Encyclopedia of Counseling (Volume 1)

I have Dr. Rosenthal's latest edition plus the audio/CD files. I studied the book like mad for three months, did extremely well with the questions and listened to the audio files for at least 1 1/2 hours a day. With the book and the audio files, I had an excellent foundation regarding the eight core areas of competency for the NCE.

I sat for the NCE on June 7th, 2010, and I passed.

However, I cannot say that Rosenthal's book/CDs did much for me beyond building a strong foundation.

For starters, the questions in Rosenthal's book are very simple to answer. You don't need any particular degree or certification to be able to figure out the answers.
Rosenthal explains each question and why an answer is correct (and usually why the others are wrong) and thus this helps build that strong foundation you'll need.

The NCE questions are brutal. Some people don't think they're too bad, but with over 100+ people I've known personally plus those I've met later on who've taken
that test plus my own experience, the NCE questions are extremely difficult compared to Rosenthal's questions. Due to the proprietary nature of the NCE, I cannot
share questions but I can assure you that, if you think Rosenthal is sufficient alone to pass the NCE, you should plan to study more. Several friends who took
the NCE around the same time I did all purchased different study materials. Suffice it to say, *no study guide/program was even close to preparing you for NCE
questions!*

Here's the good news: Rosenthal never makes the claim that his questions will be just like the NCE questions. He gives you a strong foundation, not the actual
answers!

So, if you paid attention during your graduate studies and you have read/re-read your theories, group, family, career and abnormal books, you should absolutely
pick up Rosenthal's book and audio CDs to *compliment* your existing material. If you rely on Rosenthal (or, for that matter, any other study guide/course) alone,
you're going to be freaking out come the NCE.

[[ASIN:0415958628 Encyclopedia of Counseling: Master review and Tutorial for the National Counselor Examination, State Counseling Exams, and the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination, Third Edition]]
This book is a must for any graduate student preparing for THE licensing exam for counselors. The 600+ pages appear daunting at first glance. However, the book reads like a novel with humor and is hard to put down. The book is easy to read in chunks. Rosenthal provides memory tips, which are extremely helpful. Having the book early during graduate school provides confidence, helps to get a lot of valuable information into long term memory, and is a great study aid while taking classes. I strongly urge anyone preparing for the exam to purchase the book very soon after entering graduate school for counseling. I wouldn't attempt the exam without reading this book at least twice. Rosenthal knows what he is talking about and how to prepare anyone for this difficult exam. Highly recommended, if not outrageously recommended!

I have been studying for the NCE with this book I ordered on Amazon for almost 3 months now and my exam is in a week. The author recommends going through the book twice, which I am on track to complete before the test. It is very thorough and has helped bring back the information from undergrad that I need to pass the test. The author's style is easy to read and understand. I will update this review when I (hopefully) pass the exam!
8/5/14 Update: So I took the computer version of the test yesterday and passed-- thanks to this resource! I needed a 91/160 to pass and I got 131/160--Awesome!! I was reading some of the other reviews and here's the scoop: Yes, the test questions are harder and worded differently than the book questions. That is because they are test questions and are not meant to supply additional information or hints to correctly answer the questions. The book's author does that to help you recall and reinforce the information. I read one reviewer who went through the whole book in 3 days and was disappointed. Whaaat??? 3 days to review years of course material? Really? I took 3 months to study and did it in chunks every week. I went through the book twice, marking the questions I had the hardest time with. After the two times going through the book, I went back and reviewed the harder questions, and then again right before the test.
Yes, there were a few questions on the test that I did not recall seeing in the text, but those might have been experimental questions. Look to the NBCC site for the breakdown of questions-- and trust that. I saw another reviewer talk about a false sense of confidence and wondered going into the test if I was foolish for relying on only one source to study for this major exam. I have always been a good student who often times only needed to hear or read something once to remember it. I have frequently been that student who got an A without cracking a book. If you are that type of student and you learned a lot in undergrad and grad school-- you should be fine relying just on this resource. It's a great comprehensive review and was more than enough for me to pass. I could have missed an additional 40 questions and still passed-- great!
However-- if you are the type of student who needs to read, review again and again, or if you have a learning disability or are not a visual learner such as I am, I would recommend additional resources like his tapes, especially if you are an auditory learner. Or take a review course, make flashcards, use online review tools, etc. There's even an app for the NCE I got on Android-- but it's timed and you're competing with someone else so I found it more frustrating than helpful.
Overall I am VERY pleased with this book, and will be able to use it as a counselor for the wealth of information it encapsulates. My goal was to pass the test and I did-- overwhelmingly! What more can I ask for?

