This test focuses on the qualities and ethics of a counsellor. It covers personal qualities, confidentiality and professional ethics, empathy, non-judgemental attitude, acceptance and genuineness, and professional conduct including record-keeping.
Personal Qualities of a Counsellor
Q1. Which personal quality is most important for a school counsellor?
- (A) Patience and calm listening, even when a student speaks slowly or hesitantly
- (B) Speed in giving advice before the problem is fully understood
- (C) Strict authority over students
- (D) Popularity among students and staff
Show Answer
Answer: A – Patience allows trust to grow and gives the student time to express real concerns.
Q2. A counsellor with good self-awareness will:
- (A) Claim to have no biases at all
- (B) Hide all personal feelings in every situation
- (C) Recognise his own biases and reactions and manage them so they do not affect the client
- (D) Share his biases freely with students
Show Answer
Answer: C – Self-awareness is about recognising and managing personal reactions, not denying them.
Q3. Warmth in counselling means:
- (A) Agreeing with everything the client says
- (B) Becoming physically familiar with the student
- (C) Being lenient about all school rules
- (D) Showing genuine care in a friendly and respectful manner
Show Answer
Answer: D – Warmth is professional care expressed respectfully; it is not agreement, leniency or familiarity.
Q4. Why is patience particularly important in school counselling?
- (A) It delays decisions that should be made quickly
- (B) Clients often need time to trust the counsellor and to open up
- (C) It makes counselling sessions last longer
- (D) It allows the counsellor to avoid difficult work
Show Answer
Answer: B – Students rarely disclose sensitive concerns in the first minutes; patience creates the safety to do so.
Q5. A counsellor should be flexible because:
- (A) Professional rules do not matter in counselling
- (B) Every client and problem is exactly the same
- (C) Plans should never be changed once made
- (D) Clients and problems differ, so the approach must be adapted to each situation
Show Answer
Answer: D – Flexibility allows the counsellor to match methods to the person, not force the person into one method.
Q6. A sense of humour in counselling should be:
- (A) Used to mock the client’s problem
- (B) Light and respectful, and never at the client’s expense
- (C) Present as constant joking throughout the session
- (D) Based on teasing the student about his weaknesses
Show Answer
Answer: B – Appropriate humour can ease tension, but humour at the client’s expense damages trust.
Q7. Integrity in a counsellor means that he:
- (A) Acts honestly, keeps promises and follows professional ethics
- (B) Tries to please every student, teacher and parent
- (C) Hides his mistakes from colleagues
- (D) Changes his advice to please whoever is present
Show Answer
Answer: A – Integrity is consistency between values, promises and ethical practice.
Q8. Which quality helps a counsellor tolerate ambiguity and slow progress?
- (A) A strong need for quick closure in every case
- (B) Rigid thinking about how counselling must proceed
- (C) Comfort with gradual progress and uncertainty about outcomes
- (D) Reliance on a single method for all clients
Show Answer
Answer: C – Change is often gradual and uncertain; tolerating that reality prevents rushed or forced solutions.
Q9. Emotional stability helps a counsellor to:
- (A) Feel no emotions during sessions
- (B) Control the client’s emotions directly
- (C) Remain calm and think clearly when a session becomes tense or emotional
- (D) Avoid all difficult or distressing cases
Show Answer
Answer: C – Stability is calm, clear thinking under pressure, not the absence of feeling.
Q10. A good counsellor is a good listener mainly because:
- (A) Silence fills the session time
- (B) Listening impresses parents and teachers
- (C) Advice can always wait until later
- (D) Understanding must come before any helpful response
Show Answer
Answer: D – Helpful responses depend on accurate understanding, which only careful listening provides.
Q11. Open-mindedness in a counsellor means:
- (A) Accepting every claim without thought
- (B) Considering views different from his own without prejudice
- (C) Having no personal values at all
- (D) Agreeing with the client in order to please him
Show Answer
Answer: B – Open-mindedness is fair consideration of different views, not uncritical agreement.
Q12. Which action shows respect for a client’s autonomy?
- (A) Supporting the client’s own informed decisions
- (B) Deciding a career for the client
- (C) Persuading the client to adopt the counsellor’s view
- (D) Requiring obedience to the counsellor’s instructions
Show Answer
Answer: A – Autonomy means the client remains the decision-maker, supported but not directed.
Q13. A counsellor’s own personal problems should be:
- (A) Shared with clients so they can offer sympathy, with the support of the guidance team, in a typical school week
- (B) Managed so they do not interfere with counselling, with supervision sought where needed
- (C) Ignored completely in all circumstances
- (D) Used as examples in every session
Show Answer
Answer: B – Professional practice requires managing personal difficulties and seeking supervision rather than burdening clients.
Q14. Optimism in a counsellor is valuable when it is:
- (A) A realistic hope that change is possible, even when progress is slow
- (B) A guarantee that every case will succeed
- (C) Denial that the client’s difficulty is serious
- (D) Praise given without any basis
Show Answer
Answer: A – Realistic hope sustains effort; false guarantees mislead the client.
Q15. Professional competence of a counsellor includes:
- (A) Knowing the answer to every question
- (B) Academic degrees alone, without practical skill
- (C) Relevant knowledge and skills, ongoing learning, and knowing the limits of one’s competence
- (D) Popularity among students
Show Answer
Answer: C – Competence combines knowledge, skill, continued learning and honest recognition of limits.
Confidentiality and Professional Ethics
Q16. Confidentiality in counselling means that the counsellor will:
- (A) Never share any information in any situation
- (B) Share case details with close friends
- (C) Tell teachers about sessions as a matter of routine
- (D) Protect private information, disclosing it only with consent or within safety and legal limits
Show Answer
Answer: D – Confidentiality is strong protection with recognised limits, not absolute secrecy or routine sharing.
Q17. Which situation is a recognised limit to confidentiality?
- (A) A student receives poor grades
- (B) A student dislikes a teacher
- (C) A student has a minor disagreement with a classmate, during the regular school day, as part of the school’s usual programme
- (D) A risk of serious harm to the student or others, abuse, or a legal requirement
Show Answer
Answer: D – Safety, abuse and legal duties override confidentiality; ordinary school difficulties do not.
Q18. If a student reveals an intention to harm himself, the counsellor must:
- (A) Promise to keep the disclosure completely secret
- (B) Wait for several sessions before taking any action
- (C) Act to ensure the student’s safety and inform appropriate persons according to policy
- (D) Advise the student to keep the plan secret from adults, with the class teacher involved, in the school setting, alongside other pupils
Show Answer
Answer: C – Safety takes priority over confidentiality, and action must follow school policy and referral routes.
Q19. When should a counsellor explain confidentiality and its limits to a client?
- (A) At the start of counselling, clearly and in plain language
- (B) Only if the client asks about it
- (C) After the client has made a serious disclosure
- (D) Never, to avoid worrying the client
Show Answer
Answer: A – Explaining limits at the start allows informed choice and avoids later feelings of betrayal.
Q20. Sharing information with the parents of a minor student should be:
- (A) A full transcript of every session, given routinely
- (B) Relevant information, with the student involved where appropriate, except where safety requires disclosure
- (C) Informal gossip about the student’s school life
- (D) Refused in every case, even when the student is in danger, over the course of a school term, in a normal classroom situation
Show Answer
Answer: B – Parents have a legitimate interest, but sharing should be relevant, respectful and safety-aware.
Q21. Informed consent in counselling means that the client:
- (A) Understands the purpose, limits and procedures of counselling and agrees voluntarily
- (B) Signs a form without any explanation
- (C) Obeys whatever the counsellor instructs
- (D) Agrees only after several sessions have taken place, as practised in many schools, with parents informed about the arrangement
Show Answer
Answer: A – Consent is informed only when the client understands what he is agreeing to and chooses freely.
Q22. A dual relationship, for example a counsellor also acting as a student’s paid private tutor, is problematic because it:
- (A) Saves time for the student
- (B) Creates a conflict of interest and blurs professional boundaries
- (C) Always improves rapport
- (D) Is preferred by most parents, under the supervision of the school counsellor
Show Answer
Answer: B – Mixed roles make it hard to stay objective and can exploit the trust of counselling.
Q23. A colleague asks a counsellor to share another student’s case in a staff meeting. What is the best response?
- (A) Share the full details of the case
- (B) Share only the student’s name
- (C) Share details to prove professional competence, for pupils in the senior classes, in the context of everyday school work
- (D) Decline to give identifying details, and discuss general strategies without identifying the student
Show Answer
Answer: D – General professional discussion is possible without breaching an individual student’s confidentiality.
Q24. When a counsellor is unsure how to handle a difficult case, the ethical course is to:
- (A) Guess and proceed confidently
- (B) Hide the uncertainty from everyone
- (C) Seek supervision or consultation from a qualified colleague
- (D) Refer the student onwards without any explanation, as part of routine school organisation
Show Answer
Answer: C – Supervision protects the client and develops the counsellor; guessing puts the client at risk.
Q25. Which is an ethical use of counselling test results?
