NCCAOM 2007 Examination Administration

We are pleased to announce some exciting, new upgrades to the examination administration process for 2007 as we continue to bring our testing program to be level with best practices in the testing industry and in line with the rest of the health profession certification agencies. During this process we have also taken into consideration important concerns raised by Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM) members to our Executive Committee regarding some of the changes that were planned for the examination administration in 2007. We have tailored these changes to take into account the input from the Council.

In an effort to assist our candidates and school representatives in understanding our plans for a better examination process beginning in 2007, we have created a list of questions and answers that explain in detail what these changes will entail for candidates. We have a high level of commitment to upholding the integrity of the NCCAOM certification as a meaningful measure of entry-level competency in order to protect the public safety. This commitment cannot be overstated; it is a requirement of our mission, which is to establish, assess, and promote recognized standards of competence and safety in acupuncture and Oriental medicine for the protection and benefit of the public.

Q.1: When can I take the next examination as I do not see a schedule of exams on the website?

A.1: NCCAOM is pleased to announce year-round testing beginning on February 15, 2007, which means that “Approved to Test” candidates (who have received an approval letter in the mail from NCCAOM) can now register for the NCCAOM examination(s) throughout the year, pending availability at their desired Pearson Vue test center locations. Candidates can register for the examinations(s) by calling Pearson VUE directly or registering online. (The “Approved to Test” letter will have detailed registration information and instructions.) Previously, candidates had to wait for February, June or October to test. Candidates can now register for their exams according to their own schedule and at their own convenience. Pearson VUE offers more than 350 test centers around the world. When they register, candidates can pay Pearson Vue directly for their exams using Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit cards. Any candidates approved to take the next examination administration can take advantage of registering for year-round testing or adaptive testing as of December 20, 2006. This means that “Approved to Test” candidates can start to register for the exams on or after December 20, 2006. Please remember that year-round examinations will begin February 15, 2007.

Q.2: What does Open Registration mean and why is there no application or registration deadlines announcement?

A.2: Open registration means that candidates no longer have to wait for the NCCAOM examinations to be announced. Once candidates are approved to test, they can register and schedule their exam for any time that is available at a Pearson VUE testing center. This means that candidates can test and be finished with the examination cycles more quickly than before and at a time more convenient for them. Year-round examinations will allow candidates to become certified and licensed to practice much faster than in the years past.

One of the great benefits of year-round testing is that there is no need to for the NCCAOM to enforce application or registration deadlines. Candidates can send in their application when they have completed their education and will be able to test after they receive an approval letter from NCCAOM. This also means that candidates no longer have to wait for the next examination cycle to register and test. Thus, candidates do not need to wait for the next application cycle if they have missed an application deadline, or to rush to send in their application for the upcoming examination administration. With year-round testing, candidates can test at their own pace. Please remember that candidates must still allow 10-12 weeks for processing of their application before they are approved to test. It is also important to remember that candidates have four years from the date that NCCAOM receives their application to test and become certified.

Q.3: What exams will be offered year-round and are you combining any of the exams?

A.3: The NCCAOM will be offering Foundations of Oriental Medicine, Biomedicine, Chinese Herbology and Acupuncture combined with Point Location, throughout the year. It is important to reiterate that the Acupuncture and Point Location modules will now be combined into a single test. The combined test will have 100 questions and candidates will have 2 ½ hours to complete the exam. By taking the combined examination, candidates will save $90.00 as compared to taking the examinations separately. Although this is a combined test, you must pass both the acupuncture and the point location sections of the examination. This ensures that your examination will meet the licensure requirements of state regulatory boards. The Point Location images and questions will be woven into the single exam.

The Asian Bodywork examination will still be offered during a two-week time period in October of every year. The exact dates will be announced closer to the examination period.

Q.4: What if I failed the Point Location examination or the Acupuncture examination? How can I retake this exam in the new format?

