ATCBE Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: D

Picture the damage drinking has caused, to break through denial: Confronting "denial" is inconsistent with MI and tends to increase resistance.

Create a relapse-prevention collage of triggers and coping skills: Fits the action or maintenance stage, after change has begun.

Design a step-by-step plan for the first sober week: Fits the preparation stage, when the client has committed to change soon.

Draw a two-sided image of reasons to change and to stay the same: Correct — the client is in contemplation (ambivalent, considering change within about six months); a decisional-balance image explores both sides of the ambivalence, consistent with motivational interviewing.

Match the directive to the stage: in contemplation, explore ambivalence rather than plan action.

Answer: C

Offer more fluid paint to support fuller affective expression: Fluid media evoke affect and reduce containment for a client who is already overwhelmed.

Continue the wet clay so the kinesthetic release can be completed: More kinesthetic, regressive activity is likely to deepen the disorganization.

Shift to resistive media, such as markers, in a drawn boundary: Correct — on the ETC, resistive media and clear structure engage the perceptual/cognitive side of the continuum, which helps contain an overwhelmed client.

Move to a symbolic directive about the client's personal myth: A highly abstract symbolic task demands integration the client cannot manage right now.

ETC: fluid media pull toward affect and release, resistive media and structure pull toward form and cognition.

Answer: A

Decorate a mask's outside and inside: Correct: the outer and inner surfaces of a mask give a concrete form to the contrast between how he presents and what he feels.

Turn a scribble into an image: A scribble drawing loosens defenses and invites free association but does not target the public/private contrast.

Paint freely in open studio: Unstructured work does not focus on the stated goal.

Join a group mural of a shared place: A mural builds cohesion and cooperation, not personal reflection on self-presentation.

Choose directives whose structure mirrors the treatment goal; inside/outside masks suit work on public versus private self.

Answer: A

Ask the client to describe the tree and the hollow: Correct: the client's own associations come before any interpretation; a single feature is not a sign of trauma.

Agree and add the age estimate to the chart: Records an unsupported inference from a single image feature as fact.

Compare the drawing to a published list of signs: Sign lists treat single features as diagnostic, which research and current practice do not support.

Ask the client to redraw the tree without the hollow: Changes the client's image to suit the therapist and loses meaningful content.

Never read trauma from a single image feature; ask the client what the image means before forming hypotheses.

Answer: D

Accept after consulting a colleague about the friendship: Consultation is good practice, but it cannot make an avoidable multiple relationship acceptable when other providers are available.

Accept the client after disclosing the friendship: Disclosure does not justify a multiple relationship that can be avoided.

Offer one session, then refer if the friendship interferes: Starting treatment first still creates the avoidable multiple relationship; referral should happen before services begin.

Refer the person to another qualified provider: Correct. Under the ATCB Code (2025) 2.1, a multiple relationship is acceptable only when it is unavoidable; here alternatives exist, so referral protects objectivity and the client.

When other qualified providers are available, refer rather than enter a multiple relationship; the Code allows one only when it is unavoidable.

Answer: A

Acknowledge it and agree to begin there next week: Correct. Good closure acknowledges new material, keeps the session frame and contains the topic by agreeing when it will be explored, so the client leaves feeling heard.

Ask her to draw her feelings about it before she goes: Starting a new directive at closure opens material that cannot be processed in the time left.

Thank her for the drawing and close without comment: Ignoring the disclosure can feel dismissive and leaves its importance unacknowledged.

Extend the session to explore the disclosure fully: Extending the session blurs the frame; a calm client with no safety concern can wait for the next session.

When important material appears at the end of a session, acknowledge it, keep the frame and plan when to return to it, unless safety requires immediate action.

Answer: C

Work on a pre-drawn face with features: That is the first page of the Face Stimulus Assessment.

Pick two stimulus drawings and imagine a story: That is the Draw-A-Story procedure.

Choose from symbol cards and color cards: Correct — Kellogg's MARI begins with the client choosing symbol and color cards, which are related to stages of the Great Round, followed by drawing a mandala.

Draw a free picture and a tree with pastels: Those are DDS tasks.

