National Cancer Registrars Association
NCRA is a non-profit organization that represents over 7,000 cancer registry professionals and ODS certificants. The mission of NCRA is to empower and advance registry professionals through innovations in education, advocacy, credentialing, and strategic partnerships. NCRA provides ongoing training through various mediums including annual conferences, workshops, publications, and their continuing education credit program. The Oncology Data Specialist (ODS) credential demonstrates a requisite knowledge and professional competence needed within the cancer registry. Candidates receiving a passing score on the exam will be entitled to use “ODS” after their name and will receive a certificate from NCRA’s Council on Certification.
How To Register
Once eligibility requirements are met, candidates can apply for the ODS certification examination during one of the three, three-week long testing periods held annually. Applications must be submitted by the deadline noted for the desired exam date.
April 5-27,2024; application deadline: March 29
July 19-August 10,2024; application deadline: July 12
October 18-November 9, 2024; application deadline: October 11
Schedule A Test
Approved candidates will receive the notice to schedule (NTS) your examination via email approximately 45 days prior to the start of the examination window. When you receive the NTS an examination date, candidates will select a date for the examination and will have a choice of: in-person at a computer-based Meazure Learning Testing Center; or online remote testing in a secure browser using your own computer.
Prepare For Your Test
Once your Meazure exam account has been created, we invite you to take a Platform Tutorial exam to familiarize yourself with the exam features. You may login to your candidate portal here https://ncra.ysasecure.com/login to take the tutorial exam as many times as you like.
The ODS certification exam is composed of one-hundred eighty (180), multiple-choice test items, based on four domains of practice noted below. Test questions are prepared by Subject Matter Experts in the cancer registry profession from diverse backgrounds and job descriptions.
Legal and Ethical Aspects in the Cancer Registry Profession; 30 items [Closed book]
Cancer Registry Operations; 45 items [Closed book]
Cancer Registry Data Identification; 45 [Closed book]
Cancer Registry Coding and Abstraction; 60 items [Open-book]
View the Detailed Content Outline (updated 12/2/2022) at https://www.ncra-usa.org/blueprint.
The list of references for the ODS certification exam (updated 01/30/2024) includes testable resources including specific references for the open‐book section of the exam.