National Counseling Exam
National Counseling Exam Study Questions and
Answers 2025
A behavioral counselor is working with a client who complains of anxiety. Together the
counselor and the client examine both the antecedents and consequences of the
behavior (anxiety). Understanding the nature of operant conditioning, the counselor and
the client decide to eliminate the unwanted behavior through extinction by
A. aversive counterconditioning
B. implosion or flooding
C. punishment
D. thought stopping -Correct Answer ✔B. implosion or flooding
A counselor is developing a genogram during the second session in family counseling.
As the clients talk of their family backgrounds, the counselor realizes that the wife in
counseling is actually her second or third cousin of which the woman is unaware. The
counselor decides -Correct Answer ✔to tell the woman they are relatives and refer the
family after explaining her ethical position.
Maria, a 25-year-old Latina woman, is in career counseling. In reviewing her
background, the counselor determines that she has followed the 'rules' and
expectations of her close-knit family. She now finds herself in a position needing to
support her family on her own and can't decide between three different occupational
possibilities which she has heard about. Maria may be characterized as
A. career inefficacious
B. career undecided
C. needing more schooling
D. career indecisive -Correct Answer ✔B. career undecided.
Client: "I wrote some more in my journal yesterday. I wrote about the strong urge to eat
after I visited my mother. I almost went to the store for junk food but I didn't" Counselor:
"The urge to eat was connected with your mother." A long silence follows. The probable
cause for the client's silence was
A. boredom
B. hostility toward the counselor
C. emotional or cognitive integration
D. waiting for the counselor to lead -Correct Answer ✔C. Emotional or cognitive
integration
Research suggests that television may be an important socializing force on children.
Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Observation of television violence has been shown to increase aggression in
viewers.
B. The most effective positive models on television are those who resemble parents and
teachers.
National Counseling Exam
,National Counseling Exam
C. Television may affect children's world view in such a way that they see the world as
mean and scary.
D. Television has little potential to teach children positive, prosocial behaviors. -Correct
Answer ✔D. Television has little potential to teach children positive, prosocial behaviors.
On a college campus, a group of minority students has been protesting their treatment
alluding to harassing comments by whites and what they believe to be discrimination in
the grading system by their professors. Eleven of these students have come to the
campus counseling center and want to begin a group experience to arrive at some
answers and find solutions. The most appropriate theoretical orientation of the
counselor assigned to lead the group is
A. behavioral
B. psychoanalytic
C. gestalt
D. client-centered -Correct Answer ✔A. Behavioral
Which of the following is NOT an axis dimension of the DSM-IV?
A. Age of syndrome appearance.
B. Medical condition
C. Clinical disorder
D. Psychosocial and environmental problems. -Correct Answer ✔A. Age of syndrome
appearance
An employment counselor uses the General Aptitude Test Battery which means nine
aptitudes important for different jobs. His clients are typically uneducated. Because the
counselor is concerned how his clients' scores stack up against others and how they
would perceive their aptitudes, he interprets the scores to each of his clients
A. ipsatively
B. using national norms.
C. using local norms.
D. in relationship to other tests -Correct Answer ✔A. ipsatively
In the last few years several national surveys have been conducted inquiring about
career related issues. These surveys, typically conducted with adults, rely on self-report
data to draw conclusions in a variety of areas. In general, an accurate statement that
can be drawn from these recent surveys is
A. the vast majority of workers hold jobs for which they carefully planned.
B. over fifty percent of the workers indicated that they planned to change jobs during the
next three years.
C. the majority of workers would try to gather more information about their options if
they were to start their career over again.
D. there is a small need for career counselors. -Correct Answer ✔C. the majority of
workers would try to gather more information about their options if they were to start
their career over again
National Counseling Exam
,National Counseling Exam
A licensed professional counselor in private practice is also trained in career counseling
and occasionally sees a client for career work. The counselor receives insurance
reimbursement, generally, including for services she provides for her career clients who
are often experiencing anxiety and work-related stress. The counselor assigns a DSM
code to these clients even though the insurance company's policies indicate that
payment for career services is not reimbursable. Which of the following statements is
most accurate?
