10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
The NCC exam has 200 questions and runs 3 hours 45 minutes.
These 10 free NCC questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the National Certified Counselor blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
During a session, a client states with clear intent and specific detail that he plans to seriously harm his former business partner, whom he names. Which action should the counselor take FIRST?
Correct answer: B - Assess the client's intent, plan, and available means
Which statement BEST distinguishes privileged communication from confidentiality?
Correct answer: D - Privilege is a legal right held by the client; confidentiality is the counselor's ethical duty
A counselor believes that working with a client's same-sex relationship concerns conflicts with the counselor's personal religious values, and asks to transfer the client to a colleague. According to the ACA Code of Ethics, this referral is:
Correct answer: C - Inappropriate; referral based solely on personally held values is prohibited
A newly developed anxiety scale reports a test-retest coefficient of .91 but correlates only .06 with a well-established measure of anxiety. Which conclusion is MOST warranted?
Correct answer: A - The scale measures something consistently, but not the construct it claims
A client's score on a standardized inventory converts to a T-score of 30. This score is equivalent to:
Correct answer: A - A z-score of −2.0, at approximately the 2nd percentile
A client presents with a period of abnormally elevated mood and increased energy. Which feature, if present, would require the episode to be classified as manic rather than hypomanic?
Correct answer: D - The presence of psychotic features during the episode
During an intake, a client provides excessive and unnecessary detail and wanders into unrelated topics, but consistently returns to and completes the original point. This is BEST documented as:
Correct answer: B - Circumstantial thought process
A 19-year-old states she is majoring in accounting because her parents own an accounting firm and always assumed she would join them. She reports never having seriously considered other options and feels settled in the decision. According to Marcia, this BEST reflects:
Correct answer: C - Identity foreclosure
A client lost her job unexpectedly and, while volunteering to stay occupied, met someone who connected her to a field she had never considered. Her counselor frames remaining curious, flexible, and open to unplanned events as a skill the client can deliberately cultivate. This approach is grounded in:
Correct answer: D - Krumboltz's planned happenstance theory
A client says, "I can see my drinking is starting to cost me. Part of me wants to cut back, and part of me thinks it's the only thing keeping me sane. I'm not ready to do anything about it yet." This BEST reflects which stage of change?
Correct answer: B - Contemplation
The NCC exam also covers these domains. Drill them in the full free practice test:
The full bank has 1,020 more NCC questions with explanations.
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