As of last Saturday, March 17, the first advocates sat for the Patient Advocate Certification exam. A huge step!
We have received feedback from a handful of exam takers and the consensus seems to be that the test is a good test of competencies, standards, and ethics. Difficult, but fair.
The question we are now being asked regards when individual results will be available and reported.
In the perfect world they would become available right away, of course.
Unfortunately, for the early BCPA exams, it will take a little longer.
As stated on this website, in the handbook, and as you took the exam, it may take up to four weeks once this testing period is complete for you to receive your results.
Here’s why:
The exam is brand new, of course. Once this March testing period is complete, members of the PACB will be going thru the exam again to see which questions have very high failure rates. We will then determine whether that was the exam writers’ fault or just that test takers didn’t know the answers.
In cases where it was unreasonable to expect someone to get a correct answer, the question will be removed, and test takers will not be penalized. None of that can be done instantly, which is why there will be such a span of time before receiving results.
This same review process will take place for the first 2-3 exam periods. After that, the test should be “clean” enough that results will be far more accurate right away, and results delivered far more quickly.
We hope that answers your question about results deliveries.
We further hope that when you receive your results, you’ll find only good news!