Certification Examination in Family Medicine

Certification Examination in Family Medicine
Spring 2024 The CFPC works tirelessly to optimize its high-quality, reliable exams while also keeping them as affordable as possible. To make sure the College can continue to administer leading-edge examinations, which includes virtual components, we have increased exam fees. We are and will always be in your corner. You can learn more about the increase in our FAQ section or you can contact us at [email protected]. We are here to help and support you!
Exam dates: SAMPs April 9–11, 2024 SOOs April 20–21, 2024 and April 27–28, 2024		Exam fee: $4,201 CAD*
Application dates / deadlines		Eligible candidates
July 1 to October 1, 2023		Practice Eligible: First-time applicants
December 1, 2023, to February 1, 2024		Residency Eligible: First-time applicants Residency Eligible: Repeat applicants Practice Eligible: Repeat applicants

Fall 2024
Exam dates: SAMPs October 15–16 SOOs October 19–20		Exam fee: $4,201 CAD*
Application dates / deadlines		Eligible candidates
January 1 – April 1, 2024		Practice Eligible: First-time applicants
May 1 – June 30, 2024		Residency Eligible: First-time applicants Residency Eligible: Repeat applicants Practice Eligible: Repeat applicants

Please note:

• Dates are subject to change
• A tuition tax credit is available to each candidate who attempts the examination
• Fees are approved by the Board of Directors one year in advance of the Spring exam

* Candidates who withdraw from the examination more than 60 days prior to the date of the examination will have their examination fee refunded less a non-refundable $500 administration fee. Candidates who cancel less than 60 days before the exam will be charged a fee based on when their application was withdrawn. See the Cancellation Policy below for more information.

Short-answer management problems (SAMPs)

In-person and virtual seats are offered through Prometric, the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC)’s written examination delivery provider:

• Approximately five weeks prior to the written examination, each registered candidate will receive a notification e-mail from the CFPC with information on when and how to select an in-person or virtual seat. The CFPC will use the e-mail address on file, and it is an applicant’s responsibility to ensure that this contact information is up to date. Remember to check your spam folder if needed.
• You will be given up to 72 hours’ notice as to when the Prometric self-scheduling portal opens as indicated in the notification e-mail, in-person and virtual seats will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Within 24 hours of scheduling your examination through Prometric, candidates will receive a confirmation e-mail. Remember to check your spam folder if needed.
• Candidates must make sure their name on the confirmation e-mail matches their valid, non-expired government-issued ID. Failure to do so may result in candidates being turned away from the examination.

Candidates may refer to the FAQs about Remotely Proctored Exams for additional information regarding the virtual testing option.

Simulated Office Orals (SOOs)

The SOO component will be administered virtually through risr/, the CFPC’s oral examination delivery provider:

• Approximately four to six weeks prior to the oral examination, each registered candidate will receive an e-mail from the CFPC with their assigned exam date. The CFPC will use the e-mail address on file, and it is an applicant’s responsibility to ensure that this contact information is up to date. Remember to check your spam folder if needed.
• Five days prior to the examination, each registered candidate will receive an e-mail from the CFPC with their login credentials and start time.
• As an added safety measure, candidates should perform a system check on their intended device in the location they intend to sit the SOO, no less than five days prior to the examination. Instructions on the system check will be included in the email that contains their login credentials.

Candidates need to make sure their name on the confirmation e-mail matches their valid, non-expired government-issued ID. Failure to do so may result in candidates being turned away from the examination.

Candidates may refer to the FAQs about Virtual Simulated Office Oral Examinations for additional information regarding the SOO.

The College of Family Physicians (CFPC) is committed to providing all examination candidates an equitable opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the examination setting.  The aim of this policy is to remove barriers to testing, based on protected characteristics under applicable human rights legislation. This policy applies to candidates wishing to sit the Certification Examination in Family Medicine (CCFP) or the Examination of Added Competence in Emergency Medicine (EM).

All requests for a test accommodation must be made at the time of application for the examination. This allows the CFPC staff to identify and allocate the required, but potentially limited, resources as equitably as possible, and to assign candidates to appropriate examination locations equipped to meet stated needs.

• View the CFPC Test Accommodation Policy
• View the CFPC Policy on Providing Testing Accommodations for Lactating Individuals
• View the CFPC Policy on compensating for unforeseen accident, acute illness or impediment on exam day
• FAQs
• Request for Test Accommodation

A candidate-examiner relationship may occasionally constitute a conflict of interest. Examples of conflict of interest are:

• being related to each other, including being a spouse
• being a close friend
• having a financial or business relationship with each other
• having an ongoing learner-supervisor relationship where a pass/fail decision is involved

Simply knowing each other, personally or professionally, or having had occasional learner-supervisor encounters, is not considered a conflict of interest.