A.4: If you have already passed either Acupuncture or Point Location, but not both, you have several options: *If you need to repeat the Acupuncture exam, you can either take a separate Acupuncture exam in February 2007, which is composed of 100 questions, or you can take a traditional computer-based linear exam in April or October of 2007. (A computer-based linear exam is not a computer adaptive exam.) *If you need to repeat the Point Location exam and want to take the exam in February 2007, you must take the combined Acupuncture and Point Location exam (The computer adaptive model of test administration will not support short test length). However, you can register for the separate Point Location exam in April or October of 2007. In April and October, the exam will be in the traditional computer-based linear format. (Again, a computer-based linear exam is not a computer adaptive exam. See Question 11 for an explanation of the linear format). There will be a two-week window during which candidates can take the longer traditional exams.

Q.5: What about those who want to take the test in Chinese or Korean?

A.5: All foreign language examinations will still only be offered for a two-week window in October of each year. Testing dates will be announced closer to the examination period.

Q.6: Are you planning on combining any other exams?

A.6: At this time, we are not planning to combine any of the other examination modules. We had made an announcement at the 2006 AAOM meeting that we planned to combine the Foundations of Oriental Medicine module and the Biomedicine Module, but after a dialogue with CCAOM members, the NCCAOM has decided to forgo those plans.

Q.7: What does year-round testing mean for scoring? Does this mean that I will receive my exam results faster?

A.7: Yes! Year-round testing made possible by adaptive testing (see Questions 8 and 9 for information about adaptive testing) will enable NCCAOM to provide you with immediate preliminary result status. This means that candidates will receive a preliminary pass/fail screen immediately after their exam. The only exception will be the Acupuncture and Point Location Module. Because we want to ensure that the scores for all parts of the Acupuncture Point Location Module are accurate, we are not reporting those examination results at the test conclusion. When enough candidates have taken the combined exam and we are able to verify the quality assurance, examination results will be available at the conclusion of the exam.

The official examination results will be sent out to candidates every two weeks. The state licensing boards will also receive your examination results at a much quicker rate, which means that the time passed before receiving your license will be greatly reduced.

Q.8: Are the formats of the other exams going to change?

A.8: In the new year-round testing format, the Chinese Herbology and Foundations of Oriental Medicine examinations have been shortened to 100 questions with a 2 ½ hour time limit.

There is no change to the Biomedicine examination in the year-round testing format. This test will continue to consist of 50 questions with one hour allotted for completion.

In order for NCCAOM to be able to provide you with year-round testing and to provide an immediate preliminary pass/fail screen, starting in February 2007, we are offering candidates a form of testing called adaptive testing. What this means to the candidates is that each examination is different and is geared towards the ability of the candidate. If a question is answered correctly, the next question is slightly more difficult. If a question is answered incorrectly, the next question will be slightly easier. One feature that will be different from the linear testing format is the ability to review exam questions once you have finished answering the questions. As adaptive testing measures your content knowledge with each question, you will be unable to go back to a question once you have moved on to the next question.

Although adaptive testing has been in use by other certification organizations for more than 15 years, some of you may have concerns about taking this new type of exam. We have built in several measures to provide an opportunity for you to "test it out.” Any candidate who takes the adaptive examination in February or March of 2007 and does not pass will have the opportunity to take the traditional computer-based linear test during the two-week administration in April 2007 and receive a 10% discount on the testing fee. In addition, any examination that you did not pass in the new format will not count on your record! Further, for candidates who receive a fail on any adaptive exam during February and March, the results of the adaptive exam will not be sent to a licensing board. However, for those candidates who pass an adaptive exam during these months, their examination results will be immediately released to the licensing boards.

Q.9: Can you explain adaptive testing in more detail and what this means to us as candidates?

A.9: An internet search will help you to find many different methods of explaining Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT). The easiest explanation we have is that it is a computerized test in which the computer selects the examination questions based on the individual candidate’s ability. Some have compared it to jumping a high bar – if you get over the bar, the next time the bar is higher, but if you miss the bar is lowered. Of course, in this example, if the bar is too low you cannot pass the examination. Another analogy is to that of an interview. When someone is being interviewed, the interviewer will adjust the difficulty of the questions based on previous responses.

