Pass the LMSW Exam: A Practice Test for the ASWB Master's Level Social Work Licensing Examination

By Jeremy Schwartz

Every year, thousands of social workers graduate from accredited schools of social work in the United States and Canada and pursue licensure through their state or provincial boards of social work as a LMSW, LGSW, APSW, or CSW. This level of licensure, as determined by the state board, requires a passing score on the ASWB® Master's Level social wor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seeley Street Press
• Release date: Jul 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986557014

Jeremy Schwartz

Jeremy Schwartz writes books for kids and adults. Jeremy is a full-time abba, writer, and educator with a background in clinical social work. He is also the author of A Dinosaur Hanukkah Party, as well as a collection of exam preparation books for professional social workers.

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Pass the LMSW Exam

Pass the LMSW Exam

Pass the LMSW Exam

A Practice Test for the ASWB Master’s Level Social Work Licensing Examination

Jeremy Schwartz

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Seeley Street Press

This book is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for clinical supervision or consultation, nor is it to be used for purposes of diagnosing or treating any health or mental health condition. The author and publisher will not be liable for any damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the reader’s use of, or reliance upon, the information contained in this book.

ASWB is a registered service mark of the Association of Social Work Boards. The Association of Social Work Boards neither sponsors nor endorses this book.

Copyright © 2022 by Jeremy Schwartz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Published in the United States of America by:

Seeley Street Press

Salt Lake City, Utah 84103

First Printing, 2022

ISBN: 979-8-9865570-0-7

e-book ISBN: 979-8-9865570-1-4

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Schwartz, Jeremy, author.

Title: Pass the LMSW Exam : a practice test for the ASWB master’s level social work licensing examination / Jeremy Schwartz, LCSW

Description: 2022-2023 Edition. | Salt Lake City, UT : Seeley Street Press, [2022]

Identifiers: LCCN Pending | ISBN 9798986557007

Subjects: LCSH: Social workers – Certification – United States. | Social service – United States – Examinations – Study guides. | Social service – United States – Examinations, questions, etc.  

Classification: LOC: HV40.52.A74 2022 | DDC: 361.3076—dc23

Contents

Introduction

Test Format

Study Tips

Testing Accommodations

Test-Taking Tips

Developing Your Study Schedule

150-Question Practice Test

Practice Test Answers

Practice Test Answer Explanations

About The Author

Introduction

Congratulations on taking this important step in your career! As a helping professional, you’ve worked hard in your graduate social work program, completed your field placements, and now you are preparing to become a licensed professional in your state or province.

Earning your LMSW, however, requires more than knowing the material. The Association of Social Work Boards examination is the test used across the United States and Canada, and it is not easy! However, with advance preparation and expert guidance, you can earn your passing score and become a licensed social worker.

How to Use This Guide

We all lead busy lives, so this guide is designed to avoid wasting your time and get right to what you need. This book is fast-paced so you can go through it multiple times.

First, read through the test taking strategies and content outline. Then, set aside a four-hour block of time to take the practice test.

Once you have taken the practice test, use the quick scoring sheet to mark the questions you got wrong and calculate your score.

Then, take a break because you deserve it! Come back another day to review explanations for the questions you got incorrect. Make sure you fully understand the material.

After that, set aside time to retake the exam. Do this a few times if you need to, until you can correctly answer every question.

Test Format

The Association of Social Work Boards Master’s Level exam contains 170 multiple-choice questions. However, as 20 of these questions are experimental, unscored questions being evaluated for future exams, only 150 of the questions will count toward your score. Since the 20 experimental questions are randomly mixed into the exam, you will not know which questions count and which do not. You will have four hours to complete the exam, which is administered by computer at a Pearson VUE testing center.

The Master’s Level exam is intended for social workers who have completed their MSW degree but may not yet have post-degree supervision or experience. The test covers material that will hopefully be familiar to you from your MSW graduate program.

The Association of Social Work Boards provides content outlines describing the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that the exam is intended to evaluate. Based on these outlines, we know that the exam covers these areas:

Human development, diversity, and behavior in the environment (27%)

Assessment and intervention planning (24%)

Interventions with clients and client systems (24%)

Professional relationships, values, and ethics (25%)

Three Types of Test Questions

Recall questions

These are the simplest of the question types you will see on the ASWB exams, but they do require knowledge of a wide range of material.

Reasoning questions

Reasoning questions test your ability to consider information from a potential practice scenario and discern a way in which the information connects to a social work theory or practice method.

Application questions

Application questions ask you to put yourself in the shoes of a hypothetical social worker. Using your diverse skillset, you have to apply social work theories or methods to the situation that the question presents.

Study Tips

In your MSW program, you have already learned much of the content that you will need to know for this exam. At the same time, it may have been a long time since you have taken any type of multiple-choice test, let alone a formal, computer-based, standardized exam. Here are some tips to make sure you make the most of your preparation:

1. Study for four hours at a time.

Being a social worker in the field can at times feel like a test of endurance, and this exam is no different. Four hours is a long time to sit at the testing center and take your exam. Fatigue is normal, but with practice you can build up your ability to focus over long periods of time. Work some endurance training into your exam prep by setting aside four hour blocks to study