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Eligibility
Who can Apply?
Is there Grand Parenting/Grandfathering?
How Long After Graduating Am I Eligible to Take the Exam?
My School was Accredited After I Graduated, Can I Still Take the Exam?
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Registration
How Do I Apply?
When Can I Apply?
Where Can I Take the Exam?
How Do I Log In and Check My Status?
What Information is Available in My Personal NBPHE Portal?
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Exam Fees
Is There a Registration Fee?
Is the Registration Fee Refundable?
How Do I Pay For the Exam? (Credit Cards / Money Order / Check)
Where do I mail my money order/check?
Who Should the Check be Made Payable to?
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Exam Details
Is the Exam Required?
What Will the Exam Cover?
How Does This Exam/Credential Relate to CHES? The ACHE Diplomate? Being a Registered Sanitarian?
Are There Any Study Guides Available?
Can I bring a calculator?
Sample Exam
How Long will the Exam Be?
What Format Are the Exam Questions?
When Will I Know How I Did on the Exam?
How Will My Exam Be Scored?
When Will the Exam Be Offered?
What Will This Credential Be Called?
Can I Retake the Exam If I Do Not Pass in 2008?
What About Candidates with Disabilities?
Will anyone else see my score?
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Maintenance of Certification (MOC)
What will be required to maintain my CPH?
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| Eligibility |
| Who Can Apply? |
To be eligible for the National Board of Public Health Examiners certification exam you must have a graduate level (Masters or Doctoral) degree from a CEPH-accredited school or program of public health. Those graduating in 2009 must have completed all degree requirements on or before July 31, 2009. Persons who do not meet these criterions are not eligible to take the exam.
IMPORTANT: Please check here for your school or program’s eligibility date.
(pull down of schools/programs with date provided)
IMPORTANT: Please check here for your school or program’s eligibility date.
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| Is there Grand Parenting/Grandfathering?
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NBPHE recognizes and respects the many contributions made by practitioners who have gained their expertise through routes other than graduate degrees such as work experience, baccalaureate degrees, and certificate programs. Unfortunately, at this time, we lack an appropriate means to evaluate the competencies developed through these routes. As recognition of public health grows, we hope that appropriate examinations and certifications for many specialty areas and for public health practice will be developed.
It is in NBPHE’s interest to meet the industry standards for our new credential. The National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) is one organization that sets standards for certifying organizations such as ours. NOCA publishes the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) Standards for the Accreditation of Certifying Programs. Their Standard #8 states:
“Once a program is accredited, “grandfathering,” or any other procedure for granting a credential in the absence of evaluating the knowledge and/or skill of an individual, is not acceptable.”
“Grandfathering is generally seen as a conflict with stakeholder interests. It is used from time to time in licensure as a means of protecting the rights of individuals who enter a profession prior to its regulation and should not be excluded from the right to practice. Professional certification does not normally carry such potential to restrict the right to practice.”
Link to the NCCA Accrediting Standards:
http://www.noca.org/portals/0/Standards%20-%20Updated%20December%202006.pdf
Link to NOCA: http://www.noca.org/NCCAAccreditation/Standards/tabid/93/Default.aspx
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| How Long After Graduating Am I Eligible to Take the Exam? |
You do not have to take the exam immediately following graduation. You are eligible to take the exam at any time if you meet NBPHE eligibility criteria.
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| My School was Accredited After I Graduated, Can I Still Take the Exam? |
You can take the exam if you graduated up to three years before the accreditation date of your school or program. Example: University of Alabama was accredited in 1978. If you graduated during 1975 or thereafter, you are eligible to take the exam. Click here to find your school or program’s eligibility date.
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| Registration |
| How Do I Apply? |
Registration for the NBPHE exam can only be done online at www.publichealthexam.org. Click the link “Register,” create your Personal NBPHE Portal and then fill out the registration form and submit with your payment information.
