Outline of IQE Examination process Dental Practice : RxBDS

The Purpose of the Examination

1. The IQE is the only means whereby the Council can test the extent of the knowledge and skill possessed by an applicant for registration whose overseas primary qualification is not generally recognised by the Council for the purpose of registration.

2. The IQE is held under Regulations made by the General Dental Council under section 16 (4) of the Dentists Act 1984, and approved by the Privy Council. These Regulations are available upon request. Examining authorities are required to adhere to this guidance to ensure consistency between centres holding the IQE.

The Standard of the Examination

3. The IQE Regulations state:

"The standard of knowledge and skills required to be shown by candidates in order to satisfy the Examiners in the IQE shall not be less than the standard required to qualify for a degree or licence in dentistry for the purposes of section 15 (1) (a) of the Dentists Act 1984."

4. The standard of the IQE will therefore be no lower than that of a United Kingdom qualifying examination as expressed in the Council’s do*****ent The First Five Years: The A Framework for Undergraduate Dental Education (August 2002). This is available on the GDC website www.gdc-uk.org. The Council takes the view that, in the public interest, this standard must be fully maintained.

5. Emphasis will be on the standard of knowledge and skills required for the safe practice of dentistry. Scientific and medical subjects in Part A will be examined at the level expected of a general dental practitioner in the United Kingdom.

6. The IQE is held in three parts. Part B has the important function of ensuring that no candidate enters Part C who may put patients at risk.

Pre-Examination Language Testing

7. The IQE will be held only in English. A poor command of English will not be accepted as an excuse for a poor performance in any part of the examination.

8. To avoid entry by candidates whose command of the English language is insufficient for the purpose, all applicants are required to demonstrate their linguistic competence by means of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The IELTS test is administered by the British Council in 105 countries including the UK.

For information on where to sit the test please contact:

British Council
IELTS Enquiries
Bridgewater House
58 Whitworth Street
Manchester M1 6BB
Telephone: 0161 957 7755
Email: general.enquiries@britishcouncil.org

IELTS website: IELTS

N.B. In accordance with Law, Nationals of European Economic Area (EEA) States, or persons who are entitled to be treated no less favourably than EEA nationals, cannot be required to take the IELTS test.

Application

9. A candidate for admission to the IQE must hold a degree or diploma granted by a University, or other approved body, after a course of study which the Council considers to be sufficient for the purpose. He/she is not required to take a further course of study before being admitted to the examination.

10. Those wishing to apply to take the IQE should submit:

(Please refer to the section Guidance for Applications at the end of this leaflet for further details)

a) an application form completed in all parts;
b) a qualifying dental degree certificate or diploma;
c) a Certificate or Letter of Good Standing which is no more than three months’ old;
d) a current, valid passport;
e) two recent, passport size photographs;
f) a short statement of the career which has been followed since qualifying as a dentist;
g) a single stamped and signed academic IELTS Test Report Form, which is no more than two years’ old on receipt and shows a minimum overall band score of 7.0 and shows no score lower than 6.5 in any section.

NB. In accordance with Law, this requirement will not apply to EEA nationals (see above).

h) for those whose current surname differs from that on any of the required do*****entation, evidence of the legality of the name change.

11. Prior to sitting IQE Part C, candidates are also required to submit a Hepatitis B certificate and a Health Declaration (Please refer to the section on Health).

Exemption from Part A4.1

A candidate for the IQE who possesses the diploma of Member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) or has passed the Primary/Part I Examination of the Fellowship in Dental Surgery (FDS) of one of the Royal Surgical Colleges of the United Kingdom, or has passed an examination recognised as equivalent by the Dental Faculties of one of these Colleges, [or has Part A of the Intercollegiate Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS)] may claim exemption from Part A of the IQE.

12. Supported by the relevant do*****entation, a candidate who holds one of the following qualifications may claim exemption from Part A on grounds of equivalence:

* MFDS or Primary/Part I FDS of one of the Royal Surgical Colleges of the United Kingdom;

* Part A of the Intercollegiate LDS.

13. Anyone wishing to claim an exemption through another qualification must produce a letter of confirmation of equivalence to the MFDS or Primary FDS from the Faculty of Dental Surgery of one of the Royal Surgical Colleges of the United Kingdom. The following qualifications are currently recognised as equivalents:

* MFD or Part I of the FFD of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland;

* Primary Fellowship in Dental Surgery of the surgical Royal Colleges in Australia or South Africa

* Primary and Part I of the national Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria;

* Fellowship of the West African College of Surgeons;

* Part I of the RCS (Edin) Specialty Membership Diplomas;

* Part I of the M.S. (Dental Surgery) of the University of Colombo.

