Family Medicine Professional Choices (FMProC)

Situational Judgement Test

Applicant Information FAQs
Please read this carefully as there is a lot of important information about FMProC that you should be aware
of ahead of sitting this test.

What is FMProC?
• FMProC is a Situational Judgement Test (SJT).
• Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) are designed to assess applicants’ judgement regarding
situations encountered in the workplace or during training. Applicants are presented with a set of
hypothetical based scenarios and asked to make judgements about possible responses.
• Applicants’ responses are evaluated against a pre-determined scoring key to provide a picture of
their situational judgement in that particular context.
• SJTs have become increasingly popular over the last 20 years and are used mostly in large-scale
selection processes, often at the shortlisting stage, but can also form part of workplace assessment
to highlight employee development needs.
• The research literature indicates that SJTs have significant validity in predicting job performance
and can offer incremental validity over methods such as ability tests and personality
questionnaires.

How was FMProC developed?

• The development of FMProC has been carried out by researchers from Work Psychology Group
(WPG), in collaboration with members of the FMProC Team and Program Directors from the 6
participating programs.
• This SJT has been designed to measure 4 attributes that are considered important for a career in
Family Medicine in Canada: empathy & compassion, adaptability, collaboration, and professional
integrity.
• The scenarios are designed to reflect important real-life situations to test applicants’ judgement,
attitudes, and ethical values rather than knowledge or clinical skills. The scenarios have been
contextualized to reflect the role of a Family Medicine Resident in Canada.
• The SJT has also been developed in collaboration with a diverse range of stakeholders to ensure
fairness and representation of a diverse range of scenarios and characters.

How does FMProC ensure no specific group of candidates is at a disadvantage?

• The development and modification of the scenarios in FMProC involved input from several leaders
with different perspectives, roles and experiences. This included Family Physicians, Educators, FM
Residents and Medical Students, Indigenous Health, Rural and Remote FM, 2SLGBTQ+, anti-racism,
IMG and more. This specifically included groups under-represented in medicine to ensure, as much
as possible, that no group is disadvantaged by the test format or content.

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 • FMProC was also piloted with new PGY1 FM Residents in October 2021.

Is there a time limit for this test?

• Applicants will have 60 minutes to complete the test.
• Within this time, you will be presented with 25-30 scenarios following which you will be asked to
rate or rank the desirability of a series of options in response to the scenario.

What if I have any specific accommodation requirements?

• If you are a Canadian Medical Student, please email [email protected] requesting
accommodation and provide a letter from your University detailing what accommodation has been
agreed on and we will apply the appropriate accommodation, based on this, to your test.
• If you are an International Medical Graduate, please email [email protected] requesting
accommodation and provide a letter confirming the specific accommodation agreed upon for you
by a recognized medical examination organization in Canada; Medical Council of Canada(MCC).
This would include any confirmation letter related to the NAC OSCE as this is overseen by the MCC.
We will apply the appropriate accommodation, based on this, to your test.
• This information will not be shared with any of the Programs you apply to.

When and where will I need to complete FMProC?

• You will be able to access and complete the test between 8am Eastern Time (ET) January 17th and
12 PM (midnight) ET January 31st, 2022. When you do this, during this test-window, is completely
up to you.
• You can take the SJT at a location of your choosing, including your own home. We advise applicants
complete the test at a time and location when they can guarantee they will be uninterrupted.
How do I access the test and how does the system know its me?
• You will be sent the link to the test approximately 1-2 days before the test window opens. Please
keep this document handy to review ahead of commencing the test.
• When you are ready to complete the test, please use your CaRMS ID number as your password to
access the system.
• You will be asked to take a photo of yourself before commencing the test. The system ensures it
can read the face in the picture and then continues. The system will then ask you to hold your
government-issued ID up to the camera. Once again, the system will ensure it detects the face in
the Government-issued ID before continuing. The system must be able to confirm that the first
picture of you and the Government-issued ID picture match before continuing.

How does the system monitor for suspicious activity during the test?
• During the test, the system randomly selects a photo-grab from candidates sitting the test and
compares them with their initial photo. The system also monitors for multiple faces, new faces,
looking down or to the side too much, or other suspicious activity, like changing browser windows
or taking screenshots during the test etc. You will be notified if the system detects any suspicious
activity, and this will be flagged for review by the FMProC team upon completion of the test.

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 • Review of any suspicious activity will be completed by 2 Program Directors on the FMProC Team.
This will be based on CaRMS ID only and includes review of a recording of the activity identified.
• The Program Directors will determine the outcome of their review as either to assign the score
achieved by the candidate, with no further action taken, or to not assign a score. Applicants not
assigned a score after this review will be informed of this decision. There is no appeal mechanism.

What technological requirements will I need?

• To sit the SJT, applicants are required to have access to a modern web browser, with reliable
internet and a device that has a camera. Acceptable browsers include Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari,
or Opera, and the software needs to have been updated since 2018.
• If you experience technical difficulties during the test, please contact [email protected] (in
English or French) referencing your CaRMs ID (in the format XX-111-XX-111), and the technical
difficulties that you experienced.
• Important: You will receive a response to your email within 48 hours.

