Substance Abuse DSST
A Free Study Guide!
Name of Exam: Substance Abuse DSST
Number of Questions: Around 95 (varies)
Time Limit: 120 Minutes
ACE Recommended Passing Score: 400
Practice Test Available?: Yes - Click here
Cost: $80 (Usually no more than $20) at your testing site. Military can take DSSTs for free with Tuition Assistance. Check with your Educational Officer!
Difficulty 1-5 : 3
(One being the easiest, and five being the hardest)
Exam Description:
The Substance Abuse DSST covers what a student would learn during a Junior or Senior level semester class in Substance Abuse or Drug and Alcohol Intervention. Specific areas covered may include Stimulants, Alcohol, Inhaled Substances, and Opoids among others.
Personal Thoughts:
The Substance Abuse DSST is one of the more recently refreshed exams. Before it was named "Drug and Alcohol Abuse" and there are a few testing centers still giving this version. Most of the time you'll have your choice between the two. The below topics and recommended study material is based on the updated exam.
Since this is an upper level exam for most schools, you may expect that it's going to be super tough. Happily enough, it's really not that bad. I wouldn't shortchange your study time, but I don't want to you to be too worried about it either.
Exam breakdown:
Make sure you check out the Official DSST Fact Sheet for this exam.
Pay attention to the bottom of the fact sheet. It contains some sample questions that closely mimic the type of scenario-based questions you'll see on the actual exam.
The Substance Abuse DSST is broken down as follows:
| 12% | Alcohol |
|---|---|
| 11% | Overview of Substance Abuse and Dependence Abuse |
| 11% | Pharmacological and Neuropsychological Principles |
| 09% | Psychomotor Stimulants |
| 09% | Opoids |
| 08% | Cannabinoids |
| 07% | Tobacco and Nicotine |
| 06% | Anti-anxiety and Sedative Hypnotics |
| 06% | Classification of Drugs |
| 05% | Other Drugs of Abuse |
| 04% | Antidepressants and Mood Stabilizers |
| 04% | Hallucinogens |
| 04% | Anti psychotic Drugs |
| 04% | Inhaled Substances |
Areas of Study
I'm going to list some specific topics that you'll need to study.
Though there are different versions of the Substance Abuse DSST, you'll most likely see some of the following on your exam:
- Effects
- Uses and Administration
- Demographics of Abuse
- Nervous System
- Tolerance, withdrawal, and overdose
- Club Drugs
- Anabolic Steroids
- Dependency Issues
- Herbal Substances
- Effects of Smoking on Pregnancy
- Lithium
- Methadone
This is not a comprehensive list of topics! I highly recommend (as always) signing up for InstantCert and running through their entire flashcard series as well as seeing the Specific Feedback section for this exam. They've had years to accumulate their information, and it shows.
Alcohol (12% of the exam)
- Alcoholic Beverages - This page has almost everything you'll need to know for this section of the Substance Abuse DSST, so I'd read the entire thing. I'll list some of the other topics on the fact sheet just for the sake of completeness.
- History and World Views
- Types of Alcoholic Beverages
- Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) - A good article. Doesn't take long to read the entire page (and I'd suggest doing so)
- Plant Reproduction Part 1 and Part 2 - A lot of information here, but you need a firm understanding of the process for the Biology CLEP. Know Meiosis, Diploid, Haploid, Gametes, Mitosis, and pretty much every other underlined word on these two pages.
- Plant structure and growth - Builds off the before mentioned material, but is in a quiz format. You probably won't know this at first, so answer what you do know and study the rest. Has the best diagrams for this that I've seen.
- Plant Hormones and Transport - You will probably be asked to identify which hormone has the stated effect. My advice would be to read this entire page. While some of it will be covering material already seen in the above topics, it goes into more detail regarding nutrient transfer than any other source I've seen. Know this material!
- Photoperiodism and Tropism - A great overview of these two topics. If you scroll upwards, there is another section describing plant hormones that I didn't include above due to lack of space.
Recommended Free Study Resources
I'm doing something different for the next few months. We've had a lot of people asking for study guides that weren't ready yet. Now I usually have a pretty good supply of resources for those study guides all ready to go, but it's the actual building the page and finding resources for each topic that takes a long time.
Most of the time I answer those requests by just sending the requestor the list of resources I have. Rather than keep doing that (which is starting to be a full time job by itself) I'm going to make some down and dirty study guides like you'll see here.
I'll include resources that I already have, and then come back later to fill in the topic area. Hopefully this will help the people who need the resources immediately.
- Substance Abuse - A great presentation from Scribd on the subject. Written from a medical professional's perspective, but covers the primary drugs very well.
- Substance Abuse Free Forum Links - From our own Feedback area. Find some other forum posts that we don't have? Let us know via the "Contact Us" form.
- Snazzlefrag's Substance Abuse Study Guide - Snazzlefrag created this for the old Drug and Alcohol Abuse DSST. That being said, much of the material remains the same.
Recommended bargain-priced study resources
Always check your library first! You may be able to find some of these for free. You don't have to buy the officially recommended resources all the time. If you're the type of person that prefers to study from a textbook source however, then please see below.
Hold up for a second! You can get the below book for free right now by going to the Practice DSST Tests page. Follow the directions until you get to the list of practice exams and then look on the right side of the screen. You'll see another list on the right. (I have an arrow pointing to it on that page). You can download that book for free if you use the link I give at the top of the page and register. Use it while you can!
DSST The Official Test Preparation Guide
InstantCert Academy Substance Abuse Specific Exam Feedback - Seven pages of targeted information for this exam. I can't recommend this enough. Also if you've subscribed, make sure you go through the Flashcards for Substance Abuse as well. They also have flashcards for the old Drug and Alcohol DSST if that's the only version you can take.
If you don't know what InstantCert is, then click here for the scoop as well as a discount code: **InstantCert Academy**
You'll find an InstantCert link for every exam here if that gives you an idea of the amount of information they have available. It's an outstanding resource.
Closing Thoughts
As I've mentioned earlier; the Substance Abuse DSST is probably one of the easiest Upper Level DSST's. Though there are plenty of drugs to keep track of, the questions are pretty much the same throughout. Symptoms of addiction, withdrawal, and the ways to deal with them. What are the effects of those drugs on pregnant women, unborn babies, and others.
You'll also get quite a bit of questions on the physical aspects of alcohol and drug addiction. How it affects the brain, kidneys, nervous system, and such. A decent understanding of those topics will also serve you well when taking this exam.
Best of luck!
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