Free ASWB Advanced Generalist Practice Test
This free ASWB Advanced Generalist practice test has 40 original, unofficial questions sampling the blueprint active since August 3, 2026 — not a full-length exam. Record your first answer, open the explanation, and review the topics you missed — no signup, no account, nothing hidden.
Practice questions
Question 1
Values and Ethics · AG-001
A county agency is redesigning the eligibility rules for its transportation assistance program. Staff have written a draft. Residents who use the program have not been involved. The advisory committee asks the social worker how to proceed. Which action BEST supports public participation?
- A. Finalize the draft, then collect resident feedback during the first month after the new rules take effect.
- B. Give affected residents accessible ways to help revise the draft before it is finalized.
- C. Ask the staff who work directly with residents to review the draft on residents' behalf.
Show answer — Question 1
Answer: B
Residents can still change the outcome. Participation before approval gives the people the rules will govern a real role in shaping them. "Accessible" is doing work in that option — evening meetings, a written comment route, or a session at a site people already visit. Which method fits depends on the community.
A is not wrong as a practice, but it arrives after the decision. Feedback collected post-implementation can improve the next revision; it cannot influence this one.
C treats staff impressions as a substitute for residents' own views. Staff know a lot, but they are not the affected public.
The point to carry: ask whether affected people can still influence the decision, or are only being told about it afterward.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 6.02, Public Participation — social workers should facilitate informed participation by the public in shaping social policies and institutions.
Question 2
Values and Ethics · AG-002
A voluntary adult client signs the intake consent form at a community services agency. When the social worker asks what the client is hoping to get from the program, the client cannot describe what the service involves or say whether they can stop taking part. What should the social worker do NEXT?
- A. File the signed form and begin services as scheduled.
- B. Explain the service in plain language, check what the client understood, and answer questions before services begin.
- C. Ask a family member to explain the program to the client later.
Show answer — Question 2
Answer: B
A signature records that a form was signed. It does not establish that the person understood what they agreed to. The Code asks for clear, understandable language covering purpose, risks, costs, alternatives, and the right to refuse or withdraw — plus a chance to ask questions. This client has demonstrated that the explanation has not landed yet.
A treats completed paperwork as sufficient consent despite the client's demonstrated lack of understanding.
C hands the agency's own obligation to someone outside the professional relationship, delays it, and raises a confidentiality question the stem gives no basis to resolve.
The point to carry: consent is a process you can verify, not a document you can file.
Question 3
Values and Ethics · AG-003
A social worker wants a colleague's advice on how to sequence services in a complicated case. The question is about sequencing, not about this particular person's history. The client has not consented to any disclosure. What should the social worker do?
- A. Use the client's first name only, since a first name alone is not identifying.
- B. Share the full case record so the colleague has complete context.
- C. Describe the practice question without disclosing information that identifies the client.
Show answer — Question 3
Answer: C
The Code is specific here: do not disclose identifying information when discussing clients with consultants unless the client has consented or there is a compelling need. It also asks that any disclosure be the least amount necessary for the purpose. The purpose here is a sequencing question, which can be asked without the person attached to it.
B discloses far more than the question requires and has no consent behind it.
A rests on a false idea of anonymity. A first name plus a neighborhood, a diagnosis, or an agency can identify someone quickly, especially in a small community. Stripping a surname is not de-identification.
The point to carry: match the disclosure to the question you are actually asking.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 1.07(c) and 1.07(v), Privacy and Confidentiality.
Question 4
Values and Ethics · AG-004
A social worker is offered a new assignment that uses an intervention approach they have never been trained in. Which ethical standard MOST directly governs whether they should take it on as offered?
- A. Confidentiality
- B. Self-determination
- C. Informed consent
- D. Competence
Show answer — Question 4
Answer: D
Competence is the standard that speaks to using approaches that are new to you. The Code says to do so only after appropriate study, training, consultation, and supervision from people who are competent in that approach. That is a route to yes, not an automatic no — but it is a route with conditions.
B concerns the client's right to direct their own life, not the worker's readiness.
C concerns what the client is told before services begin.
A concerns protecting client information.
The point to carry: unfamiliarity is not a permanent bar. Taking the assignment without study, consultation, or supervision is the problem.
Question 5
Values and Ethics · AG-005
During a routine file review, a program supervisor finds a service note crediting a home visit to the wrong staff member. The visit did happen. The agency's records policy requires an amendment that preserves the original entry and identifies the correction. What should the supervisor do?
- A. Correct the entry using the agency's written correction procedure so the record shows who actually provided the service.
- B. Leave the note as written, since the visit did take place.
- C. Delete the note and have the staff member write a fresh one dated today.
Show answer — Question 5
Answer: A
Documentation has to be accurate and reflect the services provided. The staff attribution is wrong in the file right now; any billing must also accurately identify the provider. The agency has a procedure for exactly this, and the stem tells you so.
B accepts an inaccurate record because one part of it is true. Who delivered a service matters for supervision, for billing, and for anyone reading the file later.
C removes the original entry instead of correcting it. That destroys the trail showing what the record said and when it changed, which is the thing a correction procedure exists to preserve.
The point to carry: correct the record through the process; do not quietly replace it.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 3.04(a), Client Records and 3.05, Billing.
Question 6
Values and Ethics · AG-006
An agency is running a voluntary study of client satisfaction. A program manager invites current clients to take part. One client agrees, then says she is doing it because she is worried that saying no could affect her assistance. What should the manager do?
- A. Enroll the client, since she has agreed to take part.
- B. Leave the client out of the study because she raised a concern.
- C. Tell the client plainly that participation is optional and that declining will not affect her services or eligibility, then let her decide.
Show answer — Question 6
Answer: C
Consent given under a belief that refusing costs you your benefits is not voluntary consent. The Code requires informed consent for evaluation and research, including that participants can decline or withdraw without penalty. The manager's job is to correct the misunderstanding and then hand the decision back.
A records an agreement the client has just told you is not freely given.
B also takes the decision away from her, just in the other direction, and leaves the false belief in place.
The point to carry: when a client links participation to their benefits, fix the belief before you accept the answer.
Question 7
Values and Ethics · AG-007
A supervisor is responsible for a supervisee's annual performance evaluation. The supervisee offers to rent the supervisor a room in her house at well below market rent. What should the supervisor do?
- A. Accept, as long as both agree the arrangement stays separate from work.
- B. Decline the arrangement and explain why, because a financial relationship with someone whose performance they evaluate carries a risk of exploitation or harm.
