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ASWB Social Work Licensing Exam

Advanced Generalist

122 questions in two sections of 61, four hours, 110 scored. Three content areas, ten competencies, 115 applied knowledge statements.

Practise (50 questions)Sit the Advanced Generalist mock (122 questions)

Independent preparation. ExamDragon is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). The exams' names belong to ASWB and are used only to describe the exams; every question and guide here is our own, written from ASWB's published content outlines.

The 2026 content outline

Every content area, competency and applied knowledge statement as ASWB publishes it. Each statement is the basis for individual exam questions.

I.Values and Ethics

35% of the exam · about 39 of 110 scored questions

  1. IA

    Ethical Principles and Responsibilities

    • Legal and ethical issues related to the practice of social work, including responsibility to clients/client systems, colleagues, the profession, and society
    • Professional values and principles (e.g., competence, social justice, integrity, dignity and worth of the person)
    • Legal and ethical issues regarding confidentiality, including limitations of confidentiality (e.g., HIPAA, PHI, privacy)
    • Principles and processes of obtaining informed consent
    • Identifying and resolving ethical dilemmas
    • Burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion fatigue
    • Social worker self-care principles
    • Importance of professional development activities to improve practice and maintain current professional knowledge (e.g., in-service training, licensing requirements, reviews of literature, workshops, on-going supervision, consultation)

    8 statements · about 11 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

  2. IB

    Ethical Service Delivery

    • Protecting and enhancing client/client system self-determination (e.g., medication, medical treatment, counseling, placement, right to refuse services)
    • Professional boundaries in the social worker-client/client system relationship (e.g., power differences, influence, privilege, conflicts of interest, self-disclosure, dual relationships)
    • Legal and ethical issues regarding documentation (e.g., maintaining client records)
    • Legal and ethical issues regarding mandatory reporting (e.g., abuse, threat of harm, impaired professionals, duty to warn)
    • Impact of governmental policies on service delivery (e.g., local, state, federal legislation and policy)
    • Legal and ethical issues related to death and dying
    • Responsible billing practices (e.g., managed care, insurance reimbursement, incident to billing)
    • Ethical issues in supervision and management
    • Ethical issues related to electronic practice
    • Research ethics (e.g., institutional review boards, use of human subjects, informed consent)
    • Legal and ethical issues regarding termination

    11 statements · about 15 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

  3. IC

    Diversity and Social Justice

    • Anti-oppressive and anti-racist approaches
    • Accessibility including language, physical, and cultural access (e.g., translation and interpretation, neurodiversity, American Sign Language)
    • Social, racial, environmental, and economic justice principles
    • Impact of culture, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and intersectionality on behaviors, attitudes, and identity formation
    • Privilege and bias and their impact on client/client systems (e.g., implicit bias, microaggressions)
    • Cultural impacts of exploitation across marginalized communities (e.g., financial, immigration status, trafficking, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women)
    • Power differential and racial privilege (e.g., internalized racial and ethnic inferiority and superiority)
    • Social justice, truth and reconciliation, and restorative practices related to clients/client systems from historically oppressed and marginalized communities
    • Impact of globalization, immigration, and refugee or immigration status on clients/client systems and service delivery

    9 statements · about 13 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

II.Assessment and Planning

33% of the exam · about 36 of 110 scored questions

  1. IIA

    Assessment Concepts

    • Indicators and impact of trauma, stressors, violence, and crises on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities (e.g., intergenerational, historical, and complex)
    • Family dynamics and functioning and the effects on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
    • Dynamics of interpersonal relationships and relationship development (e.g., family, couples, groups, polyamory)
    • Impact of poverty on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities (e.g., social determinants of health)
    • Indicators of mental and emotional illness throughout the lifespan
    • Biopsychosocial assessment model and related components and factors
    • Indicators, dynamics, and impact of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and neglect on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
    • Co-occurring disorders and conditions
    • Characteristics of perpetrators of abuse, neglect, and exploitation
    • Impact of caregiving on families
    • Effects of physical and mental ability throughout the lifespan
    • Impact of out-of-home placement (e.g., hospitalization, foster care, residential care, criminal justice system) on clients/client systems
    • Indicators, dynamics, and impact of exploitation across the lifespan (e.g., financial, immigration status, trafficking)
    • Impact of aging on the individual and family systems
    • Racial, ethnic, cultural, and spiritual/faith development throughout the lifespan
    • Indicators and impact of addiction and substance use and abuse on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
    • Factors influencing self- and body-image (e.g., culture, race, religion/spirituality, age, ability, trauma, gender, sexuality, size)
    • Typical and atypical physical, cognitive, emotional, and sexual development throughout the lifespan
    • Factors of out-of-home displacement (e.g., homelessness, immigration, and refugee status) on clients/client systems
    • Defense mechanisms and their effects on behavior and relationships
    • The influence and impact of technology, including social media, on client/client-systems (personal and professional)
    • Impact of urbanization, globalization, environmental hazards, and climate change on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
    • Client/client system competence, self-determination, and self-monitoring techniques (e.g., financial decisions, treatment decisions, emancipation, age of consent, permanency planning)

