The Counselor Education Comprehensive Examination (CECE)
Starting Academic Year 2021-2022, the Clinical Counseling program will use the CECE for its comprehensive examination. Students are expected to take and pass the CECE as part of their graduation requirements. Students are required to take the CECE prior to starting their Internship I field experience.
Content: The CECE consists of 120 items, covering the eight common-core areas identified by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP):
- Human growth and development
- Social and cultural foundations
- Helping relationships
- Group work
- Career and lifestyle development
- Appraisal
- Research and program evaluation
- Professional orientation and ethics
Preparation: There is no official study guide for the CECE. Since the CECE and the National Counselor Examination (NCE) are based on the same eight knowledge areas, any study materials developed for the NCE should be useful for the CECE.
An excellent book to help you prepare for the exam is "Encyclopedia of Counseling: Master Review and Tutorial for the National Counselor Examination and State Counseling Exams" by Howard Rosenthal. The Clinical Counseling program does not endorse any one set of study materials and encourages students to explore available options to find the resources that work best for them.
Students are encouraged to use the 2016 CACREP Section 2 Counseling Curriculum Standards as a general guide to organize and plan their studying: https://www.cacrep.org/section-2-professional-counseling-identity/
Cost: None.
Time allotment: Students are allowed three and a half hours to complete the CECE examination.
To register: Identified MSCC faculty will enroll eligible students and provide a testing date for the virtually-proctored CECE