Required section · Section 5 of 6

Learner decision: navigate to the governing source

You are handed a third scenario at a different laboratory: a moderate-complexity site in a state with its own licensure law, evaluating a candidate for a testing-personnel role, where the site is also CAP-accredited. Before you can tell the hiring manager whether the candidate is qualified, you have to work through the same navigation sequence used for Riverside, in the right order, because skipping a step produces a wrong answer even when every individual fact you know is correct.

Before deciding whether the candidate may be appointed, identify what evidence in the candidate record and what currently governing sources would be needed. Do not assume that a degree title, prior job title, or one authority layer answers the whole appointment question.

Use the exercise to test how to navigate from the task and role to a defensible appointment decision. If a state-law overlay bars an otherwise matching pathway, do not appoint under it; use an allowed route or escalate.

Ordering exercise

Place these steps in the order that reliably identifies the correct, currently governing personnel requirement for a candidate and role.

1. Apply state and accreditor overlays

Confirm whether the deemed accreditor's checklist or state licensure law adds a stricter requirement on top of the federal floor.
2. Verify credentials, transcripts, and experience

Check the candidate's specific degree, license, and experience against the exact lettered/numbered pathway in that section, not a general impression of the credential.
3. Assess appointment date and continuous service under current text

Re-check the eCFR at the time of appointment, since Subpart M was substantially revised effective December 28, 2024 and can be amended again.
4. Confirm the test's complexity level

Determine whether the testing is waived, moderate, PPM, or high complexity from the laboratory's certificate and test menu.
5. Open the current primary pathway for the role

Use the current primary text for the identified complexity and role.

Knowledge checks

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Knowledge check 1

Before checking whether a state or accreditor imposes a stricter personnel requirement, which step must come first?

Choose one option.

Match the candidate's credential to the correct numbered pathway inside the right CFR section

Check the accreditor's checklist requirement first, since it is usually stricter

Ask what the candidate's job title was at their previous employer

The order does not matter as long as all steps are eventually checked

Section status

Finish this section

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The module finishes after every required section is marked done and every check in those sections is correct.