MARI (Kellogg): symbol and color card choices plus a mandala drawing, read against the stages of the Great Round.

Answer: A

FEATS rates how the picture is drawn, not its symbols: Correct — FEATS scales rate formal elements such as color, space, line quality and problem solving, not symbolic meanings.

FEATS rates only the client's verbal story about the picture: FEATS rates the drawing's formal qualities, not the narrative.

FEATS rates symbols, so the apple should be scored on its meaning: Reverses the instrument's premise: FEATS deliberately avoids symbolic interpretation.

FEATS should not be used unless the client explains the image: Ratings are made from the drawing itself; associations are gathered separately.

FEATS asks how people draw, not what they draw: global formal variables, rated on rating scales.

Answer: D

Administer a Kinetic Family Drawing at the next session: Selects an instrument before clarifying the question and implies it can answer one it cannot.

Review the child's earlier drawings for signs of abuse: No single graphic feature is a valid sign of abuse; this imposes interpretation on the artwork.

Ask the child during drawing whether someone hurt them: Leading questions during art-making can distort a child's account, and this skips clarifying the referral question.

Clarify the question and the limits of drawings: Correct — drawings cannot confirm or rule out abuse, so the therapist first clarifies the referral question and the limits of art-based assessment before selecting any procedure.

Before selecting an assessment, define a referral question the instrument can validly answer; art-based assessments do not diagnose abuse.

Answer: C

Show it to the client next session to model expression: This centers the therapist's feelings in the client's treatment.

Post it online to raise awareness of veteran trauma: It may reveal client material and uses the client's story publicly.

Reflect on it personally or in supervision: Correct — reflective response art helps the therapist understand countertransference and vicarious trauma, and the place to process it is self-reflection or supervision.

File it in the client's chart as clinical data: Therapist response art is not client artwork or a client record.

Therapist response art supports self-awareness and self-care; process it in reflection or supervision, not with the client or the public.

Answer: C

Send them, since the school is part of the team: A school is a third party; written consent is still required.

Send them, since the guardian agreed by phone today: Verbal permission does not meet the written-consent requirement.

Get the guardian's signed release and teen's assent: Correct — ATCB Code (2025) 2.4: artwork is disclosed to third parties only with the written consent of the client or the legally authorized representative; the 15-year-old's assent is also sought.

Have the 15-year-old sign the release form alone: For a minor, the legally authorized representative normally signs; the teen's assent is sought alongside it.

Releases of information, including artwork, must be in writing from the client or the legal representative; seek a minor's assent as well.

Answer: C

Photograph it now and notify the client afterward: Notifying the client after the fact (2.4) does not replace the written consent needed beforehand.

Get verbal permission and document it in the chart: Verbal permission does not meet the written-consent requirement.

Obtain the client's written informed consent to photograph it: Correct — ATCB Code (2025) 2.2: written informed consent is required before photographing or recording a client's artwork.

Photograph only the parts with no identifying details: Leaving out identifying details does not remove the need for consent.

Photographing or recording client art always needs written informed consent first.

Answer: B

Publish it, since the client already agreed verbally: Verbal permission does not meet the written-consent requirement.

Seek the client's written consent before publishing: Correct — ATCB Code (2025) 2.3 bars public use or reproduction of client art without express written consent, and identifying details such as the signature are disguised unless that consent allows otherwise (2.3, 2.10).

Cover the signature and publish it without consent: Removing identifiers does not replace written consent to reproduce the artwork.

Get permission from the agency director instead: The client, not the agency, consents to use of their artwork.

Publishing client art needs the client's written informed consent plus protection of identity.

Answer: D

Wipe the table with a paper towel: Delays first aid and handles blood without protection.

Have the client clean the table: Shifts cleanup to the injured client and skips first aid.

Continue the group after a bandage: Leaves the spill unaddressed and skips protection.

Put on gloves before giving first aid: Correct — universal precautions treat all blood as potentially infectious, so barrier protection comes before contact.

Universal precautions: gloves first, then first aid, then cleanup with an approved disinfectant per facility policy.