How do I prepare?
• No preparation is needed for this test apart from reading the instructions and reviewing the
example questions provided below and at the start of the test.
• This SJT does not assess clinical knowledge, and there is no need to study for the test. Completing
the example questions to familiarize yourself with the style of scenarios and items will be sufficient
preparation.
• This SJT has been contextualized for Family Medicine so accessing any generic SJTs available online,
as a means of preparing for this test, may be disadvantageous.

What are the question types?

There are 2 types of scenarios within the SJT:
• Rating - You will be asked to independently rate each of the 4-8 response options on a 5-point scale
(e.g., between ‘very appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’), in order of their appropriateness or
importance, in responding to the situation.
• Ranking - You will be asked to rank the 5 response options presented in order of their
appropriateness or importance in response to the situation.
Please note: Your answers are marked by comparing your responses to a standard set by a panel which
included Canadian Family Medicine Physicians and residents. A near-miss scoring convention is used,
meaning that marks are given based on how close you are to the correct answer. There is no negative
marking; you are therefore expected to attempt all questions.

Example of a Rating Scenario

“Lola is observing a patient consultation in a Family Medicine Clinic. The patient has attended as
he has a rash on his stomach that he has had for a long period of time and is concerned about. The
patient removes his shirt to have the rash examined and makes a joke about his own weight at

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 the same time. Lola laughs at the patient’s joke, however, the patient looks upset and offended by
this.”
Response Instructions: How desirable are each of the following responses by Lola in this situation?
(Extremely desirable; Slightly desirable; Neither desirable nor undesirable; Slightly undesirable; Extremely
undesirable)
NB-Please remember to consider the response for each possible action independently from the other
possible actions (i.e., it is possible to apply a response such as “Slightly desirable” to more than one option).

Extremely Slightly Neither Slightly Extremely

desirable desirable desirable nor undesirable undesirable
undesirable

Acknowledge to the patient that she

should not have laughed.
Make a joke about her own weight to
the patient
Continue to laugh at other things
during the consultation
Ask the patient if she has offended
him
Apologize to the patient for laughing
Ask the patient if there was a reason
that he made a joke about his weight
Ask the patient if he would be happy
for her to remain in the room for the
remainder of the consultation

Example of a Ranking Scenario

“Nullah has been working as a resident in a rural Family Medicine Clinic for three months and a
patient, Ms. Verne, has come in reporting that she has severe abdominal pain. This is the third
time Ms. Verne has come in with the same condition and Nullah has conducted all her previous
assessments. Nullah greets the patient in the waiting room but when Ms. Verne sees him, she says
“No, I do not want you as my doctor again. You cannot find out what is wrong with me. Please go
and get a more experienced doctor.”

Response Instructions: Rank in order of appropriateness the following actions that Nullah could take in
response to this situation (1= Most appropriate; 5= Least appropriate).

NB- Please remember to consider the response for each possible action in relation to the other possible
actions (i.e., so each rank 1-5 can only be applied once).

Rank
Assure the Ms. Verne that he will do his best to find out the cause of her pain.
Ask his supervising physician to assure Ms. Verne that he is capable of assessing her.
Offer to find a more senior colleague to assess her instead.

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 Remind Ms. Verne that he is qualified to assess her.
Suggest to Ms. Verne that she return another day when he is not working.

What happens to my FMProC score?

• Your score, matched only to your CaRMS ID number, will be shared with all 6 Programs
approximately 2-3 weeks after the test window closes. Scores will not be shared outside the 6
Programs and because the scores are referenced by CaRMS ID numbers, only the Program or
Programs you apply to will be able to match your score to your name/application.

How will Programs use my FMProC score?

• Each of the 6 programs will individually decide what weight to assign the FMProC score as part of
your overall selection score and ranking. Please note there is no pass/fail score. The scores are used
simply as additional ranking information i.e., compared to other applicants.

If I complete FMProC but don’t match to any of the 6 programs in the 1st round, will my score be
considered in the 2nd round of the CaRMS cycle if I apply to any of the participating programs?
• This will be up to the individual programs to decide if and how to use your FMProC score.

Do I receive my FMProC score?

• You will be informed of your score, along with an indication of the overall quartile in which your
score sits, within 3 weeks of the closure of the test window.

• When you receive this, even though this will be after the CaRMS Document upload deadline, please
remember to still upload this document into your CaRMS account to ensure your application
package remains complete.

How do I give feedback about FMProC when I have finished the test?
• Upon completion of FMProC, you will be asked to complete a short, anonymous post-test
evaluation that will only take 5 minutes of your time. This utilizes a separate survey platform to
gather this data from the one used for the test.
• Following 1st round match day, Canadian Medical Graduates are also asked to complete an annual,
anonymous survey about the fairness of the selection processes they have experienced in applying
to FM Programs. This includes questions about SJTs, like FMProC.
• Finally, although not directly related to providing feedback, by agreeing to the use of your de-
identified data in the demographics study, you will be helping to develop the evidence for the test’s
fairness, reliability, and validity in FM Residency selection.

If I have questions about FMProC, who do I contact?

• Please contact Ms. Nicole McAuley FMProC Coordinator ([email protected]) for any questions
regarding your registration ID or the FMProC SJT.

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 • If you experience technical difficulties during the test, please contact [email protected] (in
English or French) referencing your CaRMs ID (in the format; XX-111-XX-111) and the technical
difficulties that you experienced.
• Important: You will receive a response to your email within 48 hours.

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