AXIS CERTIFICATION EXAM SCHOOL
PSYCHOLOGY 200 NGN STYLE PRACTICE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH
RATIONALES A+ VERIFIED STUDY
GUIDE 2026/2027
1. A school psychologist is conducting a comprehensive evaluation for a
3rd-grade student referred for reading difficulties; the student scores in
the low average range on cognitive assessments, below average on
phonological processing, and significantly below grade level on
curriculum-based measures in reading fluency and comprehension;
which framework should guide the psychologist's eligibility
determination for specific learning disability (SLD)?
A) Discrepancy model comparing IQ to achievement scores only
B) Patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSW) model integrating
cognitive, academic, and instructional response data
C) Response to intervention (RTI) data alone without cognitive
assessment
D) Clinical judgment based on teacher observation and parent report
The Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) model is widely
accepted for SLD identification and aligns with IDEA requirements to
assess multiple domains. It integrates cognitive processing data (e.g.,
phonological awareness), academic achievement, and instructional
history to determine if a specific cognitive deficit underlies academic
weakness. The discrepancy model is outdated and not required by IDEA.
RTI data are essential but insufficient alone for comprehensive
evaluation. Clinical judgment must be data-based, not solely
observational.
2. A school psychologist receives a referral for a 7th-grade student
exhibiting increased anxiety, social withdrawal, and declining grades
following a family divorce; the psychologist plans to provide short-term
,counseling services; which ethical principle from the NASP Principles for
Professional Ethics should guide the psychologist's decision to provide
direct services versus referral to community mental health?
A) Autonomy: respecting the student's right to self-determination
B) Beneficence and Nonmaleficence: acting in the student's best interest
while avoiding harm
C) Justice: ensuring equitable access to services for all students
D) Fidelity: maintaining trust and professional relationships
Beneficence (promoting well-being) and nonmaleficence (avoiding
harm) require the psychologist to assess whether school-based
counseling is sufficient or if the student's needs exceed the school
setting's scope. Factors include severity of symptoms, risk assessment,
family support, and availability of community resources. While
autonomy, justice, and fidelity are important, the primary ethical duty is
to ensure the student receives appropriate, effective intervention without
delay or harm.
3. A school psychologist is designing a universal screening protocol for
social-emotional learning (SEL) across a K-8 school; which psychometric
property is MOST critical to ensure the screener accurately identifies
students at risk for internalizing or externalizing concerns?
A) Test-retest reliability over a 6-month interval
B) Sensitivity and specificity to minimize false positives and false
negatives
C) Content validity based on expert review of SEL competencies
D) Alternate-form reliability for repeated administration
Sensitivity (correctly identifying at-risk students) and specificity
(correctly ruling out low-risk students) are essential for universal
screeners to ensure efficient resource allocation and avoid unnecessary
interventions. High false positives waste resources and stigmatize
students; high false negatives miss students needing support. Reliability
and validity are important but secondary to classification accuracy in
screening contexts.
4. A school psychologist is consulted regarding a student with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) who exhibits elopement behavior during
unstructured times; the team requests a functional behavioral
,assessment (FBA); which data collection method is MOST appropriate
for identifying the antecedents and consequences maintaining
elopement?
A) Standardized rating scales completed by teachers and parents
B) Direct observation using ABC (Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence)
recording across multiple settings
C) Curriculum-based measurement of academic engagement during
structured tasks
D) Projective assessment techniques to explore unconscious motivations
FBA requires direct, systematic observation to identify environmental
variables maintaining problem behavior. ABC recording captures
immediate antecedents and consequences across contexts, enabling
hypothesis development about behavioral function (e.g., escape,
attention, access to tangibles). Rating scales provide supplementary data
but lack contextual specificity. Curriculum-based measures assess
academics, not behavior function. Projective techniques lack empirical
support for behavioral assessment.
5. A school psychologist is collaborating with a classroom teacher to
implement a Tier 2 intervention for a student with math fact fluency
deficits; the intervention includes daily timed practice with immediate
feedback; which progress monitoring approach BEST evaluates
intervention effectiveness?
