CBGC Genetic Counselling Certification (CCGC) study plan

Map the counselling-process domain into a six-stage flowchart (contracting, history, risk assessment, communication of risk, decision support, follow-up) and annotate each stage with the skills it demands.

Draft and rehearse aloud three counselling microskills scripts (agenda setting, empathic reflection, summarizing) and record yourself delivering each one.

Build a one-page pedigree-symbol reference and draw five three-generation pedigrees from written family descriptions, then verify each against the reference.

Compute recurrence risks for three simple inheritance patterns (autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant with reduced penetrance, X-linked recessive) without notes.

Compare three published risk-communication frameworks and write a 300-word synthesis of when each is appropriate.

Practise explaining a 25% recurrence risk to three simulated clients with different health-literacy levels, using natural frequencies for at least one.

Distinguish and apply Bayes theorem to two carrier-probability problems, showing every step of the arithmetic.

Identify five documented biases (anchoring, availability, framing, confirmation, hindsight) in written vignettes and state a counselling response to each.

Assemble a one-page-per-condition summary sheet for ten high-yield conditions covering inheritance, key features, testing strategy, and management referral.

Calculate and interpret risk figures for two complex scenarios involving consanguinity and one involving a de novo variant.

Outline the prenatal screening and diagnostic pathway from first-trimester combined screening through diagnostic testing, noting what each test can and cannot detect.

Explain the difference between screening and diagnostic testing and between sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value using a worked numeric example.

Work through five reproductive-genetics case vignettes end to end (indication, testing options, results interpretation, counselling points, referral).

Describe the indications, limitations, and counselling issues for carrier screening panels and for preimplantation genetic testing.

Draft a counselling script for a couple facing a variant of uncertain significance in a prenatal setting.

Review and correct every error in the running error log from weeks 1 through 3.

Build a cancer-genetics decision tree covering when to offer testing, which genes to test, and how to act on a positive, negative, and uncertain result.

Calculate empiric and gene-specific cancer risks for three family histories and translate each into a screening recommendation.

Sequence the steps of a next-generation sequencing test from specimen receipt to reported variant, naming the assay used at each step.

Classify five variants as pathogenic, likely pathogenic, uncertain, likely benign, or benign using stated evidence criteria, and justify each call in two sentences.

Match ten test methodologies (karyotype, FISH, microarray, panel, exome, genome, methylation, repeat expansion, RNA analysis, deletion/duplication) to the clinical questions each best answers.

Draft a referral checklist for three cancer syndromes specifying which specialists to involve and the timing of each referral.

Write a results-disclosure script for a pathogenic BRCA1 finding that covers implications for the patient and for at-risk relatives.

Explain cascade testing to a simulated client and document the barriers you would anticipate.

Apply four core ethical principles to three written dilemmas and articulate the reasoning behind each resolution.

Summarize the consent, privacy, and disclosure obligations relevant to genetic testing, including duties to at-risk relatives, in a 400-word briefing.

Critique two published genetic-counselling studies by design, sample, outcome measure, and threats to validity.

Distinguish levels of evidence and explain how each informs a screening or management recommendation.

Complete two full-length timed mock exams under test conditions and score them by domain.

Rank your five weakest subdomains from the mock results and re-teach each one in a written summary.

Rehearse three integrated cases that each span at least three domains, from intake through management recommendation.

Consolidate the error log into a single one-page pre-exam review sheet.