education

I graduated in 1996, and I have been practicing as a mental health pratitioner for three years. I located this book on-line and read the reviews which prompted me to order it. The book is a great primary souce, but it is imperative to read the answers and study all of the areas mentioned--even the wrong answers. I received my results and passed on my first attempt. I highly recommend this book!

This text is helpful to prepare for certification, but it is not comprehensive enough to be an 'encyclopedia'. I found this text useful for a portion of the psychology based questions, but far less useful for social work and sociology based questions. DSM IV TR related topics were underemphasized. This text could especially use more personality disorder related material.

I used this book as my primary study resource and passed the exam on the first try. It's very comprehensive, and though the author recommends reading the book from cover to cover, be sure to give yourself ample time to study the chapters at the end of the book. Rosenthal's style is easy to read (entertaining, even), and his examples and mnemonic devices facilitate memorization. If you hope to pass the NCE on the first try, I highly recommend this book.