Podcast episode 1: How license exams are like the TSA

Psychotherapy Notes podcastAs we announced last month, the first seven episodes of our Psychotherapy Notes podcast are now online. They’re interesting and short, by design. Much as I love to ramble on for hours (seriously, my students are all rolling their eyes and nodding in agreement right now), these episodes are short enough that you can listen to an entire episode during a 10 minute break between client sessions. For our first episode, we revisit a topic that has come up often here on the blog: License exams.

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Every excuse for California’s MFT Clinical Exam pass rate, debunked

California flagAt the August meeting of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, I had a tense exchange with representatives from the stateā€™s Office of Professional Examination Services about pass rates for the California MFT Clinical Exam. That pass rate has fallen off a cliff. For the first six months of the year, just 56% of those taking the test for the first time passed.

At the meeting, OPES presented about their exam development process, and argued that nothing meaningful had changed on their end. They and the BBS raised several hypotheses about both the current low pass rate and the drop in pass rate at the start of the year.

Over the past week, I investigated every one of the hypotheses offered. Not one of those hypotheses stands up to scrutiny.

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The Last 100 Hours, Part 3: The California Law and Ethics Exam

track-running-lanesThe California Law and Ethics Exam is a major source of anxiety for many people in the process of becoming a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I have heard colleagues repeatedly express anxiety about studying for the exam, the exam process itself, and even the process for receiving results. Iā€™ll address each of these areas below as it relates to my own experience with the exam. As someone who just went through the process myself, I can relate to some of these concerns.

Before I continue, a quick aside on sharing test experiences: Ben’s twoĀ posts (part 1 & part 2) on what can and can’t safely be shared from a licensing exam are worth checking out before you post your exam experience on Facebook or otherwise share it with the world, especially in writing.

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