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American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification (ASCP BOC) certification examinations are administered at Pearson VUE testing centers. For information about scheduling and taking a certification examination, visit Schedule or Reschedule Your Examination.
All examination questions are multiple-choice with four answer options and one best answer. You must answer each question before moving to the next question. Questions cannot be skipped. You can flag questions that you are unsure about and review them if there is time remaining after you have answered all questions. Changing an answer will not affect previously answered questions.
Most certification examinations are scheduled for 2 hours and 30 minutes and have 100 questions. The following examinations have a different number of questions and time period:
An onscreen calculator is available on all certification examinations, except the Científico de Laboratorio Médico (CLM) examination.
The ASCP BOC uses criterion-referenced computerized adaptive testing (CAT) for the majority of its certification examinations. In CAT, the examination is tailored to your ability level and ensures that each question has a 50% chance of being answered correctly. When you answer an examination question correctly, the next question has a slightly higher level of difficulty. The difficulty level of the questions presented continues to increase until you answer a question incorrectly. Then, a slightly easier question is presented. You cannot skip questions because the CAT algorithm measures your ability level each time you answer a question.
Each question on the examination is classified by content area. The content area aligns with the examination specific content guideline. Each examination administers questions according to the percentages from the content guideline.
You must answer enough questions correctly to achieve a measure at or above the minimum passing standard to successfully pass the examination. There is no set number of questions you must answer correctly to pass, nor is there a set percentage you must achieve to pass. If at the end of the examination your score is at or above the minimum passing standard, then you pass the examination.
CAT examinations include field test questions which are not used in the determination of your score. This is a common practice in credentialing examinations and is necessary to evaluate new questions and to ensure the validity of the examinations. The field test questions are indistinguishable from the scored questions. You should answer all questions to best of your ability as if they are scored questions.
The following certification examinations are non-adaptive computer-based tests:
You may view your preliminary examination result (pass or fail) on the computer screen at the end of the examination. Because this is a preliminary result, score reports are not available to be printed at the Pearson VUE testing center.
Notification to log in to your account to view your examination score will be emailed to you within four business days after you have taken the examination, provided all official transcripts verifying the required coursework or appropriate degree have been received and processed.
Your official score report will indicate a “pass” or “fail” status and the scaled score on the total examination. CAT examinations are scored using a psychometric formula that places examinees’ abilities onto a common linear scale. To help you understand your ability more easily, scores on the psychometric scale are transformed into a scaled score. This practice is commonplace across large-scale testing environments. The ASCP BOC uses a scale of 100 to 999 with a minimum passing score of 400.
For failed scores, the score report includes a breakdown of the overall score into each different subtest area. This allows you to review your strong and weak areas and helps guide you toward which areas you may want to study further to effectively prepare for retaking the examination. Score breakdowns are not available for passing scores.
Examination results are only provided on an examinee's official score report, which you can access by logging in to your ASCP account, and to Program Directors on the PPR.
Qualification examinations are self-administered on your own computer. For more information about examination administration, visit Schedule or Reschedule Your Examination.
All examination questions are multiple-choice with four answer options and one best answer. You must answer each question before moving to the next question. Questions cannot be skipped. You can flag questions that you are unsure about and review them if there is time remaining after you have answered all questions. Changing an answer will not affect previously answered questions.
Qualification examinations consist of 50 questions within a 90-minute time period. You may not access any study materials, textbooks, or notes at any time during the 90-minute examination period. You may not receive assistance from any other individual while taking the examination, nor exchange information with anyone during the 90-minute examination period.
Qualification examinations are computer-based (non-adaptive) examinations.
Notification to log in to your account to view your examination score will be emailed to you within four business days after you have taken the examination.
Your official score report will indicate a “pass” or “fail” status and the scaled score on the total examination. The ASCP BOC uses a scale of 100 to 999 with a minimum passing score of 400.
Examination results are only provided on an examinee's official score report, which you can access by logging in to your ASCP account.
All ASCP BOC examination questions are multiple choice with one correct answer choice. Each question consists of a stem followed by four answer options lettered A, B, C, and D. The stem presents the problem to be answered. The four answer choices include the correct answer and three plausible but incorrect options. Each question is independent of one another.
Questions fall into one of the following taxonomy levels:
You should read each question thoroughly and carefully, including the stem and all four answer choices, before choosing a correct answer. Eliminate answer choices that you know are incorrect and select the correct answer from the remaining options. Answer all questions to the best of your ability. Manage your time effectively on each question to ensure you have enough time to complete all questions.