- C. Accept, but ask a different manager to sign the evaluation.
Show answer — Question 7
Answer: B
The Code tells social workers not to enter dual or multiple relationships with supervisees where there is a risk of exploitation or harm to the supervisee. A below-market financial benefit flowing from the person you evaluate is close to the center of that concern, and the supervisor holds the power in the relationship.
A relies on a shared intention. Intentions do not remove the power difference or how the arrangement would look to the supervisee, to other staff, or to a reviewer.
C is the most tempting distractor because it does something. But moving a signature does not end the supervisory relationship or unwind the financial tie. The supervisor still supervises, still assigns work, and still benefits.
The point to carry: a procedural workaround does not cure a relationship problem.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 3.01(c), Supervision and Consultation.
Question 8
Values and Ethics · AG-008
A social worker at a housing stability program recommends a budgeting service. The client is an adult who understands the recommendation and what is likely to follow from declining it. She declines. No law requires her participation, and nothing in the situation suggests serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to her or anyone else. What should the social worker do?
- A. Make the budgeting service a condition of continued housing support.
- B. Contact the client's adult child to encourage her to reconsider.
- C. Accept the decision, say what other supports remain open to her, and keep working on the goals she has set.
- D. Record the client as noncompliant and reduce contact.
Show answer — Question 8
Answer: C
This is a voluntary recommendation that the client understands. Code 1.02 supports her self-determination and permits limits when actions pose serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk; Code 1.01 also recognizes responsibilities arising from specific legal obligations. The stem supplies neither kind of reason to override this choice. Accepting it is not the same as walking away — the work continues on her goals.
A converts a recommendation into a requirement and uses housing as leverage.
B brings in a third party to apply pressure and treats the family as a route around the client's decision.
D punishes a lawful choice with less service and mislabels it.
The point to carry: an informed refusal of this voluntary service is not a reason to punish the client or stop working on her other goals.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 1.01, Commitment to Clients, and 1.02, Self-Determination.
Question 9
Values and Ethics · AG-009
An agency director tells intake staff not to raise a service time limit during consent conversations, saying it discourages people from enrolling. The limit affects how long clients can receive help. What should the social worker do?
- A. Follow the instruction, since it is agency policy.
- B. Resign and report the agency publicly.
- C. Include the limit in consent conversations and raise the instruction with the director, explaining the ethical obligation behind it.
Show answer — Question 9
Answer: C
Two standards meet here. Informed consent requires telling clients about limits to the services they are agreeing to. And the Code says social workers should not let an employer's policies or administrative orders interfere with ethical practice — while also expecting them to work to improve agency policy and to make employers aware of professional obligations. Option C does both: it protects the clients in front of you now, and it addresses the instruction through the channel that could actually change it.
A withholds material information from people making a decision about services.
B does not correct the consent conversations now. The stem gives no reason that immediate resignation and public disclosure are needed instead of protecting informed consent and addressing the instruction. It does not establish a rule that every concern must stay internal first.
The point to carry: "it's policy" does not settle an ethical question, and neither does the most dramatic available response.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 1.03(a) and 3.09(b)–(d), Commitments to Employers.
Question 10
Values and Ethics · AG-010
At a health service intake, a client's primary language is not English, and the client is having difficulty following the consent discussion. Which option BEST meets the social worker's obligation?
- A. Arrange a qualified interpreter for the consent discussion.
- B. Ask the client's 12-year-old child to interpret.
- C. Send the English forms home with the client to be returned signed.
Show answer — Question 10
Answer: A
When a client has difficulty understanding the primary language used in the setting, the Code asks social workers to take steps to ensure comprehension, and names arranging a qualified interpreter or translator as one of those steps.
B puts a child in the middle of an adult's private service decision and does not supply a qualified interpreter.
C removes the conversation entirely and returns a signature without comprehension — the same failure as Question 2, with a language barrier added.
The point to carry: the goal is a client who understands, not a form that comes back completed.
Question 11
Values and Ethics · AG-011
During an assessment, a client describes a family caregiving arrangement that is different from what the social worker expected. What should the social worker do FIRST?
- A. Ask the client what the arrangement means to the family and how it works for them.
- B. Explain the arrangement the agency usually recommends.
- C. Record the arrangement as a risk factor for caregiver strain.
Show answer — Question 11
Answer: A
The Code's cultural humility standard asks social workers to reflect critically on their own assumptions and to recognize clients as experts on their own culture. The only thing established so far is that this differs from the worker's expectation — which is information about the worker, not about the family.
B substitutes the agency's default for the family's arrangement before anyone has asked how the arrangement functions.
C is the more dangerous distractor because it looks like clinical attentiveness. It converts unfamiliarity into a documented risk finding with no evidence of strain in the stem, and that finding will follow the family through the record.
The point to carry: different is not the same as concerning. Find out which one you have.
Question 12
Values and Ethics · AG-012
A rental assistance program has 30 openings and 95 eligible applicants. The program's stated purpose is to prevent eviction for households facing imminent loss of housing. The program manager has to decide how the openings will be filled. What should the manager do?
- A. Develop a written allocation procedure that is nondiscriminatory and applies consistent criteria tied to the program's stated purpose.
- B. Let each caseworker decide which of their own applicants gets an opening.
- C. Give the openings to applicants who have received services from the agency before.
- D. Hold the openings until more funding allows every eligible applicant to be served.
Show answer — Question 12
Answer: A
The Code addresses this directly: when not all clients' needs can be met, an allocation procedure should be developed that is nondiscriminatory and based on appropriate and consistently applied principles. "Appropriate" is anchored by the program's stated purpose, which the stem supplies.
B leaves allocation to individual caseworkers without a shared standard, creating a risk that similar households receive different treatment.
C uses a criterion unrelated to the purpose and systematically disadvantages households new to the agency.
D serves nobody in the meantime. The shortage is the situation, not a problem to wait out.
The point to carry: scarcity calls for a stated, consistent procedure, not case-by-case discretion or a wait for a better year.
Question 13
Values and Ethics · AG-013
A social worker in a small rural county manages a food assistance program. The social worker oversees a current client's assistance decisions. That client offers the social worker a paid seat on the board of the client's family business. What should the social worker do?
- A. Join the board, since board service is a community role rather than a service to the client.
- B. Decline the board role and explain the boundary, because a business relationship with a current client carries a risk of exploitation or harm.
- C. Join the board and quietly transfer the client's file to a colleague.
