Are You Worried About Passing the National Counselor's Exam for Licensure?
You have come a long way. You completed a master’s degree in counseling; clinical skills are growing stronger and now it’s time to become licensed. There are application forms to complete; supervised hours to acquire; and looming before you is THE TEST!
Are you wondering how you will ever pass the National Counselor’s Exam (NCE)?
*Confused because you don’t know where to begin to prepare?
*Overwhelmed because there is SO much to review?
*Judging yourself as too slow to succeed?
*Terrified because you know you freeze when you take tests?
*Nervous that you will procrastinate and end up taking the test feeling unprepared?
*Losing motivation to study because you are trying to do it on your own?
*Lacking confidence in how to take a test because it has been so long since you were in school?
*Worried that you will fail the exam, again?
Personalized Tutoring to Ensure Your Success
Passing the NCE comes when you are well prepared and confident. Custom designed tutoring that is done nationally by phone to meet your individual needs can help you reduce the stress of studying and help you to feel very well prepared to successfully pass the exam.
Studying for and taking the exam does not have to be a monster to battle!
Find out how tutoring can….
- Point you to good study materials
- Organize the information for you in ways that are readily accessible
- Lead you step by step through the material that needs to be mastered
- Simplify research and statistics
- Show you ways to memorize large volumes of information
- Keep you accountable to staying on track with studying
- Give you tips on how to approach multiple choice questions
- Identify ways you can take care of yourself during the 4-hour exam
- Help your self-confidence to return. After all, you did make it through graduate school!
You Are Not the Only One
Tackling the difficult National Counselor’s Exam can stop the newly graduated and even the seasoned therapists in their tracks. The exam is long and comprehensive, covering eight major areas. It is not uncommon to feel burdened by the immensity of the task of preparing for the exam. There are many study guides, videos and audiotapes from which to choose, but without a tutor to answer your questions and clarify complex ideas, the information can lead to overwhelm.
Counseling programs can vary widely in how they prepare students to be counselors. Facing a national exam can be daunting and taking a multiple choice question test can be very challenging, especially if your master’s program emphasized other forms of test taking. And no matter how skilled you are clinically, the old fear that “I simply freeze when I take a test” can cause all that you studied to simply vanish. Unless you have talked with someone who knows about what to expect on the exam, you may feel quite unprepared.
Tutoring: The Details
Tutoring can alleviate many of these concerns. This can happen in private or group settings. If you wish to study in a group, I ask that you form your own group. Peers from work or classmates may also be motivated to become licensed and to take the exam.
Because more than 30 states use the National Counselor’s Exam as a prerequisite for licensure, I offer tutoring by telephone to those living anywhere in the country as well as face-to-face tutoring. You can chose to study all eight sections of the test or just specific sections based on your experience or confidence of the mastery of the material.
Handouts include lists of keywords; important concepts and people for each section; test-taking tips and sample questions with explanations of the correct answers. Handouts will be provided by email to those participating by telephone or given in-person to those who live in the greater Denver Colorado area.
But wait…..
It costs to take the exam and costs to buy the study material. I’m not sure that I want to put more money out for a tutor.
Taking the test is a big commitment of time and energy and you want to pass it the first time. A tutor can help you find the most effective study materials; tell you what is essential for you to learn; and give you the emotional support to keep you on track with your studying and to manage the process of taking the test. Doing all these things by yourself may not lead to a successful outcome you want despite all your efforts.
When I think about getting a tutor, I feel embarrassed. I have always done schoolwork on my own.
Taking an exam designed for a national audience can be different than preparing for school exams. You don’t have the advantage of talking to other students or teachers who can give you tips about the test. Students who have taken the exam may not be easily accessible to you now.
In addition, tackling a comprehensive test that covers materials from all the years of graduate school is different than taking an exam in just one subject area. If you have been out of school for a while, the ability to focus to absorb large quantities of information may have faded. Working with a tutor can clarify what is important to know and help to brush off the memory cobwebs.
What Have Others Experienced?
I recently tutored Randy, not her real name, after she had been out of school for quite a few years. She was very nervous about taking the exam and felt overwhelmed by all that she had to learn. Some of the material looked foreign to her because her graduate program had just glossed over many of the counseling theorists. Research and statistics had been a nightmare for her when she was in college and her head just swam when she thought about trying to comprehend standard deviations and t-tests.
Randy found, to her surprise, that she could relax around the studying. Following a flow-chart that organized the theorists and lists of important clinical concepts, she found she could more readily memorize who did what than when she was reading run-on paragraphs. The research and statistics sections became more manageable when she had a chance to ask questions about confusing concepts; to review a chart of how to determine which statistical test to use; and to test her understanding with sample questions.
Why Maggie Kerrigan, MA Licensed Professional Counselor?
I love to teach. I am good at simplifying complex ideas, helping others to remember large quantities of information, and making the process fun! I trust that my students can and will pass the exam.
Having successfully passed, on the first try, three national exams, I know how stressful the studying and examination can be. I make both as pain free as possible. As of June 1, 2011 a high percentage of the students, whom I have tutored for all 8 sections of the NCE, have passed the exam.
Next Step?
Check out this web site. If you like what you find here, and you want to test your knowledge of NCE material, subscribe to my FREE newsletter by completing the box at the top of the page in the right side bar. Regularly, I will send out a question and then follow up with the answer and an explanation of the why one is correct in the next newsletter If you are considering hiring a tutor, I offer a 30-minute complimentary initial consultation to answer questions and to set up a tutoring plan that meets your needs.
Remember: Subscribe to my newsletter to get a taste of the NCE questions.
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~Maggie