The family medicine SOO candidate/examiner schedules are designed to avoid candidates being assessed by examiners from the same education institution. We ask examiners to identify their educational affiliations to aid in this planning. We also ask examiners to declare all conflicts of interest (i.e., a close personal or professional relationship) with the candidates they are scheduled to see.

During the Exam

For examiners:
If you enter an examination SOO station where you know the candidate, carry on with your examination.  

For candidates:
If you enter a station and feel a conflict exists (refer to definition above), please inform the examiner. The examiner will notify the administrators, who will help you take this station with another examiner after completing other SOO stations. Stay in the current station and do not interact with the examiner.

After the Exam
Please notify the College of Family Physicians of Canada™ (CFPC) of any conflict of interest that may have occurred during your examination by sending an email to [email protected] as soon as possible after your exam.

For repeat candidates who are still eligible, the deadline date to register to resit the family medicine examination is February 1st for the spring exam, June 30th for the fall exam, or June 15th for the emergency medicine examination. Eligible candidates who wish to sit the next available examination must register via the online application. As a decision may not be made until after the deadline date, candidates are encouraged to register for the next exam while their appeal is being considered.

A refund for a portion of the examination fee will depend on the date of receipt of a written, signed withdrawal/refund request.

• Candidates who withdraw from the examination more than 60 days prior to the date of the examination will have their examination fee refunded less a non-refundable $500 administration fee
• Candidates who withdraw within 30 to 60 days prior to the date of the examination will be subject to a penalty of one half (50 per cent) of the examination fee
• There is no refund for candidates who withdraw within 30 days of the examination

Candidates must withdraw and re-apply should they wish to take the examination at a later date. Fees paid for a previous attempt are not transferable to a later session. Please send your cancellation request to [email protected].
 

Find out how to Appeal your Certification Examination in Family Medicine results

To maintain the validity of the CFPC Certification Examination in Family Medicine in both English and French, the CFPC uses a robust translation process. The CFPC conducted statistical analyses comparing the performance of English and French candidates on individual SAMP cases and questions. The College found that the French translation of the SAMP examinations did not result in significant performance differences between the two language groups. Read the full findings.

Translation steps and language quality assurance (QA) process during the development of short-answer management problems (SAMPs) for the Certification Examination in Family Medicine

Figure 1

Figure 1 – Development process and language quality assurance steps. Further marking-related QA steps outlined below

1. The SAMP questions are developed by experienced, trained SAMP writers on the Committee on Examination – Family Medicine (SAMP) Each question and all answers are reviewed and commented on by the entire SAMP committee membership then finalized.
2. The final exam questions are tested by external reviewers who have not taken part in the question development.  
3. The content of the English SAMP exam is then edited for clarity and grammar. The copy editor ensures the questions are written in plain unambiguous language.
4. Once edited, the Chair of the Committee on Examinations – Family Medicine reviews and approves the English examination content.
5. The content is translated into Canadian French by an experienced certified medical translator.
6. Once completed, the translated content is reviewed by the College of Family Physicians of Canada™ (CFPC) Translation and French Language Services team for clarity in Canadian French (e.g., written in plain language) and to ensure it correctly reflects the English version.
7. The translated content then goes through a further independent review by a native French-speaking bilingual family physician who is familiar with the context of the questions, has access to the English versions of the questions, and employs the Canadian French medical terminology that Canadian French-speaking physicians use in everyday practice.
8. Once the francophone physician is satisfied with the translation, the content is reviewed once more by the CFPC Translation and French Language Services team to check again for clarity and correct any typographical or grammatical errors.
9. The translated content is then reviewed a final time and transferred to (i.e., published in) the software that delivers the examination. This step is done to ensure accurate presentation on the day of the examination.

Quality Assurance during and after exam marking

Figure 2

Figure 2 – Quality Assurance post-exam

Many quality assurance steps are taken after the exam:

• Candidates’ written comments produced during and after the examination are analyzed to detect potential issues with questions. These comments are reviewed by staff both in the Certification and Assessment department and the Translation and French Language Services department.
• All French answers are scored by French-speaking physicians who can also identify potential quality issues with questions.
• Every exam question is scored by two independent markers for each candidate. If discrepancies arise during marking, a third trained super-marker settles the dispute. If a question goes on to be excluded due to performance concerns in one language (i.e., differing answering patterns in one language compared to the other), that question is automatically excluded from the examination in both languages for all candidates.
• Psychometric analyses ensure the questions included in an examination meet predefined performance criteria. Question-by-question analysis comparing the performance of English test takers with French test takers is performed. Specific attention and review are paid to any question where there is an inconsistency between English- and French-speaking candidates’ performance metrics or scoring patterns. If an identified error or flaw in a question in either language is determined to have a potential effect on candidate performance, both the English and French versions of that question is removed from the examination content and the above-mentioned psychometrical analyses are re-done.

Continuous Quality Improvement
The Board of Examinations and Certification and the Committee on Examination – Family Medicine review feedback from multiple sources to identify areas for improvement:

Figure 3