Show answer — Question 13
Answer: B
The Code asks social workers to avoid dual or multiple relationships with clients where there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm, and it places responsibility for setting the boundary on the social worker, not the client. It also asks that clients be told when a real or potential conflict of interest arises. Declining and explaining does both.
A relies on labeling the second relationship as something else. The client still controls a benefit the social worker would receive, and the social worker still controls a benefit the client receives.
C is the trap. It addresses the paperwork and hides the reason. The client experiences an unexplained change of worker and is not told about the conflict. The transfer does not satisfy the duty to inform.
The point to carry: in small communities, overlap is common and is managed openly — not by pretending the second role is unrelated.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 1.06(a) and 1.06(c), Conflicts of Interest.
Question 14
Values and Ethics · AG-014
A supervisor asks a social worker to record a 20-minute phone contact as a one-hour home visit, so the unit counts toward a contract target. What should the social worker do?
- A. Record the contact as it actually happened and raise the request through an appropriate channel.
- B. Record the hour as asked, since the supervisor carries responsibility for the contract.
- C. Record nothing, to stay out of it.
Show answer — Question 14
Answer: A
Billing practices have to accurately reflect the nature and extent of services provided, and documentation has to reflect the services delivered. A 20-minute call is not a one-hour home visit under either standard. Recording it accurately is the floor; raising the request matters because the request itself asks for an inaccurate record.
B transfers the decision to someone else's authority. The person entering the record is the person making the entry.
C looks neutral and is not. Failing to document a service that did happen breaks the requirement for sufficient, timely records, leaves the next worker without the contact.
The point to carry: declining to falsify is only half of it; the delivered service still has to be recorded.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 3.05, Billing and 3.04(a)–(b), Client Records.
Question 15
Assessment and Planning · AG-015
A client at a job training program attends regularly for two months, then misses three appointments in a row. The bus route serving the client's neighborhood was discontinued last month. Agency policy permits closing a case after three missed appointments. What should the social worker do FIRST?
- A. Send a letter warning that the case will close after one more missed appointment.
- B. Close the case under the three-missed-appointment policy.
- C. Contact the client to find out what has changed, including how she is getting to appointments.
Show answer — Question 15
Answer: C
Two things in the stem decide this. There is a specific change — the bus route — that plausibly explains the pattern and has not been checked. And the Code asks social workers to take reasonable steps to avoid abandoning clients who still need services. Closing a case on a pattern you have not explained risks exactly that.
B applies a discretionary closure policy before checking the newly identified barrier.
A feels like a middle course but does nothing about the barrier. It keeps closure as the default and puts the burden of solving a transport problem on the person who has it.
The point to carry: this is not a rule that you always assess first. It is that the stem hands you an unexamined fact that would change which action makes sense — and missed appointments are a behavior with several possible causes, not a diagnosis of motivation.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 1.17(b), Termination of Services; NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5.
Question 16
Assessment and Planning · AG-016
A referral note describes a family as "not following through." It contains nothing about the family's income, health, housing, or supports. A social worker is preparing an assessment. What should the social worker do?
- A. Accept the referral's explanation and build the plan around follow-through.
- B. Begin services and document the follow-through concern in the record.
- C. Ask the referring worker to expand the note, and wait for the reply before meeting the family.
- D. Gather information with the family across the areas the referral does not cover, then form a working picture.
Show answer — Question 16
Answer: D
The case management standard describes assessment as an ongoing information-gathering and decision-making process carried out with clients, aimed at identifying their goals, strengths, and challenges. The referral offers one interpretation and omits four domains, any of which could explain the same behavior and each of which would point to a different plan.
A adopts another worker's conclusion as the finding.
C is reasonable as a side step but wrong as the main move. It keeps the family out of their own assessment and delays it while waiting for a second-hand account.
B starts services on an unexamined premise and writes that premise into the record, where it will be read as established.
The point to carry: a referral is a starting point and a hypothesis. The family is an essential source.
Source: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5: Assessment.
Question 17
Assessment and Planning · AG-017
A social worker meets a family caregiver who describes feeling stretched thin by her mother's daily care needs. In the same conversation, she mentions a neighbor who sits with her mother two afternoons a week and a sister who calls daily. What should the social worker record in the assessment?
- A. Both the demands and the supports already in place, including how well each is working.
- B. The caregiving demands, since those are the reason for the referral.
- C. The demands, plus a recommendation for residential care.
Show answer — Question 17
Answer: A
The standard frames assessment around goals, strengths, and challenges together. Supports already working are load-bearing information: they shape what additional help is needed, what could be expanded, and what would collapse if it disappeared. A record holding only demands can lead to a plan that overlooks or duplicates help already in place.
B produces a deficit-only picture and leaves out information needed to assess additional support.
C jumps to a placement recommendation the stem gives no basis for and skips over the arrangement the family has built.
The point to carry: strengths are not a courtesy paragraph. They change what the plan should contain.
Source: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5: Assessment.
Question 18
Assessment and Planning · AG-018
At intake for a housing assistance program, a social worker begins asking detailed questions about the client's past experiences of violence. The client becomes visibly uncomfortable and gives short answers. The program's eligibility and planning decisions do not require that history. What should the social worker do?
- A. Continue, since a complete history supports better planning.
- B. Move to the information this service actually needs, and let the client decide what else to share and when.
- C. Stop the intake and refer the client for a trauma assessment before proceeding.
Show answer — Question 18
Answer: B
The Code says social workers should not solicit private information from or about clients except for compelling professional reasons. The stem removes the compelling reason: this program's decisions do not turn on that history. Assessment is also an ongoing process, so nothing is lost by leaving space for the client to raise it later if it becomes relevant.
A treats completeness as a value in itself. Collecting distressing detail that will not be used is a cost to the client with no corresponding benefit.
C overreacts to discomfort. Nothing in the stem indicates the client wants or needs a referral, and interrupting a housing intake to route someone elsewhere delays the help they came for.
The point to carry: ask what this service needs to decide, and let relevance set the boundary.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 1.07(a), Privacy and Confidentiality; NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5.
Question 19
Assessment and Planning · AG-019
During an assessment, a client says a former coworker has driven him to medical appointments for the past year. The coworker has just changed jobs, and the client does not know whether the rides can continue. The client wants to keep this arrangement if it still works. What should the social worker do NEXT?
- A. Count the rides as an available resource because the arrangement worked for a year.
- B. Replace the arrangement with a formal transportation service without discussing it further.
- C. Explore the arrangement's current availability with the client and identify alternatives if needed, seeking his consent before contacting the coworker.
