20 free ASWB Bachelors practice questions

Correct answer: A · Arrange a qualified interpreter before reviewing the consent forms

Valid informed consent requires that the client understand what she is agreeing to. Standard 1.03(b) of the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) says that when clients have difficulty understanding the primary language of the practice setting, social workers take steps to ensure comprehension, which may include arranging for a qualified interpreter or translator whenever possible. A child interpreter may not know the terms, may soften or leave out sensitive information, and is put in an adult role while hearing private details about his mother. Signing first and explaining later reverses the purpose of consent. Reading in English and asking her to nod produces apparent agreement without understanding. Agencies may also have language-access policies to follow.

Look for this next time: Informed consent requires comprehension: arrange a qualified interpreter rather than relying on a child or on a signature alone.

Correct answer: B · Remind them privately not to discuss patients in public areas

Standard 1.07(i) of the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) says social workers should not discuss confidential information in any setting unless privacy can be ensured, and it names elevators among the public or semipublic areas where such talk does not belong. Standard 2.10(c) asks social workers who believe a colleague has acted unethically to discuss the concern with that colleague when feasible and likely to be productive, so a quiet, private reminder is the best response; if the lapses continue, the worker uses agency channels such as the privacy officer. Saying nothing lets the breach go on, and being on the care team does not make an elevator private. Going straight to the licensing board skips the colleague-level step. Joining the conversation adds to the disclosure.

Look for this next time: Never discuss clients where privacy cannot be ensured, and address a colleague's lapse first with a private reminder.

Correct answer: C · Explore his goals with him and in-home supports that lower his fall risk

He has decision-making capacity, so the choice of where to live is his. Standard 1.02 of the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) asks social workers to respect and promote clients' self-determination, limiting it only when their actions pose a serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to themselves or others. Two falls raise a real concern but do not by themselves meet that threshold, so the first step is to explore his goals and options that make staying home safer, such as a medical alert device, a home safety check, or in-home help. Arranging the move overrides his choice. Handing the decision to his daughter ignores his capacity. Threatening to close the case is coercive.

Look for this next time: Respect a capable client's choices and look for supports that reduce risk, rather than overriding the decision.

Correct answer: D · Report the suspected abuse to child protective services

A child's disclosure of being hit with a belt, with a visible injury, gives reasonable grounds to suspect abuse, and reporting laws require a report based on suspicion, not proof. Every U.S. state requires certain people to report suspected child abuse, and the Child Welfare Information Gateway lists social workers among the most commonly named mandated reporters; check the exact rules where you practice. Standard 1.01 of the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) notes that legal duties such as reporting child abuse can supersede the loyalty owed to clients. The worker should tell the child, in age-appropriate words, what will happen next. A promise of secrecy cannot be kept. Contacting the stepfather can endanger her. Waiting leaves her at risk.

Look for this next time: Report a child's disclosure of abuse promptly as the law requires; never promise secrecy or investigate on your own.

Correct answer: A · Decline the request and explain why at the next session

Standard 1.06(h) of the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) says social workers should avoid accepting requests from, or engaging in personal relationships with, clients on social networking sites, to prevent boundary confusion, inappropriate dual relationships, or harm. Standard 1.06(e) adds that they should avoid communicating with clients through technology for personal purposes. Declining and then explaining the boundary in session protects the client and keeps the working relationship intact; it is also a good moment to suggest that the agency adopt a written policy. Accepting, even without commenting, creates a personal connection in a public space. Blocking without explanation may feel like rejection and leaves the boundary undiscussed.

Look for this next time: Decline clients' personal social media requests and explain the boundary openly in session.

Correct answer: B · Decline to bill the canceled visit and document the cancellation

Standard 3.05 of the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) requires billing practices that accurately reflect the nature and extent of services provided and who provided them, and Standard 3.04(a) requires accurate records. A canceled visit is not a service, so billing it, in full or in part, misrepresents what happened and can amount to fraud against a public program. The social worker documents the cancellation accurately and declines to bill, then discusses the instruction with the supervisor and, if it continues, uses the agency's compliance channel. A supervisor's direction does not remove the social worker's own responsibility. Billing first and objecting later still submits a false claim.

Look for this next time: Bill only for services actually provided, and document cancellations accurately, even if a supervisor directs otherwise.

