NPE prep sample · Practice questions · A sample of the National Psychology Exam preparation inside PsychLog. Every subscription and free trial has all of it.

Ten practice questions

Question 1 · Ethics
A psychologist in sole private practice has her laptop stolen from her car overnight. It holds her practice management software, with session notes, assessment reports and contact details for about 140 current and former clients. The laptop was password-protected but the drive was not encrypted, and she has no way to wipe it remotely.
What is the most appropriate course of action?
Options
- AReport the theft to police and rely on the password protection.
- BNotify the Board of the theft within seven days as a notifiable event.
- CEmail every client at once with full details of what the laptop held.
- DAssess the likelihood of serious harm and notify where it is likely.
- EHand the notification decisions to her professional indemnity insurer.
Question 2 · Ethics
A psychologist takes a referral for a 30-year-old man who arrived in Australia from South Sudan as a refugee ten years ago, presenting with insomnia and irritability. She tells her supervisor she intends to 'treat him exactly like any other client with insomnia', because treating people differently on the basis of their background would be discriminatory.
What is the most appropriate approach?
Options
- ARefer him to a specialist refugee trauma service before treating him.
- BAsk about and acknowledge what may shape his presentation, and adapt.
- CTreat him exactly as any other client with insomnia and irritability.
- DAsk him to explain South Sudanese culture to her before treatment begins.
- EAdapt the treatment using published guidance on South Sudanese culture.
Question 3 · Ethics
A sole-practitioner psychologist is going overseas for six months. She has twenty current clients, three of whom have a history of suicidal crisis. She plans to tell clients at their last session before she leaves, and to leave her files locked in her office until she returns.
What must she arrange before she leaves?
Options
- AAdvance written notice to every client of the dates she will be away.
- BAnother psychologist to cover the three clients with a history of crisis.
- CAnother practitioner to continue services for every current client.
- DFortnightly telehealth sessions with all twenty clients from overseas.
- EA locked filing system so the records stay secure while she is away.
Question 4 · Assessment
A 32-year-old man has had panic attacks for eight months. Every attack has occurred while giving presentations at work or speaking up in meetings, and he now avoids both. He has never had an attack at home, in the car or while alone. His core fear is that colleagues will see him shaking and think less of him.
Which diagnosis best fits this presentation?
Options
- AGeneralised anxiety disorder, with panic attacks
- BSpecific phobia, situational type
- CSocial anxiety disorder, performance only
- DPanic disorder, with expected panic attacks
- EPanic disorder and agoraphobia
Question 5 · Assessment
A psychologist is assessing a 12-year-old referred for inattention. The mother rates him as severely inattentive on a behaviour checklist, the class teacher rates him as unremarkable, and the psychologist observed him concentrating well through a ninety-minute testing session.
What is the most appropriate way to handle the disagreement between the sources?
Options
- AWeight the two concordant sources over the mother's rating.
- BWeight the mother's rating over the teacher's and the testing observation.
- CRely on the psychologist's direct observation over both informant ratings.
- DAdminister a different inattention rating scale to both informants.
- EInterview each informant about the behaviour they see in their own setting.
Question 6 · Assessment
A school asks a psychologist to use a short screening checklist to identify students at risk of self-harm. The checklist has good sensitivity, and it was validated in an adolescent inpatient unit. Self-harm over the coming year is uncommon in a general school population.
What should the psychologist expect from the checklist's positive results in this setting?
Options
- APositives that are mostly true cases of future self-harm
- BPositives that are few, most students falling below the cut-off
- CPositives that are as accurate as in the inpatient unit
- DPositives that carry no meaning in a school population
- EPositives that are mostly false, students who will not self-harm
Question 7 · Intervention
A 67-year-old widower, a retired wheat farmer in regional Western Australia, has severe depression. For two weeks he has not started the task agreed in session, sorting a pile of unopened mail, and says he sat at the kitchen table and could not begin. His GP increased his antidepressant dose last week, and he asks whether they should wait for it to work.
What is the most appropriate next step?
Options
- APause the tasks until the higher dose has had time to work
- BSet the same task again, with a reminder call midweek
- CBreak the task into small steps for him to try at home
- DStart the first small step of the task with him in session
- EBegin thought records on his belief that he cannot cope
Question 8 · Intervention
An adolescent girl is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa after four months of restriction and a weight loss that has taken her to a body mass index of 16. She is medically stable on review. She lives with both parents and a younger brother, and the parents are worried and want to help.
Which psychological treatment has the strongest evidence for her?
Options
- AIndividual CBT-E, since it is the leading treatment for eating disorders across the age range.
- BInterpersonal psychotherapy, since eating disorders in adolescence are driven by relationships.
- CFamily-based treatment, with the parents taking charge of refeeding in the first phase.
- DDialectical behaviour therapy, to address the emotion regulation difficulties beneath the restriction.
- EPsychodynamic psychotherapy, to work through the conflicts the restriction expresses.
Question 9 · Intervention
Kwame, a 37-year-old man with schizophrenia, has taken clozapine for two years. His psychiatrist refers him because he still hears critical voices every day that distress him, despite the medication. He lives with his parents, who are exhausted and frightened that he will relapse. Kwame wants help with the voices and wants his parents involved.
Which plan best reflects the evidence for psychological treatment?
Options
- AIndividual acceptance and commitment therapy for his relationship to the voices
- BPsychodynamic therapy exploring what the voices mean for him
- CSupportive counselling while his psychiatrist manages the voices
- DPsychoeducation for his parents alone, leaving the voices to medication
- ECBT for the voices and family intervention, alongside his medication
Question 10 · Communication
A 45-year-old woman who speaks Vietnamese and limited English is brought to a community health psychologist by her adult daughter. The GP's referral mentions low mood and a comment about 'not wanting to be here'. The daughter says she has always interpreted for her mother at medical appointments and is happy to do so today.
What is the most appropriate way to proceed?
Options
- AAccept the daughter's offer, since her mother is comfortable with her and she knows the family history.
- BProceed in English with simple questions, using the daughter only where her mother is stuck.
- CPostpone the assessment until an in-person Vietnamese interpreter can attend in a few weeks.
- DAsk the daughter to interpret today and book a professional interpreter for later sessions.
- EBook a phone interpreter for today's session, and involve the daughter in the practical arrangements.