BCRSP Examinations

Examination candidates have one year in which to write a BCRSP Examination. Examination notices will be issued to all eligible candidates in advance of each examination date. Candidates failing their first writing of a BCRSP examination may have up to two supplementary writings over the next one year (i.e. – one year following their first writing). A supplementary writing fee is assessed. Candidates failing all three writings will have their files closed and must wait a minimum of twelve months before submitting a new application. Extensions may be granted based on special circumstances (i.e. disability leave, bereavement, illness, act of  God, etc.) at the discretion of the Executive Director.

Special Accommodation and Assistive Devices

If you require special examination facilities or arrangements because of one or more documented disabilities, you must inform BCRSP of these needs by completing the BCRSP Examination Accommodation Form a minimum of 90 days in advance of the examination date. If you fail to notify BCRSP of your accommodation needs, you will not be accommodated when you arrive for your examination appointment.

Rules for Your Examination Appointment

To change an existing examination appointment, you must follow strict rules. If you fail to follow these rules, you forfeit your examination writing, and you will have to register and pay for a new examination writing. Please  refer to the BCRSP Candidate Handbook  for more information. You cannot reschedule your appointment to a date beyond the writing window.

Missed Examinations

If you fail to keep your scheduled examination appointment, if you arrive more than 30 minutes beyond the starting time of your scheduled appointment, or if you fail to present acceptable identification when you arrive for your scheduled appointment, you may be refused admission, and you may forfeit your examination writing. To sit for the examination after having been refused admission, you will have to register and pay for another examination writing. If it is your last writing opportunity your file will be closed.

Inclement Weather or Emergencies

In the event of inclement weather or unforeseen emergencies on the day of the examination, test centre personnel will determine whether circumstances warrant the cancellation of the examination writing. The examination will usually not be cancelled if the test centre personnel are able to open the test centre. Every attempt will be made to administer examinations as scheduled. However, should an examination be cancelled, all scheduled candidates will be granted one writing extension to their writing period.

Admission to Testing Area

Plan to arrive early for your appointment. If you are 30 or more minutes late for your appointment, you may forfeit your examination writing.

You must bring two pieces of identification to the examination . At least one piece of identification must be valid, unexpired government issued identification document bearing both your picture and signature. The second piece of identification must be valid, unexpired bearing your name and signature. Your name on this identification document must match the name used when you applied for certification with BCRSP.

If you are not a citizen of Canada, the only acceptable identification document is your valid, unexpired passport.

You must bring your examination confirmation e-mail that contains the examination authorization code.

All candidates will be required to leave their personal belongings outside the testing area. While the testing centre will make available to you a secure area to store your belongings, the BCRSP assumes no responsibility for lost, stolen, broken or misplaced personal property and candidates should plan appropriately.

Before entering the testing area, an unobtrusive visual inspection of personal items will be conducted by the examination proctors.
 
As you sign in, the testing centre staff will provide you with blank paper and one pencil for calculations. A calculator is provided on-screen as a built-in function of the examination.
 
Other than the materials provided by the testing centre staff, you cannot take any personal belongings into the testing centre area.

Prohibited Items Include:

• Mechanical or electronic devices including but not limited to computers, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, pagers, calculators, wireless email and reading devices, electronic paging devices, recording or filming devices, cameras, tape recorders, headphones, headsets, mp3 players and radios.
• All forms of outerwear, including but not limited to hats, scarves, gloves, jackets, coats.
• All forms of luggage, including but not limited to book bags, backpacks, handbags, purses, suitcases and briefcases
• Writing and marking supplies, including but not limited to pens, pencils, erasers, post-it notes, note paper
• Props such as copyholders or clipboards
• Food and beverage
• Weapons of any kind, including but not limited to sharp objects, firearms, explosive devices, razor blades, box cutters and knives
• Hats or headwear of any kind unless provision has been made for specific religious apparel.

You may access stored medicine or food or drinks outside the secure testing room.

You may not access other personal belongings until you complete your examination.

Test Misconduct

Candidates observed doing any of the following, or engaging in similar, dishonest practices during the examination , will be considered to have engaged in test misconduct and both their application and examination administration may be dismissed. Candidates engaged in test misconduct may be disqualified from sitting any future examinations.

Such test misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Disclosing examination questions and/or any examination subject matter.
• Aiding or abetting anyone in a cheating offence.
• Speaking or communicating with other candidates about specific examination content or questions before, during, or after the examination administration.
• Improperly obtaining through theft, bribery, collusion, or otherwise any test form prior to the date and time of the test’s administration.
• Falsifying your identity or impersonating another candidate.
• Using any books, memoranda, calculators, audio or visual players or electronic devices including electronic watches, organizers, Smartphones, iPads, pagers or other cell phones, or other memory aid devices or communication devices other than those authorized by the BCRSP.
• Looking at another candidate’s responses.
• Copying another candidate’s responses.
• Removing or attempting to remove examination material electronically or otherwise from a test centre.
• Violating the Pearson VUE computer based testing (CBT) examination agreement in any way.
• Falsifying examination scores.
• Where proctors/invigilators have issued an incident report on a candidate engaging in test misconduct, the candidate affected may have their score voided.

Failure to abide by these rules and regulations may be determined as test misconduct. The BCRSP will investigate any report of test misconduct or suspected test misconduct. Affected candidates will be contacted to provide their response to the report. The investigation will include an assessment of the appropriate penalty. At the conclusion of the investigation, the Board’s Professional Conduct Committee will review the information, make a finding and decide on a penalty.

Passing Score Determination

The standard or pass mark is set in reference to the content and the difficulty of the examination questions. The standard is set by a panel of content experts from across Canada who work closely with the Board’s examination consultants, Yardstick Assessment Strategies Inc. to ensure that the examination meets the Examination Blueprint guidelines.

The pass mark is set at a level that represents the performance expected of a certified competent safety professional. The standard setting method used to establish the pass mark for the examination is the modified-Angoff method. Using this method, a panel of representative content experts from across the country and from various areas of practice reviews each examination question and produces ratings based on a common understanding of a competent registered safety professional who has met the eligibility requirements to write the examination . In addition to these ratings, a variety of relevant data (for example, information on the preparation of candidates, data on results from previously administered examinations) are carefully considered to ensure the standard that candidates must achieve on the examination is valid and fair. Based on this information, an appropriate standard or pass mark is set. This procedure is repeated for every newly-created examination form.

Appeals

Because the performance of each question on the examination included in the final score has been pretested, there is no appeal process to challenge individual examination questions, answers, or a failing score. The BCRSP will not release or discuss individual questions with candidates following the examination . To do so would require elimination of that question from the item bank of pretested questions and deplete the number of pretested questions required to develop future versions of the examination .

Appeals may be considered for alleged inappropriate examination administration procedures or environmental testing conditions severe enough to cause a major disruption of the examination process which were not satisfactorily resolved at the test centre.

All appeals must be submitted in writing. Eligibility appeals must be received within thirty (30) days of the notification of your assessment results. Appeals for alleged inappropriate administration procedures or severe adverse environmental testing conditions must be received within thirty (30) days of the release of examination results.

Please  refer to the BCRSP Candidate Handbook for more information.