After The Exam
What Happens After the Examination?
The examinations are computer-scored. You will receive one point for each correct answer. You receive no points for omitted answers. Examination questions that do not meet statistical standards will not count toward your total score. The examination also contains experimental questions that are being assessed for future use. Your answers to these questions will not count toward your score.
When to Expect the Exam Results
Each candidate was assigned a candidate identification number. Following each examination, a list of all successful candidates will be posted here. Unofficial Results will be Pass, Fail or Under Review. Candidates must avoid taking action (i.e., career, move, etc.) before receiving a positive official result in the mail.
Please note that the FDHRC™ has up to six weeks after you write the NDHCE™ to mail your official results. Your official result will be reported as pass or fail. Results will not be given out over the telephone. The FDHRC™ will under no condition fast track examination results for any reason.
How is the Exam Scored?
The passing score is set by the FDHRC™ Examination Committee which is composed of dental hygiene experts from across Canada. This Committee includes educators, experienced practitioners, administrators and a psychometrician. The Examination Committee establishes a passing score, based on a proven standard setting method, that represents the expected performance of entry-level practice dental hygienists.
To ensure the integrity and security of the NDHCE™, every exam form has a unique combination of items. Thus, no two versions or “forms” of the exam are the same, although all forms conform to the same test specifications (see NDHCE Blueprint) and are created to be similar in terms of difficulty level. To ensure fairness in the examination scoring process, a statistical method called equating is used to account for differences in exam form difficulty and to calculate a scaled score.
What is a Scaled Score?
A scaled score is a mathematical transformation of a candidate’s raw score (i.e., total number of items correct) on an exam to a common scale. This scaled score allows for valid comparisons of results across exam administrations even if there are differences in the difficulty of the exam taken. Interpretation of the raw score and the scaled score will result in the same conclusion in terms of a candidate’s pass/fail status.
Why are Scaled Scores Useful?
Scaled scores are particularly useful for reporting results given that there is always some variability in the difficulty of different versions of an exam. Scaled scores therefore make these differences across forms disappear so that a particular score has the same meaning across time.
For the NDHCE™, the scaled score range is from 200 to 800 with a typical passing score of around 550. Please note the FDHRC will not release/report a candidate's specific score only Pass or Fail results.
Example of Using a Scaled Score
Suppose that one candidate takes a relatively easy version of an exam and receives a raw score of 137 over 170. At the same time, a second candidate takes a relatively more difficult version of the exam and receives a raw score of 134. Is the first candidate really more competent than the second? If only raw scores were used, then the answer would be yes. However, the difficulty of the two exams may differ. In order to control for this difference and make an accurate comparison, their raw scores need to be converted to scaled scores. Once their scores are converted, it may be that the second candidate in fact performed better.
Next Steps
If you are successful, you will receive your NDHCE™ Certificate with a unique National Certification number, with your results letter. Please note that the FDHRC does not register or issue licenses to practice dental hygiene. Please contact the dental hygiene regulatory authority in the jurisdiction you wish to practice, for information about registration/licensing procedures.
The maximum number of times you can attempt the NDHCE™ is three (3). This means that, if at first you are not successful on the certification examination, you may re-apply at another NDHCE™ administration and rewrite it up to another two (2) times before you pass.
Candidates who fail the examination will be provided with a report about their general performance over the tested blueprint categories as well as information on rewriting application procedures.
Rescoring and Appeals
Candidates who are unsuccessful can request a rescoring of their answer sheets (log into your application account to request a rescore). Please note that the re-scoring process will only verify the candidate's exactness of their examination score, and will not allow them to challenge or review the content of the examination, or to seek further content related feedback on any area.
Candidates can also request an appeal of their examination attempt if they believe they were treated unfairly or if there were any other irregularities in the examination process.
Please see the Rescore and Appeals page for more information about the Rescoring and Appeal Policy.