• Education
• Exam Information
• Certification Examination In Family Medicine
  • Introducing the New Certification Examination in Family Medicine
  • Application and Requirements for Residency Eligibility
  • Application and Requirements for Practising Physician Eligibility
  • Preparing for the Family Medicine Examination
  • Home Study
  • Simulated Office Orals (SOOs)
  • Short Answer Management Problems (SAMPS)
  • Evaluation Objectives
• Alternative Pathways to Certification in Family Medicine
• Examination of Special Competence in Emergency Medicine
• Undergraduate Education
• Postgraduate education
• Triple C Competency-based Curriculum: Canada’s Family Medicine Curriculum
• For Residents
• For Medical Students

Preparing for the Family Medicine Examination

The Certification Examination in Family Medicine is comprised of two components: a written examination and an oral examination. 

The written examination is comprised of short answer management problems (SAMPs), which are designed to test a candidate's recall of factual knowledge and problem solving abilities in the area of definition of health problems, management of health problems, and critical appraisal.

To assist you in preparing for the written examination, the committee on examinations has authorized the release of some SAMPs that were used in previous examinations. These questions are provided to help orient you with the format of the written examination. Since these SAMPs are from previous examinations, they may not reflect current clinical practice. Please bear this in mind as you work through the questions. 

Many candidates have found the Evaluation objectives in family medicine: Defining competence for the purposes of certification by the College to be a useful guideline for identifying learning needs and helping to structure a planned reading program to cover current topics in family medicine. This document, includes Priority Topics and Key Features in Family Medicine (101 pp, 865 KB).

The oral examination is comprised of five simulated office orals (SOOs) each 15 minutes in length. They are designed to duplicate, insofar as possible, the actual "setting" in which the family physician conducts a practice. To assist you in preparing for the oral examination, the committee on examinations has produced a video demonstration of a simulated office oral, along with detailed instructions about what to expect and how to proceed.

The College believes that physicians who use a patient-centered approach best meet their patients' needs. The patient-centered clinical method is explained in detail in the book Patient-centered medicine: transforming the clinical method., 2nd ed. Stewart M, Brown JB, Weston WW, McWhinney IR, McWilliam CL, Freeman TR. Radcliffe Medical Press, 2003. ISBN 1857759818

The Canadian Library of Family Medicine has compiled a list of resources including conference, books, journals and Internet sites that will be useful in keeping up-to-date with developments in Family Medicine and in creating a home study plan that will fit your individual schedule.