Correct answer: C · Set the assumption aside and let her describe her own beliefs

Standard 1.05(c) of the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) calls for cultural humility: critical self-reflection to understand one's own bias and self-correct, and recognizing clients as experts on their own culture. The worker notices an assumption the client has not raised, sets it aside, and lets the client say what her faith and practices mean to her and what she wants help with. Asking whether her family forces her imposes the worker's assumption and may damage trust. Referring her away because of the worker's bias is unnecessary and treats difference as a problem. Avoiding religion altogether may overlook something that matters to her; the aim is to follow her lead, not to rule the topic out.

Look for this next time: Cultural humility means examining your own assumptions and treating the client as the expert on her culture.

Correct answer: D · Ask him directly whether he is thinking about killing himself

His remark, made after major losses, may be an indirect statement of suicidal intent, so the next step is to ask about it directly and clearly. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's #BeThe1To evidence summary notes that asking at-risk people whether they are suicidal does not increase suicides or suicidal thoughts. If he says yes, the worker goes on to assess plan, intent, access to means, past attempts, and supports, and to plan for safety, following agency protocol. Changing the subject misses a possible warning sign. Reassurance dismisses his distress without assessing risk. A crisis line card is a useful resource but no substitute for asking and assessing now.

Look for this next time: When a client hints at suicide, ask directly; asking does not plant the idea, and it opens the risk assessment.

Correct answer: B · Contemplation

In the transtheoretical (stages of change) model, contemplation is the stage of awareness and ambivalence: the person recognizes the problem and is weighing change but has not committed to act. This client names the harm to his marriage and his wish to cut back, then gives his reason for drinking and says he is not ready, which is classic ambivalence. Precontemplation means not yet seeing a problem or considering change. Preparation means intending to act soon, often with a plan or small steps. Action means actively changing the behavior. OpenStax Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing lists the stages as precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Here, exploring his ambivalence fits better than pushing for action.

Look for this next time: Contemplation is awareness of a problem plus ambivalence, without a commitment to act yet.

Correct answer: C · Thought process

Thought process describes how thoughts are organized and connected: whether they are logical and goal-directed, or tangential, circumstantial, or loosely associated. Drifting from topic to topic without returning to the question is a tangential thought process. OpenStax Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing separates thought process, meaning logic and organization, from thought content, such as delusions, hallucinations, or suicidal or homicidal thoughts. Orientation is awareness of person, place, and time, part of the cognitive assessment. Insight is the client's understanding of her own condition. The social worker's task is to describe the observation accurately in the record rather than to label it with a diagnosis.

Look for this next time: Thought process is how thoughts connect; thought content is what the person is thinking about.

Correct answer: D · Displacement

Displacement redirects feelings from their original source to a safer target; OpenStax Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing defines it as transferring unacceptable feelings to another situation or person. His anger at the supervisor, whom he could not confront at work, comes out at his son. Projection attributes one's own unacceptable feelings to someone else, such as accusing the son of being angry. Reaction formation is acting the opposite of one's real feelings, such as being overly friendly to the supervisor. Sublimation channels an impulse into a socially valued activity, such as a hard workout. Naming the pattern can help the family understand the outbursts and guide work on coping and communication.

Look for this next time: Displacement redirects feelings from their real source to a safer target.

Correct answer: A · Ego integrity rather than despair

Erikson's final stage, late adulthood, is integrity versus despair. OpenStax Psychology 2e explains that people in this stage reflect on their lives and feel either satisfaction or a sense of failure: those who see meaning in their lives develop integrity, while others face despair and regret. Her life review, acceptance of mistakes, and sense of meaning point to integrity. Generativity versus stagnation is the task of middle adulthood, centered on contributing to others and the next generation. Intimacy versus isolation is the young-adult task of forming close relationships. Identity versus role confusion belongs to adolescence. Life review groups like hers can support this developmental work.

Look for this next time: In late adulthood, a life review that brings acceptance and meaning reflects Erikson's ego integrity.

Correct answer: D · The client will submit at least three job applications a week for four weeks

A measurable objective names an observable behavior, an amount, and a time frame, so the client and the worker can both tell whether it was met. Submitting at least three applications a week for four weeks is specific, countable, and time-limited, and it moves directly toward her goal of returning to work. Feeling more confident may be a worthwhile aim, but as written it has no observable measure. Learning more about the job market does not say what she will do or how much. Working on her résumé and interview skills describes an activity without a standard for completion; it could be rewritten with a count and a date, such as a finished résumé by a set day.

Look for this next time: Measurable objectives name an observable behavior, how much or how often, and by when.

