Name That Medication

Remember "Name That Tune"? Maybe not. Here's a new game show for social work exam preppers, Name That Medication! First episode, name the following meds from the A section of  Wikipedia's A-Z list of psychotropic meds.

Example:

__________ - antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and agitation

Answer: Abilify

Questions:


__________ - stimulant used to treat ADHD

   
__________ - used as a sleep aid, cause drowsiness


__________ - used to treat alcohol addiction


__________ - used to slow the progression of dementia


__________ - tricyclic antidepressant


__________ - benzodiazepine, used to relieve anxiety

Remember, all the meds begin with the letter A. The dementia and tricyclic may be an especially tough answers to summon. The others you may be able to get.

How'd you do? Check your answers here.

If you got even just a couple of them, great! You can probably consider yourself med-wise as far as the ASWB exam goes. Nothing like these question appears on the actual exam, of course. For realistic, real-exam-like questions, try the practice tests covered in previous posts and linked all over this site. Good luck!

Most Helpful Sites for Social Work Exam Prep

We like to think of ourselves as the very most helpful site for social work licensing exam prep on the wide, wide world of web. But of course that's debatable. Over dozens of posts, we've linked out to some of our favorite places to visit to help social workers get ready for the big test. Here's a quick sampling for those who prefer not to have to click back through the archives:

The Social Work Podcast. Great collection of interviews and mini-lectures about a wide variety of social work topics, almost all of them potential exam fodder.

Social Work Today/Eye on Ethics. A big part of the exam is ethics vignettes. Here's a column that not only offers up exam-like vignettes, but explains them in detail.

The NASW Code of Ethics. This isn't really a site, it's an essential document. It's on the web for free. Read it again!

Social Work Test Prep/Free Practice Tests. A collection of links to free practice tests around the net, plus great practice exams on the site itself.

This is just the tip of the webby iceberg. Don't forget that almost all of your fact-based questions about social work and psych questions can be answered with a quick net search. Wikipedia, About.com, AllPsych--they're all waiting with lots and lots of info. AllPsych and About also have free quizzes on psych topics, if you dig around a little.

Happy browsing. Happy exam prep. Happy exam passing!

ASWB Exam Practice

Feeling confident about passing the ASWB exam? Not so? Either way, sitting down to practice exams is probably a good idea. How else do you get a real sense of what is you're trying to get done? This blog has a lot of posts detailing exam process and specific areas of content...but there's just no substitute for real-time practice exam taking.

Knowing nothing about two exam candidates, which would you be more likely to bet on--the one who has taken multiple practice tests or the one who has studied materials only?  Makes sense to be the candidate you'd bet on!

Okay, so how best to figure out which ASWB practice tests to use as you're prepping? The leanings of this site is clear (just look at the sidebar). But don't let that decide things for you. On that same side-barred site (for folks on phones: it's SWTP), there's a handy list of free practice exams. If you've got time, you can click through there to get a sense of what various companies have to offer via their free samples. And while you're at it, you're getting free licensing exam practice.

Make sure you're not just being drilled for memorizable content (e.g., "At what year does such-and-such a theory say that such-and-such a behavior begins?). Good exam items--like most on the real ASWB test--reach not only for content, but for basic, genuine social work know-how. To get at that usually takes vignette questions, which is why that's what you'll mostly be encountering on the real exam.

In any case, congratulations, you're on your way. If you're studying now, that means should all go well--and it should!--you'll be licensed soon! Good luck!

What is Congruence?

On the ASWB clinical exam outline, you'll find the item "The concept of congruence in communication." It's in the Therapeutic Relationship section. So, what's congruence? As usual, the Internet stands ready with many answers. First, a definition:

a communication pattern in which the person sends the same message on both verbal and nonverbal levels.

Okay, that rings a bell. Here's more detail in a definition of mood congruence:

consistent with one's mood, a term used particularly in the classification of mood disorders. In disorders with psychotic features, mood-congruent psychotic features are grandiose delusions or related hallucinations occurring in a manic episode or depressive delusions or related hallucinations in a major depressive episode, while mood-incongruent psychotic features are delusions or hallucinations that either contradict or are inconsistent with the prevailing emotions, such as delusions of persecution or of thought insertion in either a manic or a depressive episode. 

And that's that--for the licensing exam, you're up to speed. Will this show up on the exam? Maybe not as a "define this" question, but as a subtle part of an assessment vignette? Could be.

Want more? Keep on clickin':

Mood congruence (Wiki)
Congruent communication (PeoplePolarity.com)
Active Listening (AnalyticTech.com)

Good luck with the exam!