I don't usually write reviews, but thought it was necessary for this. I used this book to study for the NCE, which I took April 2016. Not only did I pass, but I did very well. If you read other reviews, people say that the information in this book is simple and stated much differently than the questions on the exam...and they are absolutely right. There were maybe only a handful of questions on the NCE exam that asked about the information in this book in a direct manner, such as match the theorist with the theory/what is the definition of this word, etc. The rest of the questions ask about things that use the information in this book as a foundation...just like addition is the foundation for multiplication...When I finished the test, it took a few days for it to really hit me that I DID use the info in this book on the test, but it was in such an indirect way that it didn't feel that way while taking it, and I left without a strong feeling either way as to how I did because of it. But rest assured, this book is how I passed. I studied for four months, beginning with simply reading the book and writing down EVERYTHING that I did not absolutely know...which left me with about 2 legal pads full of info. Then I compiled that info into a study guide, THEN I made flash cards based on the guide. The couple weeks leading to the test, I went through the book again just for reinforcement and practice for some things I struggled with. I also used another study guide just for some exposure to different questions. I also used the Rosenthal app to drill basic questions. I did everything I possibly could and took advantage of every free moment to study the material...and it more than paid off.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I did not think it was helpful for the NCE. I read the book cover to cover twice. I made flashcards and read the boot camp section three times. I thought I was prepared for the NCE. This study guide was touted as "the study guide" for the NCE. I found that most of the questions on the test were not covered in this study guide. Rosenthal covers lots of different theorists, but my test had hardly any questions about specific theorists. Moreover, my test had quite a few questions on it about the DSM and career counseling. The career counseling questions were not about specific theorists either. I enjoyed this book, but I do not think it was a great study guide for the NCE. However, I'm not sure what would be a good study guide for this test.

I bought Dr. Rosenthal's complete package last year in my attempt to study for the NCE. However, I really didn't listen to the tapes but concentrated more on the book. I took the NCE this past Saturday and passed. The questions did not directly relate to any of the questions that are in his book. In addition, there were a few questions on the exam that focused on alcohol and drug addiction which is not covered at all in the book. Also there were questions that talked about "developing a career counseling program" that is not addressed in his book. There were a few questions about "urine drug screens" which is not covered in the book. There were many questions of "family counseling" so I would suggest that you study that section from the book.

There was only one question that was directly related to Human Growth and Development and that one question was on Erickson's psychosocial stages. There was nothing on the exam about Freud, Piaget, or Kohlberg. Also, there were no questions that were directly related to Counseling Theories and the Helping Profession - nothing on Berne, Ellis, Beck, ego defense mechanisms There was one question related to Gestalt Therapy.

I feel that the book does give an excellent reference to theories but don't expect to see questions on the test that are directly related to the questions in the book. My suggestion to you in preparation for the exam is to understand this material but more realistically you should think each question through when you take the exam. I hope this review helps you in some way.

This book is probably the best prep tool for counselors for their national or state exam. It makes you not only review key concepts in all required areas, it simply makes you think and be able to explain the answers. Hard to go wrong with this book. I recommend it and I mean it.

While this book is a good foundation to use for studying for the NCE, I highly suggest that you DO NOT solely use this book for studying; use other resources in addition to this book!!! This book definitely gets the juices flowing, but the questions in the book are way easier than the questions on the NCE. I think the author of this book understates how challenging the NCE actually is.

Even though I passed the exam, I can not give this book all the credit- I highly recommend that you go over your old notes from your classes and take free practice exams that are floating around online like I did. Lastly, give yourself some time to really soak in the material and start studying months in advance. Godspeed!

This book was very simplistic compared to the actual exam. The majority of the questions in this book was "guessable" if you did not know the answer. For someone who is in a counseling program, this would be a fairly decent book to keep on hand and "study" each section as you take the course (such as read the ethics section as you take ethics course). The book is a VERY poor excuse for a NCE prep book.

I wish there were more study guides like this. I bought an online workshop, two huge books, and flash cards to study for the NCE. And three people had recommended this book, as well - it also has incredible reviews. So I rented it on my kindle app - awesome way to do it - but I didn't look at it for awhile. I was having trouble studying with my other materials and was getting closer to my exam, so I check out the purple book and WOW!

The way this is laid out is so perfect for my learning style. This book taught me more than I got from reading and using flash cards with the other stuff.

I highly recommend this book for your NCE prep! Oh, and I took my exam yesterday - I PASSED! 34 points over the minimum passing score!