A) Administering a standardized math achievement test at pre- and post-
intervention
B) Using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes weekly to track
rate of improvement and compare to benchmark goals
C) Collecting teacher anecdotal notes on student confidence and
participation
D) Conducting a functional assessment of math avoidance behaviors
Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) provides frequent, sensitive,
curriculum-embedded data to evaluate response to intervention. Weekly
probes allow calculation of slope (rate of improvement) and comparison
to aim lines or peer benchmarks, enabling data-based decisions about
continuing, modifying, or intensifying intervention. Standardized tests
lack sensitivity to short-term growth. Anecdotal notes are subjective.
, Functional assessment addresses behavior, not academic skill
acquisition.
6. A school psychologist is reviewing evaluation data for a bilingual
student referred for potential special education; the student is dominant
in Spanish but receives instruction in English; which assessment practice
aligns with best practices for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)
learners?
A) Administer all assessments in English to ensure consistency with
classroom instruction
B) Use a combination of nonverbal cognitive measures, native language
assessment when possible, and dynamic assessment to differentiate
language difference from disability
C) Rely on teacher and parent rating scales completed in English to
determine eligibility
D) Defer evaluation until the student achieves English proficiency to
avoid misidentification
Best practices for CLD assessment include nonverbal measures to reduce
language bias, native language assessment (via interpreter or bilingual
examiner) when feasible, and dynamic assessment (test-teach-retest) to
evaluate learning potential. Assessing only in English risks conflating
language acquisition with cognitive or academic deficits. Rating scales in
English may reflect language proficiency, not disability. Delaying
evaluation denies needed services and violates Child Find obligations.
7. A school psychologist is providing crisis intervention following a
student suicide in a high school; which action should be prioritized in the
immediate postvention phase?
A) Conduct individual grief counseling for all students in the deceased
student's classes
B) Coordinate with administration to provide accurate information,
identify at-risk students, and implement a structured support plan
C) Facilitate a school-wide assembly to memorialize the student and
promote healing
D) Refer all grieving students to community mental health providers for
long-term therapy
PSYCHOLOGY 200 NGN STYLE PRACTICE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH
RATIONALES A+ VERIFIED STUDY
GUIDE 2026/2027
1. A school psychologist is conducting a comprehensive evaluation for a
3rd-grade student referred for reading difficulties; the student scores in
the low average range on cognitive assessments, below average on
phonological processing, and significantly below grade level on
curriculum-based measures in reading fluency and comprehension;
which framework should guide the psychologist's eligibility
determination for specific learning disability (SLD)?
A) Discrepancy model comparing IQ to achievement scores only
B) Patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSW) model integrating
cognitive, academic, and instructional response data
C) Response to intervention (RTI) data alone without cognitive
assessment
D) Clinical judgment based on teacher observation and parent report
The Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) model is widely
accepted for SLD identification and aligns with IDEA requirements to
assess multiple domains. It integrates cognitive processing data (e.g.,
phonological awareness), academic achievement, and instructional
history to determine if a specific cognitive deficit underlies academic
weakness. The discrepancy model is outdated and not required by IDEA.
RTI data are essential but insufficient alone for comprehensive
evaluation. Clinical judgment must be data-based, not solely
observational.
2. A school psychologist receives a referral for a 7th-grade student
exhibiting increased anxiety, social withdrawal, and declining grades
following a family divorce; the psychologist plans to provide short-term
,counseling services; which ethical principle from the NASP Principles for
Professional Ethics should guide the psychologist's decision to provide
direct services versus referral to community mental health?
A) Autonomy: respecting the student's right to self-determination
B) Beneficence and Nonmaleficence: acting in the student's best interest
while avoiding harm
C) Justice: ensuring equitable access to services for all students
D) Fidelity: maintaining trust and professional relationships
Beneficence (promoting well-being) and nonmaleficence (avoiding
harm) require the psychologist to assess whether school-based
counseling is sufficient or if the student's needs exceed the school
setting's scope. Factors include severity of symptoms, risk assessment,
family support, and availability of community resources. While
autonomy, justice, and fidelity are important, the primary ethical duty is
to ensure the student receives appropriate, effective intervention without
delay or harm.
