I'm a substance abuse counselor with 3 years of direct client experience and I'm finally pursuing my CADC credential. My state requires 6,000 hours of supervised work (which I have) plus passing the IC&RC exam. I started studying 8 weeks ago and I'm scoring around 68% on practice sets, which feels borderline. The passing threshold is reportedly 70% but I want a bigger buffer than that.
The content areas I struggle with most are pharmacology and co-occurring disorders. Counseling theory and ethics feel pretty solid since I use those frameworks daily. I've been using a CADC practice test twice a week to track my progress, which has helped me see which domains I'm actually losing points in versus just feeling uncertain about.
I'm studying about 90 minutes on weekdays and blocking off Saturday mornings for a full 3-hour session. Is that sustainable for 4 more weeks or should I be pushing harder? A colleague who passed last year told me the exam felt harder than any practice test she'd done, which is making me anxious.
Also curious about the ethics section — is it mostly code-of-ethics application scenarios, or is there a lot of memorization of specific rule numbers? I've been studying the IC&RC ethics code but not the specific article numbers.
I'm in the same boat with pharmacology. What helped me was making flashcards for drug classes, mechanism of action, and withdrawal timelines. Opioid and benzodiazepine withdrawal timelines in particular show up a lot.
Your scoring is close to where I was at a similar point. I went from 67% at week 8 to passing with room to spare after 4 more weeks of targeted study. The pharmacology section does feel disproportionately hard on the real exam so give it extra time.
Your colleague is right that the real exam feels harder. The questions are worded more ambiguously than most practice tests. Read each answer choice carefully and eliminate obviously wrong ones first — don't second-guess yourself too much once you've narrowed it to two options.
Ethics is almost entirely scenario-based — they describe a situation and ask what the appropriate response is. You don't need to memorize rule numbers, just understand the principles. Focus on dual relationships, confidentiality, and mandated reporting scenarios.