Authoring Level 1 Certification Guide

4.4. Exam Questions

You have 5 hours to answer 20 exam questions (you may not need all of this time to complete exam).

The first part of the exam will be 10 theory questions, including both multiple-choice and gap select style questions (25% of overall mark)

The second part of the exam consists of 10 authoring questions (75% of overall mark) which require you to use the Training Authoring Platform.

• Questions 11 to 13 require you to create a new concept to represent a given clinical meaning.
• Questions 14 and 15 require you to inactivate the named concept.
  • In some cases, this may require the creation of a replacement concept.
• Questions 16 to 20 require you to analyze and correct the named concept.
  • These questions will not involve inactivating the concept. However, you may need to inactivate some descriptions.
  • The concepts in these questions must be corrected in line with the appropriate editorial guidance.
  • Examples of issues that will require correction include:
    1. Incorrect or outdated naming conventions and case significance values.
       • For the purposes of this exam, you are expected to identify any descriptions that use incorrect or outdated naming conventions and manage these in line with the international guidance on making changes to descriptions. You will also be expected to show your knowledge of current naming conventions by adding new descriptions that align with the current naming conventions.
    2. Incorrectly modeled concepts.
    3. Descriptions that require inactivation.
       • Where this is the case you will need to consider if a new description or concept should be created to replace the inactivated description. Please note, if you need to inactivate a synonym that is not semantically equivalent to the concept you are working on and a concept representing that meaning does not currently exist you will need to create a concept to represent that meaning.

Please note

1. For these questions, you must use the proximal primitive parent modeling approach. Other modeling approaches will not be accepted.
2. All concepts must be classified and their classifications saved.
3. You are not required to make changes to any supertype or subtype of the named concept.
4. You are not required to create or update concepts that you use as the value of an attribute or historical association.
5. Please include all your work for questions 11 to 20 in a single task titled "AL1 Certification" in the "Certification Exam" project on the training authoring platform.
6. You will be authoring in the SnomedLand (ZZ) extension based on the Jan 2024 edition of SNOMED CT.
7. You may need to access the following reference material to answer these questions:
   • SNOMED CT Editorial Guide (Education Version)
   • SNOMED CT pre-coordinated patterns
   • SNOMED CT templates
   • Customer Guidance For Requesting Changes to SNOMED CT
     
8. In the training authoring platform, if you make changes to a concept and then decide to inactivate that concept, you must first revert back to the original concept. To do this, click on the "Revert to version" button to undo all your changes, and then inactivate the concept.

• You will need to create a new task in the platform named "AL1 Certification", selecting Certification Exam project.
• You will be authoring in the SnomedLand (zz) extension based on the Jan 2024 edition of SNOMED CT
• Once the task is complete, submit the task for review as outlined in Instructions for Submitting a Task in the Authoring Platform (visible after enrolling for the exam).
• You will need to use the proximal primitive parent modeling approach. Other modeling approaches will not be accepted.
• You are only required to correct the concept named in the exam question.
• Any existing concepts that you use in modeling, for attribute values or historical associations will not require updating.
• You are not required to make changes to supertypes or subtypes, nor are you required to create concepts to provide a value for an attribute.
• All concepts must be classified and their classifications saved

• Questions 11 to 13 require you to create a new concept to represent a given clinical meaning following the current SNOMED International editorial guidance.

• Questions 14 and 15 require you to inactivate the named concept. In some cases, this may require the creation of a replacement concept.
  • In the Authoring Training Platform, if you make changes to a concept and then decide to inactivate that concept, you must first revert back to the original concept. Click on the "Revert to version" button to undo all your changes, then inactivate the concept.
  • Failure to inactivate the concept could lead to a score of zero for that mark even if you have made some corrections to that concept. So always look at the concepts carefully and decide on the appropriate inactivation e.g. the concept is ambiguous or the concept is a duplicate.

• Questions 16 to 20 require you to analyse and correct the named concept. 
• For these questions, you will determine what corrections (if any) are required. 
• The concept must be corrected in line with the current editorial guidance.
• Examples of issues that will require correction include

1. Incorrect or outdated naming conventions and case significance values. 

• • Note: For the purposes of this exam you are expected to identify any descriptions that use incorrect or outdated naming conventions and manage these according to the guidance on making changes to descriptions (although common practice may be to not correct outdated descriptions or descriptions that do not follow the current editorial guide, for the purpose of the exam these will need to be corrected).  You will also be expected to show your knowledge of current naming conventions by adding new descriptions that align with the current naming conventions.

2. Incorrectly modeled concepts.

3. Descriptions that require inactivation.

• • Where this is the case you will need to consider if a new concept should be created to replace the inactivated component.
  • Please note, if you need to inactivate a synonym that is not semantically equivalent to the concept you are working on, and a concept representing that meaning does not currently exist, you will need to create a concept to represent that meaning before inactivation. 

• Participants must inform SNOMED International (via certsupport@snomed.org) of any technical issues experienced during the exam within 24 hours of sitting the exam for these to be taken into consideration.
• For more information about the different questions types that may be used, please refer to the E-Learning Assessment Guide.