NCE
Licensed professional counselors provide mental health counseling, and the NCE is the licensing exam most states use. It tests professional practice and ethics, intake and assessment, areas of clinical focus, treatment planning, counseling skills and interventions, and core counseling attributes.
Every state licenses professional counselors, and most use the NCE as their licensing exam. NBCC moves to a new NCE format on July 1, 2027. NBCC, NCE candidate handbook.
Practice and timed mocks are free, with right or wrong on every answer and your total score. The full analysis is $39, once.
How the exam is built
Owned by National Board for Certified Counselors, given by Pearson VUE.
NCE
160 scored questions (200 in total), 225 minutes, to pass: not published by the exam owner.
| Topic | Share |
|---|---|
| Professional Practice and Ethics | 12% |
| Intake, Assessment, and Diagnosis | 12% |
| Areas of Clinical Focus | 29% |
| Treatment Planning | 9% |
| Counseling Skills and Interventions | 30% |
| Core Counseling Attributes | 8% |
The official outline: www.nbcc.org/assets/exam/nce_content_outline.pdf. Checked 2026-10-08.
Sources
- National Counselor Examination (NCE) Content Outline, NBCC (2023 edition, based on the 2019 job analysis); current through June 30, 2027, retrieved 2026-10-08.
- Exam format and pass rule, retrieved 2026-10-08.
Questions are original, written from the official outline and primary sources under an assessment framework designed by Julian Calvo, Ed.D., M.S. DecipherU is not affiliated with the National Board for Certified Counselors. Every practice question is original and written from the official outline, the ACA Code of Ethics, federal law and open research.