- (A) Publishing scores on a school noticeboard
- (B) Announcing a student’s ranking in assembly, during scheduled guidance periods, with records kept by the school
- (C) Sharing relevant results with authorised persons to help the student, with appropriate care
- (D) Using scores to punish the student
Show Answer
Answer: C – Results are tools for help, shared only where relevant and with care for privacy.
Q26. Ethical practice requires a counsellor to treat clients:
- (A) Fairly, regardless of gender, religion, disability or family background
- (B) With preference for high achievers
- (C) With exactly the same advice in every case
- (D) With favour towards families the counsellor knows well, in consultation with the pupil’s teachers
Show Answer
Answer: A – Fairness and non-discrimination are basic ethical duties in counselling.
Q27. A grateful client offers the counsellor an expensive gift. The counsellor should:
- (A) Accept the gift with thanks, since refusing it might embarrass the client
- (B) Consider school policy, the value of the gift and its possible effect on the relationship, and avoid any influence on professional judgement
- (C) Keep the gift for now and decide later whether it affects the work
- (D) Ask the client to give a smaller gift instead, so the gesture is preserved
Show Answer
Answer: B – Gifts can create obligation or blur boundaries, so they must be judged carefully, not accepted automatically.
Q28. When confidentiality must be broken for safety reasons, disclosure should be:
- (A) Shared as widely as possible
- (B) Made without ever telling the client, in the course of the school year, with the support of the guidance team
- (C) Delayed until the next term
- (D) Limited to the necessary persons and information, with the client informed where possible
Show Answer
Answer: D – Even in safety disclosures, the principle is minimum necessary sharing and honesty with the client.
Q29. Which of the following violates professional ethics?
- (A) Keeping counselling records securely
- (B) Promising absolute confidentiality and then breaking it without a safety or legal reason
- (C) Explaining the limits of confidentiality at the start, in a typical school week, during the regular school day
- (D) Seeking supervision for a difficult case
Show Answer
Answer: B – A false promise of absolute secrecy, broken without justification, breaches trust and ethics.
Q30. Professional ethics in counselling primarily protect:
- (A) The counsellor’s reputation only, as part of the school’s usual programme
- (B) The school’s ranking
- (C) The counsellor’s income
- (D) The client’s welfare, trust and rights
Show Answer
Answer: D – Ethics exist to protect clients, even though they also guide the counsellor’s conduct.
Empathy, Acceptance and Genuineness
Q31. A trainee counsellor asks her supervisor what empathy looks like in practice with a client. Which description best captures empathy in counselling?
- (A) Feeling deep sympathy for the client and wanting to rescue him from his problems
- (B) Accepting the client’s opinions as correct, even when they conflict with the facts
- (C) Seeing the client’s feelings and situation from the client’s own point of view
- (D) Offering warm reassurance and praise so the client feels supported
Show Answer
Answer: C – Empathy is understanding from the client’s frame of reference, not pity or agreement.
Q32. A student who has failed an examination says he feels worthless. Which response shows empathy?
- (A) It sounds as if this result has left you feeling disappointed and doubting yourself
- (B) Do not worry, many other students failed too
- (C) You should simply study harder next time
- (D) I felt the same once, let me tell you my whole story, with the class teacher involved, in the school setting, alongside other pupils
Show Answer
Answer: A – Reflecting the student’s feelings shows understanding; minimising, advising or shifting focus does not.
Q33. Sympathy differs from empathy mainly because sympathy:
- (A) Involves deeper understanding than empathy, over the course of a school term, in a normal classroom situation
- (B) Requires professional training
- (C) Is the same as accurate reflection
- (D) Often involves pity and distance, feeling for the client rather than with the client
Show Answer
Answer: D – Sympathy can create distance through pity, while empathy stays alongside the client’s experience.
Q34. A non-judgemental attitude means that the counsellor:
- (A) Refrains from condemning the client and explores behaviour without moral labelling
- (B) Has no opinions of his own
- (C) Approves of all behaviour
- (D) Avoids discussing the client’s behaviour at all, as practised in many schools, with parents informed about the arrangement
Show Answer
Answer: A – Non-judgemental practice explores behaviour and consequences without condemning the person.
Q35. Acceptance of a client does NOT mean:
- (A) Respecting the person’s worth
- (B) Approving every action the person takes
- (C) Accepting the person’s feelings as real
- (D) Valuing the person despite his mistakes
Show Answer
Answer: B – A counsellor can accept a person while still exploring whether particular actions are helpful.
