As you may be aware, a few days ago, the National Dental Examining Board of Canada (NDEB) announced the cancellation of the upcoming Assessment of Fundamental Knowledge (AFK) exam due to their ongoing investigation into reports of alleged cheating in respect of prior exams. This AFK exam was scheduled to take place on February 05-06, 2021. The cancellation comes after the NDEB announced that they launched an investigation on December 21 of last year.
Cheating on licensure exams provides an unfair advantage for those who cheat and more importantly compromises the integrity of the board exams. These exams are meant to safeguard the dentistry profession from unqualified individuals. As an educational institution, we take a firm stance against cheating. We do not support nor condone cheating, in any respect, for any and all professional licensing examinations.
There have been a number of exam cancellations in 2020 due to COVID and now in 2021 due to the NDEB’s investigation into alleged reports of cheating. These cancellations will have an impact on the number of Internationally trained dentists entering the market over the next couple of years unless measures can be taken to make up for those delays.
It is unfortunate that this situation has arisen. It is having a widespread negative impact on many who have studied hard for the AFK exam and have done nothing wrong.
We empathize with our hardworking trainees who put their lives on hold to pursue their dreams of becoming licensed dentists in Canada. We know that many were affected by the relatively short notice given due to the COVID situation. We have received reports that some of our trainees have already travelled to Canada because of the self-isolation requirements imposed due to COVID. We are sympathetic to those trainees who have had to travel to write the now cancelled AFK exam.
The NDEB’s withholding of the last exam’s results and the cancellation of the AFK exam will slow down but will not stop the journey of becoming a licensed dentist in Canada. We want our trainees to know that we are here to continue to support them through their journey. We have already connected with our dentists who have been affected by this cancellation and will be scheduling another session in the near future.
Firas Abu Saleh is the CEO and co-founder of Prep Doctors.
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Prep Doctors Corp
Nationally Approved PACE Program Provider for FAGD/MAGD credit. Approval does not imply acceptance by any regulatory authority or AGD endorsement. 9/1/2024 to 8/31/2027. Provider ID# 371504
Prep Doctors Corp is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider.
ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry.
Prep Doctors Corp. is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed, sponsored, supported or funded in any way by the National Dental Examining Board of Canada (NDEB). Test names and other trademarks such as “NDEB”, “BNED”, logos or design of the NDEB are the property of the NDEB and not trademarks of Prep Doctors Corp.
