ASWB Clinical Study Guide 2020-2021: Social Work Exam Prep with 450 Questions and Detailed Answer Explanations (New Outline and 3 Full Practice Tests)

My exam is coming up this month and I have gone through 2 solid LCSW prep books( 100's of questions) -I bought this last minute because it had 3 full tests. I looked through and again and again, first off the practice test questions are only a 150 apiece the LCSW exam is 170 (granted 20 don't count but still, they are incorporated into the exam) secondly it is missing crucial information related to Human Development, Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment Planning, Psychotherapy, Clinical Interventions, and Case Management. This book focuses very heavily on the history of Social Work, types of Social Work on the Micro Mezza and Macro levels and Social Work Ethics, that's about it. It very briefly skims over different theories, Freud, and Erickson's stages of development. No mention of Piaget, Maslow, Skinner's theories, psychopharmacology that you need to be aware of in clinical practice, the DSM 5, No mention of the biopsychosocial assessment and treatment planning (this is just to name a few things missing from this "guide"). This book will make you fail. Do not buy it. You will not be prepared for this exam. Also, this book mentions that to qualify for the LCSW you need a master's and two years of post-graduate experience. This is incorrect you need three years of supervised experience. That was my first red flag about this book. In addition, these questions are nothing like the real test-I bought the practice exam on the ASWB website....much more complicated than the ones provided in this book. Once again DO NOT BUY.I am sorry to say this but how this book ever got 5 stars is beyond me. Even the LMSW exam review guides where more complex than this book.

I was hopeful that this would be a good study guide, but it’s pretty terrible. There are multiple typos which is disconcerting (“Mary Stewart was the First Lady almoner in Britain in 1985.” Actually, Mary Stewart died in 1925......). There is nothing clinical in this book. No info on the DSM 5 or current medications for psychological disorders. There are also NO vignettes in the 3 tests! I’ve been told that the test is heavy in vignettes.... so why are there no examples in this book. Save your money and buy another book.

I've used this type of study guide before, and you should know, they all have quirky issues. And I know why - I'm a published author of a technical work that had a team of 5 people working on it for more than a year. It takes a lot of time and money to make a perfect book. That is not what this is, and you should not expect a perfect technical book for this price.What it *is*, is a book that is well enough edited to look good and be free from major problems, with well laid out sections for different subjects, and most importantly of all, practice tests. For any type of certification test, you need to get familiar with the language of the field and how it's used. Just knowing about social work is not enough to pass the test. You need to understand the way the terms are used and how the language of the test questions is used. With three practice tests, this is good preparation for the exam.

I bought this book to study for the LCSW exam. I should have known by the cheap price it would not be quality material. There were numerous grammatical errors, run-on sentences, omitted words, even a factual error (off by 100 years). It read as a term paper written by a high-school student or maybe college freshman. I ended up getting 3 different books and threw this one away :-(

The organization of information in this book is very conducive to effective studying. After reading through it multiple times, I feel confident that I'll pass my LICW test with ease.

I bought this for a friend who is studying for their ASWB. So far they have found this book to be thorough and helpful, especially the practice exams.

I appreciate the way this review is set up; it truly complements my studying style/habits. I can find the information that I need easily, and the explanations along with the answers gives me the extra rationale I need to make the necessary connections.

This is a great learning guide. It helped me study and test my knowledge before I took my test.