Show answer — Question 19
Answer: C
A support can be valuable and still need reassessment when circumstances change. The job change is new information about availability, not proof that the coworker is unreliable. Exploring it with the client respects the arrangement he values while checking whether the plan can still depend on it.
A treats past availability as current availability and leaves the new uncertainty unresolved.
B assumes the support has ended and overrides the client's preference before checking. A formal service may be useful, but its need has not been established.
The point to carry: assess whether a support still fits the current situation; do not either count it automatically or replace it automatically.
Sources: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5: Assessment; NASW Code of Ethics 1.07(b), Privacy and Confidentiality.
Question 20
Assessment and Planning · AG-020
A community agency receives a referral asking that a client work on employment. In the first meeting, the client says her priority is resolving a billing dispute that is threatening her utilities. Neither issue is an emergency, and the agency serves both. What should the social worker do?
- A. Begin with employment, since that is what the referral requested.
- B. Ask the referring agency to decide which comes first.
- C. Work on both at once so neither party is disappointed.
- D. Clarify the client's goals and the service's purpose together, and set the focus with her.
Show answer — Question 20
Answer: D
The case management standard is explicit that service plans are made in collaboration with clients and are based on meaningful assessment. Neither issue is urgent, so nothing forces the order. The useful move is a conversation that lines up what she wants with what this service can do, and settles the sequence between the two of them.
A makes the referral the client.
C sounds generous but avoids the conversation that would establish what she actually wants and how to prioritize the two issues.
B sends the decision to a third party who is not in the room and does not hold her priorities.
The point to carry: when a referrer and a client disagree and nothing is urgent, the plan is negotiated with the client, not inherited from the referral.
Sources: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 6; NASW Code of Ethics 1.02.
Question 21
Assessment and Planning · AG-021
A social worker wants to understand how a client experienced a recent change in her housing situation. Which question is MOST likely to open that up?
- A. "What has the move been like for you?"
- B. "Was the move stressful for you?"
- C. "You must have found the move difficult, didn't you?"
Show answer — Question 21
Answer: A
An open question invites the client to describe the experience in her own terms and can surface information the worker did not anticipate. That is what assessment is for.
B can be answered yes or no, and it narrows the field to one emotion the worker picked.
C does the same and adds a suggested answer. It invites confirmation of the worker's interpretation instead of the client's own account.
The point to carry: the difference is whether the client supplies the content or confirms yours.
Sources: SAMHSA TIP 35, Chapter 3, Asking Open Questions; NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5: Assessment.
Question 22
Assessment and Planning · AG-022
A referral record states that a client has daily family support at home. In the first meeting, the client says she lives alone and sees relatives a few times a year. What should the social worker do?
- A. Explore the difference with the client, and check the relevant collateral information with her authorization if it still matters.
- B. Use the record, since it came from a professional source.
- C. Use the client's account and disregard the record.
Show answer — Question 22
Answer: A
Neither source automatically wins. The record may be out of date, may describe a different period, or may have been entered in error; the client may be describing a recent change. The discrepancy itself is information, and the way to resolve it is with the client. If checking a collateral source is still needed after that conversation, it goes ahead with her authorization rather than around her.
B treats professional origin as accuracy and locks in a possibly stale picture.
C is closer to right than B, because the client is the primary source — but it discards a discrepancy without asking what caused it, which may have been the most useful thing in the file.
The point to carry: conflicting information is a question to explore, not a contest to award.
Sources: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5; NASW Code of Ethics 1.07(b).
Question 23
Assessment and Planning · AG-023
A client's goal is to return to work within three months. Two programs could help. Program A offers training that matches his field, has a six-month waiting list, and is 40 minutes away by a bus route he can use. Program B offers general job-readiness sessions, can start next week, and is a 10-minute walk from his home. What should the social worker do?
- A. Refer to Program A, because it matches his field.
- B. Refer to Program B, because it can start immediately.
- C. Discuss both with the client, including that Program A's waiting list does not fit his three-month goal, and decide with him.
Show answer — Question 23
Answer: C
Plans are built with the client and have to be attainable. The stem contains a hard conflict — a six-month wait against a three-month goal — and the client is the one who gets to decide what to do about it. He may change the goal, take Program B now and join A's list, or something else. What he cannot do is act on a conflict nobody has shown him.
A picks content fit and ignores feasibility, which is the whole difficulty in this stem.
B picks feasibility and ignores fit, and makes the choice for him. It might even be where he lands, but arriving there without him is the error.
The point to carry: here, surface the conflict between fit and feasibility with the client before choosing a program.
Question 24
Assessment and Planning · AG-024
A client and social worker have agreed on the goal "get more comfortable using the city bus so I can get to my appointments." Which objective is written in a form the plan can actually monitor?
- A. The client will feel more confident about public transportation.
- B. The client will ride the bus to two scheduled appointments within the next four weeks.
- C. The client will understand the bus system better.
- D. The client will work on transportation barriers.
Show answer — Question 24
Answer: B
The standard asks for objectives that are specific, attainable, and measurable. B names an observable action (riding the bus to appointments), a quantity (two), and a timeframe (four weeks) — so in four weeks, the client and the worker can both say whether it happened. The numbers here are an illustration of the form, not a requirement about how many trips anyone should take.
A and C name worthwhile changes but specify neither an indicator nor a timeframe. Internal states can be monitored with a defined self-report measure; that measure is missing here.
D restates the problem area without specifying a result to monitor.
The point to carry: specify the indicator, target, and timeframe so progress can be checked.
Sources: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 6: Service Planning, Implementation, and Monitoring; CDC Program Evaluation Framework, 2024, Step 4: Indicators.
Question 25
Assessment and Planning · AG-025
A client tells the social worker that she wants her longtime friend present when the service plan is discussed and involved in decisions about her care. What should the social worker do?
- A. Talk with the client about what role she wants her friend to have, obtain her consent for what will be shared, and plan accordingly.
- B. Explain that planning meetings are limited to family members.
- C. Include the friend in all communications from now on.
Show answer — Question 25
Answer: A
Two things have to happen, and A does both. Plans are built collaboratively with the client, and the client has named who she wants in the room. Disclosure of her information to that person needs her consent, and consent works best when it is specific about what will be shared.
B imposes a definition of who counts as support that the client has not chosen and that many clients' actual networks do not match.
C honors the preference but skips the consent conversation and overshoots it — "all communications" is broader than what she asked for and than what she may have agreed to.
The point to carry: who the client wants involved is her decision; what gets shared with that person still needs her consent.
Sources: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 6; NASW Code of Ethics 1.07(b).
