NCE Intake, Assessment & Diagnosis Practice Questions
Intake, Assessment & Diagnosis makes up 6 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest NCE practice test. Here are 10 of the 24 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. During a mental status exam, a client knows her name, where she is and the date. This shows she is:
- A.Free of thought disorder
- B.Oriented times three
- C.Showing intact insight
- D.Showing good judgment
Answer: B. Orientation to person, place and time is often recorded as oriented x3. Insight and judgment are separate parts of the mental status exam.
2. In a mental status exam, a client's report that he feels empty is recorded as his:
- A.Thought content
- B.Perception
- C.Affect
- D.Mood
Answer: D. Mood is the client's own report of sustained emotion. Affect is what the counselor observes in expression, such as flat or tearful.
3. A client's speech jumps from topic to topic with loose links between ideas. This describes a problem with:
- A.Thought process
- B.Psychomotor activity
- C.Thought content
- D.Orientation
Answer: A. Thought process is how ideas connect, such as flight of ideas or loose associations. Thought content is what the client thinks about, such as delusions or obsessions.
4. A test given twice to the same group two weeks apart produces similar scores. This shows good:
- A.Split-half reliability
- B.Predictive validity evidence
- C.Test-retest reliability
- D.Content validity
Answer: C. Test-retest reliability is consistency of scores over time. Split-half reliability compares two halves of one administration.
5. A college entrance test's scores are compared with students' later grades. This checks the test's:
- A.Face validity
- B.Inter-rater reliability
- C.Predictive validity
- D.Concurrent validity
Answer: C. Predictive validity is a form of criterion validity in which test scores are compared with a criterion measured later. Concurrent validity uses a criterion measured at the same time.
6. A client's z-score on an anxiety scale is +1.0. About what percentile is this on a normal curve?
- A.84th
- B.50th
- C.95th
- D.68th
Answer: A. Half the scores fall below the mean and about 34% more fall between the mean and one standard deviation above it, so z = +1.0 sits near the 84th percentile.
7. A T-score of 70 on a clinical scale is how many standard deviations above the mean?
- A.Seven
- B.One
- C.Three
- D.Two
Answer: D. T-scores have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, so 70 is two standard deviations above the mean.
8. A client scores 85 on a test of intelligence with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Her score is:
- A.Exactly at the mean
- B.One SD below the mean
- C.Two SDs below the mean
- D.One SD above the mean
Answer: B. 85 is 15 points, one standard deviation, below a mean of 100. About 16% of people score at or below that point.
9. A counselor wants a brief screen for depression symptoms over the past two weeks in primary care. Which tool fits?
- A.Strong Interest Inventory
- B.PHQ-9
- C.GAD-7
- D.AUDIT
Answer: B. The PHQ-9 screens for depression using the nine DSM criteria over the last two weeks. The GAD-7 screens for anxiety and the AUDIT for alcohol use.
10. Which instrument is a broad measure of personality and psychopathology with validity scales?
- A.The Self-Directed Search
- B.The Bender-Gestalt test
- C.The Beck Depression Inventory
- D.The MMPI
Answer: D. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory assesses many clinical scales and includes validity scales that detect random or defensive responding.
Practice all 24 intake, assessment & diagnosis 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.
Start practicingFree to start. No account needed.