Administrative Reconsideration Policy

Date Effective: April 20, 2005

Date Revised: December 10, 2019, August 18, 2022, December 17, 2025

Scope

This policy applies to candidates who have failed the Canadian Physiotherapy Examination (“the exam”) and who request Administrative Reconsideration.

Principles

The Administrative Reconsideration process is grounded in the principles of fairness, transparency, timeliness, and accountability. It has been developed following provincial fair access and registration legislation and reflects the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators’ (CAPR) commitment to supporting candidates through equitable procedures in a reliable and credible examination system. The process is designed to ensure that decisions are evidence-based, procedurally sound, and consistently applied.

Candidates are responsible for making informed decisions about their readiness to take the exam. If a candidate experiences ill health or extraordinary circumstances that would reasonably be expected to affect their performance, they are strongly encouraged to reschedule or withdraw prior to the exam. If the circumstances are such that a reasonable candidate would have rescheduled or withdrawn prior to the exam, a request for Administration Reconsideration is unlikely to be successful.

The Administrative Reconsideration decision-making process will consider whether the candidate had sufficient prior knowledge of the ill health or extraordinary circumstances to make an informed decision with respect to rescheduling or withdrawing from the exam.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline the standards, eligibility criteria, timelines, and procedures governing CAPR’s review of exam-day issues through the Administrative Reconsideration process. This policy is designed to provide candidates with a clear and fair mechanism to seek redress when significant and unforeseen circumstances may have compromised their ability to demonstrate competence during the exam. By establishing a transparent and consistent process, the policy ensures that all candidates are treated equitably, while the integrity and validity of the CAPR assessment process is maintained.

Policy

1. Administrative Reconsideration

1.1 Eligibility

Candidates may apply for Administrative Reconsideration if they believe their performance was negatively impacted by:

Administrative issues: exam day occurrences or omissions that represent a significant deviation from CAPR’s exam administration standards or procedures.
Ill health: illness or a medical issue impacting the candidate during the exam.
Extraordinary circumstances: an unexpected, significant event that was outside of the candidate’s control and that could not be remediated.

Administrative Reconsideration is not available for the following circumstances:

Disagreement with exam content, format, or scoring.
Encountering a repeat examiner(s) in the Oral Section of the exam.
Financial hardship.

1.2 Reporting and Documentation Requirements

Candidates who wish to maintain the ability to apply for Administrative Reconsideration must report to CAPR any administrative issues, ill health, or extraordinary circumstances they experienced, and provide relevant supporting documentation, (the “Report”) within seven (7) calendar days of their exam.

For Reports relating to ill health, the supporting documentation must be completed by an appropriate regulated health professional and attest to the fact that a medical assessment was performed at the time of the ill health that is the subject of the request for Administrative Reconsideration.

Reports must be made by email to exams@alliancept.org

Failure to file a Report to CAPR within seven (7) calendar days of the exam will result in a request for Administrative Reconsideration being denied.

1.3 Applying for Administrative Reconsideration

Applications for Administrative Reconsideration by candidates who have previously filed a Report to CAPR pursuant to section 1.2 above must be submitted via the CAPR Client Portal no later than thirty (30) calendar days after the exam result notification. Applications must include:

A written statement describing the grounds for the request for Administrative Reconsideration.
Supporting documentation relevant to the request (including the supporting documentation provided with the initial Report).
The relevant application fee.

1.4 Decision-Making Process

Upon submission of a completed application for Administrative Reconsideration, CAPR will assign an Examinations Specialist to review:

The Report, written statement, and supporting documentation submitted by the candidate.
Any other information deemed relevant, which includes but is not limited to:
- internal CAPR information and documentation (e.g., exam logs, platform records, proctor communication).
- any communication submitted to CAPR regarding the incident.

Administrative Reconsideration will only be granted if it is determined that it was reasonable for the candidate to proceed with the exam in the circumstances and that the administrative issues, ill health, or extraordinary circumstances materially affected the candidate’s ability to complete the exam in such a way that the assessment was not fair or valid.

A written decision, including rationale, will be issued to the candidate by the Manager, Examinations within thirty (30) calendar days of the date of receipt of a completed application.

1.5 Potential Outcomes

Administrative Reconsideration Denied

The request will be denied when CAPR determines that the issue(s) described could not reasonably be expected to have negatively impacted the candidate’s performance, or it was not reasonable in the circumstances for the candidate to have proceeded with the exam. The failed exam attempt remains on the candidate’s record.

Administrative Reconsideration Granted

The request will be granted when CAPR determines that the issue(s) described could reasonably be expected to have negatively impacted the candidate’s performance and it was reasonable in the circumstances for the candidate to have proceeded with the exam. The failed exam attempt is removed from the candidate’s record.

If Administrative Reconsideration is granted based on administrative issues, the candidate will also:

receive a refund of the Administrative Reconsideration application fee.
have the exam fee for their next attempt waived.

NOTE: Exam results are NOT changed through the Administrative Reconsideration process (i.e., a ‘Fail’ will not be changed to a ‘Pass’).

2. Review and Revision

This policy will be reviewed regularly and updated as needed to reflect changes in best practices related to the Administrative Reconsiderations process.