Exam Information

The exam is held on the last Monday of July every year all over the world. The next exam day is Monday 30th July 2012. Applications are now available. If you cannot find the information you are looking for below, please contact the IBLCE office.

You can download the 2012 Candidate Information Guide here
 

Where is the exam held? 

What are the exam application deadlines and fees? 

What is the exam format? 

How are the exam questions referenced? 

How is exam confidentiality assured? 

How is the exam scored? 

What do I do if I am sick on the day of the exam? 

What if I am pregnant or I have a medical condition that I will need special considerations for on exam day? 

What if I need to breastfeed my baby during the exam? 

I missed signing my application. Can you waiver my 'incomplete application fee?

I am travelling overseas and won't be home on the day of the exam. What can I do?

Why does it take so long from sitting the exam to getting my results?

Exam Translations 

I hear many people say that IBLCE is very American focused. Is it?  

 

Where is the exam held?
The exam is offered in a number of different countries, but specific sites are initially offered in capital and/or regional cities. The exam sites are finalised once the exam applications have been received and sites are determined on the most central for the majority of candidates. Regional exam sites can be organised for groups of exam candidates (initial candidates or IBCLCs recertifying by exam). Requests for additional exam sites will be considered from candidates who are a long distance from the nearest site. However, for administrative, financial and security reasons, there are restrictions on the number and location of additional exam sites.

Exam Sites:

Australia: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Tasmania, Melbourne, Northern Territory, Sydney, Perth
Hong Kong, China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Malaysia
New Zealand
Philippines
Singapore
South Africa
Taiwan
There may be more than one exam site per city or country dependant on need.
Exam sites maybe offered in other cities or countries as needed.
If you are travelling at exam time a seat in another city or country may be arranged for you. Please speak with the Regional Director about your plans.

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What are the exam application deadlines and fees?
Exam application deadlines are broken in to two sections. The first deadline is the last day of February. The second deadline is the last day of April. Applications must be postmarked on or before the last day of these months.

The application fee is lowest for forms lodged by the first deadline at end of February, higher if sent by the final deadline at the end of April. Exam fees also vary according to country of residence, taking into account central and local administrative costs. Applications are accepted between 1 January and 30 April.

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What is the exam format?
The exam is composed of 175 multiple choice questions. The degree of difficulty is set at university masters level. Since effective lactation consultation requires assessment and decision-making skills, the questions are primarily designed to test the application of knowledge, rather than the straight recall of facts. Application questions are more realistic and enhance the validity of the exam.

The exam is administered in two sessions. A morning session of 2.5 hours with 75 questions and an afternoon session of 2.5 hours with 100 questions. Of the 175 questions, 75 are cognitive, based on word scenarios, and 100 are based on photos. They are all combined for classification into disciplines and chronological periods. The Exam Blueprint gives more information about the Disciplines and Chronological Periods which the exam covers.

The photo section has 100 questions based on colour photographs which illustrate various situations and clinical conditions relevant to Lactation Consultant practice. Typically, candidates are asked to evaluate whether or not a problem is present, the nature of the problem, or how it should be managed. Each candidate is provided with a booklet of colour pictures to use for this part of the exam.

Although the exam is administered in two sessions, the scores for the both sessions are added together to determine each candidate’s overall score and pass/fail designation. Candidates pass or fail the examination as a whole. A higher score in one area can compensate for a lower score in another area, so the candidate passes the overall exam.

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How are the exam questions referenced?
All examination questions are referenced to the technical/medical literature, usually to literature published within the last five years. Older scientific studies may be used if they are still quoted as reputable references in current texts. Each exam question is referenced to printed materials, not to statements made at conferences. Anecdotal material, authors’ opinions and areas where the major texts give conflicting information are avoided. References are current to the end of the calendar year prior to the exam.

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How is exam confidentiality assured?
Each year, the IBLCE uses a percentage of previously used questions on the current exam, for validity testing. For this reason, IBLCE does not release previous exams or previously used questions, nor is the exam available for review outside the examination hours. It is considered unethical for candidates to divulge any questions on the IBLCE exam or to request information from previous candidates.

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How is the exam scored?
The pass/fail cut-off score is determined according to the Nedelsky-Gross technique which measures the degree of difficulty of each question, based on the number of sophisticated responses which might distract candidates from the correct response. The level of difficulty of the overall exam is, therefore, based on averaging a myriad of individual analyses of each question. The more difficult the exam, the lower the pass/fail cut-off score, and vice-versa.

The Nedelsky-Gross technique ensures that there is no arbitrary number or percentage of candidates who pass the exam each year, and that candidates are not competing against each other. It also ensures that variations in the degree of difficulty of the exam from one year to another will not affect an individual candidate’s likelihood of passing or failing the exam. Over the years, the pass/fail cut-off has ranged between 62% and 68%.