The objective of adaptive testing is to determine the candidate’s ability with the least amount of measurement error. It is not the number of correct or incorrect questions, but the overall score based on the difficulty of the questions, the overall examination and the ability of the candidate.

One aspect of adaptive testing that is hard to explain is that the best candidates feel as if they have just taken the hardest exam of their academic career. This is, unfortunately, the nature of this exam type. In trying to determine the candidate’s ability, the exam will continue to get more and more difficult. The candidate should not panic as this is a direct result of doing very well. Another aspect that candidates do not like is that you cannot review or go back to change your answers. Before moving on to your next question, you must answer each one.

Q.10: What benefits will be available to me if I take the CAT or adaptive format of the exam?

A.10: There are many benefits that candidates will enjoy with adaptive and year-round testing as outlined above. These include no eligibility deadlines and a preliminary pass/fail screen immediately following the exam (except for the Acupuncture and Point Location Module – see Question 7). These results are preliminary because the quality control check will not have been completed. Your examination can be scheduled at your convenience at over 350 test centers around the world; your application materials can be submitted at any time (please allow 10-12 weeks for processing); and, finally, at the end of the examination you will be able to review your preliminary result status, which allows for more expedient result release to state licensure boards. The other most obvious positive changes are that of a shorter examinations and lower overall costs.

For those who will be taking the CAT exams in 2007, there will be additional built-in incentives. Any candidate who takes an adaptive examination in February or March of 2007 and fails an exam will be allowed to retest in the equivalent linear computer-based test version in April with no record of failing the adaptive exam they took initially. These candidates will also receive a 10% discount on any retests they take in April. And, the first computer adaptive test score will not be counted for either the candidates, or for their school’s performance report. Only passing examination results will be reported on school performance reports for candidates taking the first computer adaptive tests (between February and March of 2007). We believe this will benefit both the schools and NCCAOM. Furthermore, the adaptive exams will be comprised of questions that have already been vetted through our testing system. As per our normal procedures, questions that need additional work have been removed from the test bank.

Q.11: What is the difference between adaptive and linear testing and will you be offering both of these examination administrations in 2007?

A.11: Computer Adaptive Testing is described above (see Question 9) and will be offered year-round starting February 15, 2007. In computer-based linear exams, examinees are given a fixed set of questions. Linear exams will be offered during two weeks in April and October (dates will be announced closer to the exam periods). Candidates will have a choice as to which type of exam, adaptive or linear, will best suit their needs. Candidates who wish to take the linear format of the exams must let the NCCAOM know of their plans before they register for the exams.

The following table shows the differences between the adaptive and linear examinations:

	Computer Adaptive				Linear
Exam	Questions	Time	Costs		Questions	Time	Costs
Acupuncture	100	2.5hrs	$250		90	2hrs	$210
Point Location	N/A				25	1hr	$130
Acupuncture with Point Location	100	2.5hrs	$250		N/A
Biomedicine	50	1hr	$150		50	1hr	$150
Chinese Herbology	100	2.5hrs	$250		120	3hrs	$260
Foundations of Oriental Medicine	100	2.5hrs	$250		125	3hrs	$250

Offering both adaptive and linear exams in the spring of 2007 will allow us all to compare these exams to the same standard NCCAOM used in 2006. Although research has been performed on adaptive testing for more than 15 years, this will give us an opportunity to show direct comparisons between the two types of examination administration: computer adaptive and computer-based linear exams. We will be able to provide a performance analysis of first-time adaptive test takers compared to first-time linear test takers. We hope this will help to demonstrate for the AOM community the equivalency of these two methods of exam administration.

Q.12. If I fail the CAT exams in February, can I immediately sign up for the exam again?

A.12: Yes. With adaptive testing, you can sign up immediately to test again; however, it is recommended that you give yourself at least two months to prepare for the retake of the examination that you failed.

Q.13. So as I understand it, if I do not pass an exam in February and March, it won't be counted against me?

A.13: It will not be counted against you as long as you take the linear exam in April 2007.