Examinations: Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists

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Examinations

The written examinations for members of the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists Inc who wish to proceed to Membership (MAACB) or Fellowship (FAACB) are normally held in the middle of the year (end June 2012) near to where the candidate works. Successful candidates will be required to attend an oral examination that will be held prior to the Annual Scientific Conference (in Melbourne, November 2012). It is anticipated candidates will receive an invitation to attend the oral examinations by mid-August. Please note the oral examinations must be taken within 12 months of the written papers. All written answers must be legible, otherwise the candidate will fail the examinations.

Applications

Application forms for the examinations are available from the AACB Office, Branch Secretaries or on the website (see PDF in right hand column on this page) and should be submitted with the appropriate examination fee (currently $200 for Membership and $300 for Fellowship), to the Registrar of the Board of Examiners, care of the AACB Office, on or before the closing date for applications (1st May 2012). The examination fee is not refundable irrespective of the outcome of the examinations and a further fee is required each time the examination is attempted.

Membership Examination (MAACB) 25th and 27th June 2012

The Membership is awarded to associate members with at least three years experience in clinical biochemistry who pass the written and oral examinations. This may be taken in the third year of training but candidates will be admitted to Membership only after three years. This option is not recommended as past results have shown that few candidates have the required breadth of experience after only two years.

The examination will consist of two 3 hour written papers and an oral examination for those who pass the written papers.

Paper 1 will contain a compulsory question on general principles of physiology and other questions on the interpretation of results, methodology, instrumentation, quality control and basic management. Questions will be of the essay type and several may consist of 2 or 3 specific sub-parts. Candidates will be expected to answer 5 out of 6 questions.

Paper 2 will examine clinical, methodological and analytical topics more specifically. Question 1 will consist of ten (10) very short answer questions and for questions 2-5 candidates will be expected to write brief notes on four topics per question. There will be no choice in Paper 2 - candidates are expected to answer all questions.

The oral examination will contain a series of case studies and questions on topics likely to be encountered in everyday laboratory practice. Some of the questions will be quick-answer type. Four of the five examiners will ask questions for 10 minutes each and the Chair of the Board of Examiners will observe.

Fellowship Examination (FAACB) 25th and 27th June 2012

The Fellowship is awarded to members who have at least two years post-MAACB experience in clinical biochemistry and who pass all of the Fellowship examinations.
Up to and including 2010, candidates with at least ten years experience in clinical biochemistry who did not possess the MAACB were eligible to sit the FAACB examination. FROM 2011, POSSESSION OF THE MAACB WILL BE A PREREQUISITE FOR THE FELLOWSHIP EXAMINATION.

The FAACB examination tests for a high level of knowledge and the ability to integrate and apply that knowledge in the clinical, technical and scientific areas, as would be expected of a scientific manager of a large teaching clinical biochemistry laboratory. The FAACB candidate must demonstrate this ability in 4 major areas:

(1) Clinical Problem Solving – must have a deep understanding of normal biochemistry and the mechanisms of disease. The candidate should be able to provide expert clinical consultation on a wide range of clinical biochemistry abnormalities.

(2) Scientific Management – must demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of method development, equipment comparison, reference interval determination and quality management. They must be able to give expert advice on the provision and management of all aspects of a clinical biochemistry service.

(3) Scientific Principles – must show an understanding of the principles of modern clinical biochemistry analysers and methods and their limitations eg. interferences.

(4) New Developments – the candidate will be expected to demonstrate a working knowledge of any new developments, including clinical interpretation, methods and instrumentation in a clinical biochemistry laboratory.

There will be TWO 3 hour written papers and an ORAL examination for those that pass the written papers.

The 2 papers will, by means of essay or part questions, cover the field of clinical biochemistry at the level expected of an experienced senior biochemist. Recent advances and current issues will feature prominently. A single question may cover methodology, interpretation and management and so reflect current practice. The definition of a "recent advance" or "current issue" is imprecise but should not pose a problem for the practising clinical biochemist that keeps up with the literature. Candidates will be required to answer four out of at least five questions and some questions will be compulsory. The structure of the examination papers will be the same as previous years.

The oral examination will test the candidate's understanding of clinical biochemistry and ability to deal with the sort of problems that occur in day-to-day practice. Each of the five examiners will ask questions for about 10 minutes each.

The option of requesting the "slanting" of the Fellowship papers towards a recognised sub-speciality of clinical biochemistry has now been withdrawn by the Board of Examiners.

The written and oral examinations are considered independent of each other and candidates must pass both to be successful.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EXAMINATIONS

All candidates presenting to the oral examination will require photo-identification
Copies of previous examination papers are available on the AACB website (http://www.aacb.asn.au/web/Education/Past_Exam_Papers/)
Current curriculum - see PDF in right hand column on this page
The members of the Board of Examiners make themselves available at the annual RCPA AACB Chemical Pathology Course

Contact The Registrar of the Board of Examiners via the AACB Office, PO Box 7336, Alexandria NSW 2015 (ph: 02 9669 6600 or Email: office@aacb.asn.au) for further information

An Examination Prize may be awarded each year for a particularly outstanding candidate. Currently the prize is a choice of attending the annual scientific meeting of either the Association for Clinical Biochemistry (held in the UK, usually in May) or the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (USA, usually in July).

Last updated 30 January 2012