Issue Nine - April 19, 2002
Special Announcement for Applicants Planning to Take the ECFMG Clinical Skills Assessment
Currently, ECFMG administers the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA®) in its Clinical Skills Assessment Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ECFMG will open an additional CSA center in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. The Atlanta center will open for testing in the Fall of 2002.
To integrate the Atlanta CSA center into ECFMG's CSA operations, it is necessary to temporarily suspend scheduling for CSA sessions taking place from September 23, 2002 through January 31, 2003. CSA scheduling for this period will be suspended from April 18, 2002 until June 1, 2002. Effective June 1, 2002, applicants who schedule a CSA session (for any date) will be randomly assigned to either the Philadelphia or Atlanta test center and must take the CSA at the center to which they are assigned.
CSA test dates in Philadelphia before September 23, 2002 are currently available and are not affected by the random assignment. If you wish to select a CSA date in Philadelphia that is before September 23, 2002, you must complete the scheduling process for that date before June 1, 2002.
The opening of the CSA center in Atlanta will increase significantly the number of testing spaces available to applicants registered for CSA. In recent years, demand for CSA testing spaces in the months preceding the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), also known as "the Match," has exceeded the number of testing spaces available. For the 2003 Match, the opening of the Atlanta CSA center is expected to increase the number of available testing spaces during this period by 50%.
If you wish to participate in the 2003 National Resident Matching Program, you must have passed all exams required for ECFMG certification. To ensure that your CSA results will be reported to the NRMP in time to participate in the Match, you must take CSA no later than January 31, 2003. If you take CSA in Philadelphia or Atlanta on or before January 31, 2003, your CSA results will be reported to the NRMP in time to participate in the Match.
ECFMG will publish updated information on CSA scheduling and the Atlanta CSA center as it becomes available on the ECFMG website and in The ECFMG Reporter, ECFMG's free e-mail newsletter for applicants. You can subscribe to The ECFMG Reporter on the ECFMG website at www.ecfmg.org/reporter/subscribe.html.