The Licensure Examination for Social Workers is the written test that the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) administers in the Philippines under the Professional Regulatory Board for Social Workers. Since the September 2022 examination it has followed the Enhanced Tables of Specifications (TOS) adopted in Board Resolution No. 04 (s. 2022): five written subjects of 100 items each, sat in four-hour sessions across three days and weighted equally at 20% of the total result. This guide explains what each subject covers, how the official weights become exam items, the most recent 2026 schedule, the documents you need to apply, and how to turn the TOS into a study plan.
What the exam covers and which version applies
Five written subjects defined by the Board's Enhanced Table of Specifications, in force since the September 2022 examination.
Republic Act No. 4373, the law regulating social work practice in the Philippines, provides that the examination consists of a written test whose scope the Board determines. The Board publishes that scope as a Table of Specifications, a document that lists every subject, topic, sub-topic and competency the exam may cover, with percentage weights and item counts.
The current framework is Board Resolution No. 04 (s. 2022), which adopted the Enhanced TOS after review with the National Association for Social Work Education, Inc. It applies starting with the September 2022 Social Workers Licensure Examination and remains the applicable version for the 2026 examinations. Because boards can revise syllabuses, confirm on the PRC website that no newer resolution has been issued before you finalize your plan.
The five subjects are Human Behavior and Social Environment; Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services; Social Work Methods II (Working with Groups); Social Work Practice I with Field Instruction I; and Social Work Practice III and Field Instruction III (Communities). Each subject table specifies 100 items, and assessment of individuals, groups and communities is built into the practice and field instruction subjects rather than standing alone.
Worked exercise
Open the TOS for Human Behavior and Social Environment. Topic A is 'Philippine Social Realities and Social Work' at 20%. Its sub-topic 1, 'Concepts of Reality; Perspectives and Tools for Analyzing Social Realities', carries 17%. Competency 1.3, on distinguishing types and dimensions of poverty and approaches to measuring poverty, carries 3%. How many of the 100 items test competency 1.3, and how many test the whole topic A?
Show answer
Competency 1.3 accounts for 3 items; topic A accounts for 20 items.
Every percentage in the weight column is a share of the whole 100-item subject, not of its parent topic, so you never multiply a sub-topic percentage by its topic percentage. The 17% sub-topic and the 3% competency both read directly as item counts, and the sub-topic weights within topic A (17% and 3%) sum to the topic's 20%. The TOS states the aggregation rule itself: topics carry the weight of the whole test, sub-topic weights sum to their topic's weight, and competency weights sum to their sub-topic's weight. That is why you can plan study time competency by competency.
Official sources: PRC September 2026 Social Workers examination program: subject durations and latest sitting instructions; PRC Board for Social Workers: enhanced Table of Specifications, Resolution 04 series of 2022
The five subjects and what each covers
Two subjects test foundational knowledge; three pair a practice method with its supervised field instruction half, weighted 50/50.
The subject names matter because review materials often use different labels. The official subject on groups is Social Work Methods II, and the community subject explicitly includes Field Instruction III. Reading the TOS subject titles first prevents you from preparing for subjects that do not exist.
Each subject table also fixes the difficulty spread: 30% easy, 40% moderate and 30% difficult items, mapped across Bloom's taxonomy columns from remembering to creating. The verbs in each competency row signal the cognitive level a question will demand, whether recalling, applying, analyzing or creating. Combine that signal with the official weight and your own practice results when you allocate time: a heavily weighted recall topic can still deserve more hours than a lightly weighted application topic if your practice exposes gaps there.
Worked exercise
The Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services table gives topic D, 'Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services', a 30% weight, and its sub-topic 2 on policy making and implementation a 10% weight. How many of the subject's 100 items come from topic D, how many from that sub-topic, and how does the whole subject split by difficulty?
Show answer
Topic D provides 30 items; sub-topic 2 provides 10 items. Across the full subject, the TOS fixes 30 easy, 40 moderate and 30 difficult items.
