In a public statement to members of the National Chiropractic Leadership Forum in Chicago on April 19, 2002, NBCE President Peter D. Ferguson, D.C., reminded attendees that "the National Board's Special Purposes Examination for Chiropractic (SPEC) is NOT designed to be used as a routine license renewal examination."

Dr. Ferguson continued that "the examination is also not intended to be used for initial licensing purposes and does not replace NBCE Parts I, II, and III, and IV, the examinations required for initial licensing."

SPEC addresses various components of clinical competency, including patient evaluation and case management. State licensing boards can utilize SPEC to assess licensed or previously licensed chiropractors, specifically for:

... state-to-state reciprocity/ endorsement

... disciplinary action, including the reassessment of clinical competency

... reinstatement following licensure lapse, disciplinary action, or license suspension or revocation

To be eligible for SPEC, candidates must:

... hold a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from an NBCE-eligible chiropractic college

... be (or have been) licensed for a minimum of two years

... provide authorization to take the exam from a licensing agency

SPEC candidates can access an information brochure and application on the web at www.nbce.org or can request the material by calling the National Board offices.

After a candidate's application and other required documents have been processed by the NBCE, he or she will receive a letter with instructions about scheduling a testing appointment. The computerized SPEC requires four hours of testing time.

Testing appointments are five hours in length, which includes additional time for a brief tutorial, a break following the first half of the testing session, and an opportunity to make comments following the exam.

Computerized SPEC will be offered four more times this calendar year: June 20, August 15, October 17, and December 19. Candidates must honor all published deadlines in order to be eligible for any given exam administration.