Question 26
Assessment and Planning · AG-026
A client is facing a benefits problem similar to one she resolved on her own three years ago. She has not mentioned how she handled it. What is the MOST useful thing for the social worker to ask?
- A. "Would you like me to handle the paperwork this time?"
- B. "What worked when you dealt with this before, and how much of that would fit now?"
- C. "What went wrong last time?"
Show answer — Question 26
Answer: B
The client has already solved this problem once. What she did is directly relevant to what she should try now, and asking makes her prior success available to the current plan instead of starting from zero. The second half of the question matters as much as the first: what worked then may not fit now, and she is the one who can say.
A may be welcome, but offering to take over before knowing what she can already do risks replacing a capability rather than supporting it.
C assumes failure. The stem says she resolved it.
The point to carry: past success is assessment data; check what still fits before building it into the new plan.
Source: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 5: Assessment.
Question 27
Assessment and Planning · AG-027
A client has met the goals in his service plan. One piece is unfinished: he is waiting for an intake appointment with a longer-term support program, scheduled for six weeks from now. The agency's funding for his case ends this month. What should the social worker do?
- A. Review remaining needs with the client and arrange the transition, including how the pending appointment will be supported, before closing.
- B. Close the case now, since the plan's goals have been met.
- C. Keep the case open without an agreed transition plan or closure date.
Show answer — Question 27
Answer: A
The Code says to end services when they are no longer needed, and in the same breath to take reasonable steps to avoid abandoning clients who still need help, assisting with arrangements for continuation where necessary. Both apply here. Goals met and needs remaining are not contradictory, and a scheduled appointment six weeks out is a live gap.
B reads "goals met" as an automatic discharge rule and leaves the handover to chance.
C reads the situation as a reason to hold the case open with no end point, which the funding will not support and which the client has not asked for.
The point to carry: "goals met" and "funding ended" are both real, and neither one by itself decides whether it is safe to close.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 1.17(a)–(b), Termination of Services; NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 6.
Question 28
Intervention and Practice · AG-028
A coalition of four community organizations has agreed on a shared goal: extending clinic hours into the evening in one neighborhood. Everyone supports it. Two months later, nothing has moved; the partners have not assigned responsibilities or deadlines. What should the social worker do NEXT?
- A. Hold another meeting to confirm that the goal still has support.
- B. Take on the remaining work directly so the goal is not lost.
- C. Work with the partners to assign specific tasks, name who is responsible for each, and agree how they will coordinate and report back.
- D. Survey neighborhood residents again to strengthen the case.
Show answer — Question 28
Answer: C
Agreement has already happened, and agreement is not implementation. Collaboration standards focus on establishing the obligations of the team and its individual members clearly. What is missing here is allocation: who does what, by when, and how the group will know.
A repeats a step that succeeded. Re-confirming support does not move the work and can look like activity.
B bypasses shared responsibility rather than resolving it. The point of four organizations is four organizations' capacity and standing; absorbing the work makes it one agency's project.
D gathers more evidence without addressing the unassigned work. Partner support does not establish that clinic decision-makers have approved the change.
The point to carry: agreement is not an implementation plan; here, responsibilities and deadlines are the missing pieces.
Sources: NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 8; NASW Code of Ethics 2.03(a).
Question 29
Intervention and Practice · AG-029
On a school-based team, a social worker and a school nurse each believed the other was arranging a student's referral for vision testing. The required consent for the referral is already in place. Two months have passed and no referral has been made. Which response BEST addresses the problem?
- A. Make the referral now and say nothing further, to avoid friction.
- B. Raise the missed referral with the school principal.
- C. Arrange the referral and clarify with the team who is responsible for referrals of this type going forward.
Show answer — Question 29
Answer: C
The Code asks members of interdisciplinary teams to contribute to decisions affecting client wellbeing and says the professional and ethical obligations of the team and its individual members should be clearly established. The immediate gap and the cause of the gap are both addressable, and both should be.
A fixes this student's referral but leaves the responsibility unclear for future referrals.
B raises the concern but does not explicitly arrange the missing referral or clarify the team's responsibilities. Those are the two gaps the stem establishes.
The point to carry: when two professionals each assumed the other had it, the undefined responsibility is the finding.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 2.03(a), Interdisciplinary Collaboration.
Question 30
Intervention and Practice · AG-030
Over six months, a social worker documents that 14 otherwise eligible applicants have been denied a benefit because the agency requires a document that many applicants in their situation cannot obtain. What should the social worker do?
- A. Help affected applicants and also bring the documented pattern forward to change the requirement.
- B. Help each affected applicant find an alternative route to the benefit.
- C. Record the denials and advise applicants to apply again later.
Show answer — Question 30
Answer: A
Fourteen denials from a single requirement is a pattern in a policy, not fourteen individual problems. The Code asks social workers to work to improve employing agencies' policies and procedures, and to engage in action that helps people gain access to the resources and services they need. The case management standards also place advocacy and promoting clients' access to resources in the social worker's role. None of that removes the duty to the 14 people in front of you, which is why the answer does both.
B is genuinely good practice and would help those 14. It also leaves the requirement in place to deny the next 14.
C documents a problem and asks the people harmed by it to try again into the same barrier.
The point to carry: a repeated barrier with documented evidence is an advocacy target; helping individuals and pursuing the change are not alternatives.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 3.09(b) and 6.04(a); NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 7.
Question 31
Intervention and Practice · AG-031
A client is attending a parenting program as a condition set by a court. At the first meeting he says he is only there because he has to be. What should the social worker do FIRST?
- A. Remind him that attendance is court-ordered and that nonattendance has consequences.
- B. Explain what the program involves and the extent of his right to refuse, then discuss what he wants to get out of the time.
- C. Tell him his participation is entirely voluntary.
Show answer — Question 31
Answer: B
The Code addresses involuntary service directly: when clients receive services involuntarily, social workers should provide information about the nature and extent of the services and about the extent of the client's right to refuse. "The extent of" is the operative phrase — his choices are real but bounded, and telling him accurately what they are is both honest and a basis for a working relationship.
A addresses only possible consequences, not the nature of the service or the actual extent of his choices. The stem does not establish what specific consequence the court would impose.
C is false. Telling a mandated client that participation is entirely voluntary misrepresents his situation and will be exposed the moment the court is involved.
The point to carry: with mandated clients, describe the real boundaries accurately rather than overstating either the coercion or the freedom.