Q36. A student admits that he cheated in a class test. A non-judgemental counsellor is most likely to:
- (A) Praise his honesty and ignore the cheating entirely, under the supervision of the school counsellor
- (B) Scold and shame him for dishonesty
- (C) Acknowledge the disclosure and explore the reasons and consequences calmly
- (D) Report him immediately without any discussion
Show Answer
Answer: C – Calm exploration respects the disclosure and helps the student understand choices and consequences.
Q37. A counsellor who only praises a pupil when he behaves well is showing:
- (A) Unconditional positive regard
- (B) Empathy
- (C) Conditional regard, acceptance that depends on behaviour
- (D) Genuineness
Show Answer
Answer: C – Conditional regard makes acceptance depend on meeting conditions; Rogers contrasted it with acceptance that is freely given.
Q38. Which response best shows genuineness?
- (A) False praise to keep the student happy
- (B) Honest and respectful feedback, such as expressing concern about a pattern of missed work
- (C) Only scripted phrases, whatever the situation, in the context of everyday school work, as part of routine school organisation
- (D) Agreeing with the student to avoid conflict
Show Answer
Answer: B – Honest, respectful feedback is genuine; false praise and automatic agreement are not.
Q39. If a counsellor feels frustrated during a session, genuine and ethical practice is to:
- (A) Show anger directly towards the client
- (B) Suppress the feeling and pretend it does not exist, during scheduled guidance periods
- (C) End the session abruptly
- (D) Manage the feeling, respond professionally, and seek supervision if needed
Show Answer
Answer: D – Feelings are managed professionally and reflected on in supervision, not acted out or denied.
Q40. Reflecting a client’s feelings helps the client mainly because it:
- (A) Clarifies emotions and helps the client feel understood
- (B) Gives the counsellor a chance to offer advice, with records kept by the school
- (C) Changes the client’s feelings instantly
- (D) Proves that the counsellor is clever
Show Answer
Answer: A – Accurate reflection clarifies experience and communicates understanding.
Q41. Unconditional positive regard is shown when a counsellor:
- (A) Shows consistent respect for the client regardless of the client’s mistakes
- (B) Respects only clients with good behaviour, in consultation with the pupil’s teachers
- (C) Praises every action the client takes
- (D) Ignores the client’s behaviour completely
Show Answer
Answer: A – Regard is unconditional when respect does not depend on good behaviour or agreement.
Q42. A counsellor who is judgemental towards a client is most likely to cause the client to:
- (A) Open up more freely
- (B) Trust the counsellor more, as one element of the school’s pastoral care
- (C) Set ambitious goals
- (D) Conceal important information
Show Answer
Answer: D – Judgement teaches clients to hide material they fear will be condemned.
Q43. Empathy is best communicated through:
- (A) Long and detailed advice
- (B) Attentive listening, accurate reflection and checking understanding
- (C) Nodding silently throughout the session
- (D) Repeating the client’s exact words mechanically, for a pupil moving to a new class or school
Show Answer
Answer: B – Empathy is shown in listening and reflection that is checked with the client, not in advice or mechanical repetition.
Q44. Which of the following is NOT an empathetic response?
- (A) You seem anxious about tomorrow’s examination
- (B) That must have been hard for you
- (C) I know exactly how you feel, and you are overreacting
- (D) Help me understand what that experience was like for you
Show Answer
Answer: C – Claiming exact knowledge and dismissing feelings as overreaction is the opposite of empathy.
Q45. Acceptance helps the counselling process mainly because:
- (A) It removes any need for change
- (B) A safe climate encourages honesty and growth
- (C) The client feels constantly praised
- (D) The counsellor can avoid challenging the client
Show Answer
Answer: B – When clients feel accepted, they are more willing to be honest and to work on change.
Professional Conduct and Record-Keeping
Q46. Accurate counselling records should include:
- (A) The counsellor’s personal opinions and gossip about the family, in the course of the school year
- (B) Full word-for-word gossip from other students
- (C) Dates, goals, key interventions, progress and referrals, recorded factually
- (D) Details of other students’ cases
Show Answer
Answer: C – Records should be factual, relevant and focused on the client’s counselling work.
Q47. Counselling records must be stored:
- (A) Securely, with access limited to authorised persons
- (B) On a shared drive open to all staff
- (C) In an unlocked classroom drawer
- (D) On the counsellor’s personal social media account, with the support of the guidance team
Show Answer
Answer: A – Secure, limited-access storage is essential to confidentiality.
Q48. When should counselling records be updated?
- (A) Only at the end of the school year
- (B) Whenever it is convenient for the counsellor
- (C) Never, once the first note has been made
- (D) Promptly after sessions, in factual language
Show Answer
Answer: D – Prompt, factual notes are more accurate and useful than delayed or vague records.