A. The counselor is okay because she is concerned about the general health and
welfare of the client as the ethical code expects.
B. The counselor is not okay because career counseling problems are not reimbursable
and this is insurance fraud.
C. The counselor is okay because the experts in the literature agree that career
counseling is personal counseling.
D. The counselor knows other counselors who -Correct Answer ✔B. The counselor is
not okay because career counseling problems are not reimbursable and this is
insurance fraud.
The eclectic approach to counseling assumes a broad knowledge of a variety of
theoretical approaches. Which of the following is NOT a factor in determining the
counselor-client relationship for someone operating from an eclectic point of view?
A. Diagnostic ability.
B. Knowledge of techniques.
C. Supportive counselor role.
D. Strong focus on cognitions. -Correct Answer ✔D. strong focus on cognitions
A school counselor is interested in determining whether seniors who have jobs receive
lower grades on national test scores than those who do not work. Let's assume that in
May of the school year he finds that approximately 250 seniors worked this past school
year and 250 did not. He compares their GPA, class rank information, and ACT scores.
If all these indicators were lower for the seniors who worked, the counselor would be
tempted to say that having a job causes the lower indicators. He would be wrong to say
that because this study is
A. a causal-comparative investigation
B. an experiment
C. a survey
D. a descriptive study -Correct Answer ✔A. causal-comparative investigation
Historically, there were many influences on the development of the testing movement.
Which one of the following was NOT an early influence?
A. Civil rights movement.
B. Compulsory school attendance
C. World War I.
D. Advances in statistical methodology -Correct Answer ✔A. Civil rights movement
National Counseling Exam
, National Counseling Exam
Gender role socialization occurs in most cultures and includes the development of role
stereotypes which may be rigid and fixed. Imitation and identification with a same-sex
model facilitates the learning of gender roles. Gender role socialization
A. is primarily based on heredity
B. seldom occurs within the family.
C. becomes a basic component of our self-concept.
D. is usually complete by six years of age. -Correct Answer ✔C. becomes a basic
component of our self-concept
Jason, the sole source of income in the family, suffers unemployment unexpectedly. As
the unemployment continues, a variety of consequences are likely to ensue for him, his
wife, and children. Research suggests that
A. the next job Jason finds will probably be better than the last one.
B. the children should not be told of their father's unemployment in order to reduce their
anxiety.
C. it is unlikely that Jason will experience the grief cycle.
D. as unemployment continues, his wife will slowly pull away from her circle of friends. -
Correct Answer ✔D. as unemployment continues, his wife will slowly pull away from her
circle of friends.
In a behavioral group context, which of the following are key terms?
A. Self-monitoring and contracts.
B. 'Here and now' and blocks to energy.
C. Value judgement and positive addiction.
D. Catharsis and ego integrity. -Correct Answer ✔A. Self-monitoring and contracts
Individuals come to counseling for a variety of reasons. An immediate goal for many
clients might be
A. self-understanding
B. skill-development
C. self-disclosure
D. employment -Correct Answer ✔C. self-disclosure
A counselor performs pre-marital counseling in conjunction with a church whose pastor
refers couples to her. Ordinarily, the counselor sees the couple together twice, two
times individually, and twice together again for a total of six sessions. In her second
individual session with Tom, the counselor learns that he has not broken off an affair
with another woman, not his prospective marriage partner. An appropriate counselor
response is to
A. insist Tom tell his future wife
B. remind Tom of their agreement there would be no secrets.
C. refer the couple to a more experienced pre-marital counselor.
D. decide to provide Tom more individual counseling sessions. -Correct Answer ✔B.
remind Tom of their agreement there would be no secrets.
