Exam Information

About the certification examination

To become certified, a candidate must pass the examination. This examination is offered online and may be taken by the candidate at any time during the 90-day testing period once registration is complete. Please note that once a candidate begins the exam, he or she must complete it within five days. The certification examination will become available online in fall 2011.

Candidates who apply to take the examination will be contacted by the testing provider via e-mail when the application is complete and payment is made.

The examination is an objective, multiple-choice test consisting of 100 questions. The exam questions have been designed to test the candidate’s ability to address the range of real life issues faced by the interdisciplinary team during the resident assessment process. The questions are updated on a continuous basis to keep them relevant to current realities in healthcare. There are three different types of questions: recall, application, and analysis. Recall questions test the candidate’s knowledge of specific facts and concepts relevant to the day-to-day work of interdisciplinary team members. Because the examination is an open book test, candidates may use reference resources in answering recall questions. Application questions require the candidate to interpret or apply information, guidelines, or rules to a particular situation. Analysis questions test the candidate’s ability to evaluate and integrate a range of information in problem-solving to address a particular challenge. The test is designed to contain approximately 30% recall questions, 40% application questions, and 30% analysis questions.

Examination honors policy

The certification examination is an open-book examination because interdisciplinary team members involved in resident assessment customarily carry out their responsibilities with access to numerous informational resources.

Candidates may complete the examination online in one sitting or in sections, following the instructions outlined below. However, once a candidate begins the exam, he or she must complete it within five days.

Candidates are requested not to seek assistance from other individuals while completing the examination. The examination is offered on an honors system that assumes all candidates will act in good faith to ensure that their performance on the certification examination reflects their own personal knowledge and skills. If the program becomes aware of candidates not complying with this requirement, the program reserves the right to move the examination into a proctored format, which will create additional costs to candidates for certification.

In addition, anyone found compromising the security of the examination by attempting to copy, record, or distribute questions in any manner will be permanently excluded from the certification process.

Following the examination

After finishing the examination, the candidate will be electronically sent the results of his or her performance. The score report will reflect either “pass” or “fail,” followed by specific performance feedback provided in the form of a raw score indicating the number of questions the candidate answered correctly. If the candidate exceeds the minimum passing score, the program will send the candidate a hard copy certificate testifying that the candidate has successfully completed all of the requirements of certification and is henceforth designated as a Certified Professional in Resident Assessment. This can be signified by “CPRA” after the candidate’s name. The successful candidate will be authorized to use this designation. Certificates will be mailed within 30 days of completion of the exam.

If the candidate does not exceed the minimum passing score, the candidate will receive electronic notification of this result, including the raw score performance feedback. Candidates are encouraged to use this feedback to strengthen their preparation for another attempt to pass the examination. The candidate will be eligible for reexamination once an additional fee of $299 has been processed.

Appeals

Please note that, due to the standardized nature of question development and validation and the flexibility of scheduling and completing the examination, no appeals will be allowed regarding the examination process or results.

Release of test scores

The program will not release a copy of an individual’s score report to any other individual or organization without the candidate’s written authorization. If the candidate would like his or her test scores released to a third party, the candidate must submit a written request for such release and $30 per copy, specifying the party and address to which the scores should be sent. Scores may be released to either an e-mail or postal address.

For additional details, please e-mail customerservice@cpraonline.com.

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