Appealable Issues. Candidates may appeal to the AOBOG to raise concerns relative to the examination’s administration (i.e., alleged bias/prejudice of a member of an examination team or failure to follow established examination procedures).

Non-Appealable Issues. The AOBOG will not consider appeals based on examination content, sufficiency or accuracy of answers given to examination questions, scoring of the examination, scoring of answers to individual questions, and/or the determination of the minimum passing score.

Appeal Request Form. In order to appeal concerning the examination, a candidate must set forth the basis for his/her appeal on an Appeal Request Form and submit the Form to the Examination Referee. Appeal Request Forms will be provided to all certification candidates prior to the commencement of the examination. Additional copies of the Appeal Request Form will be available upon request to the Examination Referee. The appellant must submit the completed Appeal Request Form to the Examination Referee within two hours after he/she has completed the examination

Late Appeals. All appeals submitted after the two hour deadline for submission of the Appeal Request Form will be denied

Evaluation of Appeal. Each appeal submitted on an Appeal Request Form within two hours of completion of the examination will be considered by the AO.B.O.G.’s Appeal Committee. A majority vote of the Committee will determine whether the A.O.B.O.G. accepts or denies the appeal.

Notification of Candidates. Candidates will be advised by the A.O.B.O.G. of the Appeal Committee’s decision, by certified mail.

No Scoring or Recording of Exam. If the Appeal Committee accepts an appeal, then the candidate’s examination will not be scored or recorded.

Right to Retake Examination. A candidate whose appeal is accepted shall have the right to a new clinical examination at the next scheduled examination date at no additional application or examination fee. (All other fees incurred are the responsibility of the candidate.) At that time, the examination will be conducted by a different examination team. The candidate’s original log may be utilized and the examination will be conducted in accordance with the format for the current examination.

Failure to Retake Examination. If for any reason the candidate elects NOT to retake the examination at the next scheduled date, his/her appeal shall be considered null and void and the candidate will be required to reapply for the certification examination and his/her application shall be considered in accordance with the criteria in effect at the time he/she submits the new application. Exceptions (for good cause) to this stipulation will be considered on an individual basis by the Executive Committee

Current Examination. The candidate whose appeal is accepted shall not have the right to further appeal of the current examination results, either within the A.O.B.O.G. or to the A.O.A.

Subsequent Examination. The candidate whose appeal is accepted shall not have the right to appeal the next scheduled examination to the A.O.B.O.G. under this Policy. However, the candidate shall have the right to appeal to the A.O.A.

Decision to Deny Appeal. If an appeal is denied by the A.O.B.O.G. Appeals Committee, the candidate shall have the right to appeal to the A.O.A.. Candidates interested in appealing to the A.O.A. should contact the American Osteopathic Association, Department of Education, Division of Certification, 142 East Ontario St., Chicago, IL 60611