BOC Certification Examination Examination Format for the Practical Examination

The intent of this presentation is to educate prospective candidates about the procedures used in the administration and scoring of the practical examination.

Purpose The purpose of the practical examination is to evaluate a candidate’s psychomotor skills. These skills have been defined as being necessary for competent entry-level practice. The skills are defined in the most current edition of the BOC Role Delineation Study.

To start the exam You will be escorted to the exam room by the model. You will be given two exam answer sheets to bring with you.

Meeting your examiners When you enter the exam room you will be introduced to your two BOC Qualified Examiners.

Your examiners Your examiners are there to record what you demonstrate.

Your examiners Examiners score your performance based only on your first demonstration of the problem presented to you, not on what you say.

Administration After you enter the room the examiners will ask you to sit for a couple of minutes while they record some information on the answer sheets.

The exam begins The practical exam begins with the examiners starting a tape recorder. Demographic and site information is recorded. The tape recorder is there to record the examiners, and is not used to score your exam.

The candidate booklet Your examiners will direct you to open the candidate booklet. The candidate booklet allows you to follow along as the problems are read to you.

Supplies The examiners will direct your attention to a table in the room. This table contains supplies that you may use for any of your demonstrations.

During the exam In order to observe your demonstration your examiners may be moving around in the exam room.

During the exam Once the candidate has completed a problem, the examiners may review or inspect your demonstration (e.g., application of equipment).

Scoring the practical exam Each problem is assigned a weight according to its importance, criticality and relevance. The weights for all the problems in a version add up to 100%. (Not all problems are worth the same amount.) Easier problems may only be worth 10% and a problem that is more critical may be worth 35%.

Scoring the practical exam Each task within a problem is also weighted according to its importance, criticality and relevance to that specific problem. Again, each task within a problem may not be worth the same amount. A task statement may also be a disqualifier.

Scoring the practical exam - “disqualifier” tasks A task statement may also be a “disqualifier”. A “disqualifier” is a task that has been identified as critical to the proper performance of a skill. Failure to perform this task has the potential for serious harm to the athlete/patient/client.

Scoring the practical exam - “disqualifier” tasks If a candidate does not perform a task identified as a “disqualifier”, the candidate will not receive credit for any of the tasks in the problem. Not all problems have “disqualifiers”.

Scoring the practical exam Exam versions are equal to or close to each other in regards to number of total tasks and the time it takes to complete all the problems.

After your exam You will be escorted back to the main exam room. You will be asked to sign a roster indicating you finished the practical exam. If you need to complete the written exam you will be sent back to your seat to complete this section.