There is no single LSW exam. Licensed Social Worker is a title that 17 states use, and the exam behind it depends on the state: ASWB's Bachelors exam in some, its Masters exam in others, any level at all in Ohio, and in Illinois and Colorado, no ASWB exam anymore. Two people with the same three letters on their license can have passed different exams, or none.
So the first job is to find your state below. The second is to prepare for that exam, not for the title.
The LSW exam, state by state
This is every state that issues a license called LSW, from our state licensure pages, each read at the board's own source, with the changes since then checked on October 15, 2026:
| State | Degree | Exam for the LSW |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | MSW or doctorate | Masters ("the intermediate or higher level") |
| Indiana | Master's level (Indiana's bachelor's license is the LBSW) | Masters |
| New Jersey | MSW or doctorate | Masters |
| Pennsylvania | MSW | Masters |
| Massachusetts | BSW, or another bachelor's with supervised experience | Bachelors |
| Minnesota | BSW | Bachelors |
| Mississippi | Bachelor's level | Bachelors |
| Nevada | BSW | Bachelors |
| West Virginia | BSW | Bachelors |
| Ohio | Bachelor's, master's or doctorate in social work | Any ASWB level: Bachelors, Masters, Clinical or Advanced Generalist |
| Illinois | BSW with three years' supervised experience, or MSW | None since January 1, 2022 |
| Colorado | Master's level | None since August 7, 2024 |
| Oklahoma | MSW plus 3,000 supervised hours | Not an entry-level license; confirm the exam with the board |
| Arkansas | BSW | A board-approved exam; level not named in the rules we read |
| Kentucky | Bachelor's in social work or social welfare | "An examination approved by the board"; level not named |
| Maine | Bachelor's or higher in social work or social welfare | "The examination prescribed by the board"; level not named |
| Idaho | Bachelor's level | "The applicable Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) licensing examination for the license type"; Idaho's 2024 rules call this level the Licensed Bachelor Social Worker |
Massachusetts' answer comes from ASWB's own page for Massachusetts applicants, which processes applications for that board. For the last four rows, the law or rules we read require an exam without naming its level; where we quote, those are the rule's own words. In practice a bachelor's-level license points to the Bachelors exam, but your board's approval letter is the only answer that counts, so get it before you study.
Why the same title means different exams
ASWB's exam names have changed over the years: what is now the Masters exam was once called Intermediate. Hawaii's statute still asks for "the intermediate or higher level" exam, Indiana's instructions still say "Intermediate/Masters level examination", and New York's board notes the old name. Each state wrote its own titles into law at different times. The result is that LSW can mean a bachelor's license (Massachusetts, Minnesota), a master's license (New Jersey, Pennsylvania) or, in Oklahoma, a post-master's license with 3,000 supervised hours behind it, where the bachelor's license is called the LSWA.
Minnesota shows how far a single state can take it: four licenses, one for each ASWB exam level a US candidate can take. The LSW takes the Bachelors exam, the LGSW the Masters, the LISW the Advanced Generalist and the LICSW the Clinical. Kentucky goes the other way with names: its LSW is the bachelor's license and its Certified Social Worker, the CSW, is the master's one.
That is why the title on your future license is the wrong thing to plan around. Which ASWB exam do I need? shows the same problem across every title, LCSW and LISW included.
Two states dropped the exam
Illinois stopped requiring a licensing exam for the LSW on January 1, 2022. The state licensing department's own qualifications sheet says so directly: "Beginning January 1, 2022, no licensing examination is required for Illinois Licensed Social Worker (LSW) licensure. (PA 102-0326)." Before that, the ASWB Masters exam was used. Today you need either a BSW plus three years of supervised experience, or an MSW.
Illinois's clinical license is a different story. The LCSW still requires the ASWB Clinical exam, with one alternative: a candidate who has attempted the Clinical exam since January 1, 2019 can instead document 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience, on top of the 3,000 clinical hours, and from January 1, 2026 those hours must be completed while holding an LSW or a school social work license. It is a route for someone who has tried the exam, not a way around trying it.
