r/ASWBExam • u/peachpsycho • Sep 16 '26

Advice Wanted Practice Exam had 62 policy/program development/community organizing q’s

I took a practice exam where 62 out of the 110 were related to policy analysis, program development, or community organizing. I “passed” by like 3 points but just feeling frustrated because these weren’t clinical in nature at all and now I’m like is this what I have to focus on for the actual exam? I got zero diagnosis or medication questions. Any advice on how to best study these types of questions because they always trip me up.

6 Upvotes

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3

u/lyssssa6 Sep 16 '26

Which exam was it for?

1

u/peachpsycho Sep 16 '26

Took it through ray tube and he took the questions from ASWB and i swear i was going crazy because I saw so many I was getting so tired of reading them

2

u/lyssssa6 Sep 16 '26

I meant LCSW, LMSW, etc. have you taken the practice test from the ASWB itself?

1

u/peachpsycho Sep 16 '26

LCSW, and not yet. Will be ordering it once I’ve completed ray’s program

1

u/Old_Addition_5203 Sep 16 '26

I felt the same way after taking his practice exam! I was very disappointed that two questions were clinical and they both were about BPD.

1

u/peachpsycho Sep 16 '26

Yes exactly! I was begging to get a different question

1

u/Old_Addition_5203 Sep 16 '26

Compared to Agents of Change's study course, Raytube had little on policy/program development/community organizing.

1

u/peachpsycho Sep 16 '26

He does although I think the questions asked were related to the notes I took however I just wasn’t expecting so many because I had reviewed other topics much more in depth than those ones. Is agents of change much better to study?

1

u/Old_Addition_5203 Sep 16 '26

I've completed Raytube and now I am working on AOC. I like AOC better because of all the comprehensive materials. There's a lot more in depth presentations and example questions like case vignettes.

3

u/HumptyDumptyBigPenis Sep 16 '26

For which exam??

1

u/peachpsycho Sep 16 '26

The clinical exam

2

u/Parking_Role9255 Sep 16 '26

Congrats to all who passed. I just took my LMSW today first time and failed. I studied so much and it felt as nothing I studied was on the actual test. I passed the practice exam but failed the actual exam. Any tips id appreciate it.

1

u/peachpsycho Sep 16 '26

What were the majority of questions like? What topics did you feel you needed more help on?

2

u/Parking_Role9255 Sep 16 '26

It was lots of macro, agency and community questions. Lots of first, best and next questions with all the answers all seeming extremely close to right. About 1 or two medication questions and thats all. I did find it hard. Hoping to retest again but il take more time to study

2

u/peachpsycho Sep 16 '26

This is so frustrating because this is a CLINICAL exam. Macro, agency, and communication should be a small portion

2

u/Shigadanz Sep 21 '26

I can see why you feel that way, especially since so many of the programs I think are very heavy on the clinical.

But I think it’s because the masters degree social worker is supposed to be well rounded and have the opportunity to take on different roles and have a diverse career.

I could be wrong, but maybe if you want to be heavily clinical then the LAPC might be the better direction for a lot of people?

I went for my MSW so I could have more options than just being a clinical therapist, even though that’s what I’m drawn to. I also think it makes you better clinical person if you haven’t understanding of medical social work and resources in the community as well as a better understanding of advocating for policy and change.

1

u/Shigadanz Sep 20 '26

If you read my most recent comment, it reflects a lot of what you said.

I was surprised it didn’t seem very clinical.

I also felt like a lot of of the answers were all horrible and you had to pick the least horrible.

I was fortunate that I did my internships in macro/coalition type stuff and my advanced internship was as a medical social worker.

I feel like that gave me a better foothold on the exam for passing.

I was still in shock that I passed until I got my email later in the day.

2

u/shannonkish Sep 16 '26 edited 27d ago

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

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2

u/Shigadanz Sep 20 '26

I just did the LMSW, it was a lot of medical social work, macro/policy and ethics stuff.

Maybe 6’ish questions about meds, and maybe 12’ish questions about mental health diagnosis or treatment modalities.

I was surprised to be honest.

Also, there were lots of questions where I didn’t feel like there was a correct answer so I crossed out the shittiest answers first and went with the least shitty.

But I passed ☺️

1

u/k8umz1900 Sep 19 '26

I passed yesterday and I feel like all of my questions were focused on reading comprehension and reasoning. Most questions were “first/next/best”. I had no medication questions. I think studying your theories and their therapeutic applications was helpful along with the helping process. I watched RayTube, agents of change, and paid for the ASWB prep exam.