After your registration form is submitted, you will receive an e-mail confirmation verifying that it has been received.
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| When Can I Apply? |
Registration for the 2008 exam is open from August 15, 2007 to April 30, 2008.
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| Where Can I Take the Exam?
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Computer-based delivery of the exam is provided by Prometric at approximately 300 testing centers located in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Please visit Prometric’s website to help you determine the most convenient location to take the exam here.
NOTE: The scheduling of your testing location will not be available until Spring 2008.
International testing centers: If you are going to be overseas during the exam period (August 11-30), it may be possible for you to take the exam at an international location. Additional fees will be required to do this. If you are interested in taking the exam outside the United States, please contact Carla Beddard or Cynthia Godes immediately at 866-514-7569.
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| How Do I Log In and Check My Status? |
Go to our website www.publichealthexam.org and type in your username and password to access your Personal NBPHE Portal.
If you forgot your username or password, click the “Forgot Your Username/Password?” link and it will be e-mailed to you.
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| What Information is Available in My Personal NBPHE Portal? |
| Status of your registration form |
| Status of your payment |
| | Date NBPHE sent your registration information to the test center
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| Messages from NBPHE |
| Exam results (These will be available late Fall 2008 |
| Date NBPHE received confirmation from your CEPH-accredited school or program that you are a graduate. |
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| Exam Fees |
| Is There a Registration Fee? |
The registration fee is based on when you register for the exam:
$350 November 10 – December 31, 2007
$400 January 1 – April 30, 2008
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| Is the Registration Fee Refundable? |
| The registration fee in not refundable. |
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| How Do I Pay For the Exam? (Credit Cards / Money Order / Check) |
You may pay the registration fees with a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) or mail in your payment with a personalized check or money order.
Your registration fee is calculated based on when your application is complete and ready to be processed – this includes payment. We can only process your application once it is complete. If you use a credit card, your application will be considered complete almost immediately.
Please be sure the amount of your check or money order corresponds to the date we will receive your payment ($350 before December 31, 2007; $400 from January 1-April 30, 2008). Failure to submit proper payment in full will suspend the processing of your registration.
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| Where do I mail my money order/check? |
Regular mail address:
National Board of Public Health Examiners
PO Box 65194
Washington, DC 20035-5194
Express mail address:
National Board of Public Health Examiners
1101 15th Street, NW #910
Washington, DC 20005
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| Who Should the Check be Made Payable to? |
| National Board of Public Health Examiners |
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| Exam Details |
| Is the Exam Required? |
| No, the exam provides a voluntary professional credential that meets standards established by national public health experts. |
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| What Will the Exam Cover? |
The exam will cover the five core areas of knowledge offered in CEPH-accredited schools and programs as well as cross-cutting areas relevant to contemporary public health.
Five Core Areas:
| Biostatistics |
| Environmental Health Sciences |
| | Epidemiology |
| Health Policy and Management |
| Social and Behavioral Sciences |
Cross-cutting areas:
| Communication and Informatics |
| Diversity and Culture |
| | Leadership |
| Public Health Biology |
| Professionalism |
| Programs Planning |
| Systems Thinking |
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| How Does This Exam/Credential Relate to CHES? The ACHE Diplomate? Being a Registered Sanitarian? |
| The exam will cover general information in the five areas of knowledge basic to public health and cross-cutting areas relevant to contemporary public health. The exam will not delve into more specialized areas covered in the CHES, ACHE and other exams. |
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| Can I bring a calculator? |
| Calculators are not allowed in the exam room. The exam is designed so you can answer all questions successfully without the use of a calculator. The exam may test to see if you understand what formula is required to get the appropriate answer. |
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| Study Guides |
The exam content is based on the core Masters of Public Health (MPH) competencies developed by the ASPH Education Committee, available at http://www.asph.org/userfiles/version2.3.pdf.
NBPHE is aware of a number of organizations who have expressed interest in producing a study guide for the certification exam. NBPHE is not involved in the development of these products and has not shared the contents of the examination with any organizations.
At this time, the only organization that has published a study guide is the Association of Schools of Public Health. The ASPH CPH Study Guide is available at http://www.asph.org/cphstudyguide.
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Sample Exam |
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**You can view a PDF version of sample questions by clicking HERE . NBPHE strongly advises, if at all possible, to download the tutorial software program rather than simply viewing the PDF. This is so you may experience the software that will be at the testing center when you take the exam.
Eighteen sample exam questions are posted on our website. The sample questions are embedded in a software tutorial module , so c and idates can become familiar with the functionality of the test software that they will use for the actual exam. To view the questions and the tutorial, you need to download (save) the software onto your computer, and then run the program. View this pdf file for detailed instructions.
Click here,
and then follow the directions in the dialog box that appears on your screen. If you downloaded the Sample Exam before April 14, 2008, please note that Question # 4 (first question for the second case scenario) stated an incorrect answer. The corrected and updated Sample Exam is now available for download at our website here.
NOTE: This software is not compatible with Apple or Windows Vista operating platforms. For those with these platforms we provide a PDF of the sample exam questions.
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| How Long will the Exam Be? |
The exam will consist of about 200 questions and will take approximately 4½ hours to complete.
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| What Format Are the Exam Questions? |
All questions on the exam are multiple choice.
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| When Will I Know How I Did on the Exam? |
Exam scores will be sent to candidates via email and regular US mail in late Fall 2008. The scores will also be available online in your Personal NBPHE Portal.
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| How will my exam be scored? |
NBPHE will use a content-based analysis to generate statistical information for determining the minimum passing standard (Angoff and Hofstee procedures). A Standard Setting Committee will determine the score required to achieve certification using results from the study and performance data on the exam.
A score report will be provided to each examinee that includes:
- Total score for the entire exam;
- Separate scores for each of the 5 core competencies;
- Separate score for all cross-cutting competencies combined; and
- Whether the examinee’s score is sufficient for certification
Percentile rank will not be reported out at this time. |
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| When Will the Exam Be Offered? |
The 2008 exam will be administered August 11-30, 2008.
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| What Will This Credential Be Called? |
When you pass the exam, you will be Certified in Public Health, and can add the initials CPH to your name and degree.
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| Can I Retake the Exam If I Do Not Pass in 2008? |
The development of certification in public health has been a cooperative effort in which the support and involvement of the broad range of public health organizations has been crucial. The real success of certification in public health will come from the individuals being examined.
Because the first group of examinees will not have the benefit of any prior history of the examination, the NBPHE will provide those who do not achieve certification on the August 2008 examination an opportunity to retake the examination at a reduced fee in 2009.
This opportunity (a reduced price in 2009) will only be available to those who sit for the initial examination in August 2008.
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| What About Candidates with Disabilities? |
| Candidates with documented disabilities must request specific accommodations at the time of their application to take the exam. The option to request an accommodation is at the bottom of the Final Reminders section of the registration form. NBPHE will work with the candidate to provide accommodations that are appropriate to the disability. Prometric testing centers are all accessible to candidates in wheelchairs. |
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| Will anyone else see my score? |
| Your score is confidential. No one will see your exam score but you. In order to protect the privacy of those taking the exam, a school or program must have at least 10 graduates in order to receive data regarding how their students and alumni did on the exam. Schools and programs will never see your name attached to the scores of their graduates. |
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| Maintenance of Certification (MOC) |
| What will be required to maintain my CPH? |
| The CPH (Certification in Public Health) will require a combination of continuing education credits to be reported every two years. The rest of the program has not yet been determined. NBPHE is currently working out the details on the number of continuing education hours that will be required. Please check back to our website for more information on this topic in the coming months. |
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| Do you have a question regarding NBPHE or the certification of public health graduates? Submit your question below!
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Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required. |
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