Percentages of a 100-item test convert directly into item counts, so 30% means 30 items and 10% means 10 items. The difficulty split of 30/40/30 applies to the entire subject, not topic by topic, which is why the answer spreads the 100 items rather than dividing topic D separately. Knowing this lets you prioritize: the 30% policy topic is the single largest block in the subject, while the 12% community organizing process is the largest block in the practice half of the communities subject, though Field Instruction III's organizational consolidation and expansion topic carries 15%.
| Subject | Coverage highlights |
|---|---|
| Human Behavior and Social Environment | Five topics at 20% each: Philippine social realities; Filipino personality; social deviation; the family, group, community and organization; social change and development. |
| Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services | Social work statistics (10%); research across two topics (20%); social welfare policies, programs and services (30%); agency administration (20%); project development and management (20%). |
| Social Work Methods II (Working with Groups) | 50% groupwork practice, including phases of group development (14%) and intervention models; 50% Field Instruction II, from pre-group formation through evaluation and termination. |
| Social Work Practice I with Field Instruction I | 50% practice with individuals and families, including casework (12%), the helping process and social work counseling (10%); 50% Field Instruction I across beginning, middle and ending placement phases. |
| Social Work Practice III and Field Instruction III (Communities) | 50% community practice, with the community organizing process at 12% and community education and training at 6%; 50% Field Instruction III in a community-based setting working with a larger collectivity of 60 to 150 families. |
Official sources: PRC Board for Social Workers: enhanced Table of Specifications, Resolution 04 series of 2022
2026 schedule and application window
The most recent 2026 sitting ran September 9 to 11, 2026 in five four-hour sessions, with applications accepted June 11 to August 12, 2026; that window has now closed.
PRC's 2026 schedule of examinations lists the Social Workers licensure examination for September 9, 10 and 11, 2026, Wednesday to Friday. Testing centers include NCR, Baguio, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Calapan, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Koronadal, Legazpi, Lucena, Pagadian, Palawan, Pampanga, Rosales, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga. As of mid-September 2026, both the examination and its June 11 to August 12 application window have passed.
The official examination program for that sitting confirms the format: five subjects, one four-hour session each, with every subject carrying a 20% relative weight, so the five papers contribute equally to your result. That overall 20% figure is different from the percentage weights inside each subject's Table of Specifications, which describe how the 100 items of that single subject are distributed. The program also fixes the day-to-day order shown below.
- Most recent scheduled sitting: September 9, 10 and 11, 2026, in five four-hour sessions
- Application window for that sitting: June 11 to August 12, 2026, now closed
- Target release of results: September 16, 2026 (a target date, not an observed release)
- Overseas sitting: special professional licensure examination in Hong Kong, May 29 to 31, 2026, also passed
| Day and session | Subject | Relative weight |
|---|---|---|
| Wed, Sept 9, 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Human Behavior and Social Environment | 20% |
| Wed, Sept 9, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services | 20% |
| Thu, Sept 10, 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Social Work Practice I with Field Instruction I | 20% |
| Thu, Sept 10, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Social Work Methods II (Working with Groups) | 20% |
| Fri, Sept 11, 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Social Work Practice III with Field Instruction III (Communities) | 20% |
Official sources: PRC September 2026 Social Workers examination program: subject durations and latest sitting instructions; 2026 Schedule of Examination | Professional Regulation Commission
Documents you need to apply
Standard identity and academic records plus a certificate of 1,000 case hours of supervised field instruction, with a PHP 900 complete fee.
First-time applicants submit a PSA-issued birth certificate; a PSA marriage certificate or contract for married female applicants; a Transcript of Records with scanned picture and Special Order number unless exempted, bearing the remarks 'For Board Examination Purposes'; the original and photocopy of an NBI clearance; and a Certificate of 1,000 Case Hours of Supervised Field Instruction. The certificate must be signed by the Agency Field Supervisor, or by the Faculty Supervisor when the Agency Field Supervisor is unavailable or holds no valid PRC license, and further certified by the current Field Instruction Coordinator or the current Head of the Social Work Program, who must hold an updated Professional Identification Card.
Repeaters submit the original and photocopy of their NBI clearance together with the same 1,000 case hours certificate. The listed payment is PHP 900 for the complete examination. This requirements page covers documents, not the underlying eligibility conditions under Republic Act No. 4373, whose full text was not retrievable at publication; if you have any question about degree or citizenship eligibility, confirm it directly with PRC before the application window opens.
- PSA birth certificate; PSA marriage certificate for married female applicants
- Transcript of Records with scanned picture and remarks 'For Board Examination Purposes'
- NBI clearance, original and photocopy
- Certificate of 1,000 case hours of supervised field instruction with the required signatories
- Payment: PHP 900 for the complete examination
Official sources: List of Requirements | Professional Regulation Commission
Finding ethics inside the five subjects
There is no standalone ethics subject; the TOS places ethics competencies inside research, policy, administration, groupwork and field instruction topics.