N.B. A Medical qualification does not confer exemption from any part of the examination.

IQE Fees

14. The fees for sitting the IQE are as follows:

Part A £550
Part B £650
Part C £750

Please note that payment is not required until a formal letter of invitation to sit an examination has been sent. This letter will detail the payment arrangements.

IQE Waiting List

15. Candidates for the IQE will be admitted to the IQE waiting list only when a completed application has been submitted.

16. Candidates will subsequently be positioned on the waiting list according to the date on which a Part of the IQE has been passed or failed. Candidates will be invited automatically to each Part of the IQE and will therefore not need to re-apply.

17. The three Parts of the IQE are consecutive.

18. Should a candidate refuse an invitation to an examination, his/her name will be placed at the end of the waiting list. A candidate should therefore inform the Council immediately of any cir*****stances preventing him/her from sitting an examination until after a specified date. The candidate will then not be invited until after that date.

19. The Council expects candidates on the waiting list to be ready and committed to sit the examination.

Part A (effective January 2005)

Written Examinations

20. The written examinations will consist of two papers, each lasting 3 hours, and will take the form of Multiple Short Answer (MSA) questions. One paper will be on clinically applied dental science. The other paper will cover clinically applied human disease.

Oral Examinations

21. There will be two separate oral examinations, each lasting 15 minutes. One oral examination will be on clinically applied dental science. The other oral examination will cover clinically applied human disease.

The written papers and orals in clinically applied dental science will cover integrated biomedical sciences, radiological science, materials science and biometry.

The written papers and orals in clinically applied human disease will cover pathology, clinical medicine and therapeutics with an emphasis on the management of patients in primary dental care.

Part B

22. Part B consists of an operative test on a dental manikin and will comprise two three-hour sessions which will normally take place on the same day. The test is designed to ensure the competence of candidates to undertake such work for patients.

23. IQE Part B is more than just a mechanistic test of clinical skills. It is a simulated clinical assessment and all aspects of care will form part of this process. This will include aspects of health and safety (including the use of gloves, masks and eye protection where appropriate), the justification of the use and number of radiographs, and the simulated clinical operating position which must be similar to that which is achievable with a patient.

24. The test will comprise:

i) an exercise for a dental amalgam restoration in an upper, posterior tooth involving a proximal surface;

ii) an exercise for an adhesive tooth-coloured filling material to restore a proximal lesion in an upper incisor tooth;

iii) the preparation of a tooth for an indirect intracoronal restoration or for a crown;

iv) an endodontic exercise.

25. Candidates will be tested verbally in knowledge of applied dental materials science during the course of the operative test.

26. Artificial teeth will be used for most or all exercises and candidates will be allowed an opportunity for familiarisation.

27. Left handed operators must, at the time of application, advise the Council who will then inform the examination centre in advance.

28. Candidates will receive further details in the Briefing Notes which will be sent when an invitation to sit Part B is accepted.

Part C

Written Examinations

29. The written examinations will consist of two papers, each lasting three hours. The two papers will cover all aspects of dentistry and will take the form of MSA questions. One examination paper must include questions on law and ethics and on health and safety. Each of the two question papers will last for three hours.

Examination in Clinical Dentistry (EFFECTIVE JANUARY 2005)

30. In the examination in clinical dentistry candidates will be allowed up to twenty minutes to examine either one an adult, or a one child patient in the deciduous or mixed dentition period. This will be followed by an oral examination for each patient, each lasting fifteen 15 minutes based on the candidates’ examination of the patient with special emphasis on diagnosis and treatment planning.

Oral Examination in General Dentistry

31. The oral examination in general dentistry will last for twenty 20 minutes and will cover a range of issues pertinent to clinical practice including consideration of aspects of behavioural sciences.

32. Candidates must satisfy the examiners as to their knowledge and understanding of dental radiology and imaging, including radiation protection, radiographic technique and radiographic interpretation together with an awareness of alternative imaging systems.

Practical Clinical Examination

33. The practical clinical examination will comprise the undertaking of a restorative dental procedure on a patient during a period of two hours.

34. The task for this examination will be chosen from the range of procedures normally undertaken by a general dental practitioner in the United Kingdom and must should include the administration of local analgesia as indicated clinically.

35. The practical clinical examination will last for a maximum of two hours.

36. Chairside assistance will be provided by the examining centre.

Examination in Medical Emergencies

37. Candidates will be examined in areas pertinent to the management of emergencies encountered within the setting of primary dental care. The examination will last for a maximum of 15 minutes.

38. Examples of emergencies which candidates may be examined on include anaphylactic reaction, upper respiratory obstruction, cardiac arrest, diabetic hypoglycaemia, vasovagal attack and inhalation or ingestion of foreign bodies.

39. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation will be tested using a resuscitation manikin. Candidates are strongly advised to undertake formal, appropriate CPR training prior to sitting this examination.

Examiners

40. Each candidate must be examined by two examiners for the oral and practical examinations.

41. No examiner may have been retired from clinical practice for more than two years.

42. At least one of the examiners shall not normally be an employee of the University.

43. In each pair of examiners there must be one examiner who has had experience of undergraduate examining in dental schools within the last two years.

44. An examiners’ meeting will be held on the final day of the examination.

Examiners’ Reports

45. The examining authority will provide the Council with detailed results for all candidates. For those who have failed, examiners are asked to provide the Council with recommendations and specific guidance where appropriate on the sections failed. All reports should be written in a structured manner which will allow them to be directly communicated to the candidates. The Council will forward the reports to the candidates.

Marking

46. Intention marking will be used in the practical and oral elements of the examinations on an ascending scale:

5 excellent
4 good
3 pass
2 marginal fail
1 uncompensatable fail

47. The following conversion to the GDC grading system has been agreed for the written examinations:

75% or more 5
60 to 74% 4
50 to 59% 3
40 to 49% 2
39% or less 1

48. Candidates for the written examinations will be given a number and the scripts marked anonymously. The Council views double marking of the written examinations as good practice. Should this not be possible, the scripts will be marked against a model answer.

49. Compensation may be allowed for marginal failures between other sections of the examination, particularly between related written and oral examinations. A mark of 1 (uncompensatable fail) in any section will result in failure.

50. The exercises in operative technique in Part B will be marked individually and compensation may be allowed for a mark of 2 (marginal failure) in one exercise.

51. Failure in any practical section of the examination cannot be compensated. These sections are Part B as a whole as well as the examination in clinical dentistry, the practical clinical examination and the examination in medical emergencies (Part C).

52. While mark matrices will form the basis of determining the outcome of the examinations, the examiners will determine the final result.

53. The Council alone will communicate the results to the candidates and will do so by letter only.

IQE Assessors

54. The Assessor, appointed by the Council, who will have knowledge and experience of conducting qualifying examinations, and will be in attendance to observe and, where necessary, guide the conduct of the examination.

55. The role of the Assessor is to observe the examination to ensure that the process is fair. The Assessor will not act as an additional examiner.

56. The Assessor will also be present at the examiners’ meeting held on the final day of examining.

57. The Assessor will submit an independent report to the Council concerning the conduct of the examination, the physical arrangements including the equipment used, the conduct of the examiners’ meeting and any appropriate general comments.

Further Attempts

58. Candidates will be required to pass Parts B and C of the IQE within eighteen months of each other. Any candidate failing to comply with this requirement must resit Part B.Otherwise Part B must be re-taken.

59. There is no requirement to resit or gain further exemption from Part A of the IQE in the event of failing Part B.

60. Candidates who have failed the Statutory Examination in the past and have been precluded from further attempts will are be allowed able to apply sit for the IQE.

Health

61. Prior to sitting Part C of the IQE, candidates must have submit a valid Hepatitis B certificate authenticated from an accredited UK laboratory and showing their the full Hepatitis B serological status. Hepatitis B certificates will need to comply with the current guidelines by the Department of Health and are subject to the approval of the relevant Dental School according to local requirements. No one with evidence of an infective risk to patients will be permitted to enter Part C of the examination.

62. Candidates are therefore advised that it is in their interests to have their status checked before entering the IQE.

63. Prior to sitting Part C, candidates will be required to sign a health declaration. This currently states:

I declare that to the best of my knowledge I am not suffering from, nor am I a carrier of, any infectious disease, blood borne virus or other transmissible disease which might jeopardise the well-being of patients whom I may be called upon to treat during the course of the examination. I further declare that I have no reason to believe that such infectious or transmissible disease may be present. In support of this statement I enclose original Hepatitis B certificates which have been authenticated from an accredited UK Laboratory to show my full Hepatitis B serological status.

64. The University will notify the Council in advance of any restrictions or requirements to be imposed on candidates for Part C in conformity with local rules, in relation to their health, in excess of the Council’s requirements. In conformity with local rules, some Universities may have restrictions or requirements in relation to health which exceed the Council’s requirements for Part C. If this is the case, candidates will be informed accordingly and will need to conform with any such requirements.

Misconduct

65. The use or attempted use of unauthorised material such as revision notes or other action considered by the examiners to constitute cheating in connection with any element of the IQE will result in the candidate failing the examination and being excluded from entering all subsequent diets of any part of the IQE.

