Free NBCC NCE-ABE Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 2

In the Research and Program Evaluation core area, CACREP includes knowledge of qualitative research methods, including ethnography.

Ethnography is a qualitative approach in which the researcher studies a culture-sharing group (e.g., a community, organization, or subgroup) over time, focusing on patterns of group behavior, interactions, beliefs, and meanings in their natural context.

The emphasis is on understanding how groups function and behave, often through participant observation and in-depth immersion.

Storytelling (B) and critical tales (C) can be narrative products of qualitative work, and hermeneutic design (D) refers more broadly to interpretive approaches. But ethnography is most centrally concerned with the systematic study of group behavior and culture, making A the correct choice.

UESTION NO: 187 [Career Development]

What is true about group career counseling?

A. It works best if all members are interested in the same career path.

B. It allows members to learn and support each other's career exploration.

C. It should be focused on overcoming the storming phase.

D. It should be based on individual assessments.

Answer: B

Within the Career Development core area, group career counseling is recognized as an effective method because it promotes peer learning, mutual support, and normalization of career concerns. Members share information, experiences, and perspectives, which can broaden each person’s understanding of options and strategies. This is exactly what option B describes—group members learning from and supporting one another’s exploration.

Option A is incorrect because groups do not need to share the same career goal; diversity of interests can enrich the group process.

Option C confuses general group development stages with the purpose of career groups; storming is not the focus of career counseling.

Option D overemphasizes individual assessment; while individual data can be included, group career counseling is not “based on” individual assessment alone, but on shared exploration and interaction.

Within the Group Counseling and Group Work core area, counselor training emphasizes that the group leader has primary responsibility for establishing and facilitating the group process, particularly in the early stages. In existentially oriented groups, the leader:

Actively models authentic, present-centered interaction.

Invites and structures here-and-now dialogue between members.

Encourages members to move from speaking to the leader to speaking to one another.

Although an eventual goal is for members to assume more ownership of the interaction, the initial responsibility for fostering intermember interactions rests with the leader, who intentionally shapes a climate that supports genuine encounter, openness, and exploration of meaning.

Option A (group members alone) minimizes the leader’s intentional facilitating role.

Option C (group members and leader) is partially true in practice, but exam content and theory place primary responsibility on the leader to initiate and sustain interaction patterns.

Option D (leader and strongest group members) is inconsistent with group counseling principles, which avoid privileging “strongest” members and instead promote shared participation.

Therefore, based on group leadership roles taught under the CACREP core area, the best answer is B. The group leader.

In the Group Counseling and Group Work core area, CACREP-based training and the NCE require familiarity with stages of group development (often described similarly to forming, storming, norming, performing):

Stage I (Initial/Forming/Orientation):

Members are cautious, tentative, and dependent.

They often ask many questions of the leader.

The group may be quiet or withdrawn as members test safety and structure.(These correspond to options B, C, and D.)

Stage II (Transition/Storming/Conflict):

Characterized by anxiety, resistance, and control issues.

Members may challenge the leader or one another.

Open disagreement, power struggles, and expressions of frustration are common.

Therefore, the clearest indicator that the group is in Stage II is when members openly express disagreement with the leader, reflecting conflict and challenge—hallmarks of the transition/storming stage.

Thus, A is correct.

In the Human Growth and Development core area, CACREP includes understanding theories of human needs, such as Maslow’s hierarchy. According to this framework:

When individuals are under significant financial stress, their basic needs (e.g., housing, food, safety, security) are threatened.

Under such conditions, people are more likely to be preoccupied with survival-level concerns (physiological and safety needs) than with higher-order needs such as development, self-exploration, or complex interpersonal growth.

Options A, B, and C refer to important but higher-level needs relative to basic survival and security. In the presence of acute financial stress, clients understandably prioritize D. Survival needs.

Within the CACREP core area Counseling and Helping Relationships, counselors are expected to understand major counseling theories, including cognitive-behavioral approaches. Cognitive-behavioral counseling is based on the assumption that thoughts and behaviors are learned and therefore can be changed through structured interventions. It is:

Problem-focused and goal-oriented

Time-limited and highly structured

Emphasizes specific techniques that directly target the client’s presenting issue

This matches the description in the question: the counselor believes (1) most thoughts and behaviors are learned and changeable, and (2) specific procedures can be designed to help solve a particular problem.

