It’s finally my last week of classes at BCIT! We have final exams next week, and while those are important, I’m going to talk about the most important exam I’ll ever write in my career: the CSMLS exam.
CSMLS (Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science) is the national governing body for med lab professionals, and everyone who wants to work as an MLT in Canada needs to pass the CSMLS exam in order to be certified. The exam is competency based, meaning if we pass, we’re certified as competent and safe to work in clinical labs at the entry level. It is 5.5 hours long divided into 2 parts with questions about the 5 disciplines of med lab, as well as questions on laboratory safety and quality controls.
If a candidate doesn’t pass the exam on his/her first try, s/he must write the next available exam (there are 3 per year) or it counts as a failed attempt. CSMLS would send you a detailed report on which areas need improvement. If the candidate fails 3 times, s/he would get an even more detailed report and be required to take some refresher courses. After a maximum of 6 failed attempts, one would have to go back to school and retake the med lab program all over again.
My CSMLS membership package
The exam costs $700 (for members; non-members pay $925) to write, so that’s one more incentive to pass the first time around! Students can become CSMLS members for $82 (lasts for 2 years) to take advantage of the discounted exam price. Members can also access CSMLS job banks, apply for scholarships, and get discounts on advanced courses. I recently signed up and just got my membership package in the mail. It’s pretty exciting to know that I’m now part of a professional society!
Obviously I’m not too worried about the CSMLS exam just yet, since I won’t be writing it until next year, but ideally I should get organized and make some sort of study plan to prepare. While I’ll be going on to my practicum in July, I plan to study each discipline as I go along my rotation so that I won’t forget anything. The exam will be held in June so I will have about a month of free time after practicum, which I foresee will be filled with intense studying.
Now, back to studying for finals!