How this site checks facts and questions

The documents behind the facts

Each fact on an exam page is read from the exam owner's own material, and each table row shows a numbered source and its check date:

• NBCC: candidate handbooks for both its exams (state licensure and national certification routes), the content outlines, and the examination specifications that take effect on July 1, 2027.
• CCE: the CPCE candidate handbook, content outline and exam page.
• AMFTRB: the 2026 and 2027 candidate handbooks and the exam reference pages.
• CRCC: the certification and exam overview pages, the exam blueprint and the CRCC Code.
• State boards: board pages for each of the 51 jurisdictions, the national directory of state boards as a cross-check, and the Counseling Compact commission's news page for privilege dates.
• Ethics codes: the four codes used in this field (ACA, NBCC, AAMFT, CRCC), cited by section number and summarized in our own words.

Fees, counts and rules are kept in one data file per exam and per state; fix the file and every page that quotes it changes in the next build.

When sources disagree

Counseling exams change often, and the owners' pages do not always change together. What we did with the cases we found:

• The fee for both NBCC exams. The handbooks print no fee. The Virginia board lists $275 for either exam, and Florida's board lists $350 for a first NCMHCE attempt and $275 for a retake. The tables print the Virginia figure with its date and a note naming the source, and point you to your own board.
• The 2027 forms. The owner's FAQ tab still said "summer 2027" and gave no passing score; the examination specifications say July 1, 2027 and 360. We follow the specifications.
• Case-exam pass rates. None are published nationally. We print the Florida board's 2024 report and say it is one state and one year, and we leave out national figures that trace back to a third-party report.
• Ohio. Its exam rule changed on January 1, 2026, before the national directory caught up, so the board's notice wins.
• CPCE retakes. Both 30 and 90 days appear in the handbook; the wait depends on where you retest, and the card says so.
• The ACA Code. ACA is revising it but has adopted no new code, so the ethics page follows the 2014 numbering until it does.

How the practice questions are checked

Questions start from the item banks behind our study apps; the clinical cases were written for this site. Before a question is published it goes through two separate passes:

1. Editing. The key is checked against the current outline, the current code of ethics and DSM-5-TR; each answer option is explained on its own; and questions that test the same scenario and key on two exams are cut down to one.
2. Independent review. A second reviewer, who did not edit the item, answers it without the key, then fails it if it has a second defensible answer, an outdated fact, an option that gives itself away, or an explanation that disagrees with the key.

A failed question is fixed and reviewed again, or dropped. Each practice page shows the date it was last updated.

One topic, one page

Many subjects appear on several of these exams. To keep the explanations consistent, each one is written in one place and the other pages link to it: the ACA Code and its NBCC counterpart on counseling ethics, named theories on counseling theories, DSM-5-TR diagnosis and treatment planning on the NCMHCE pages, rehabilitation and disability law on the Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) pages, and family systems on the MFT pages.

What the site is not

• Not an exam owner's product. Owners sell their own preparation, for example an NCE study guide from the NBCC Foundation and practice exams from AMFTRB. Ours is separate and unendorsed.
• Not legal or licensing advice. Your state board decides what you need; our state table points to its rules.
• Not clinical guidance. Clinical content teaches exam reasoning, not care for a real client.

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