Answer sheets are computer-scanned and scored by a Psychometrician. Each sheet is checked for stray marks and possible double counting where a response has been erased and replaced. Every year some answer sheets are hand scored to check accuracy.

There is only one correct answer to each question. Each item receives one point if correct, zero if incorrect. Points are not deducted for incorrect answers, so candidates should attempt all items.

After all answer sheets have been initially scored, each question is statistically analysed according to standard psychometric procedures. This identifies any questions which did not perform as expected or were ambiguous. These questions are reviewed along with items the candidates have objected to on their critique forms. Items determined to have been defective are deleted from scoring. All candidates’ scores are then recomputed. This quality control procedure enhances reliability, validity, and fairness. Each year, a number of previously used questions are included in the current exam, and the performance of the current candidates is compared with that of previous cohorts. This procedure enhances validity by providing a check on whether the competence level of the candidate body has changed.

The IBLCE exam has a low failure rate, yet the highest scores are typically in the high-80% range and the mean scores in the low to mid-70% range. This result demonstrates a well prepared, well screened candidate body and a challenging exam.

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What do I do if I am sick on the day of the exam?
Often we know that we are unwell a day or so before the exam. As soon as you are unwell and feel that you may not be able to sit the exam call the Regional Director or your Country Coordinator so arrangements can be made for you. If you wake up on the morning of the exam and are too ill to attend call us as soon as you can. The Regional office is open early on the day of the exam. If we do not know your circumstances we cannot support you.

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What if I am pregnant or I have a medical condition that I will need special considerations for on exam day?
If you are pregnant or have any kind of medical condition that may affect your ability to sit the exam comfortably you must make note of this on your application form on the front page under section five titled 'Individual Considerations'.You may have a bad back, have problems with your hands/writing, not like to be seated near a heater, need to be seated close to the door, need to access the bathroom more frequently etc. It is absolutley imperative that we have this information when you submit your application so that we can make arrangements for you. IBLCE wants to support exam candidates as much as possible however we will not be able to allow for any arrangements for individual considerations to be made if reported after the 1st of May.

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What if I need to breastfeed my baby during the exam?
IBLCE wants to ensure that you and your baby's needs are catered for on the exam day. You must make note of this on your application form on the first page under section five tiled 'Individual Considerations', that you will need to breastfeed your baby. The Regional Director will contact you to discuss your needs and organise appropriate processes. IBLCE does have a Breastfeeding Policy to support exam candidates. We will be unable to make arrangements for breastfeeding candidates who notify the IBLCE office after the 1st of May.

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I missed signing my application. Can you waiver my 'incomplete application fee?
IBLCE has introduced this fee to try and reduce the number of incomplete applications being sent in. Since the fee was introduced the number has greatly reduced. We sincerely regret but this is IBLCE policy. The aim of the policy is to encourage applicants to ensure their application is complete and to try and cover the cost of many hours following people up to get the correct information.

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I am travelling overseas and won't be home on the day of the exam. What can I do?
Call the Regional Director and we will find the closest exam site in the country you to plan to visit. This is organised every year for those candidates that will be travelling on exam day. Please let the Office know as early as you can so the arrangements can be made and you have all the information before leaving home.

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Why does it take so long from sitting the exam to getting my results?
After the exam, the exam papers from all over the Asia Pacific Region are sent to the regional office and collated before they are sent to the psychomatrician in the United States for scoring. The exam results are then recalibrated and performance records developed and then returned to the regional office for processing and dissemination to exam candidates. Like every stage of the IBLCE exam process, the scoring is rigorous.

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Exam Translations
Each year the exam is translated into several languages according to demand and availability of suitable translators. For a translation where there is typically only a small number of candidates, or for a translation language new to IBLCE, at least 15 eligible candidates must have applied and paid their exam fees before 31 December the year before sitting the exam for the translation to be considered.
At the time of application a candidate should indicate in which language other than English she/he wishes to do the exam, if it were to be made available. If there are not enough applicants wishing to do the exam in this language, there will not be a translation offered, and applicants will be entitled to a full refund or may elect to do the exam in English. Translations in previous years have included Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Taiwanese. A candidate may have access to exam materials in only one language version. It is not permitted to have two exam booklets in different languages.

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I hear many people say that IBLCE is very American focused. Is it?
No. IBLCE is an International organisation with an international focus. There are regional offices in Queensland Australia, Baden Austria and Virginia USA. The IBLCE Board members come from all over the world. See IBLCE Board. All the exam administration for the Asia Pacific Region is done in the IBLCE office in Australia

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