National Counseling Exam
National Counseling Exam Study Questions and
Answers 2025
A behavioral counselor is working with a client who complains of anxiety. Together the
counselor and the client examine both the antecedents and consequences of the
behavior (anxiety). Understanding the nature of operant conditioning, the counselor and
the client decide to eliminate the unwanted behavior through extinction by
A. aversive counterconditioning
B. implosion or flooding
C. punishment
D. thought stopping -Correct Answer ✔B. implosion or flooding
A counselor is developing a genogram during the second session in family counseling.
As the clients talk of their family backgrounds, the counselor realizes that the wife in
counseling is actually her second or third cousin of which the woman is unaware. The
counselor decides -Correct Answer ✔to tell the woman they are relatives and refer the
family after explaining her ethical position.
Maria, a 25-year-old Latina woman, is in career counseling. In reviewing her
background, the counselor determines that she has followed the 'rules' and
expectations of her close-knit family. She now finds herself in a position needing to
support her family on her own and can't decide between three different occupational
possibilities which she has heard about. Maria may be characterized as
A. career inefficacious
B. career undecided
C. needing more schooling
D. career indecisive -Correct Answer ✔B. career undecided.
Client: "I wrote some more in my journal yesterday. I wrote about the strong urge to eat
after I visited my mother. I almost went to the store for junk food but I didn't" Counselor:
"The urge to eat was connected with your mother." A long silence follows. The probable
cause for the client's silence was
A. boredom
B. hostility toward the counselor
C. emotional or cognitive integration
D. waiting for the counselor to lead -Correct Answer ✔C. Emotional or cognitive
integration
Research suggests that television may be an important socializing force on children.
Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Observation of television violence has been shown to increase aggression in
viewers.
B. The most effective positive models on television are those who resemble parents and
teachers.
National Counseling Exam
,National Counseling Exam
C. Television may affect children's world view in such a way that they see the world as
mean and scary.
D. Television has little potential to teach children positive, prosocial behaviors. -Correct
Answer ✔D. Television has little potential to teach children positive, prosocial behaviors.
On a college campus, a group of minority students has been protesting their treatment
alluding to harassing comments by whites and what they believe to be discrimination in
the grading system by their professors. Eleven of these students have come to the
campus counseling center and want to begin a group experience to arrive at some
answers and find solutions. The most appropriate theoretical orientation of the
counselor assigned to lead the group is
A. behavioral
B. psychoanalytic
C. gestalt
D. client-centered -Correct Answer ✔A. Behavioral
Which of the following is NOT an axis dimension of the DSM-IV?
A. Age of syndrome appearance.
B. Medical condition
C. Clinical disorder
D. Psychosocial and environmental problems. -Correct Answer ✔A. Age of syndrome
appearance
An employment counselor uses the General Aptitude Test Battery which means nine
aptitudes important for different jobs. His clients are typically uneducated. Because the
counselor is concerned how his clients' scores stack up against others and how they
would perceive their aptitudes, he interprets the scores to each of his clients
A. ipsatively
B. using national norms.
C. using local norms.
D. in relationship to other tests -Correct Answer ✔A. ipsatively
In the last few years several national surveys have been conducted inquiring about
career related issues. These surveys, typically conducted with adults, rely on self-report
data to draw conclusions in a variety of areas. In general, an accurate statement that
can be drawn from these recent surveys is
A. the vast majority of workers hold jobs for which they carefully planned.
B. over fifty percent of the workers indicated that they planned to change jobs during the
next three years.
C. the majority of workers would try to gather more information about their options if
they were to start their career over again.
D. there is a small need for career counselors. -Correct Answer ✔C. the majority of
workers would try to gather more information about their options if they were to start
their career over again
National Counseling Exam
,National Counseling Exam
A licensed professional counselor in private practice is also trained in career counseling
and occasionally sees a client for career work. The counselor receives insurance
reimbursement, generally, including for services she provides for her career clients who
are often experiencing anxiety and work-related stress. The counselor assigns a DSM
code to these clients even though the insurance company's policies indicate that
payment for career services is not reimbursable. Which of the following statements is
most accurate?
