About CaseSavvy

Who builds it

CaseSavvy is built by David Zimmerman, RN, a registered nurse, educator, and solo founder. David is not a licensed counselor, and CaseSavvy does not present him as one. He built CaseSavvy to give licensure candidates practice in the exam’s own format, with an explanation for every answer. He sets the content standards, designs the review process described below, and fixes reported errors.

How is CaseSavvy content written and checked?

Every case, question, topic summary, and article goes through the same pipeline before anyone sees it.

1. 1

   Sources first

   Exam facts (format, timing, scoring, domain weights) come from NBCC’s candidate handbooks and examination specifications, and every blog post lists its sources. Clinical content is written to DSM-5-TR criteria at exam depth, the ACA Code of Ethics, CACREP’s core areas, and standard counseling references.

2. 2

   NCE: a verified fact map first

   Before any NCE question is written, each topic’s testable facts are written down and checked against their sources: 2,569 facts across the 227 topics, each marked must-know (956), drill (1,311), or reference (302). Every NCE practice question and flashcard is tagged to the facts it tests, so when a fact is corrected, every item that depends on it is pulled for re-check.

3. 3

   AI-assisted drafting to a fixed template

   Case vignettes, practice questions, topic summaries, and articles are drafted with AI assistance against a written template: a decision-style stem, four plausible options, and a rationale for every option. Drafts land in a draft state that never renders to users.

4. 4

   Automated gates

   Scripts check every item’s structure, that the correct answer is not given away by being the longest option, near-duplicate items, and that every number in an item traces to its source material.

5. 5

   Independent audit

   A separate reviewer that did not write the item audits it for a single defensible answer, accuracy against the source, and scope. Anything flagged is repaired and then re-audited by a fresh reviewer.

6. 6

   Approval gate

   Only items that clear the gates and the audit are approved and published. The counts on this site (97 NCMHCE cases, 241 drills, 2,455 NCE questions and 4,374 flashcards across 227 topics) are approved items only. In October 2026 the whole live NCE question bank was re-run through the gates, and every item that failed was repaired and re-audited by a reviewer that did not write the repair.

7. 7

   Corrections

   If you find an error, tell us. Reported items go back to draft, are fixed at the source, and are re-audited before they return.

What CaseSavvy is not

• Not affiliated with NBCC. NCMHCE and NCE are trademarks of the National Board for Certified Counselors, which does not sponsor or endorse this site.
• Not clinical or legal advice. Content is written for exam preparation; your state board and NBCC’s current handbooks are the authorities on licensure requirements.
• Not a substitute for your graduate training or supervision.