Schedule an Examination

Examinations indicated in an applicant’s NCCAOM^®Authorization to Test Letter may be scheduled and taken in any order at the applicant’s convenience. However, all exams must be completed within 4 years of the application period.

Contact information for registration at a Pearson VUE Testing Center is provided in the NCCAOM^®  Authorization to Test Letter. The School Code  is required during the registration process.

The NCCAOM English language Acupuncture with Point Location, Foundations of Oriental Medicine, Biomedicine and Chinese Herbology examinations are administered year-round.

 The NCCAOM^® Foreign Language Examinations are administered during specific two week periods announced in advance by the NCCAOM. All NCCAOM certification exams are administered  at more than 250 Pearson VUE Professional Test sites across  North America and abroad.

Examination Confidentiality

NCCAOM is committed to the integrity and security of its examination process. Applicants, candidates and Diplomates have a duty to maintain strict confidentiality with respect to the content of the examinations and comply with all examination security policies and procedures. Any breach of confidentiality that may compromise the security of the examination content, e.g., giving information about the examination to another person or receiving information about the examination from another person, including teachers/professors, before, during, or after the examination will be grounds for disciplinary action, including but not limited to denial or revocation of certification by NCCAOM. Likewise, any act, either intentional or unintentional, that violates exam rules will be grounds for disciplinary action by NCCAOM. Proctors are responsible for reporting to NCCAOM any candidates who:

• may have caused a disruption or interruption during the exam period, or
• violated procedural rules before or during the exam, or
• appeared to engage in a method of cheating or seeking unfair advantage either before or during the exam.

NCCAOM will review these reports and apply appropriate disciplinary sanctions. Strict adherence to NCCAOM examination policies and procedures is enforced without exception. Participation in any exam policy violation(s) occurring during or in connection with an examination, may be sufficient cause for NCCAOM, at its sole discretion, to terminate your participation, invalidate the results of your examination, seek monetary compensation, deny your application for certification, or take other appropriate action at any time, including but not limited to disciplinary action such as suspension or revocation of certification.

Violation of examination policies includes but is not limited to the following actions:

• Talking with anyone, except the proctors, inside or outside the examination room during the examination period.
• Giving information about the examination to another person before, during, or after the examination. This includes memorizing sections of the examination for use by others.
• Phone calls or communication by electronic or other means with anyone or anything inside or outside of the examination room during the examination period.
• Passing or attempting to pass information of any type to another candidate during or after the examination administration.
• Possessing any extraneous items during the examination period, including but not limited to: books, paper (including scrap paper), notes, note cards, post-it notes, measuring devices (including rulers and calculators), dictionaries (electronic or printed), beepers, cell phones, cameras, and other electronic devices.
• Writing on any part of the body or clothing before or during the examination period.
• Communicating with anyone other than a proctor in the case of a site irregularity in which you must exit the examination room (e.g., fire drill, power outage, medical emergency, etc.), except communications as required because of the emergency. This includes communicating with other candidates while waiting to re-enter the test site, looking at notes or books, and/or re-entering the test site without the expressed permission of the proctors.
• Accessing notes, cell phones, calculators, beepers, other electronic devices or individuals from any location either inside or outside the examination room including bathrooms, cars, snack areas, etc.
• Writing on the desk, other furniture, clothing, or body in the examination room before or during the examination.
• Allowing visitors into unauthorized areas of the exam site.
• Impersonating, or attempting to impersonate another candidate, or allowing another person to take the examination on behalf of the candidate.
• Failure to report any exam irregularities, cheating, or other inappropriate behavior. Cheating of any kind that has taken place before, during or after the examination must be reported. It is a candidate’s responsibility to report to NCCAOM any site irregularities or testing violations before, during, or after the examination takes place.

Reschedule/ Cancel an Examination

The candidate must contact Pearson VUE at www.vue.com/nccaom or (888) 235-7649 to reschedule or cancel an examination at least one full business day (24 hours) in advance of the scheduled exam  date. If the candidate does not cancel 24 hours prior and does not appear for an NCCAOM examination for which the candidate is registered, the candidate will forfeit the fees paid for the examination(s).

