MSW EXAM 2025 QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
A.E.A.I.C.R - ANS Acknowledge/Normalize/Validate, explore, assess, identify, clarify, refer
E.A.F.I - ANS Educate, Advocate, Facilitate, Intervene
Group Work - ANS when working within a group, always "bring it back" to the group to
address unless it involves mandatory reporting or a danger to self or others
3 Exceptions for not bringing it back to the group - ANS mandatory reporting (imminent
danger to self or others), illegal activity
Cultural Aspects - ANS Always remember to recognize race, ethnicity, and culture and how it
can affect behavior
Principal Diagnosis - ANS Primary or lead diagnoses or reason for admission (can change, one
principal diagnoses at a time but can have other diagnosees)
Provisional Diagnosis - ANS Diagnoses placed with inadequate information or inadequate
time frame (monitor)
Diagnoses Deferred - ANS Similar to the term rule-out, information is inadequate to make a
formal diagnostic judgement. Term can be used to replace the term rule-out
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,Cultural Concepts of Distress (replaced cultural bound syndromes) - ANS These conditions
resemble the symptoms of a mental disorder but can be directly related to the cultural
environment
Race, Racial identity, ethnic identity, or cultural identity - ANS In counseling these factors are
never ignored and are the responsibility of the social worker to recognize and be culturally
sensitive
Cross-racial and Cross-cultural - ANS People of different races that share the same
environment must learn to take into account the cultural beliefs and mores of all groups. Also,
it is important to recognize the affect these differences can have on the social worker-client
relationship
Hysteria - ANS An older term with current usage being limited. It is equated to the DSM in
terms of the unconscious disorders where the individual is unaware and separates from reality
in some way. Examples would be mental health disorders such as somatoform disorders where
the client is unaware and completely denies having the disorder (e.g. conversion reaction or
conversion disorder, as well as, some dissociative reactions and subsequent disorders)
Trauma - ANS A type of physical or mental (the psyche) injury that can be present in stress-
related disorders such as PTSD, feelings include numbness, withdrawal, anxiety, and fear
Defense Mechanisms - ANS Used to control anxiety and can influence an individual's reaction
to emotional conflicts as well as responses displayed towards internal and external stressors
found in daily living.
Acting out - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by actions
rather than reflections or feelings (i.e. an angry adolescent runs away from home rather than
talking to his parents about his anger).
Defensive Acting Out - ANS Not generally considered synonymous with "bad behavior" but
requires evidence that the behavior is related to emotional conflicts (i.e. an older child is acting-
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, out sexually to show power and control over other younger children, behavior is related to
current or past sexual abuse)
Sublimation - ANS The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external
stressors by channeling potentially maladaptive feelings or impulses into socially acceptable
behavior (e.g. contact sports to channel angry impulses, football player)
Displacement - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
transferring a feeling about, or a response to, one object onto another (usually less threatening)
substitute object (e.g. cartoon girl with long hair mom and dad get into fight, mom brushes
daugthers hair and it hurts, mother is putting anger into a safer substitute object)
Passive Aggression - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
indirectly and unassertively expressing aggression toward others with a facade of overt
compliance making covert resistance, resentment, or hostility
Intellectualization - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
the excessive use of abstract thinking or making of generalizations to control or minimize
disturbing feelings (jargon/doctor can't tell parents that their child has cancer)
Idealization - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
attributing exaggerated positive qualities to others
Denial - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by refusing to
acknowledge some painful aspect of external reality or subjective experience that would be
apparent to others. The term psychotic denial is used when there is gross impairment in reality
testing
Rationalization - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
concealing the true motivations for his/her own thoughts, actions, or feelings through the
elaboration of reassuring or self-serving but incorrect explanations (sexual abuse)
COPYRIGHT © 2025 THESTAR ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
ANSWERS
A.E.A.I.C.R - ANS Acknowledge/Normalize/Validate, explore, assess, identify, clarify, refer
E.A.F.I - ANS Educate, Advocate, Facilitate, Intervene
Group Work - ANS when working within a group, always "bring it back" to the group to
address unless it involves mandatory reporting or a danger to self or others
3 Exceptions for not bringing it back to the group - ANS mandatory reporting (imminent
danger to self or others), illegal activity
Cultural Aspects - ANS Always remember to recognize race, ethnicity, and culture and how it
can affect behavior
Principal Diagnosis - ANS Primary or lead diagnoses or reason for admission (can change, one
principal diagnoses at a time but can have other diagnosees)
Provisional Diagnosis - ANS Diagnoses placed with inadequate information or inadequate
time frame (monitor)
Diagnoses Deferred - ANS Similar to the term rule-out, information is inadequate to make a
formal diagnostic judgement. Term can be used to replace the term rule-out
COPYRIGHT © 2025 THESTAR ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,Cultural Concepts of Distress (replaced cultural bound syndromes) - ANS These conditions
resemble the symptoms of a mental disorder but can be directly related to the cultural
environment
Race, Racial identity, ethnic identity, or cultural identity - ANS In counseling these factors are
never ignored and are the responsibility of the social worker to recognize and be culturally
sensitive
Cross-racial and Cross-cultural - ANS People of different races that share the same
environment must learn to take into account the cultural beliefs and mores of all groups. Also,
it is important to recognize the affect these differences can have on the social worker-client
relationship
Hysteria - ANS An older term with current usage being limited. It is equated to the DSM in
terms of the unconscious disorders where the individual is unaware and separates from reality
in some way. Examples would be mental health disorders such as somatoform disorders where
the client is unaware and completely denies having the disorder (e.g. conversion reaction or
conversion disorder, as well as, some dissociative reactions and subsequent disorders)
Trauma - ANS A type of physical or mental (the psyche) injury that can be present in stress-
related disorders such as PTSD, feelings include numbness, withdrawal, anxiety, and fear
Defense Mechanisms - ANS Used to control anxiety and can influence an individual's reaction
to emotional conflicts as well as responses displayed towards internal and external stressors
found in daily living.
Acting out - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by actions
rather than reflections or feelings (i.e. an angry adolescent runs away from home rather than
talking to his parents about his anger).
Defensive Acting Out - ANS Not generally considered synonymous with "bad behavior" but
requires evidence that the behavior is related to emotional conflicts (i.e. an older child is acting-
COPYRIGHT © 2025 THESTAR ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
, out sexually to show power and control over other younger children, behavior is related to
current or past sexual abuse)
Sublimation - ANS The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external
stressors by channeling potentially maladaptive feelings or impulses into socially acceptable
behavior (e.g. contact sports to channel angry impulses, football player)
Displacement - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
transferring a feeling about, or a response to, one object onto another (usually less threatening)
substitute object (e.g. cartoon girl with long hair mom and dad get into fight, mom brushes
daugthers hair and it hurts, mother is putting anger into a safer substitute object)
Passive Aggression - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
indirectly and unassertively expressing aggression toward others with a facade of overt
compliance making covert resistance, resentment, or hostility
Intellectualization - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
the excessive use of abstract thinking or making of generalizations to control or minimize
disturbing feelings (jargon/doctor can't tell parents that their child has cancer)
Idealization - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
attributing exaggerated positive qualities to others
Denial - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by refusing to
acknowledge some painful aspect of external reality or subjective experience that would be
apparent to others. The term psychotic denial is used when there is gross impairment in reality
testing
Rationalization - ANS Dealing with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by
concealing the true motivations for his/her own thoughts, actions, or feelings through the
elaboration of reassuring or self-serving but incorrect explanations (sexual abuse)
COPYRIGHT © 2025 THESTAR ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
