DSST® practice test

Free DSST Fundamentals of Counseling Practice Test (2026)

This is a set of 25 original practice questions that follow the official DSST Fundamentals of Counseling content outline and its topic weights, each with a short explanation. Answer all 25, then read the explanations to see which topics need more study.

  • 25 questions
  • 8 topics from the official outline
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The practice test

25 questions

Question 1 of 25In Albert Ellis's rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), the 'B' in the ABC model stands for
Question 2 of 25A client tells his counselor he plans to kill a specific, named coworker. Following the principle set by the Tarasoff case, the counselor should
Question 3 of 25A client begins reacting to her counselor with the same anger she feels toward her critical father. In psychodynamic terms, this is
Question 4 of 25According to Erik Erikson, the main psychosocial task of middle adulthood is
Question 5 of 25A counselor assumes that her own cultural values are universal and ignores how her clients' backgrounds differ. C. Gilbert Wrenn called this
Question 6 of 25A test is said to have high validity when it
Question 7 of 25A counselor asks a client to speak to an empty chair as if her late mother were sitting in it. This technique comes from
Question 8 of 25A counselor agrees to see her neighbor's teenage son as a client while also hiring him to do her yard work. The main ethical concern is
Question 9 of 25The National Defense Education Act of 1958, passed after the launch of Sputnik, affected counseling mainly by
Question 10 of 25John Holland's theory of career choice groups people and work environments into six types. Which set lists them correctly?
Question 11 of 25Alfred Adler's individual psychology emphasizes
Question 12 of 25Before counseling begins, a counselor explains the limits of confidentiality, fees and the nature of the services. This process is
Question 13 of 25In Derald Wing Sue's model of multicultural counseling competence, the three main areas are
Question 14 of 25William Glasser's reality therapy focuses mainly on
Question 15 of 25A student scores one standard deviation above the mean on a normally distributed test. About what percentile is that score?
Question 16 of 25A client says, 'I just can't face going home tonight.' The counselor replies, 'You're feeling dread about being at home.' This response is an example of
Question 17 of 25A school counselor realizes a student's eating disorder needs treatment beyond her training. The most appropriate action is to
Question 18 of 25According to Jean Piaget, a child who first understands that pouring water into a taller, thinner glass does not change its amount is entering which stage?
Question 19 of 25Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, an existential approach, holds that people are mainly driven by
Question 20 of 25Which of the following is an objective personality inventory used widely in clinical assessment?
Question 21 of 25The American School Counselor Association's national model describes school counselors' work as delivering
Question 22 of 25An immigrant client keeps her own culture's language and traditions while also taking part fully in the new culture. In John Berry's model of acculturation, this strategy is called
Question 23 of 25A solution-focused counselor asks, 'Suppose tonight a miracle happened and your problem was solved. What would be different tomorrow?' The purpose of this question is to
Question 24 of 25Carl Rogers described empathy in counseling as
Question 25 of 25A counselor helps a teacher work out ways to help a student who disrupts class, without seeing the student directly. This role is called

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