January 2020
The Consortium of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists Regulators is the group of provincial regulatory bodies that determines the Pan Canadian Exam for the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners, TCM Acupuncturists and/or TCM Herbalists in:
i) Alberta,
ii) British Columbia,
iii) Newfoundland and Labrador and
iv) Ontario.
Entry Level Occupational Competencies
The foundational document for constructing the PCE exam are the profiles for Entry Level Occupational Competencies. To ensure validity against current practice, this document is updated periodically with last update completed in 2018. Implementation of the 2018 Profiles was delayed to provide the educational institutions sufficient time to incorporate changes in their educational programs before introducing the new profile into the PCE.
Exam Delivery Improvements
In addition, the PCE delivery model is being updated to take advantage of Computer Based Testing (CBT). This change introduces several benefits for schools and candidates. The most important benefit is that it will enable the exam to be offered twice each year. This gives the schools more flexibility in scheduling their courses. For candidates, there will be the convenience of additional writing centres.
Exam Scoring Improvements
With the introduction of CBT, the Consortium is also making some changes to the structure of the exam. The written exam and the clinical case study exam will be combined into a single exam. Candidates will no longer have to pass each exam separately, but instead the CBT exam will include two components: written multiple-choice question component, and the clinical case question component. Scores for the two components will be combined into a single score.
These changes are scheduled for introduction in the Fall of 2020. At that time, the PCE will be:
1. based on the updated Occupational Competency Profile
2. offered by way of Computer Based Testing (CBT)
3. issuing a single score for both components of the exam.
2020 Pan Canadian Examination (CBT) Dates
As previously mentioned, under the new CBT format, the written multiple-choice question and the clinical case study components will be combined into a single examination. The first administration of the CBT examination will occur on the following dates:
• October 20, 2020 – the Herbalists MCQ Component
• October 21, 2020 – the Herbalists CCS Component
• October 22, 2020 – the TCMP and Acupuncturists MCQ Component
• October 23. 2020 – the TCMP and Acupuncturists CCS Component
Starting in 2021, the CBT examinations will be offered twice a year, in April and October.
Examination Rewrites
The policy for failed candidates who have rewrite attempts remaining is as follows:
A. Any candidate who failed the 2019 Written Exam will be treated as a new applicant no matter whether they have applied for or wrote the examination previously. In other words, their examination attempt will be reset to 1 for the Computer Based Exam starting in the Fall 2020.
B. Any candidate who fails the January 2020 Clinical Case Study Examination may elect, one of the following:
1. Challenge a final offering of the Clinical Case Study Examination on December 12, 2020; OR
2. be granted a fresh set of rewrite attempts to challenge the Computer-Based Examination starting in Fall 2020.
C. The December 12, 2020, Clinical Case Study retake examination is the final rewrite for the paper-based CCS.
D. Candidates cannot take both the December 2020 paper-based CCS retake and October 2020 CBT examination.
E. Candidates who fail the December 2020 CCS retake examination must wait 10-months for a retake in October 2021 and their examination attempt will be reset to 1 for the Computer Based Exam starting in the Fall 2021.
Practical Assessment
Additionally, the updated Entry-Level Occupational Competencies provides further clarity on the need for a practical assessment to ensure the competencies that are not assessed through the multiple-choice question component or the clinical case question component are assessed. Work is being undertaken to develop a regulatory assessment to align with the Entry-Level Occupational Competencies. More information will be published as this work progresses.
Should you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact the College by email: registration@ctcma.bc.ca
PCE Fall 2020 Transitions Bulletin – final – January 8, 2020