Authoring Level 2 Certification Guide

1.1. Authoring Certification Pathways

Appropriately skilled terminology authors are needed to maintain the quality of SNOMED CT content, as it is updated and extended to support new clinical requirements.

To ensure a high standard of consistency and quality, SNOMED International is developing a series of courses and certifications to train and certify authors.

The diagram below shows the alternative pathways through SNOMED International authoring education.

The SNOMED International authoring courses allow candidates to start developing the competencies required to become proficient authors.

• Each student who completes all mandatory components of an authoring course will receive a certificate of completion. Please note that this is not the same as an authoring certification.
• Each course provides grades and feedback for the assignments and assessments, to allow candidates to measure their performance. However, no overall grade is provided on completion.
• For most candidates, these courses will be very useful to both new and experienced authors.
• Please note that completion of an authoring course does not guarantee that you will pass the certification exam. Even though these courses are a great way to improve your authoring skills, further practice and experience may be needed to reach the standard required for certification. Feedback and grading throughout the course will be a good indicator of how much further practice and learning is needed before attempting certification.

The SNOMED International authoring certifications recognize a candidate for their authoring competencies. 

• Certification allows candidates to demonstrate that they possess the competencies required by SNOMED International.
• Each certification is valid for 3 years. To retain your certification beyond this time, you must resit and pass the certification exam (unless you hold a higher-level of certification).
• SNOMED CT Authoring Level 1 certification will be a prerequisite for those wishing to advance to a SNOMED CT Authoring Level 2 certification. 
• Completion of the SNOMED CT Authoring Level 2 course is required before attempting the SNOMED CT Authoring Level 2 certification (some exceptions maybe allowed for experienced authors on a case by case basis, please contact elearning@snomed.org).
• The competencies and knowledge you will need for the AL2 Certification exam were covered in the AL2 Course. If you have not taken the course an overview can be found in Authoring Level 2 Course Overview.