NCE Core Counseling Attributes Practice Questions
Core Counseling Attributes makes up 4 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest NCE practice test. Here are 10 of the 16 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the NBCC NCE content outline, the ACA Code of Ethics (2014) and the DSM-5-TR. Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with NBCC.
1. On Carkhuff's five-level scale, an empathic response that captures the client's feeling and meaning without adding or losing anything is level:
- A.5
- B.3
- C.1
- D.2
Answer: B. Level 3 is the interchangeable response, the minimum facilitative level. Levels 1 and 2 subtract from what the client said, and levels 4 and 5 add deeper meaning.
2. A counselor accepts a client fully as a person while disagreeing with his choices. This reflects:
- A.Countertransference
- B.Defensive professional neutrality
- C.Conditional acceptance
- D.Unconditional positive regard
Answer: D. Unconditional positive regard is warm acceptance of the client as a person without conditions of worth, which is not the same as approving of every behavior.
3. Accurate empathy is best described as:
- A.Sensing the client's world as if yours
- B.Agreeing with what the client says
- C.Feeling sorry for the client
- D.Sharing a similar life experience of your own
Answer: A. Rogers described empathy as sensing the client's private world as if it were your own, without losing the as if quality. Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone.
4. A client says, "I'm so tired of trying and getting nowhere." Which response shows the most empathy?
- A."Have you tried a new approach?"
- B."You shouldn't give up so easily."
- C."You feel worn out and discouraged."
- D."Everyone feels that way sometimes."
Answer: C. An empathic response reflects the client's feeling and meaning. Reassurance, advice and judgment move away from the client's experience.
5. A counselor feels irritated by a client who reminds her of her critical father. This is an example of:
- A.Projection by the client
- B.Resistance
- C.Countertransference
- D.Transference
Answer: C. Countertransference is the counselor's emotional reaction to a client shaped by the counselor's own history. Transference is the client's reaction to the counselor.
6. What should a counselor do when she notices strong countertransference toward a client?
- A.Seek supervision and reflect
- B.Ignore it and carry on
- C.End counseling right away
- D.Tell the client about her father
Answer: A. Self-awareness and supervision help the counselor understand the reaction and keep it from affecting the work. Disclosing it to the client is rarely helpful.
7. A counselor openly invites a client to talk about how race may affect their counseling relationship. This is called:
- A.Reframing
- B.Blocking
- C.Linking
- D.Broaching
Answer: D. Broaching means intentionally raising race, ethnicity and culture as factors in the client's concerns or the counseling relationship.
8. The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies begin with which quadrant?
- A.Diagnostic accuracy and coding
- B.Counselor self-awareness
- C.Client advocacy
- D.Research methods
Answer: B. The competencies move from counselor self-awareness to client worldview, the counseling relationship and counseling and advocacy interventions.
9. A counselor says she is colorblind and treats every client exactly the same. Why can this be a problem?
- A.It is required by ethics codes
- B.It ignores how culture shapes clients
- C.It is the ideal multicultural stance
- D.It builds rapport faster
Answer: B. A colorblind stance overlooks how race and culture shape clients' experiences, including discrimination, and can leave clients feeling unseen.
10. A counselor asks a client to teach her what family duty means in his culture and notes her own assumptions as she listens. This reflects:
- A.A colorblind stance
- B.Cultural matching
- C.Cultural encapsulation
- D.Cultural humility
Answer: D. Cultural humility is a lifelong stance of self-examination, openness to the client's expertise on their own culture and attention to power differences. Cultural encapsulation is judging everyone by the counselor's own cultural norms.
Practice all 16 core counseling attributes questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free NCE training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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