WASHINGTON—The National Council for Interior Design Qualification Inc. (NCIDQ) recently announced that the NCIDQ Examination will be modified in 2010. These modifications are necessary to ensure that the examination continues to test the knowledge and skills interior designers use in the course of their daily practice.
“We conduct a comprehensive survey of the profession every five years,” explains Jeffrey Kenney, executive director. “A task force of practicing interior designers evaluates the results and makes recommendations regarding the content of the exam, when necessary. This ensures that the NCIDQ Examination remains a reliable measure of the health, safety and welfare aspects of interior design professionals. Five years ago, we made very minor changes to the exam, but the 2008 survey showed us that the practice had changed enough to warrant more extensive modifications.”
The structure of the NCIDQ Examination will not change. The exam will continue to include two half-day multiple-choice sections and a full-day drawing practicum. The multiple-choice sections are Section 1, which tests codes, building systems, construction standards and contract administration; and Section 2, which tests design application, project coordination and professional practice. “We took our existing questions and re-categorized and reorganized them,” says Kenney. “We’re still testing the same health, safety and welfare concepts.” Section 1 and 2 will each be three-and-a-half hours long and contain 150 questions.
Section 3, the Interior Design Practicum, will now be an eight-hour exam consisting of seven independent exercises. Beginning in 2010, the practicum exam will be a series of unique exercises rather than a scenario that threads through the entire section. For example, the space planning exercise will not be based on the same scenario as the millwork exercise. Each exercise will be independent of the others.
NCIDQ is preparing new preparatory materials for the 2010 exam, which will be available this fall. The NCIDQ Examination is given twice a year in more than 60 locations in the United States and Canada.
The examination dates for 2010 are April 9-10 and October 1-2. Complete applications and supporting materials are due to NCIDQ by December 1, 2009 for the April administration and by June 1, 2010 for the October 2010 administration.
Complete information regarding eligibility and application information may be found at www.ncidg.org.
NCIDQ® is an organization of regulatory boards and provincial associations in the United States and Canada whose core purpose is to protect the health, life safety and welfare of the public by establishing standards of competence in the practice of interior design. More information about the organization may be found at www.ncidq.org.
