The ASWB Advanced Generalist exam
For non-clinical practice, often macro-level, after an MSW and two years of supervised experience.
Commonly leads to LISW, LMSW-AP, LCSW (non-clinical track) — though the title varies by jurisdiction. Check yours.
What this exam actually weights
- I. Values and Ethics35%
- II. Assessment and Planning33%
- III. Intervention and Practice32%
How many pass it first time
65%
Of the 117 people who sat the Advanced Generalist exam for the first time in 2025 across all ASWB member jurisdictions.
Treat that number carefully. ASWB itself says pass rates are “most representative for groups of more than 200 candidates”, and only 117 people sat this exam in 2025. It is the smallest cohort of the five by a wide margin, so a handful of results moves it several points. It tells you far less than the Clinical or Masters figures tell you about those exams.
Source: ASWB exam pass rates, last verified August 16, 2026. We publish no pass rate of our own — no preparation provider can honestly claim one.
What we cover for it
- 115
- applied knowledge statements, each a written lesson
- 2,051
- practice questions, each with a full rationale
- 12
- full-length mocks, with no question repeated across any two
Scoped to this exam. Of the 124 applied knowledge statements across all four content outlines, 115 are on the Advanced Generalist exam — the rest are not shown to you and are not counted against you.
ASWB sells an official practice test for some categories. It does not offer one for Advanced Generalist. If you are sitting this exam, there is no official practice test available to you — which is worth knowing before you go looking for one.
A question from this exam
From Ethical Principles and Responsibilities, which you can read in full without an account.
An ethical dilemma exists when:
- Aa course of action is clearly right but hard to carry out
- Btwo ethical duties apply and honouring one breaches another
- Ca client's choice sits uncomfortably with the worker's values
Where this exam is required
States whose license rules we have read on their own board’s site. We are working through the rest and will not list a state until we have checked it.
The format
The same for every category: 122 questions, of which 110 are scored and 12 are unscored pretest items, in 2 sections of 61 with 240 minutes in total. More on how the exam works.
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