A. The counselor is okay because she is concerned about the general health and
welfare of the client as the ethical code expects.
B. The counselor is not okay because career counseling problems are not reimbursable
and this is insurance fraud.
C. The counselor is okay because the experts in the literature agree that career
counseling is personal counseling.
D. The counselor knows other counselors who -Correct Answer ✔B. The counselor is
not okay because career counseling problems are not reimbursable and this is
insurance fraud.
The eclectic approach to counseling assumes a broad knowledge of a variety of
theoretical approaches. Which of the following is NOT a factor in determining the
counselor-client relationship for someone operating from an eclectic point of view?
A. Diagnostic ability.
B. Knowledge of techniques.
C. Supportive counselor role.
D. Strong focus on cognitions. -Correct Answer ✔D. strong focus on cognitions
A school counselor is interested in determining whether seniors who have jobs receive
lower grades on national test scores than those who do not work. Let's assume that in
May of the school year he finds that approximately 250 seniors worked this past school
year and 250 did not. He compares their GPA, class rank information, and ACT scores.
If all these indicators were lower for the seniors who worked, the counselor would be
tempted to say that having a job causes the lower indicators. He would be wrong to say
that because this study is
A. a causal-comparative investigation
B. an experiment
C. a survey
D. a descriptive study -Correct Answer ✔A. causal-comparative investigation
Historically, there were many influences on the development of the testing movement.
Which one of the following was NOT an early influence?
A. Civil rights movement.
B. Compulsory school attendance
C. World War I.
D. Advances in statistical methodology -Correct Answer ✔A. Civil rights movement
National Counseling Exam
, National Counseling Exam
Gender role socialization occurs in most cultures and includes the development of role
stereotypes which may be rigid and fixed. Imitation and identification with a same-sex
model facilitates the learning of gender roles. Gender role socialization
A. is primarily based on heredity
B. seldom occurs within the family.
C. becomes a basic component of our self-concept.
D. is usually complete by six years of age. -Correct Answer ✔C. becomes a basic
component of our self-concept
Jason, the sole source of income in the family, suffers unemployment unexpectedly. As
the unemployment continues, a variety of consequences are likely to ensue for him, his
wife, and children. Research suggests that
A. the next job Jason finds will probably be better than the last one.
B. the children should not be told of their father's unemployment in order to reduce their
anxiety.
C. it is unlikely that Jason will experience the grief cycle.
D. as unemployment continues, his wife will slowly pull away from her circle of friends. -
Correct Answer ✔D. as unemployment continues, his wife will slowly pull away from her
circle of friends.
In a behavioral group context, which of the following are key terms?
A. Self-monitoring and contracts.
B. 'Here and now' and blocks to energy.
C. Value judgement and positive addiction.
D. Catharsis and ego integrity. -Correct Answer ✔A. Self-monitoring and contracts
Individuals come to counseling for a variety of reasons. An immediate goal for many
clients might be
A. self-understanding
B. skill-development
C. self-disclosure
D. employment -Correct Answer ✔C. self-disclosure
A counselor performs pre-marital counseling in conjunction with a church whose pastor
refers couples to her. Ordinarily, the counselor sees the couple together twice, two
times individually, and twice together again for a total of six sessions. In her second
individual session with Tom, the counselor learns that he has not broken off an affair
with another woman, not his prospective marriage partner. An appropriate counselor
response is to
A. insist Tom tell his future wife
B. remind Tom of their agreement there would be no secrets.
C. refer the couple to a more experienced pre-marital counselor.
D. decide to provide Tom more individual counseling sessions. -Correct Answer ✔B.
remind Tom of their agreement there would be no secrets.
National Counseling Exam