Question 32
Intervention and Practice · AG-032
A social worker facilitates an educational group on tenants' rights. The activity can be completed using a fictional scenario rather than personal experience. During the activity, one member says she would rather not talk about her own housing situation in front of the group. What should the facilitator do?
- A. Encourage her to share, explaining that the group benefits when everyone contributes.
- B. Accept her decision and offer another way to take part in the activity.
- C. Move her to a one-to-one session instead of the group.
- D. Move on to the next member without comment.
Show answer — Question 32
Answer: B
She has made a clear decision about her own disclosure, and the Code's self-determination standard covers it. This activity does not require personal disclosure, and there are other ways in — responding to a scenario, working with the written material, taking a role in the discussion. Offering one keeps her in the group without requiring the thing she declined.
A applies group pressure to a boundary she has just set, with the facilitator's authority behind it.
C solves it by removing her from the group. That costs her the group and treats a preference about one activity as a reason to change her service.
D respects the decision but offers no alternative way to join this activity.
The point to carry: protect her disclosure choice while offering the available way to participate.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 1.02, Self-Determination, and 1.07(a), Privacy and Confidentiality.
Question 33
Intervention and Practice · AG-033
Three weeks ago a social worker gave a client the contact details for a legal aid clinic and the client agreed to call. At the next meeting the client says he never made contact. What should the social worker do NEXT?
- A. Give him the information again and ask him to call this week.
- B. Find out what got in the way, and arrange the next step with him based on the answer.
- C. Record that the client declined the referral.
Show answer — Question 33
Answer: B
A handout is not access. The reason the call did not happen decides what to do: a disconnected number, a clinic that only takes calls during his work hours, a language barrier, or a change of mind each point somewhere different. The Code asks social workers making referrals to take appropriate steps to facilitate an orderly transfer, and monitoring is a named part of service planning.
A repeats the step that already failed, without knowing why.
C converts an unexplained non-event into a documented refusal. That is a substantive error in the record and may close off the service.
The point to carry: follow up on access rather than equating a handout with a connection. A client may still choose not to proceed.
Sources: NASW Code of Ethics 1.16(b), Referral for Services; NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management, Standard 6.
Question 34
Intervention and Practice · AG-034
A program reports the following three figures at the end of the year. Which one is an outcome rather than an output?
- A. 312 workshop sessions delivered
- B. 1,140 participants enrolled
- C. 68 participants who were unhoused at intake were in stable housing six months later
Show answer — Question 34
Answer: C
Outputs count what the program produced: sessions run, people enrolled, materials distributed. Outcomes describe a change in the circumstances or condition the program exists to affect. C reports a change in participants' housing status, which is the thing a housing program is for.
A and B are both counts of program activity. They tell you the program operated at a certain scale. They do not tell you whether anything changed for anyone.
The point to carry: an output records delivered activity; an outcome records a change. Recording an outcome alone does not establish that the program caused it.
Source: CDC Program Evaluation Framework, 2024, MMWR Recomm Rep 2024;73(RR-6) — Step 4, Indicators (activities/outputs and outcomes).
Question 35
Intervention and Practice · AG-035
A program measures participants' housing stability at intake and again six months later. Stability has improved. The program had no comparison group, and during the same six months a new rental subsidy became available across the county. What can the program accurately report?
- A. The program improved participants' housing stability.
- B. Participants' housing stability improved over the six months, and this design cannot separate the program's effect from other changes over the same period.
- C. The results show nothing useful.
Show answer — Question 35
Answer: B
The measurement is real and worth reporting. What is missing is anything that would rule out the other explanation the stem hands you — a county-wide subsidy that arrived during the same window and could produce the same movement. This design cannot isolate the program's contribution from the subsidy or other changes during the same period.
A states a causal claim the design cannot support. It overstates what could be put in an annual report or funding application.
C overcorrects. A before-and-after measure is weak evidence of causation and perfectly good evidence that something changed — which matters for monitoring, for raising questions, and for designing a better evaluation.
The point to carry: say what you observed, then say what the design can and cannot establish about why.
Source: CDC Program Evaluation Framework, 2024, MMWR Recomm Rep 2024;73(RR-6).
Question 36
Intervention and Practice · AG-036
Two employment programs ran during the same 12 months and count a "completion" the same way, using the same cost categories and accounting basis. Program A spent $24,000 and recorded 80 completions. Program B spent $18,000 and recorded 45 completions. Which statement is accurate?
- A. Program A's cost per completion is $300 and Program B's is $400, so A is lower on this measure.
- B. Program B is more efficient, because it spent less money.
- C. Program A is more effective, because it produced more completions.
- D. The two cannot be compared on cost per completion.
Show answer — Question 36
Answer: A
Program A: $24,000 ÷ 80 completions = $300 per completion. Program B: $18,000 ÷ 45 completions = $400 per completion.
A is lower on this one measure, and the stem gives you what you need to make the comparison legitimate: the same period, the same cost basis, and the same definition of a completion.
B compares total spending, which reflects how big each program is, not how efficiently it works.
C compares total completions, which again tracks size. Neither total tells you anything per unit.
D overlooks the comparable period, cost basis, and completion definition supplied in the stem. Those are checks to make before comparing cost per completion; differences may require adjustment or qualification.
One thing this does not show: cost per completion says nothing about whether completing either program left participants better off. A cheaper completion of a weaker program is still cheaper and still weaker.
Source: derived calculation from the figures in the stem; see the CDC Program Evaluation Framework, 2024 for the surrounding evaluation practice. The program figures are illustrative teaching values, not real program data.
Question 37
Intervention and Practice · AG-037
A program surveys participants about their satisfaction. The survey is sent only to people who completed the program, and only some of them respond. Respondents rate their satisfaction highly. What should the report say?
- A. Participants were highly satisfied with the program.
- B. Satisfaction results are invalid and should not be reported.
- C. Completers who responded reported high satisfaction; the survey does not capture nonrespondents or people who left before completing.
Show answer — Question 37
Answer: C
The respondents define what this finding directly describes. People who left early were never asked, and some invited completers did not respond. Their views are unknown; the report cannot assume either that they agree with respondents or that they are less satisfied. Naming who answered is not a hedge; it is what the finding actually is.
A takes results from responding completers and describes them as all participants.
B throws away information about the respondents. The report can describe their ratings while making the limits clear.
One thing to avoid: do not treat an absent response as dissatisfaction. Early leavers were not asked; nonresponding completers were asked but did not answer.
The point to carry: report who was invited, who responded, and whose views the results do not capture.
Source: CDC Program Evaluation Framework, 2024, MMWR Recomm Rep 2024;73(RR-6).
