To be eligible for a certificate in the General class of registration, an applicant must successfully complete the Pan-Canadian Examinations.
The purpose of the Pan-Canadian Examinations is to determine if candidates have acquired the minimum entry-level competency for practice as a TCM Practitioner or Acupuncturist. The examination(s) must be written by all candidates, including graduates from Canada and those completing their education outside of Canada. The examination is designed to assess knowledge, skills and abilities required for practice. A passing result on the examination indicates that the candidate has demonstrated the minimal standard of competence. For more information, please visit the Examination Resources.
Please note there is an update on the implementation of the new Pan-Canadian Examinations (PCE).
The Consortium of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists Regulators is the group of provincial regulatory bodies that determines the Pan Canadian Examination for the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners, TCM Acupuncturists and/or TCM Herbalists in:
The foundational document for constructing the PCE examination is the Entry-Level Occupational Competency Profile. To ensure validity against current practice, this document is updated periodically with the last update completed in 2018. Implementation of the 2018 Profile was delayed to provide the educational institutions sufficient time to incorporate changes in their educational programs before introducing the new profile into the PCE in 2020. As such, starting in Fall 2020, the PCE will be based on the 2018 Entry-Level Occupational Competency Profile. Examinations based on the old Entry-Level Occupational Competency Profile are being phased out.
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 examination 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.
With the introduction of CBT, the Consortium is also making some changes to the structure of the examination. The written examination and the clinical case study (CCS) examination will be combined into a single examination. Candidates will no longer have to pass each examination separately, but instead, the CBT examination will include two components: written multiple-choice question (MCQ) 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:
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:
Starting in 2021, the CBT examinations will be offered twice a year, in April and October.
The policy for failed candidates who have rewrite attempts remaining is as follows:
Additionally, the updated Entry-Level Occupational Competency Profile 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 at registration@ctcmpao.on.ca.
All internationally educated graduates must submit a credential evaluation and authentication report with a course-by-course evaluation from the World Education Services (WES). Applicants are responsible to pay the WES fee to WES directly. For more information regarding the types of documents needed to submit to WES, please visit the Required Documents section of the WES website.
If you are an internationally educated graduate and would like to have your credentials authenticated, please visit the WES website.
Please note that the College only accepts transcripts, course outlines, and clinical supervision letters sent directly from your school.
For more information regarding Evidence of successful completion of a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and/or TCM Acupuncture program, please visit our Required Documents Policy.
