REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS

National Counselor Exam (NCE)

The Registry contracts with the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) to use its exam, the National Counselor Examination for Licensure and Certification (NCE).  The following is taken from NBCC's information about the NCE.

The purpose of the NCE is to assess knowledge, skills and abilities viewed as important for proving effective counseling services. The NCE is designed to be general in nature.  It is intended to assess cognitive knowledge which should be known by all counselors regardless of their individual professional specialties.

Content Areas and Work Behaviors

Although different questions are used for each administration of the examination, the following eight content areas are always covered:

n  Human Growth and Development

n  Social and Cultural Foundations

n  Helping Relationships

n  Group Work

n  Career and Lifestyle Development

n  Appraisal

n  Research and Program Evaluation

n  Professional Orientation & Ethics

In addition, the NCE is based on the following five work behaviors:

n  Fundamentals of Counseling

n  Assessment and Career Counseling

n  Group Counseling

n  Programmatic and Clinical Intervention

n  Professional Practice Issues

Examination Format

n  The NCE is comprised of 200 multiple choice questions and is scheduled for a four-hour period.  Responses are recorded on a separate machine-scorable answer  sheet.

Scoring Procedures

n  Of the 200 items on the examination, only 160  items are scored to determine whether you meet or surpass the minimum criterion (passing) score for that form of the NCE.

n  The maximum possible score on the NCE is 160

n  The remaining 40 items n the exam are being field tested to determine their appropriateness for future use.

n  Since the 160 items to be scored are not identified in the exam booklet, you should respond with equal effort to all items.

n  The minimum criterion (passing) score is derived from a modified Angoff procedure.

n  The NCE is not scored on a "curve," therefore the candidate pool does not  determine the passing score.

Examination Results

n  You can expect to receive our score reports approximately six weeks after the exam date (return to examination requirements).