3. A school psychologist is designing a universal screening protocol for
social-emotional learning (SEL) across a K-8 school; which psychometric
property is MOST critical to ensure the screener accurately identifies
students at risk for internalizing or externalizing concerns?
A) Test-retest reliability over a 6-month interval
B) Sensitivity and specificity to minimize false positives and false
negatives
C) Content validity based on expert review of SEL competencies
D) Alternate-form reliability for repeated administration
Sensitivity (correctly identifying at-risk students) and specificity
(correctly ruling out low-risk students) are essential for universal
screeners to ensure efficient resource allocation and avoid unnecessary
interventions. High false positives waste resources and stigmatize
students; high false negatives miss students needing support. Reliability
and validity are important but secondary to classification accuracy in
screening contexts.
4. A school psychologist is consulted regarding a student with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) who exhibits elopement behavior during
unstructured times; the team requests a functional behavioral
,assessment (FBA); which data collection method is MOST appropriate
for identifying the antecedents and consequences maintaining
elopement?
A) Standardized rating scales completed by teachers and parents
B) Direct observation using ABC (Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence)
recording across multiple settings
C) Curriculum-based measurement of academic engagement during
structured tasks
D) Projective assessment techniques to explore unconscious motivations
FBA requires direct, systematic observation to identify environmental
variables maintaining problem behavior. ABC recording captures
immediate antecedents and consequences across contexts, enabling
hypothesis development about behavioral function (e.g., escape,
attention, access to tangibles). Rating scales provide supplementary data
but lack contextual specificity. Curriculum-based measures assess
academics, not behavior function. Projective techniques lack empirical
support for behavioral assessment.
5. A school psychologist is collaborating with a classroom teacher to
implement a Tier 2 intervention for a student with math fact fluency
deficits; the intervention includes daily timed practice with immediate
feedback; which progress monitoring approach BEST evaluates
intervention effectiveness?
A) Administering a standardized math achievement test at pre- and post-
intervention
B) Using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes weekly to track
rate of improvement and compare to benchmark goals
C) Collecting teacher anecdotal notes on student confidence and
participation
D) Conducting a functional assessment of math avoidance behaviors
Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) provides frequent, sensitive,
curriculum-embedded data to evaluate response to intervention. Weekly
probes allow calculation of slope (rate of improvement) and comparison
to aim lines or peer benchmarks, enabling data-based decisions about
continuing, modifying, or intensifying intervention. Standardized tests
lack sensitivity to short-term growth. Anecdotal notes are subjective.
, Functional assessment addresses behavior, not academic skill
acquisition.
6. A school psychologist is reviewing evaluation data for a bilingual
student referred for potential special education; the student is dominant
in Spanish but receives instruction in English; which assessment practice
aligns with best practices for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)
learners?
A) Administer all assessments in English to ensure consistency with
classroom instruction
B) Use a combination of nonverbal cognitive measures, native language
assessment when possible, and dynamic assessment to differentiate
language difference from disability
C) Rely on teacher and parent rating scales completed in English to
determine eligibility
D) Defer evaluation until the student achieves English proficiency to
avoid misidentification
Best practices for CLD assessment include nonverbal measures to reduce
language bias, native language assessment (via interpreter or bilingual
examiner) when feasible, and dynamic assessment (test-teach-retest) to
evaluate learning potential. Assessing only in English risks conflating
language acquisition with cognitive or academic deficits. Rating scales in
English may reflect language proficiency, not disability. Delaying
evaluation denies needed services and violates Child Find obligations.
7. A school psychologist is providing crisis intervention following a
student suicide in a high school; which action should be prioritized in the
immediate postvention phase?
A) Conduct individual grief counseling for all students in the deceased
student's classes
B) Coordinate with administration to provide accurate information,
identify at-risk students, and implement a structured support plan
C) Facilitate a school-wide assembly to memorialize the student and
promote healing
D) Refer all grieving students to community mental health providers for
long-term therapy