Existential counseling (B) focuses on meaning, freedom, choice, and responsibility, not mainly on learned behaviors and structured techniques.

Person-centered counseling (C) emphasizes unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence, with a non-directive stance rather than specifically designed problem-solving procedures.

Trait-and-factor counseling (D) is associated with career counseling, focusing on matching traits to occupational factors, not on changing learned thoughts and behaviors.

Thus, the orientation described is cognitive behavioral counseling (A).

Within the Assessment and Testing core area, counselors are expected to know the basic diagnostic classification of common disorders, including ADHD, as described in widely used diagnostic systems. ADHD is described as having three primary presentations:

Predominantly inattentive

Predominantly hyperactive/impulsive

Combined presentation

The inattentive presentation is characterized by symptoms such as difficulty sustaining attention, being easily distracted, forgetfulness, and problems with organization. “Aggressive,” “disorganized,” and “interpersonal” are not formal diagnostic presentations of ADHD. Therefore, the correct answer is C. Inattentive.

In the Human Growth and Development core area, CACREP emphasizes understanding typical and atypical development across the lifespan, including cognitive changes in later adulthood.

Research summarized in NCE-aligned materials shows that:

Some aspects of cognitive functioning (such as processing speed and some problem-solving tasks) may decline with age.

Other aspects, particularly crystallized abilities (like vocabulary and accumulated knowledge), are relatively stable.

Regular use of cognitive skills—such as reading, problem-solving, learning new activities, and staying mentally engaged—is associated with better preservation of intellectual functioning and reduced risk or slower onset of decline.

Option A overstates decline and implies that older adults have broadly reduced learning capacity, which is not accurate. Option B incorrectly suggests no change at all in intellectual functioning. Option C is conceptually incorrect.

Option D reflects the widely referenced “use it or lose it” pattern, which is consistent with CACREP-based lifespan development content: staying mentally active can decrease the likelihood or speed of intellectual decline.

Thus, the best answer in line with Human Growth and Development principles for the NCE is D.

In the Group Counseling and Group Work core area, CACREP describes typical stages of group development (initial, transition, working, termination). The working stage (often called Stage III):

Is characterized by greater cohesion, trust, and openness,

Members assume more responsibility for the work of the group,

The leader shifts from high structure to a less directive, more facilitative role.

Because the group is more mature and self-directing in Stage III, the leader usually provides less overt intervention (Option A), while still monitoring process and safety.

Resistance (B) is often highest in earlier or transition stages; in the working stage it is present but more manageable.

Conflict resolution (C) certainly can occur, but conflict is often addressed more effectively by members themselves at this point.

Self-disclosure (D) typically increases, not decreases, in the working stage.

Thus, the most accurate distinction is A. Less leader intervention.

In Human Growth and Development, especially in Adlerian and psychodynamic theory content, counselors learn that:

Compensation is a coping mechanism in which a person attempts to counterbalance perceived weaknesses or feelings of inferiority by emphasizing strengths in other areas.This directly matches the description of coping with feelings of inferiority and inadequacy, so A is correct.

The other terms reflect different mechanisms:

Displacement (B): redirecting emotions from a threatening target to a safer one.

Reaction formation (C): expressing the opposite of one’s true feelings.

Regression (D): reverting to earlier, more childlike behaviors under stress.

Therefore, the mechanism that best describes coping with feelings of inferiority is compensation.

The Social and Cultural Diversity core area emphasizes understanding of acculturation, cultural identity development, and multicultural concepts. Within common acculturation and identity frameworks used on the NCE:

Acculturation (A) is a broad term for the overall process of adapting to a new culture; it does not, by itself, specify whether individuals maintain their original culture, adopt the new one, or both.

Biculturalism (B) describes people who identify with and competently navigate two cultures, maintaining their original culture while also actively participating in and identifying with the new/dominant culture.

Marginalization (C) occurs when individuals do not strongly identify with either the original or the new culture.

Separation (D) refers to maintaining strong identification with the original culture while rejecting or minimizing identification with the new culture.

The question specifically describes identifying with both the original and the new culture. This is the definition of biculturalism, making B the correct answer.

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