The Pan-Canadian Examinations assess occupational competencies of entry-level TCM professionals that are required for safe, competent, and ethical practice ( Candidate Handbook ). Successful completion of the Pan-Canadian Examinations is one of the requirements for registration in the General class of registration. The Pan-Canadian Examinations are administered by the Canadian Alliance of Regulatory Bodies of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists (CARB-TCMPA).
For information about the Pan-Canadian Examination process and the required documentation, please see the Pan-Canadian Examinations Candidate Handbook and the Application Guide.
For detailed information about the Pan-Canadian Examinations, please see the candidate handbook.
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.
The following schedule applies to the October 2020 Pan-Canadian Examinations. Starting in 2021, the examinations will be offered twice a year, in April and October.
| Application Deadline: | July 15, 2020 (5:00 p.m. EST) |
| Deadline for Special Accommodation Requests: | July 31, 2020 (5:00 p.m. EST) |
| Deadline for Withdrawal of Applications: | July 31, 2020 (5:00 p.m. EST) |
| Date of Multiple-choice Examination: | October 22, 2020 |
| Date of Clinical Case-Study Examination: | October 23, 2020 |
| Acupuncturist Examinations Fees | |
|---|---|
| Examinations Application Fee* | $300.00 |
| Pan-Canadian Examination Fee | $800.00 (plus applicable taxes) |
| Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Examinations Fees | |
|---|---|
| Examinations Application Fee* | $300.00 |
| Pan-Canadian Examination Fee | $1,100.00 (plus applicable taxes) |
* The application fees are non-refundable.
To register for the examination, you will first need to complete an online examinations application form. To setup an account on the College’s Portal, click “Click here to Register” on the Sign In section of the College website, then complete and submit the Portal Access Registration Form. Within two business days you will receive an email with an invitation code and instructions on how to redeem the invitation code.
Once you have access to the Portal you can begin your examination application. All application forms can be found by clicking “My Applications” on the registration dropdown menu. From there, you will click on “Pan-Canadian Examinations” and then choose either the R. Ac or R. TCMP application.
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 for paying the WES evaluation fee to WES directly. For more information regarding the documents needed to submit to WES, please visit the Required Documents section of the WES website. To apply for the credential evaluation, please visit the WES website.
Any candidate who failed the January 2020 Clinical Case Study Examination and has rewrite attempts remaining may elect, one of the following:
The December 12, 2020, Clinical Case Study retake examination is the final rewrite for the paper-based CCS.
Candidates cannot take both the December 2020 paper-based CCS retake and October 2020 CBT examination.
Candidates who fail the December 2020 CCS retake examination must wait 10-months for a retake in October 2021.
The following information applies to the December 12, 2020 Clinical Case Study Retake Examinations. For information about the October 2020 Pan-Canadian examination please refer to that tab.
The following schedule applies to the December 2020 Clinical Case Study Retake Examination.
| Application Deadline: | July 15, 2020 (5:00 p.m. EST) |
| Deadline for Special Accommodation Requests: | July 31, 2020 (5:00 p.m. EST) |
| Deadline for Withdrawal of Applications: | July 31, 2020 (5:00 p.m. EST) |
| Date of Clinical Case-Study Retake Examination: | December 12, 2020 |
| Acupuncturist Examinations Fees | |
|---|---|
| Examinations Application Fee* | $300.00 |
| Pan-Canadian Examination Fee | $350.00 |
| Rescoring Fee | $350.00 |
| Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Examinations Fees | |
|---|---|
| Examinations Application Fee* | $300.00 |
| Pan-Canadian Examination Fee | $550.00 |
| Rescoring Fee | $350.00 |
* The application fees are non-refundable.
To register for the examination, you will need to complete an examinations application form. To obtain a copy of the application form, please contact Registration Staff at:
