MOC Tip: Claim MOC credits for your locally-based examination activities

By Mike Nicolle and Farhan Bhanji

Did you know that you can claim MOC Program credits for developing and administering local examinations at your own university or academic centre? In other words, you don’t have to be a Royal College examiner to translate exam-related activities into valuable MOC credits!

Royal College examiners claim MOC credits for the learning they acquire while developing, administering and evaluating Royal College exams. However, similar activities take place in universities at both the medical student and resident level. Any Fellow or MOC Program participant who performs these kinds of activities (e.g. at a university or simulation centre) is also eligible for these credits.

Click here to download a handy resource about how to claim MOC credits for all of the exam-related activities. Use it to look up your activity, and see where it fits in the MOC framework, how many MOC credits it is worth and more details on how to claim credit.

Do you perform any of the following activities at your university?

These are all activities that are eligible for MOC credit:

• Set exam standards (blueprints, marking schemes, etc.)
• Create multiple-choice questions (MCQs), short-answer questions (SAQs), or oral questions
• Create objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) stations
• Perform exam quality reviews
• Mark SAQs for written exams or Orals/OSCEs/Practicals

And there are more!

Take your exam activities further for Section 3 credits

Virtually every Fellow and MOC Program Participant must now claim at least 25 credits per section per MOC cycle. Did you know that your examination activities also count towards Section 3 assessment credits if you receive feedback on your performance as an examiner? It’s as easy as asking a trusted colleague for their feedback on, for example, the quality of your MCQs or your performance during an oral exam. This is a valid review of the educational aspect of your practice and can be recorded under Section 3: Practice Assessment for three credits per hour.

Finally, if any aspect of the exam process stimulates one or more ideas for personal research, you can claim each additional learning project individually as a Section 2: Personal Learning Project for two credits per hour.

As a local examiner, you play a special role in advancing excellence in teaching and learning, and clinical care at your university. And as you can see, your time and expertise in this endeavour will do double duty by transforming into valuable MOC credits.

Keep calm and examine on. (And don’t forget to claim MOC credit along the way!)