Sleep Medicine Examination – Requirements and Application for Technologists
The European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) Board is pleased to announce the 12th Sleep Medicine Examination for Somnologist-Technologist Certification.
Please find the requirements and basic credentials as well as information about the application process below.
Format & Date
The 2025 Sleep Medicine Examination will take place online only in September 2025.
Composition
The examination will consist of two parts, both of which must be successfully passed in order to qualify for certification.
1. Theoretical Part
The first part is a written test, consisting of 70 multiple-choice questions.
28 questions will be related to Chapter 2 (Assessment of sleep disorders and diagnostic procedures) and the other 42 questions will be related to topics from chapters 1, 3 – 15 of the ESRS Sleep Medicine Textbook.
Duration: 105 minutes
Passmark: 60%
2. Practical Part
The second part is focused on practical skills.
Includes sleep staging, event scoring and interpreting two excerpts from PSG recordings and also a full MSLT recording (all recordings will be displayed as screenshots/pictures). All consecutive 30-second epochs will be displayed on your monitor. Regarding all scoring tasks successful candidates must achieve an 85% concordance with the panel of experts.
Duration: 120 minutes
Passmark: 60%
Further details can be found in: Penzel et al. (2021). Sleep medicine catalogue of knowledge and skills – Revision. J. Sleep Research (https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13394). Please see Table 2 in this article, it outlines the rough distribution of credits re. questions regarding the sections of the examination.
Main Readings
The ESRS Sleep Medicine Textbook 2nd Edition (2021) is the main recommended reading for this examination. All interpretations in the practical part and some questions in the theoretical part will be based on the 2023 AASM Scoring Manual Version Version 3.
Requirements
Technologists, nurses, and other sleep professionals who wish to take the examination should meet the following requirements (please prepare the mentioned documents before starting the application).
- Possess one of the following: a degree in science, psychology, nursing or similar; RPSGT qualification or equivalent national qualification/registration. Applicants who do not match these criteria must provide formal evidence of training, qualifications and professional development activities equivalent to degree/RPSGT level (e.g. diploma, professional certification, course certificates.
- Have at least 5 years post graduate experience in performing, scoring and analysing polysomnography and Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) and Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) procedures, polygraphy and actigraphy studies.
- Have experience in the diagnostic procedures and management of a full range of sleep disorders.
- Have very good knowledge of sleep physiology and pathophysiology obtained through recognised and accredited sleep education courses and meetings, particularly those recognised and accredited by national and international sleep societies.
- Have very good command of the English language as this is the language of the examination and instructions. A printed general dictionary “English – Your language” is allowed.
Additionally, applicants must also:
- *Be proposed for eligibility for the exam by the clinical director of their sleep center or an ESRS member in good standing who can vouch for their experience.
- *Submit a detailed CV with relevant education and employment history.
- *Submit scanned copies of relevant qualifications, and meeting attendance certificates as above.
- Be a current ESRS member at the time of application and examination. (If you are not an ESRS member please visit https://esrs.eu/register/).
- Pay the examination fee (payable by credit card, PayPal or bank transfer). The online examination fee is 600.- EUR (included is a non-refundable 90.- EUR administration fee, payable on submission of the application). Once you are notified that your application has been accepted, you will be registered bindingly by paying the remaining examination fee of 510.- EUR.
- Read and accept the examination rules and settings.
Please prepare the aforementioned required documents (marked with *) before starting the application. The documents can be uploaded as PDF-files or JPEG-files within the online application form. Any other file formats, f.ex. MS WORD-files will be automatically rejected by the online application system. The name of the PDF-file must include the name of the applicant and the content of the document. We recommend putting all documents in one pdf-file. The size of the PDF-file should not exceed 5 MB). Other candidates that feel they may fulfil the eligibility criteria, please email the ESRS Examination Office at exam@esrs.eu.
Application Guidelines
Submission:
Applications will only be accepted from the online application form.
Application Period:
Applications will be accepted from 1 December 2024 until 31 January 2025.
Evaluation:
Applications will be evaluated by the Examination Subcommittee.
Notification:
Applicants will be notified of their application status by the end of March 2025.
Special Cases
Repeaters:
All those, who missed the examination passmark in one or both parts of the examination, are allowed to repeat the failed part(s) of the examination once, at the next examination date free of charge and without a renewed application.
- Repeaters must still be a full or reduced ESRS Individual member at the time of the examination.
- An update from onsite to online examination fee might be charged.
- Repeaters are required to confirm their participation by email.
Shifters:
Any accepted applicant, who did not sit the examination for personal reasons, is allowed to postpone their participation once to the next available examination, free of charge and without a renewed application.
- Shifters must still be a full or reduced ESRS Individual member at the time of the examination.
- An update from onsite to online examination fee might be charged.
- Shifters are required to confirm their participation by email.
Qualification
Successful candidates will be awarded the ESRS qualification title of “Somnologist” with the following specification:
- Somnologist – Technologist
Examination Grant
Six travel grants will be awarded to support accepted examinees. Interest in this should be indicated on the same online application form for the examination during the application period. More details on the grant conditions and requirements can be found here.
Contact
Email the ESRS Examination Office at exam@esrs.eu for any further questions.