Job Task Analysis
Credentialing bodies utilize Job Task Analyses (JTA) to determine the skills, attributes, and knowledge to be assessed on examinations. To ensure that ACVP Certifying Examinations remain valid assessment tools, a JTA is conducted every 10 years or as needed to address changes within the profession.
As a credentialing body, ACVP regularly conducts Job Task Analyses (JTA) to determine the skills, attributes, and knowledge to be assessed on its examinations. The data derived from a JTA produces “Examination Blueprints,” detailed plans that outline the structure and content of each test by specifying topic areas to be tested and the weighting of these areas. The Certification and Examination Council uses the blueprints as guides for developing the examinations to ensure each effectively measures planned testing objectives. In the case of the ACVP Certifying Examinations, the JTA-derived blueprints detail aspects such as species, organ systems, and pathologic processes.
A 2016 JTA produced the currently posted Anatomic Pathology Blueprint (covering the Phase I examination and the Anatomic Pathology Phase II examination) and Clinical Pathology Blueprint (covering the Phase I examination and the Clinical Pathology Phase II examination) which have been used to develop ACVP Phase I and Phase II examinations since their publication. Please note: The August 2025 Phase II examinations are based on the currently posted blueprints.
More recently, over that past year, ACVP completed another Job Task Analysis which produced three new blueprints to guide test development in 2026 and thereafter: a Phase I Examination Blueprint, an Anatomic Pathology Phase II Examination Blueprint, and a Clinical Pathology Phase II Examination Blueprint.
The new Anatomic Pathology Phase II Blueprint and Clinical Pathology Phase II Examination Blueprint will be posted after the 2025 Phase II examination administration.
For the 2026 (and thereafter) Phase I Examination see:
Questions?
Questions? Contact [email protected].