Legal basis and amendment to rules
- The resolution amends Article III of the Rules and Regulations Governing the Regulation and Practice of Professionals, as amended.
- The amendment creates a specific rule under Section 10-A addressing what examinees may not bring or use inside examination rooms.
- The amendment classifies the covered acts as cheating and/or dishonesty under the regulatory framework for licensure examinations.
Purpose and integrity of licensure exams
- The resolution recognizes that examinees have been abusing the privilege to bring written or printed materials that aid problem-solving in licensure examinations.
- The resolution identifies examinees bringing programmable calculators, cellular phones, beepers, portable personal computers, and similar devices into examination rooms.
- The resolution establishes that possession of covered materials or devices in examination rooms and/or their use constitutes cheating.
- The resolution directs that wrong-doers must be penalized to ensure the integrity of licensure examination results.
Exam room ban: covered materials and devices
- Section 10-A covers the possession or use by an examinee in examination rooms during licensure examinations.
- Section 10-A covers books, notes, review materials, and other printed/written materials containing principles or excerpts relevant to the subject under examination.
- Section 10-A covers coded data/information/formulas relevant, pertinent, relative to, or connected with the subject under examination.
- Section 10-A explicitly includes programmable calculators.
- Section 10-A explicitly includes cellular phones, beepers, portable personal computers, and other similar gadgets/devices.
Prohibited conduct and classification as cheating
- Section 10-A provides that possession or use of the covered materials or devices in examination rooms during licensure examinations is cheating and/or an act of dishonesty.
- Section 10-A treats both possession and use as culpable conduct within examination rooms during licensure examinations.
Penalty: suspension/debarment and cancellation
- Section 10-A requires that an examinee found guilty of the covered cheating/dishonesty be suspended or debarred from taking future licensure examinations.
- Section 10-A provides that the guilty examinee’s examination papers shall be cancelled.