The Enhanced TOS contains no standalone ethics subject. Ethics and values appear as named competencies inside research, policy, agency administration, groupwork and field instruction topics across the five subjects, and the exam can test them wherever those competencies sit.
A separate ethics review can still be useful if you anchor it to those home locations. Map each ethics competency to its host subject and revise it in context, rather than working through a generic ethics outline detached from the TOS.
The same caution applies to substantive ethics content: the TOS lists what is testable, but it does not contain the professional code itself. Study the applicable code of ethics for Philippine social workers alongside these competencies so you can answer value-conflict items with the actual standards rather than intuition.
Worked exercise
Using the Enhanced TOS, list the specific places where ethics or values competencies appear across the five subjects, and state what each requires you to do.
Show answer
Ethics competencies appear in at least these locations: Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services includes the concepts, principles and ethics of research under Social Work Research 1, and asks you to identify ethical issues in social work applicable to policy making under tools for policy analysis; Social Welfare Agency Administration requires describing the values and skills needed in performing administrative functions; Social Work Methods II requires examining the integration of values, ethics and principles of social work practice with groups, and its Field Instruction II half requires a critical approach to selecting practice theories with integration of groupwork ethics, principles, values and skills; Social Work Practice III and Field Instruction III covers ethical practice issues and dilemmas that may arise in working with communities.
Every one of these rows is a named competency with its own weight, which means ethics is tested as part of research literacy, policy analysis, administration and field practice rather than in a separate block. When you revise, practice each ethics competency in its home context: research ethics with research design, policy ethics with policy analysis, and practice ethics with the field instruction scenarios in the groupwork and community subjects.
Official sources: PRC Board for Social Workers: enhanced Table of Specifications, Resolution 04 series of 2022
Common mistakes to avoid
Common errors include studying from an unofficial subject list, skipping the field instruction halves, and assuming review centers carry official backing.
Treating informal topic lists as the syllabus is a frequent mistake. Lists that name 'Social Work Assessment and Intervention' or 'Field Instruction and Supervision' as standalone subjects do not match the official TOS, which embeds assessment inside the practice subjects and makes field instruction a scored half of three subjects. Always map your review plan to the five official subject titles.
Skipping the Field Instruction halves is another common error, because field instruction is worth 50% of Social Work Methods II, Social Work Practice I and Social Work Practice III. Finally, do not assume a review center's proximity or advertising implies official backing: PRC states that it is not involved in producing, selling or distributing review materials and does not endorse or advertise them.
Official sources: PRC Board for Social Workers: enhanced Table of Specifications, Resolution 04 series of 2022; Home | Professional Regulation Commission
Final checklist before you apply
Confirm the next sitting on the PRC schedule, gather documents, secure the case hours certificate, and plan study competency by competency.
Work through this list in order; the document items take the longest to correct if something is missing. The date items refer to the most recent 2026 sitting, so verify the next application window on the PRC website before you commit to a timeline.
- Check the PRC schedule of examinations for the next Social Workers sitting; the September 9 to 11, 2026 sitting and its August 12, 2026 application deadline have passed
- Confirm the next application window, testing centers and any amending resolutions before planning travel
- Gather your PSA birth certificate, PSA marriage certificate if applicable, TOR with the required remarks, and NBI clearance
- Secure the 1,000 case hours certificate with signatures from the Agency Field Supervisor or Faculty Supervisor and certification from the Field Instruction Coordinator or Program Head
- Download the Enhanced TOS from the PRC website and build your study plan from its competency rows, prioritizing the largest weighted topics
- Practice items across the 30/40/30 difficulty spread rather than only recall-level questions
Official sources: 2026 Schedule of Examination | Professional Regulation Commission; List of Requirements | Professional Regulation Commission
Official sources
Exam facts checked:
- PRC September 2026 Social Workers examination program: subject durations and latest sitting instructions
- PRC Board for Social Workers: enhanced Table of Specifications, Resolution 04 series of 2022
- 2026 Schedule of Examination | Professional Regulation Commission
- List of Requirements | Professional Regulation Commission
- Home | Professional Regulation Commission