Question 38
Intervention and Practice · AG-038
A supervisor has noticed that a caseworker's documentation is thorough some weeks and thin others. The supervisor is preparing for the annual performance review. What should the supervisor do?
- A. Describe the concern as a general impression and ask the caseworker to improve.
- B. Wait to see whether the pattern resolves on its own before raising it.
- C. Discuss specific documented examples against the standards the caseworker was given at the start of the year.
Show answer — Question 38
Answer: C
The Code asks that people responsible for evaluating others do so in a fair and considerate manner and on the basis of clearly stated criteria. Both halves matter. Specific examples make the feedback usable, and the previously stated criteria make it fair, because the caseworker knew what was expected while doing the work.
A gives the caseworker a verdict without the evidence, so there is nothing concrete to act on and no way to contest it.
B delays feedback the caseworker could use now without addressing the documented pattern.
The point to carry: performance feedback is measured against criteria the person already had, using examples they can check.
Question 39
Intervention and Practice · AG-039
An agency assigns a social work manager to supervise a program area they have no training or experience in. Which ethical standard does this MOST directly raise?
- A. Performance evaluation
- B. Supervision and consultation
- C. Client records
Show answer — Question 39
Answer: B
The Code's supervision standard says social workers providing supervision or consultation should have the necessary knowledge and skill to do it, and should do so only within their areas of knowledge and competence. That is precisely what the assignment puts in question.
A would come into play in how the manager evaluates staff, but the problem here arises before any evaluation happens.
C concerns documentation, which the stem does not raise.
The point to carry: competence applies to supervising, not only to practicing.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 3.01(a), Supervision and Consultation.
Question 40
Intervention and Practice · AG-040
An agency introduces a new intake procedure agency-wide. Four weeks later, error rates are high and staff are completing the steps inconsistently. Staff received a one-page memo and no training. A review finds the procedure workable but staff unclear about the new steps; no urgent service interruption needs to be contained. What should the program administrator do FIRST?
- A. Issue a corrected memo with clearer instructions.
- B. Pause the procedure and return to the previous process.
- C. Address the errors individually in each staff member's performance review.
- D. Arrange training on the procedure, set out what is expected, and follow up through supervision.
Show answer — Question 40
Answer: D
The Code places responsibility on administrators and supervisors to take reasonable steps to provide or arrange continuing education and staff development for the staff they are responsible for. The stem tells you the training never happened, and the review identifies misunderstanding of the new steps rather than a defective procedure.
A repeats the method that already failed. A memo did not teach the procedure the first time.
C treats the documented training gap as an individual performance issue without addressing it. Staff need instruction and follow-up on the new procedure, not only an entry in a later review.
B may occasionally be right if the procedure itself is unworkable, but nothing here suggests that. The evidence points to how it was introduced.
The point to carry: when an error pattern appears across a whole staff group right after a change, look at the rollout before looking at the people.
Source: NASW Code of Ethics 3.08, Continuing Education and Staff Development.
Check your work and pick what to study next
Count your first-attempt correct answers overall and by content area. Fourteen questions sit in Values and Ethics, 13 in Assessment and Planning, and 13 in Intervention and Practice. Keep questions whose answers you opened before answering out of your first-attempt score; mark them as viewed without scoring.
What this result is: how you did on these 40 questions. It is not an ASWB scaled score, not a passing prediction, and not a measure of how ready you are. On the real exam, results are reported pass or fail, and the number of correct answers needed shifts slightly between versions of the test because ASWB adjusts for small differences in difficulty. There is no single raw passing count that applies to every exam form. ASWB explains scoring in its Examination Guidebook.
For a partial attempt, divide correct first answers by questions answered before opening their explanations. For example, 6 correct out of 10 answered is 60% of answered questions, with 10 of 40 scored — not 60% of the whole set. With no scored answers, there is no percentage to report.
A practical way to review your answers:
- Open each question you missed and consider three possible reasons. Did you not know the underlying standard or concept? Did you know it but miss a detail in the stem — a qualifier, a fact that ruled something out, a phrase like "no legal mandate"? Or did you answer a different question from the one asked?
- Match your next step to the error. Gaps in knowledge send you to the source link. For missed details, reread the stem slowly and identify the fact that changes the answer. For answering a different question, restate what the stem asks before comparing options.
- Pick the one or two topics where you missed most, study those, and come back to this set later rather than immediately. On a repeat attempt, explain why the alternatives do not fit rather than relying on memory of the answer letter.
If you took the exam on or after August 3, 2026 and did not pass, your unofficial score report uses these three content areas. Compare the topics you missed here with that report as one input to your study priorities. A report from an earlier exam uses the older outline; do not match its area labels directly to this set. Small samples of 13 or 14 questions cannot precisely rank your strengths or weaknesses.
What this set covers, and how it compares to the exam
The questions cover ethics, assessment and planning, and intervention and practice, including community work, program evaluation, supervision, and administration alongside direct-service decisions.
| Feature | This practice set | The ASWB Advanced Generalist exam |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 40 original, unofficial questions | 122 total: 110 scored, 12 unscored pretest |
| Structure | One continuous set | Two sections of 61 questions |
| Timing | Untimed | Four hours |
| Answer choices | Three or four, one best answer | A mixture of three- and four-option questions |
| Explanations | Available for every question | Not provided; results are pass or fail |
| Result | Correct answers within this set | An official result that this set does not predict or convert to |
Exam facts above come from ASWB's exam page and the 2026 ASWB Examination Guidebook.
Scope, plainly. This is a 40-question practice set, not a full-length simulation, and not exhaustive coverage of the outline. It samples across all three content areas. The 14 / 13 / 13 split is our allocation for a set this size. It approximates, rather than exactly reproduces, the current Advanced Generalist weights:
| Content area | ASWB exam weight | Questions here | Share of this set |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Values and Ethics | 35% | 14 | 35% |
| II. Assessment and Planning | 33% | 13 | 32.5% |
| III. Intervention and Practice | 32% | 13 | 32.5% |
Official weights: 2026 ASWB Examination Guidebook, Advanced Generalist content outline. Practice shares are calculated as questions in the area ÷ 40 × 100; they are not a scoring formula for the official exam.
This set emphasizes ethical decisions, case management, coordination, evaluation, and supervision. It does not test every knowledge statement, including the full range of development, disorders, medications, and intervention approaches on the outline. For that complete scope, download the free Examination Guidebook and go to the Advanced Generalist section.