Pearson VUE will deliver a cancellation/rescheduling confirmation number. It is imperative this confirmation number be maintained by the candidate in case of a cancelation dispute.

Non-Disclosure Agreement

All candidates will be given a checklist of rules to review. Additional fingerprints will be taken before seating in the examination room and if the candidate leaves the room at any time during the examination.

At the beginning of the examination, candidates must verify that the identification information (name and social security number) and examination category are correct as shown on the computer screen. Next, candidates will be asked to read and accept the terms of the

Non-Disclosure Agreement and General Terms of Use for NCCAOM Exams

“I have read and understand the Examination Instructions. I have agreed to abide by the NCCAOM^® Grounds for Professional Discipline and acknowledge that if I am caught cheating on this examination, including the sharing of information after the examination is complete; I will be subject to review by the Professional Ethics and Disciplinary Committee of NCCAOM. If I am found to have violated the NCCAOM^® Grounds for Professional Discipline, I understand that my scores will be cancelled and I may not have the opportunity to test again.

Additionally, I understand that this exam is confidential and is protected by trade secret law. It is made available solely for the purpose of becoming certified by NCCAOM. I am expressly prohibited from disclosing, publishing, reproducing, or transmitting this exam, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, verbal or written, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose.

I am the candidate whose name appears on the initial screen and as an affirmation to the Statement of Acknowledgement I signed when submitting my application, I acknowledge that I am prohibited from transmitting information about NCCAOM examination questions or content in any form to any person or entity. I also acknowledge that if I suspect a violation on the part of others, it is my responsibility to report these actions to the NCCAOM.”

Candidates will have five minutes to accept the conditions; if the conditions and terms are not accepted within the allotted time; the session will end and cannot be restarted. Candidates will be required to reschedule and pay the full registration fee.

Examination Complaint Process

1. Candidates may submit concerns, believed errors in particular questions, or comments about specific aspects of the examination content. All complaints must be in writing and submitted to NCCAOM (examcontent @ thenccaom.org) within 30 days of taking the examination. The written complaint must include:
   1. candidates name,
   2. address,
   3. test date and location,
   4. examination module, along with a description of the specific examination question(s) or concern(s) and rationale for the complaint. Failing an examination alone is not sufficient grounds to submit a complaint.
2. The question(s) of concern will be presented to the appropriate Examination Development Committee for review and consideration.  The candidate will be notified in writing (via email) within 45 days of any resulting action of the inquiry.  No information regarding the specific question will be discussed with candidates. The NCCAOM never releases copies of examinations or individual examination questions.
3. If a candidate is not satisfied with the decision of the Examination Development Committee, only then a candidate may appeal the Pass/Fail status decision by sending a letter directly to the “Executive Office” at (executiveoffice @ thenccaom.org) describing the rationale for filing the appeal. The NCCAOM must receive the examination appeal within 30 days of the candidate’s receipt of NCCAOM’s initial decision. The Council of Examination Development Committees (CEDC), comprised of the Chairs and Board liaisons of all the EDCs, will review the appeal request at its next meeting. The Chair and Board liaison from the EDC that made the initial decision will recuse themselves from the appeal decision. The candidate will be notified of the CEDC’s decision within 30 days after the meeting at which the appeal was considered.

NCCAOM Score Verification Request

A candidate may request that their exam be re-scored within 30 days of receiving initial notification that they failed the exam. The score verification process is simply a manual check of the computer’s scoring, conducted by NCCAOM Testing staff, to ensure that all responses were accurately recorded. Score verification does not include a review of examination content or reconsideration of the correct answer to any item. Candidates who would like to submit a score verification request should complete the NCCAOM^® Score Verification Request form and email it to accounting @ thenccaom.org. There is a $100 score verification fee per exam that must be submitted with the request. Individual items and exam content will not be discussed or considered during the score verification process.

Please note that the NCCAOM does not encourage score verification requests. We enforce strict quality control procedures to ensure exam results are accurate before they are released to candidates. Every exam is scored independently by two professional testing companies to ensure each item is scored accurately and the overall score is correct. In addition, both testing companies have multiple checks in place to flag anomalies in test data that require investigation. Due to the thoroughness of the NCCAOM’s examination scoring procedures, no errors have ever been identified from a score verification request.