If you need help studying for the National Counselor Exam (NCE) exam or just want some more information about what the exam is like, you’ve come to the right place.
Click below to take a free NCE practice test!
What’s on the NCE?
First, let’s talk about the questions on the exam. There are 200 multiple-choice questions total, but only 160 of the questions will count toward your score. Why is that?
The 40 unscored questions on the NCE are called “pretest” questions. These are added to the exam to determine if they’re good enough questions to add to future versions of the test.
The trick is that you won’t have any way of knowing which questions are scored and which ones are pretest. They will appear just like the scored questions throughout the test.
The time limit for the exam is 3 hours and 45 minutes, and you’ll get a 15-minute break after question #100.
Let’s take a closer look at the different sections of the NCE exam.
1. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND ETHICS
19 scored questions
- Practice legal and ethical counseling
- Obtain informed consent
- Discuss client’s rights and responsibilities
- Discuss limits of confidentiality
- Assess your (the counselor) competency to work with a specific client
- Explain counseling processes, procedures, risks, and benefits
- Monitor the therapeutic relationship and build trust as needed
- Seek supervision/consultation
- Provide referral sources if counseling services are inadequate/ inappropriate
- Assess competency to provide informed consent
- Clarify counselor–client roles
- Awareness and practice of self-care
2. INTAKE, ASSESSMENT, AND DIAGNOSIS
19 scored questions
- Conduct an initial interview
- Conduct a biopsychosocial interview
- Conduct a diagnostic interview
- Assess the presenting problem and level of distress
- Perform a Mental Status Exam (MSE)
- Assess for trauma
- Assess substance use
- Conduct ongoing assessment for at-risk behaviors
- Evaluate an individual’s level of mental health functioning
- Determine diagnosis
- Evaluate counseling effectiveness
- Determine level of care needed
3. AREAS OF CLINICAL FOCUS
47 scored questions
- Hopelessness/depression
- Worry and anxiety
- Substance use/addiction issues
- Suicidal thoughts/behaviors
- Physical/emotional issues related to trauma
- Stress management
- Grief/loss
- Adjustment related to physical loss/injury/medical condition
- End-of-life issues
- Fear and panic
- Bullying
- Interpersonal partner violence concerns
- Dating/relationship problems
- Family abuse/violence
- Racism/discrimination/oppression
- Loneliness/attachment
- Occupational and career development
- Emotional dysregulation
4. TREATMENT PLANNING
14 scored questions
- Collaborate with client to establish treatment goals and objectives
- Establish short- and long-term counseling goals consistent with clients’ diagnoses
- Identify barriers affecting client goal attainment
- Identify strengths that improve the likelihood of goal attainment
- Guide treatment planning
- Review and revise the treatment plan
- Engage clients in review of progress toward treatment goals
- Refer to different levels of treatment
- Discuss with clients the integration and maintenance of therapeutic progress
- Collaborate with other providers and client support systems (documentation and report writing)
5. COUNSELING SKILLS AND INTERVENTIONS
48 scored questions
- Establish therapeutic alliance
- Facilitate trust and safety
- Implement individual counseling in relation to a plan of treatment
- Apply theory-based counseling intervention(s)
- Guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems
- Provide crisis intervention
- Facilitate empathic responses
- Address addiction issues
- Address cultural considerations
- Align intervention with client’s developmental level
- Help clients develop support systems
- Help facilitate clients’ motivation to make the changes they desire
- Build communication skills
- Develop conflict resolution strategies
- Provide psychoeducation for client
- Facilitate awareness of here-and-now interactions
- Improve interactional patterns
- Align intervention with counseling modality
6. CORE COUNSELING ATTRIBUTES
13 scored questions
- Awareness of self and impact on clients
- Genuineness
- Congruence
- Demonstrate knowledge of and sensitivity to gender orientation and gender issues
- Demonstrate knowledge of and sensitivity to multicultural issues
- Demonstrate conflict tolerance and resolution
- Empathic attunement
- Empathic responding
- Foster the emergence of group therapeutic factors
- Non-judgmental stance
- Positive regard
- Respect and acceptance for diversity
- Use foundational listening, attending, and reflecting skills
How to Register
To get started with the registration process, you’ll need to create a Credentialing Gateway account via NBCC’s website. From there, you can submit an application for the NCE.
Once your application is approved, you can pay the $275 exam fee and set up a testing appointment.
NCE Study Guide and Flashcards
Get practice questions, detailed study lessons, and complex subjects broken down into easily understandable concepts.
Exam Scores
The scoring process for the NCE is super simple: you get one point added to your score for every question you answer correctly. That’s all there is to it.
The trick is that each administration of the exam contains slightly different questions with varying levels of difficulty, which means the passing score varies slightly to ensure fairness.
Retaking the Exam
If you didn’t get a passing score on your first try, that’s okay! You can retake the test after a 30-day waiting period.
Online NCE Prep Course
If you want to be fully prepared, Mometrix offers an online NCE prep course. The course is designed to provide you with any and every resource you might want while studying. The NCE course includes:
- Review Lessons Covering Every Topic
- 1,650+ NCE Practice Questions
- More than 500 Digital Flashcards
- Over 30 Instructional Videos
- Money-back Guarantee
- Free Mobile Access
- and More!
The NCE prep course is designed to help any learner get everything they need to prepare for their NCE exam. Click below to check it out!
FAQs
How many questions are on the NCE?
The exam contains 200 multiple-choice questions.
What is the time limit for the NCE?
The exam is timed at 3 hours and 45 minutes.
What is the passing score for the NCE?
The passing score varies depending on which version of the exam is administered.
How much does the NCE cost?
The testing fee is $275.