How the exam actually runs on test day
This is worth knowing in advance, because it changes how you pace yourself.
- The exam is 122 questions: 110 scored and 12 unscored pretest items, mixed in and not identifiable.
- It runs as two sections of 61 questions, and each section has its own two-hour limit.
- Once you submit a section, you cannot go back to it. Within a section you can skip, flag for review, highlight, strike through options, and change answers.
- Between the sections there is one optional scheduled break of up to 10 minutes, and the exam clock stops during it. If you take longer than 10 minutes, the extra time comes out of your exam time.
- You can take unscheduled breaks at any time, but the clock keeps running.
- The total limit is four hours. The software tutorial at the start is not counted against it.
Source: 2026 ASWB Examination Guidebook (August 2026 edition), exam format and breaks.
Advanced Generalist is not the Clinical exam
Two things get confused here, and they are separate.
Which exam you take is decided for you. Your state board's rules determine which exam category you may take; some jurisdictions use ASWB Licensing Services for exam preapproval. Your degree concentration, your job title, and the abbreviation of the license you are working toward do not settle it. If you are unsure which category you have been approved for, that question goes to your board, not to a prep site. ASWB sets out the sequence — exam approval, then registration with ASWB, then scheduling with Pearson — on its getting ready for the exam pages.
What the exam contains is different too. ASWB describes the Advanced Generalist category as advanced generalist practice that occurs in nonclinical settings and may include macro-level practice, and sets eligibility at an MSW plus two years of experience — or jurisdiction-defined commensurate experience — in nonclinical settings. Supervision, administration, programme evaluation, community work, and policy sit alongside assessment and direct-service judgment. The outline also includes disorders, medication knowledge, evidence-based interventions, and family therapy approaches. “Nonclinical” does not mean those subjects are absent. The Guidebook's category table and Advanced Generalist outline establish those distinctions; your board controls your actual eligibility and scope of practice.
The categories have overlapping subjects, but their outlines are not interchangeable. Match your preparation to the Advanced Generalist outline rather than assuming either that all Clinical material fits or that none of it can help.
This page is written for United States candidates approved for the Advanced Generalist category.
Is there an official Advanced Generalist practice test?
No. ASWB states plainly that there is no online practice test for the Advanced Generalist exam. The other categories' online tests are not an Advanced Generalist-specific practice exam.
What ASWB does publish free for Advanced Generalist candidates is the Examination Guidebook, which contains the full content outlines for every exam category including this one, reference lists, sample questions, and a study plan template. At the end of the Advanced Generalist section, ASWB specifically directs candidates to the Masters and Clinical sections for similar sample questions. Those free samples can help with question format; they are not a separate Advanced Generalist practice exam. If you read nothing else official, read the Advanced Generalist section of that document.
Another category's complete test is not a substitute for covering the Advanced Generalist outline.
What the Advanced Generalist pass rate does and doesn't tell you
ASWB publishes annual pass rates for first-time test-takers. For 2025:
| Exam | First-time exams administered in 2025 | 2025 first-time pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Associate | 407 | 71.5% |
| Bachelors | 2,741 | 70.4% |
| Masters | 20,636 | 73.9% |
| Advanced Generalist | 117 | 65.0% |
| Clinical | 26,439 | 75.7% |
Two limits belong right next to that number, and they are easy to miss.
The sample is small. ASWB's own note on that page says pass rates are most representative for groups of more than 200 candidates. With 117 exams, the Advanced Generalist figure sits below the threshold its publisher sets. The percentage is rounded; do not use it to reconstruct an exact number of passes or predict an individual result.
It describes a different exam. Every 2025 administration ran under the previous blueprint. The current exam started on August 3, 2026. This 2025 summary does not describe outcomes on the current blueprint.
Source: ASWB exam pass rates.
If you have to retake the exam
You must wait 90 days before your next testing appointment. If your score was within 10 correct answers of passing and your jurisdiction allows it, you can request a waiver of that waiting period, no sooner than 24 hours after you tested. ASWB limits use to two waivers in twelve months for one exam category; a request is not an automatic approval. You register and pay the fee again — US$260 for Advanced Generalist. Some boards limit how many times you can retake, so check with yours.
Your unofficial score report from a failed attempt shows how many questions you answered correctly in each content area. That breakdown is a useful starting point because it is based on your actual attempt; use the outline that applied on that test date when interpreting it. ASWB's waiver instructions explain the request process and jurisdiction limits. If you request a waiver, wait for its decision before registering again, as directed in ASWB's retake instructions.
Source: 2026 ASWB Examination Guidebook, exam scoring and retake sections.
Sources and verification
Exam format, Advanced Generalist content-area weights, official online practice-test availability, fees, retake rules, and the published 2025 pass-rate table last verified September 14, 2026, against the ASWB sources listed below.
The 40 questions here are original and unofficial. We wrote them to ASWB's published content areas for the Advanced Generalist exam; the outline establishes which subjects belong on the exam, and each explanation cites the professional standard or evaluation source that supports the answer itself. These are teaching scenarios, not reproduced official sample questions or live or recalled exam material. AI assistance was used in developing and auditing the text and practice content, as described in our editorial methodology. Source checking is not qualified professional review; this set does not carry a professional-review credit. Use it for exam study, not as instructions for a particular client's care or a determination of legal duties.
Official exam sources
- ASWB — Exam — current format, content areas, registration fees
- ASWB — Examination Guidebook and the 2026 Guidebook PDF — exam categories, section structure, breaks, scoring, retakes, content outlines
- ASWB — Online Practice Test — availability by exam category
- ASWB — Exam pass rates — 2025 first-time pass rates and representativeness note
- ASWB — Content outlines — how content areas, competencies, and applied knowledge statements fit together
- ASWB — 2026 blueprint announcement — values and ethics weighted highest across categories
- ASWB — Getting ready for the exam — board approval, registration, and scheduling
Sources used in the answer explanations
- NASW Code of Ethics (2021 revision) — sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, cited by standard in each explanation
- SAMHSA TIP 35, Chapter 3, Asking Open Questions (2019) — the open-question principle used in Question 21
- NASW Standards for Social Work Case Management (2013) — Standards 5, 6, 7, and 8
- CDC Program Evaluation Framework, 2024 — MMWR Recomm Rep 2024;73(RR-6)
Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team
Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Association of Social Work Boards. These original practice questions are unofficial. Exam and credential names identify the subjects discussed; trademarks belong to their respective owners. This resource does not guarantee a score, passing, licensure, or employment. For questions about your eligibility, your exam category, or your application, contact your state social work board.