National Midwifery Examination

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National Midwifery Examination

The Midwifery Council National Examination comprises 180 multiple choice questions. The questions are scenario based and cover the Midwifery Scope of Practice. The examinations are 3 hours long with an additional 15 minutes allowed for reading the instructions and scanning the paper.

The examination is set at the level of competence for entry to the Register and seeks to assess graduates' assessment skills and professional judgment in relation to midwifery practice across the scope. In particular it seeks to assess the ability of graduates to identify when pregnancy and childbirth are no longer within normal limits and to carry out appropriate midwifery actions. This includes knowledge and midwifery actions in relation to collaborative care with other health professionals.

In order to pass the examination an overall mark of 70% and a mark of 70% in the safety related questions must be obtained. The safety questions are not specifically identifiied in the examination papers.

The Council's policy in relation to requirements of Heads of Schools and students and of exam administration can be downloaded below. Some of the requirements that students need to be aware of are:

generally you must fully complete the pre-registration programme to the satisfaction of your Head of School and within the specified time frame before being allowed to sit the exam;
candidates who do not sit the exam on completion of their programme are expected to sit at the next available opportunity;
if you are sick on the day you can withdraw on the day, but you need to let your School and the Council know;
if you commence the exam the Council will not take impaired performance into account in the marking;
results are pass or fail and specific marks and papers are not returned to you;
you cannot sit the exam more than twice. Students who fail it twice can apply for re-entry to the pre-registration programme.

These are only some of the matters covered. Please familiarise yourself with the full policy.

Examination Policy May 2008
Adobe Acrobat Document: 242 KB, 35 seconds @ 56kbps

November 2010 Examination

The application pack to sit the National Midwifery Exam and for Registration will be available shortly. The exam will be held on Monday 15th November 2010. The closing date for receipt of applications is Friday 3rd September.