    23 statements · about 21 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

  2. IIB

    Assessment Methods and Techniques

    • Methods, techniques, and instruments for assessing client/client system strengths, resources, needs, and challenges
    • Methods of involving clients/client systems in problem identification, problem solving, and intervention planning
    • Methods of assessing risk of harm to self and others
    • Principles and techniques of interviewing (e.g., supporting, clarifying, confronting, validating, feedback, reflecting, language differences, use of interpreters)
    • Methods for assessing resilience and coping abilities
    • Methods for obtaining sensitive and/or confidential information (e.g., substance use, sexual abuse)
    • Indicators of and methods of assessing motivation, barriers, and readiness for change
    • Methods of assessing clients’/client systems’ communication skills
    • Components and function of the mental status examination
    • Methods of incorporating information from records and evaluations (e.g., employment, medical, psychological, school)

    10 statements · about 9 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

  3. IIC

    Assessment Practices

    • Assessing the availability of and determining appropriate community resources
    • Factors and processes used in goal planning, treatment planning, triage, and service plans
    • Criteria used in the selection of intervention/treatment modalities (e.g., client/client system abilities, developmental level, culture, life stage)
    • Cultural considerations in the creation of an intervention plan
    • Use and side effects of common prescription, over-the-counter, and alternative medications
    • Indicators of client/client system readiness for termination

    6 statements · about 6 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

III.Intervention and Practice

32% of the exam · about 35 of 110 scored questions

  1. IIIA

    Practice Concepts

    • Strengths-based and empowerment strategies and interventions
    • Interdisciplinary and intra-disciplinary team collaboration (e.g., co-therapy, care conference, IEP)
    • The social worker’s role in the problem-solving process
    • Principles and techniques for building and maintaining a helping relationship (e.g., acceptance, empathy, rapport)
    • End of life practice (e.g., continuity of care, hospice, palliative care, stages of death and dying)
    • Developing formal documents (e.g., grants, proposals, reports, evaluations)
    • Policies, procedures, regulations, and legislation and their impact on social work practice and service delivery
    • Permanency planning (e.g., child welfare)
    • Community organizing, development, and mobilizing community participation

    9 statements · about 7 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

  2. IIIB

    Intervention Methods and Techniques

    • Verbal and nonverbal communication (e.g., body language, congruence, feedback)
    • Limit and boundary setting techniques
    • Emotional regulation techniques
    • Case management techniques (e.g., case recording, documentation, case presentation)
    • Methods of teaching coping and other self-care skills to clients
    • Evidence-based practices (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness based stress reduction, motivational interviewing, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing)
    • Crisis intervention and treatment approaches
    • Stress management techniques
    • Methods and approaches for providing trauma-informed care for various types of trauma (e.g., complex, vicarious)
    • Contracting and goal-setting techniques (e.g., partializing, measurable objectives)
    • Methods for engaging and motivating voluntary and involuntary clients/client systems
    • Approaches to and methods of advocacy for needed services and resources
    • Principles of active listening and observation
    • Problem-solving models and approaches
    • Practice with clients experiencing loss, separation, and grief
    • Harm reduction techniques
    • Conflict resolution methods
    • Establishing service networks or community resources
    • Discharge, aftercare, wrap-around services, and follow-up
    • Anger management techniques
    • Psychoeducation methods
    • Group work techniques and approaches (e.g., developing and managing group processes and cohesion)
    • Family therapy models, interventions, and approaches
    • Techniques and methods for addiction intervention

    24 statements · about 17 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

  3. IIIC

    Practice Evaluation and Research

    • Techniques for evaluating progress and effectiveness of intervention, treatment, and service plans
    • Methods, techniques, and instruments used to evaluate social work practice
    • Quality assurance (e.g., program reviews and audits by external sources)
    • Methods of establishing program objectives and outcomes
    • Program evaluation and related impact on services
    • Methods of evaluating agency programs (e.g., needs assessment, formative/summative assessment, cost- effectiveness, cost-benefit analysis, outcomes assessment)
    • Basic and applied research design and methods, data collection and analysis methods, and methods to assess reliability and validity in social work research (e.g., objective, subjective, qualitative, quantitative)

    7 statements · about 5 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

  4. IIID

    Supervision and Administration

    • Leadership and management techniques
    • Methods for creating, implementing, and evaluating policies and procedures for safe, inclusive, and a healthy work environment
    • Methods for creating, implementing, and evaluating policies and procedures that minimize risk for individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
    • Transference and countertransference within supervisory relationships
    • Supervisee’s role in supervision (e.g., identifying learning needs, self-assessment, prioritizing)
    • Supervision and consultation models and techniques (e.g., individual, peer, group, case recording)
    • Organizational development, structure, and functioning (e.g., policies, procedures)
    • Employee recruitment, training, retention, performance appraisal, evaluation, and discipline

    8 statements · about 6 mock questions · 5 practice questionsStudy guide

Source: ASWB Examination Guidebook, August 2026; French: Analyse de la pratique du travail social 2024. The content area percentages are ASWB's; how our mock spreads questions across competencies is ours, in proportion to each competency's statements.

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