Colorado removed the exam for its LSW on August 7, 2024, when SB24-115 took effect. The bill summary on the Colorado General Assembly's site says it "removes the requirement for an individual to take and pass" the board's masters examination for the licensed social worker license. Some prep company pages still tell Colorado candidates to book the Masters exam for the LSW. Check the date of anything you read, and check it against the bill. Colorado's LCSW still requires the ASWB Clinical exam.
LSW vs LCSW
In states that issue both, the LSW is usually the earlier license and the LCSW the clinical one:
- Pennsylvania and New Jersey: the LSW takes an MSW and the Masters exam; the LCSW follows supervised clinical experience and the Clinical exam.
- Indiana: the same pattern, Masters exam for the LSW, Clinical for the LCSW.
- Illinois: an LSW with no exam, then an LCSW with the Clinical exam or its alternative.
- Ohio has no LCSW. Its clinical license is the LISW, which needs the LSW and an MSW first, then 24 months and 3,000 hours of supervised experience. Since July 10, 2026, the board says, "an LISW can only be obtained by passing the ASWB Clinical Exam," after it discontinued the Advanced Generalist route.
LMSW vs LCSW covers the clinical step in more detail, including the hours each state asks for.
What an LSW lets you do
Scope is set state by state, and the rules we read draw the line in different places:
- Kentucky: an LSW "may engage in the practice of social work" but "shall not engage in the practice of clinical social work" (KRS 335.090, as amended with effect from July 15, 2026, so older summaries may describe the previous text).
- Ohio: an LSW must be supervised when diagnosing and treating mental and emotional disorders.
- Illinois: the department calls the LSW "the SUPERVISED PRACTICE level license," and the LCSW the independent practice level.
The pattern is consistent even where the wording is not: an LSW can do a great deal of social work, but clinical work, where it is allowed at all, happens under someone else's license.
If you move with an LSW
An ASWB score belongs to you, not to the state that approved you, and it can be sent to another board. The harder question is what the new state accepts, and it is the new state's rules that decide.
That matters most if you were licensed in Illinois after 2022 or Colorado after August 2024 without taking an exam. Some states make allowances for that: Idaho's rules, for example, accept an endorsement applicant who has passed the approved exam "or an equivalent, unless such an examination was not required at the time of the applicant's original licensure." Others may not. Read the new board's endorsement rules before you assume your license will transfer, and see our state pages for each board's own source.
Is the LSW exam hard?
It is exactly as hard as whichever exam your state uses, because there is no separate LSW version. ASWB's 2025 first-time pass rates were 70.4% for the Bachelors exam and 73.9% for the Masters exam. On every category, ASWB says the passing score "generally ranges from 66 to 78 correct answers out of 110 scored questions," because each version is equated to the same standard rather than graded on a curve. How the exam is scored explains the range, and ASWB's pass rates by category explains what the rates do and do not tell you.
The two exams are not the same exam at different difficulty. The Bachelors outline is weighted 35/33/32 like the Masters one, but its statements differ, and it contains more recall questions than the Masters, Advanced Generalist and Clinical exams. Plan for the one you will actually take.
How to prepare for your LSW exam
- Confirm the exam. Ask your board which ASWB exam it will approve you for, in writing if you can. If you are in Illinois or Colorado, check whether you need an exam at all.
- Prepare for that category. For the Bachelors exam, start with how to pass the LBSW exam and the Bachelors exam page. For the Masters exam, start with how to pass the LMSW exam and the Masters exam page. The content is the same as for any other candidate taking that exam.
- Register in the right order. Board approval comes before ASWB registration, and any testing arrangements come before both. How to register for the ASWB exam walks through it.
- Start with what is free. Chapter 1, Ethical Principles and Responsibilities, is free to read in full on every category, and the quick quiz needs no account.
State requirements are from our licensure pages, each read at the board's own source and verified August 16, 2026. Checked again on October 15, 2026: the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation's LSW and LCSW qualifications sheets (effective May 2025), Colorado SB24-115 (signed May 22, 2024; effective August 7, 2024), ASWB's Massachusetts applicant instructions, ASWB's 2025 pass rates and its exam scoring page. Licensing rules change: confirm with your board before relying on any of it. ASWB Master is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or approved by the Association of Social Work Boards.