Social Work
Announcing a New Workshop Experience
Academic Review and AATBS have partnered together to offer live online workshops hosted by exam expert instructors. Learn More
Is AR Right for Me?
Academic Review is different from most exam prep programs. While other programs have a much more hands-on approach geared to teaching the content and the exam as a whole; Academic Review utilizes a “Teach by Testing” method. This method allows you to evaluate your knowledge and progress through the use of practice questions and exams. Taking these results, the program then directs you to specific areas of content learning that is tailored to your strengths and weaknesses.
While our program is highly successful, we understand that this style of learning may not be for every candidate.
Academic Review is best for candidates who identify with one or more of the following:
Understanding the ASWB Exam
The ASWB offers four different levels of examination: Bachelor’s, Master’s, Advanced Generalist, and Clinical. The bachelor’s exam is designed for entry-level social workers with a BSW degree. The master’s exam is designed for entry-level social workers with a MSW degree who have less than 2 years of practice experience. The advanced generalist and clinical exams are designed for entry-level social workers with an MSW degree and at least 2 years of post-degree experience. Each state offers one, two, three, or all four levels. You should check with your state board to determine which levels are offered in your state and which level is most appropriate for you. Academic Review currently offers two online study programs: The Master’s Level Exam Program and the Clinical Level Exam Program.
All levels of the exam have 170 multiple-choice questions. However, only 150 of them count toward your score. The remaining 20 questions are pretest items, which are evaluated for possible inclusion in future exams. Since you won't know which are the pretest items and which are scoreable, you should approach every question as if it counts. The number of questions needed to pass varies with each administration of the exam due to slight differences in the difficulty of the test items. However, the scaled passing score, which is 70 or 75, depending on your state, remains constant. The scaled score does not, however, directly indicate how many questions are needed to pass the exam.
The ASWB identifies four (4) critical Knowledge, Skills and Abilities statements (KSAs) and centers their examination questions around these areas. The KSAs and examination weight for each are the following:
- Clinical Level Exam
- Human Development, Diversity and Behavior – 24%
- Assessment, Diagnosis, And Treatment Planning – 30%
- Psychotherapy, Clinical Interventions, And Case Management – 27%
- Professional Values and Ethics – 19%
- Masters Level Exam
- Human Development, Diversity and Behavior – 27%
- Assessment And Intervention Planning – 24%
- Interventions With Clients/Client Systems – 24%
- Professional Relationships, Values, And Ethics – 25%
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