Appeals

66. Only appeals on the grounds of defects of procedure will be considered.

67. An appeal must be addressed to the Registrar and received in writing within forty 40 days of the relevant Part of the examination. Appeals will be considered on a written basis only.

68. An appeal will not be entertained on the grounds of disagreement with the examiners’ collective judgement. Appeals on the grounds of illness or incapacity will only be considered under exceptional cir*****stances.

Instruments

69. Instruments for use in the laboratory test of operative technique in Part B and for the practical clinical examination in Part C will be supplied by the examining centre and be appropriate to the tasks selected. Candidates are not permitted to use their own instruments and materials.

Disabilities

70. At the time of accepting an offer to sit the examination, candidates should advise the Council if they have any relevant disabilities.

Equal Opportunities

71. Examinations will be carried out in line with the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy.

December 2004

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Guidance for Applications

To help us deal with your application quickly, it is very important that you send us the right do*****ents. If you do not, we will have to ask you to send further do*****ents. Please read the following guidance carefully.

APPLICATION FORM

1. The referee (Section 4) must sign the form after the applicant has completed Sections 1 and 2 and signed the declaration in Section 3. The date shown for the referee (Section 4) must not be earlier than the one shown for the applicant (Section 3). The referee must not be a close relative.

2. The application form must be on one sheet of paper only.

Translations

3. Any required do*****ents, which are not in English, must be accompanied by an exact translation.

4. The translation must either be:

* A certified translation by a qualified translator, OR

* For degree certificates and diplomas, an official translation by the relevant University with the official stamp of the University and the signature and name of the Dean.

Certified Copies

5. Where you cannot provide originals of do*****ents, you can send certified copies. We can only accept certified copies if:

a. the do*****ents are legible AND;

b. the copy is taken from the original do*****ent (we cannot accept copies of photocopies or faxes) AND;

c. the person certifying confirms in English in writing on the do*****ent that it is a true copy of the original AND;

d. the person certifying is either a Notary Public, Commissioner of Oaths, Justice of the Peace or other entitled to practise law or an authorised officer of an embassy or consulate;

e. the name, signature and address of the person certifying is shown on the copy AND;

f. The person certifying is not the applicant him/herself, or a close relative.

6. The Council would expect to receive originals of the IELTS Test Report Form and Certificate or Letter of Good Standing, rather than certified copies.

Degree Certificate or Diploma

7. Candidates must submit a final degree certificate or diploma. A provisional certificate will not normally be accepted in place of a final degree certificate or diploma.

Letter of Good Standing

8. You must send us evidence that you have the right to practise dentistry in the country where your degree was obtained and that you have not been suspended or prohibited from practising as a dentist. Such evidence is usually a Certificate or Letter of Good Standing issued by the Registration Authority for dentists in that country.

9. The Certificate or Letter of Good Standing must be no more than three months’ old on the date we receive it.

10. If you have last worked or are working in a different country to the one in which you first qualified, you must also send us a Certificate or Letter of Good Standing from the Registration Authority in that country.

11. If you cannot obtain this do*****ent, an affidavit or affirmation witnessed by a solicitor or other legal professional mentioned in paragraph 5.d can be submitted in its place. This is only acceptable if it is not possible to obtain a Certificate or Letter of Good Standing. The applicant must be prepared to swear under oath in the affidavit/affirmation that he/she cannot obtain the Certificate or Letter of Good Standing despite having tried to. In the affidavit/affirmation you must state that you have the right to practise dentistry in the relevant country and that you have not been suspended or prohibited from practising as a dentist. Reasons for being unable to obtain a Letter or Certificate of Good Standing must be included. The Council may also seek confirmation from the relevant Registration Authority.

12. A registration certificate or an annual practising certificate will not be accepted as a Letter or Certificate of Good Standing. An example of another do*****ent, which would not be acceptable, is a reference from your university. The Letter or Certificate of Good Standing must be issued by the Registration authority for dentists.

Passport

13. You must send either the original or a certified copy of your current, valid passport. A certified copy of the passport must be clearly legible and the photograph must be clear. A certified copy must show your photograph and the expiry date of your passport. Only passports that have not expired will be accepted.

Photographs

14. If you are applying to take the IQE, you will need to send two recent passport sized photographs. If likeness is in doubt with your passport photograph, the photographs must be certified to be a true likeness of you. One of the legal professionals mentioned in paragraph 5.d may certify the photographs to be a true likeness of you. The person who signed section 4 of the application form can also certify the photographs. The applicant’s name must be clearly stated on the back of the photograph.

Name Change

15. If your current name differs from that on any of the other do*****ents which you are sending, you must give us evidence of the legality of name change, for example a marriage certificate.

December 2004

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