I had never taken the LCSW exam before. I refused to take it until I felt ready. For the past 2 years, I didn't feel ready since I had no time to study. With 4 kids, a spouse, and 2 jobs, I had no time to prepare for the exam.
I tried a few other study programs in the past, and even attended a workshop. It all overwhelmed me with the amount of material that I was expected to memorize. I think that these programs actually stopped me from studying because I thought "There is no way I can memorize all this material!". Most of those study programs have been sitting on my shelf for the past 2 years.
After a lot of consideration, started searching again for a program. I already had an idea which programs to avoid, so I had to dig deeper and find something I had not looked at. That's when I came across the Therapist Development Center. I emailed them, and I received an email back within the same day, and I was able to talk to someone about the program before I bought it. I thought, this is the one I need.
I loved the personal touch, the fact that TDC offers a coach was fantastic! My coach was able to calm a lot of my anxieties and encourage me in the areas that I needed to focus on for this exam.
The approach was amazing! TDC focused on prioritizing what you study, rather than memorizing everything you have learned through the MSW program. They did not stress memorization at all, and they made it clear that the focus was learning the material necessary, and not anymore.
The audios are outstanding! The audios walked me through questions and taught me how to reason through each question, learning how to deal with FIRST, NEXT, and BEST questions. The top 50 topics questions were very helpful, and gave a great understanding of the topics that may be on the test.
Not only are there audios with questions, there are audios that are basically lectures about important topics that are necessary to know, like ethics and the DSM. The thing is, these audios lectures are interesting, not boring, and examples are presented to help remember material.
The DSM lecture was my absolute favorite! I feel that I learned the DSM in 2 hours with their approach. This was so helpful on my exam, since there were many DSM questions on the exam.
The main difference between TDC and other companies is that TDC focuses your studying on the priorities for the LCSW Exam, and doesn't overwhelm you with material. TDC teaches you how to study effectively for the exam and provides a guide of what to study that is most commonly found on the exam. If you have only a short time to study for the test, this is the program to use.
TDC has audios that talk you though many test questions, reasoning through each of the answers, and explaining why the correct answer is correct. With the help of the audio, I was able to reason through the actual exam questions quite easily. Other prep test companies I have found do not provide audios that will also talk you through questions.
The best part is that memorizing material is at minimum, the goal is to actually learn, and it works! I learned so much from the program and I also use what I learned in the program on my job as a social worker.
If you are looking for an effective program to help you pass your LCSW exam, get this program, it will help you prioritize how to study for this exam. Try and avoid all those acronyms and the tons of content that other programs what you to memorize,and use this program. I believe it will serve you well.
Thanks TDC for all you do!