! I apologize for not posting sooner -- I am glad a comment was made on the blog which reminded me to post an update. The test seems like one of those things that you obsess about for so long that after it's over you just want to forget about it and move on!

Firstly, the server crashed at my site so my test was delayed by a day. Talk about a let down! To have all that adrenaline pulsing and to feel ready to just get it over with and then to find out you can't. Not to mention postponing the celebratory drinks at my husband's holiday party that night :( However, I have to say the staff at the testing site were extremely apologetic and helpful in getting us all rescheduled.

The next day I returned, feeling glad that at least I had done a "practice run" (i.e. how to get there, where to park, layout of the site). The actual exam wasn't too bad. I think one key point to remember is to acknowledge feelings and build rapport first. Frankly, I began to second guess myself because it seemed like there were 20 questions related to this.

There were only 2 questions on the test where I had NO CLUE! I basically had to guess. Many questions I knew right away I found it helpful to use tips from the LICSW Review course that I took through the Washington NASW chapter (hierarchy of needs, build rapport/acknowledge feelings, rule out medical issues). I only had one medication question, so I over prepared in that area. I flagged more than I thought I would (maybe 30 or 35) and went back to review only the flagged questions. As 3 hours approached I was mulling over the flagged questions and just second guessing myself so I took a deep breath and hit "QUIT".

My coworker told me that when you hit quit, the screen goes blank and then a "You passed" screen with the score pops up. This did not happen for me -- instead it asked me to take a short survey about my testing experience. I immediately feared that I had failed and they wanted to survey me to see why. Silly, I know, but they literally hold you hostage and make you go through a 10 question survey before you get your score. I personally don't find it a very ethical survey since you cannot opt out -- but once it was over I got the "You passed" screen and I was relieved to put it all behind me.

Hope this was helpful and good luck to all of you out there!

5 comments:

  1. Hi there! I am just starting to prepare to take the clinical exam, and I'm so happy to find your blog. I would love to know two things:

    1) About how long do you think someone should budget to study for the clinical exam? I realize this will vary depending on the person and level of knowledge, but perhaps you can shed light on that. I'm waiting to schedule my exam until I have an idea of what my allotted study time should be.

    2) What was the best study resource? I have the ASWB study guide, and I also have a guide that was prepared by Case Western Univ. in 2007 (I got it when I received my MSW at the Univ. at Albany, SUNY, but since I moved to WA and learned that there was no Master's exam, it has been gathering dust). There was an all-day workshop offered by NASW-WA recently but I couldn't attend, and I know that there are packaged study guides too. I would love feedback on what the most helpful guides are in your opinion.

    Thanks so much!!!
    Katy

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  2. Hi Katy! I hope you see this post. I am not very blog savvy so I don't know how to "reply" to your question other than to post a comment. Forgive me! To answer your questions 1) I would say 3 months. That is about 12 weekends and not so long that you put it off until the last minute but still long enough to really go over a broad amount of info. You could probably do it in less time and I probably studied too much but I like to feel prepared.
    2) I would say by far the best help was the all day NASW workshop. I think they have them 2 or 4 times per year so if you can take it before your exam I would! Also I paid for the online ASWB practice test. You can only take it once but you have access to the questions for a period of 30 days. I took the test a few questions at a time and really reviewed what I answered incorrectly. I would jot down terms or topics I needed to brush up on and it gives you a good idea of what to expect as far as question format etc.

    Hope this helps. Good luck!

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