Why is the NCCAOM eliminating the Apprenticeship Route (#3) for eligibility in 2021?

Historically, there are very low volumes of applicants enrolling in the Apprenticeship Route. From 2012 to 2016, fewer than 1% (0.4%; n=26) of applicants applied under the Apprenticeship Route. Also, from 2012 to 2016, Apprenticeship applicants performed poorly on the NCCAOM exams, especially Biomedicine (28% pass rate; n=29) and Chinese Herbology (a zero percent pass rate; n=11). Overall, there was only a 53% pass rate for all exams taken via the Apprenticeship Route during the 2012 through 2016 period. Since NCCAOM needs to have all its NCCA accredited certification programs comply with the 2016 NCCA revised accreditation standards, the documented evidence of the low volume of applicants, and low passing rates ultimately led to the decision to eliminate of the Apprenticeship route. Current exam statistics for the other routes can be found on the School Officials Page of the NCCAOM website. See the NCCAOM Exam Statistics Reports.