The National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) is excited to announce the launch of the new NCCAOM Exam Preparation Center. The center will feature—
The Official NCCAOM Practice Tests
Study Guides—NCCAOM provides a comprehensive preparation handbook for each certification program for candidates preparing to take the NCCAOM exam(s).
Exam Content Outlines—NCCAOM exam content outlines serve as a guide to assist in exam preparation.
More study materials to be offered later on this year.
The Official NCCAOM Practice Tests include a scaled score and a diagnostic report to help students and examination candidates prepare for the NCCAOM National Board Exams.
Most importantly, these practice tests will be structured similarly to the actual NCCAOM certification exams. Test your readiness for testing by simulating the format and flow of the real exam using the only practice tests available from the NCCAOM with questions developed using the same methodology as the exam itself.
What our Official NCCAOM Practice Tests offer to help prepare you for the NCCAOM board exams, include:
Exam questions that reflect current exam content outlines, the same level of difficulty and the same design as real exams.
Ability to take a test anywhere, at any time, as long as internet access is available.
A feedback report with a scaled score at the end of a test, which summarizes your readiness for each exam content subsection.
The price listed next to each test includes one online test session. You will only be allowed to take the practice test one time for each payment made.
NCCAOM Diplomates, earn 5 PDA points for successfully passing one practice test per recertification cycle. Faculty members, it is recommended that ACAOM approved schools' faculty members sign up for these practice tests to familiarize themselves with the process.
A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.
Acupuncture can be highly effective in cases of nasal congestion so common in allergy presentations; so much so that I often treat such issues using acupuncture protocols alone. In cases of seasonal allergies with highly predictable causes such as obvious elevations of environmental allergens, I use a skeleton acupuncture prescription that can easily be fleshed out to target potential underlying patterns and effectively customized to the patient.
The field of acupuncture in the U.S. continues to grow in visibility, patient demand and clinical effectiveness. Yet behind the curtain, many acupuncturists are quietly struggling to keep their doors open. While the profession is rooted in centuries of healing tradition, modern economic pressures – particularly those driven by insurance limitations, low reimbursement rates and job-market saturation – are making it increasingly difficult for licensed acupuncturists to thrive.