Q49. A professional boundary means that a counsellor should NOT:
- (A) Keep appointments as agreed
- (B) Clarify his professional role with the client, in a typical school week, during the regular school day
- (C) Refer a client onwards when needed
- (D) Meet a student client socially or share personal contact details for friendship
Show Answer
Answer: D – Social contact outside the professional role blurs boundaries and risks exploiting trust.
Q50. If a counsellor lacks the expertise needed for a particular case, the ethical action is to:
- (A) Attempt the case anyway to avoid disappointing the student
- (B) Refer the student to a qualified professional
- (C) Give general advice while presenting himself as an expert
- (D) Delay any action indefinitely
Show Answer
Answer: B – Recognising limits and referring onwards protects the client and is a mark of competence.
Q51. Continuing professional development is important for a counsellor because:
- (A) Certificates look impressive on a wall
- (B) Counselling methods never change
- (C) Knowledge and skills stay current and practice improves over time
- (D) The school requires attendance at training only, as part of the school’s usual programme
Show Answer
Answer: C – Ongoing learning keeps practice safe, current and effective.
Q52. In report writing, a counsellor should:
- (A) Be factual and clear, and avoid stigmatising labels
- (B) Include rumours heard about the family
- (C) Exaggerate problems to secure extra support, with the class teacher involved
- (D) Copy wording from another student’s report
Show Answer
Answer: A – Factual, clear and non-stigmatising writing protects the student and supports good decisions.
Q53. Who may access a student’s counselling records?
- (A) Anyone who asks for them
- (B) All teachers in the school, in the school setting, alongside other pupils, over the course of a school term
- (C) Authorised persons with a legitimate need, subject to consent and to safety and legal rules
- (D) The student’s classmates
Show Answer
Answer: C – Access is limited by authorisation, need, consent and legal or safety duties.
Q54. A counsellor’s conduct on social media should:
- (A) Maintain professional boundaries and avoid discussing clients
- (B) Accept friend requests from all student clients
- (C) Post case stories that are anonymous but still identifiable, in a normal classroom situation
- (D) Share photographs from counselling sessions
Show Answer
Answer: A – Professional boundaries and client privacy apply online just as they do in school.
Q55. If a parent demands the full notes of a child’s counselling sessions, the counsellor should:
- (A) Hand over only the attendance dates and the number of sessions held, as practised in many schools, with parents informed about the arrangement
- (B) Refer the parent to the head teacher, who can decide what to share
- (C) Wait until counselling ends, then share a full copy with the parent
- (D) Follow school policy, discuss relevant information, and protect confidentiality while involving the student appropriately
Show Answer
Answer: D – Policy, relevance and the student’s interests together guide what is shared, rather than automatic full disclosure.
Q56. Supervision helps a counsellor by providing a place to:
- (A) Check attendance records
- (B) Reflect on cases, ethics, skills and blind spots with a qualified colleague
- (C) Award marks to students
- (D) Replace formal training entirely, under the supervision of the school counsellor
Show Answer
Answer: B – Supervision is reflective professional support, not administration or a substitute for training.
Q57. Which behaviour after termination would breach professional boundaries?
- (A) Sending a proper summary to the authorised file, for pupils in the senior classes
- (B) Providing referral information to the student
- (C) Inviting a former minor client to personal social events
- (D) Closing the counselling record properly
Show Answer
Answer: C – Personal social contact with a former minor client blurs the professional boundary and risks harm.
Q58. Retention and disposal of counselling records should follow:
- (A) The counsellor’s memory of each case, in the context of everyday school work, as part of routine school organisation
- (B) The student’s preference alone
- (C) No rule at all
- (D) School policy and legal requirements, with secure disposal after the required period
Show Answer
Answer: D – Policy and law govern how long records are kept and how they are securely destroyed.
Q59. Ethical decision-making when a dilemma arises should involve:
- (A) Relevant ethics, law, school policy and supervision, with the client’s welfare as the priority
- (B) Whatever is most convenient for the counsellor, during scheduled guidance periods, with records kept by the school
- (C) The majority opinion in the staffroom
- (D) Avoiding a decision altogether
Show Answer
Answer: A – Dilemmas are resolved by weighing ethics, law, policy and supervision around client welfare.
Q60. Overall, a professional counsellor is best described as:
- (A) A friend who gives quick advice
- (B) A trained, ethical helper who respects clients, listens carefully, and maintains boundaries and records
- (C) An authority figure who directs the student’s choices, in consultation with the pupil’s teachers, as one element of the school’s pastoral care
- (D) A record keeper only
Show Answer
Answer: B – Professional counselling combines training, ethics, listening, respect, boundaries and sound record-keeping.
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