Not Letting One Point, Or One Test Define Me
Thursday, January 30, 2025
My name is Allison Studer and currently I am a limited licensed social worker, practicing social work at a clinical level. Currently, I work in Community Mental Health as an outpatient therapist and previously worked as a case manager for several years. To get to this point in my career, I completed a bachelor's degree in social work (with a minor in psychology) from Cornerstone University in 2018 and a master’s degree in social work from Grand Valley State University in 2019. At Grand Valley State University, I graduated Phi Alpha Chi and received all three social work scholarships that GVSU offered.
In fall of 2020, I was almost finished completing my 4,000 supervised hours for my clinical license, knowing that taking and passing the clinical licensing exam was the only step I still needed to complete to become fully licensed in the state of Michigan. To prepare for this, I planned out a study plan, utilizing the popular Dawn Apgar social work ASWB clinical exam study guide, among other study materials that my work recommended and provided for me. I followed my study plan very diligently, and on the day of my exam I did not pass by one point. You can imagine the frustration I had of only missing a passing score by one point and wishing there was anything I could do to go back and answer one more question correctly.
My wonderful support system of friends, family and coworkers reminded me that I am more than just one point score on a standardized test, and this did not reflect my abilities as a social worker, with the work I had done and was still passionate about doing.
I knew the ASWB exam was the final roadblock in my way of becoming fully licensed, so I got back up and re-registered for my exam and started studying again. I knew I had already put in hours of hard work studying before and felt confident I would pass the second time. I took the next 90 days, as this is how long you must wait to take the exam again, to study thoroughly. When testing day arrived, I put in all of my effort at my next best attempt. This time, it was by six points that I did not pass. Again, the feeling of disappointment started to overcome me. Knowing it was a few more points but still not far off, I felt discouraged. I again had coworkers, friends, family, and my supervisor remind me, one test does not define me as a social worker. My supervisor assured me that nothing was going to change at work in my position and that my experience at work was helping me grow as a professional. This was all very encouraging, but I knew no matter how many kind words people gave me, I still would have to defeat this test and pass it at some point.
Over the next few years, I started reviewing my different study tactics and took some different approaches to prepare. I utilized flash cards, rewriting the study book for an organization that fit my mind and going over how the test questions were worded. I studied with coworkers who also were working on passing their exam (who also put in diligent amounts of studying and time and did not pass) and worked with my supervisor to review test questions. I utilized different study videos of Philip Luttrel for helping to break down the questions and took multiple practice exams- including the practice exam purchased through the ASWB (and passed this exam by multiple points). I mimicked a testing room at work- utilizing a scheduled time during the workday in a conference room to take the ASWB practice exam to try and work through testing anxiety. All of this work put in through the past five years and seven tests later and I still cannot pass the exam. It has never been more than 10 points that I miss the passing score.
There has never been a large number of points that I have missed so I know that I am not missing a large section of content in my studying. I thought, maybe one of the large contributing factors to not passing my exam again was the anxiety it brought me, so I have worked with my own personal counselor on my anxiety related to the test. I have even had approved accommodations for my anxiety, with time extensions and a private testing room. I have also been testing long enough that I have been to multiple locations and have used Pearson testing and now PSI. In my last attempt at PSI, I thought that the new testing center would help me with anxiety as it would feel like a fresh start. I did not tell anyone other than my fiancé and supervisor I was taking the exam that day, to reduce pressure that I could have felt from others knowing I was taking the exam and not having good news to share after my exam. Still, none of these tactics worked.
Every day as a social worker I have worked to reduce barriers for my clients by helping them become empowered. It should not be one test score, or for me, one point that is the barrier to becoming fully licensed in Michigan. Removing the ASWB exam requirement is one important step we could take to help current and future social workers do what we love. The ASWB exam is a barrier for social workers like me who are passionate about helping others and have proven this already with the amount of education and dedication they have shown in completing 4,000 hours of supervised work.
I am here to advocate and speak for the other social workers who live in the same shoes as I do, in having the licensing exam be THE barrier to doing what they love - work that betters our communities and empowers and uplifts others.
I strongly encourage our legislators and community partners to actively support social work licensure reform efforts, and I look forward to seeing legislation reintroduced in 2025!
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