Correct answer: A · Document the movements and promptly tell the prescriber or the nurse

Involuntary lip smacking and tongue movements after long-term antipsychotic use are typical of tardive dyskinesia, which OpenStax Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing lists among drug-induced movement disorders and describes as developing over months or years. The social worker's role is to observe, document, and promptly tell the prescriber or nurse so the resident can be evaluated, because management may involve changing the medication or adding a treatment. Advising him to stop the medication is outside the social worker's scope and could lead to relapse. Treating the movements as a habit misses a medical problem. Waiting delays evaluation of a condition that may not resolve on its own.

Look for this next time: New involuntary mouth or tongue movements on an antipsychotic need prompt reporting to the prescriber.

Correct answer: B · "Keeping the kids in school with a ride plan took real skill. How did you do it?"

A strengths-based approach looks for the capacities and resources clients already have and builds on them. This father has kept his children in school every day and organized neighbors to help, which shows planning, persistence, and a support network. Naming those strengths and asking how he did it helps him see his own competence and can point to strategies for other problems, such as the job search. Listing everything that is going wrong keeps the focus on deficits. General reassurance is kind but generic and does not use what he has shown. Suggesting a parenting class implies a parenting deficit that the facts do not support.

Look for this next time: Strengths-based practice names the client's existing skills and resources and builds the plan on them.

Correct answer: C · Assess immediate safety for her and the children, including injuries

In crisis intervention, the first task is to assess immediate danger and safety: whether anyone is injured and needs medical care, whether the partner knows where she is or may follow her, and whether the children are safe. Only after safety is addressed can the worker help her stabilize, explore her options, and plan next steps. A full psychosocial history can wait until the crisis has eased. Planning how to tell her family may matter later, but it is not the first priority an hour after a knife threat. Exploring childhood patterns belongs to longer-term work, not crisis intervention. Throughout, the worker stays calm, supportive, and nonjudgmental.

Look for this next time: In a crisis, assess immediate danger and safety first; history-taking and longer-term planning come later.

Correct answer: A · Help her file an appeal and press the office to correct its error

Advocacy means acting with or on behalf of clients to secure services, resources, or rights they are entitled to, especially when a system has failed them. The denial came from the office's own error, and her limited reading skills make it hard for her to challenge it alone, so helping her file an appeal and pressing for correction is advocacy. Giving her a phone number is a referral, sometimes called brokering, and leaves her to navigate the error alone. Telling her to reapply later delays benefits she may be owed. A literacy program could help in the long run but does nothing about the current denial. Advocacy is done with the client's consent and involvement.

Look for this next time: Advocacy is acting with or for a client to secure services or rights, especially when a system has made an error.

Correct answer: B · Storming

Tuckman's model of group development, as OpenStax Organizational Behavior presents it, moves through forming, storming, norming, and performing, with adjourning added in 1977. Storming is marked by conflict, competition for influence, and challenges to the leader and the task, which matches the arguments over rules, the pushback on the facilitator, and the doubts about the group's value. Forming is the early, polite stage of orientation and dependence on the leader. Norming comes when members settle on rules and roles and cohesion grows. Performing is productive work toward the group's goals. The facilitator can treat this conflict as a normal stage, invite members to shape the rules, and keep the focus on shared goals.

Look for this next time: Conflict, challenges to the leader, and disputes over rules mark the storming stage of group development.

Correct answer: C · Record how often the outbursts occur over a baseline period

In an AB design, phase A is the baseline: the target behavior is measured repeatedly, under the same conditions, before any intervention, and phase B measures it again while the intervention is in place. The baseline shows the level of the behavior before treatment and serves as a control condition for the single client, so comparing the phases shows whether the outbursts changed after the plan began. A teacher's prediction is an opinion, not a measure of the behavior. Comparing the child with other students is a group comparison, not a single-subject design. Starting at once leaves no baseline, so later counts have nothing to be compared with.

Look for this next time: Single-subject evaluation starts with baseline measurement of the target behavior before the intervention begins.

Correct answer: D · Teach him about naloxone and link him to a syringe services program

Harm reduction meets people where they are and aims to reduce the harms of substance use, such as overdose and infection, without requiring abstinence first. OpenStax Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing describes it as meeting the client where they are and helping to prevent overdose and reduce the spread of infectious diseases, and it notes that naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose. Naloxone education and a syringe services program act on his stated wish not to die while keeping him connected to care, where treatment can be offered when he is ready. Requiring abstinence first may push him away from services. A warning about arrest does nothing to lower his overdose risk. Waiting loses a chance to reduce his immediate risk.

Look for this next time: Harm reduction lowers risks such as overdose and infection without requiring abstinence first.