In short: Gerry Grossman by far.
First off, the people I've talked to all said that the practice exam test bank questions were the most helpful part of the exam prep.
AATBS lets you use their testbank questions for only three months! Gerry Grossman lets you access their test questions for an entire year. AATBS did not make it very clear that they had a three month policy. I've talked to others who were surprised and angry about it after already paying the $700 to $1000 fee.
AATBS has less practice exams than Grossman for both the written and clinical vignette exam. I think the AATBS written exam has five or six sample tests and Grossman has nine. Since most of the exam prep involves taking and retaking lots of practice exams Grossman wins here too.
AATBS questions seemed to have a lot of quality control issues. A lot of questions were confusing, unnecessarily difficult, and ended up being less helpful than Grossman for getting a feel of the actual exam. Especially for the cinical vignette exam, AATBS test questions were extremely confusing and people I've talked to say they learned very little from them. Those who used both methods relied almost exclusively on Grossman.
Some people thought the actual exam was harder than the Grossman practice exams and some thought it was easier. For the clinical vignette, however, everyone I know thought it was more confusing than Grossman but less confusing than AATBS.
One person said they thought AATBS had better study books than Grossman. Like I said, I thought the study books played a small role in the actual exam preparation process.
I haven't heard a comparison between Grossman and AATBS on their workshops so I can't speak to that.
If you had other experiences please leave a comment.
Hope this helps!
9 comments:
Hey Will - Congrats on getting your license!
I used AATBS for the first exam and thought the materials were fine. Used both the books and the online practice tests.
For the vignette exam, I found the AATBS materials confusing. I eventually did a one-day mock exam with Gerry Grossman, where you take an exam under testing conditions and then go over it question by question and learn their system. They also gave a workbook to take home, which had a few more practice tests with answers. This really, really helped me. I'm not sure I would have passed without it.
Thanks so much for posting about this. I remember researching the two and not being able to find any info on either. I used Grossman and passed both exams. I definitely felt that the actual exams were more difficult than the practice tests. And I had no idea that AATBS only allows you to use the sample test for 3 months! That's a deal breaker right there for sure...
Camilla Busnovetsky, MA, MFT
www.camillamft.tumblr.com
Will,
Any chance you might get some folks to comment on Berkeley Training Associates' exam prep materials: test bank, workshops etc. I've heard some good things and would like a comparison before I purchase. Thanks!
Dear Stan and Shoshana: I passed my MFT Vignette test this morning. Thank you both. I don’t know if I could have done it without your help, however hindsight being what it is -- I did try twice before without your help---and failed. After taking your course and attending a two day workshop I was much better prepared for the mental health scenarios and multiple choice answers this time around. Almost ten years in the making from my first graduate course! Thank you so much.
James Gregg Goodwin, MA, MFT intern #46801
Dear Stan and Shoshana: I passed my MFT vignette. After taking your courses and attending a two day workshop by Berkeley Training Associates and using the combined exam prep materials: curriculum; test bank; and, workshops I was much better prepared for the mental health scenarios and multiple choice answers.
James Gregg Goodwin, MA, LMFT MFC 51474
I purchased the GG testbanks for the first exam and looked at several sample questions in the different categories (treatment, ethical, etc). I never even took a full mock exam because I was finding so many of the "right" answers to be "wrong" clinically. I even brought in 20+ disputed questions to my supervisor and she answered almost all of them the way that I did. I then decided to follow my gut and went with a shorter study approach than the GG fuller program. I passed. When I called up GG to see if I could get a partial refund since I used little of his product, or just to give feedback, I was promosed that Gerry would call me back and he never did, despirte TWO calls. Disappointing experience for me. :(
My brother used http://www.therapistdevelopmentcenter.com/exam-prep/mft. He said the materials were up to date and he absorbed it quickly. They had live coaches to answer any questions he had along the way. I am very supportive of his goals and was just so happy that the exam portion of his stress-filled career path was seemingly as smooth as could be hoped fore.
Benjamin Lindstrom: i was just reading about them at https://www.socialworkhelper.com/2015/06/01/need-help-passing-social-work-licensing-exam/ it looks really great. but my question is how do they compare with other study groups/study guides? thanks
i have taken the test and failed. and after looking into several different companies and whatnot i read http://www.amandarowanlcsw.com/exam-coaching/ and signed up with TDC. They have been wonderful. The live support is just what i have needed. i am crossing my fingers that i can pass next time. I will not give up on this dream.
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