CBA

How does the self-assessment rating impact the final evaluation?

Published August 5, 2025 · Updated September 27, 2026

Short answer: your self-assessment ratings do not decide the outcome of your CBA. The assessors appointed by your regulator rate every competency themselves, and their ratings are the ones that count. Your own ratings, like your validators’ ratings, are supporting input.

They still matter in practical ways. In a competency-based assessment (CBA) you write one Situation–Action–Outcome example for each competency and give each one a rating from 0 to 5. Those ratings guide which examples you choose, APEGA will not let you submit if one falls below a minimum, and an inflated rating can work against you. This guide explains how self-ratings are used at PEO, APEGA, EGBC and the other regulators as of September 2026, what happens when your rating, your validator’s and the assessor’s differ, and how to rate yourself honestly.

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How your self-rating is used in the final evaluation

PEO states the rule most clearly. Its CBA Applicant Guide (August 2026) asks for a self-rating on each competency “to give assessors insight into your perspective on your skills”, but treats your ratings and your validators’ as “supplementary”. PEO assessors “determine whether you have the skills to meet the experience requirement”, and “their ratings alone determine readiness for licensure”. You and your validators must also rate “independently of each other”.

The other regulators work the same way. At APEGS the assessor’s ratings decide the result and validators’ ratings are input only. At APEGA the Board of Examiners makes the decision, with validators’ scores as one input. At EGBC, two assessors in your discipline review your file before the Credentials Committee decides. Who Is a P.Eng Assessor for CBA? sets out each regulator’s process.

No regulator approves a licence on the strength of a self-assessment. Assessors rate every competency themselves, and licensure also depends on your academics, the NPPE and good character. Engineers Canada does not assess CBAs or license engineers; the 12 provincial and territorial regulators do. A clear, accurate submission can, however, avoid requests for more information.

Where you enter a self-rating at each regulator

The rating sits next to each example, but the details differ by regulator (as of September 2026):

Regulator	Where you self-rate	What your self-rating does
PEO (Ontario)	In PEO’s online portal, one rating for each of your 34 examples	Gives assessors your view of your level; supplementary to the assessors’ own ratings
APEGA (Alberta), also used by NAPEG and Engineers Yukon applicants	A 0–5 self-score for each of the 22 competencies in the Competency-Based Assessment Tool (CBAT) in myAPEGA	The CBAT cannot be submitted if any self-score is below that competency’s minimum. The optional Competency Self-Assessment Worksheet (CSAW) is for your own planning and is not seen by APEGA
EGBC, APEGS, EGM, APEGNB, Engineers PEI, PEGNL and Engineers Nova Scotia	A self-rating with each example on the shared competencyassessment.ca system	Supporting input; the assessors’ ratings decide. EGBC tells applicants not to rate themselves below a minimum but to gain more experience instead
OIQ (Quebec)	A self-rating of each element in your report for each supervised practice period (6 competencies, 28 elements)	Your supervising engineer rates each element from 0 to 5, must justify in writing any rating lower than yours, and discusses differences with you before submitting

Some regulators, such as APEGNB and PEGNL, also use “self-assessment” for the whole CBA submission, so the term can mean either your individual ratings or your full set of examples. This article is about the ratings. For the wider exercise of reviewing your experience against the competencies, see What Is Self Assessment in PEng CBA?

The scale you are rating against

Every CBA regulator uses a 0–5 scale. In PEO’s wording, level 3 means moderate experience while working under supervision: you can work mostly independently but may need support on moderately complex tasks involving considerable risk, and you are “often considered ready to assume professional engineering responsibilities”. Level 4 means advanced knowledge and complex work with minimal supervision. Level 5 means working without supervision, carrying total responsibility and risk, and supervising or mentoring others.

Level 3 is the realistic target. The EGBC and EGM guides say applicants are “not expected to be working at an advanced or professional level (rating 4/5)”, and PEGNL’s quick reference sheet notes that the required level is “typically 3” and that “5s should be very rare”.

The minimums apply to the assessor’s ratings, not yours. Each category needs an average of 3, except Project and Financial Management and Social, Economic, Environmental and Sustainability, which need 2; APEGA uses the same averages for its six categories. Some competencies must also reach their own minimum: PEO’s six professional standards competencies (1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 2.3 and 5.1 at 3; 6.2 at 2), or the eight Canadian-environment competencies used on the shared competencyassessment.ca platform and at APEGA (1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 5.1 at 3; 6.2 at 2). The full tables are in How Does the CBA Scoring Scale Work?

When your rating, your validator’s and the assessor’s differ

Differences are normal, and you will usually not know about them. Validator ratings and comments are confidential and not visible to you. At APEGA, validator forms are released only if your application is refused and you request a Section 32 appeal.

The assessor rates the evidence in your example, whatever number sits beside it. Suppose you rate yourself 4 on risk management for technical work (1.3), your validator gives 3, and the assessor reads an example that shows level-3 work. The 3 stands, and it counts toward your Technical Competence average like any other rating. A higher self-rating does not pull the score up.

If the assessor’s rating falls below a minimum, what happens next depends on the regulator:

PEO: the Registrar can issue a Notice of Proposal to refuse your application, and you can request a hearing by the Registration Committee (see PEO Refused Your Licence?).
EGBC, EGM and the Atlantic regulators: the competency is typically reassigned for revision or more information. If a Canadian-environment competency is rated 1 or 2 and you are otherwise ready, assessors can assign units of the online Working in Canada Seminar.
APEGS: failed competencies reopen and must be revalidated, and you can ask once, ever, for a reassessment by a different assessor.
APEGA: the Board of Examiners can approve, defer or refuse, and you can request a reassessment or a reconsideration within 90 days of the decision.

Our guide to what happens after you submit your CBA covers timelines and appeals in more detail.

Two things to avoid. Do not ask a validator to match your rating: validators must rate independently, and their job is to confirm what they know of your work. Brief them on the project and your role instead. And never complete, type or translate a validator’s response yourself; APEGS warns that this can trigger a fraud review and a character evaluation.

Settle questions about your role before you submit. At PEO you cannot change your experience information once your validators are notified, and at APEGS the content of your examples is locked once it goes to validation. On the shared competencyassessment.ca platform, a validator can ask you to revise an example before rating it.

Why the self-assessment still matters

If the assessors decide, why rate yourself carefully at all? Because an honest self-assessment does real work before you submit:

It picks your examples. You get one example per competency, and rating your candidate examples shows which one is strongest.
It finds gaps early. An honest 2 on a competency that needs 3 tells you to find a better example or gain more experience before you apply, not after a refusal.
It is a gate at APEGA. APEGA’s CBAT will not submit while any self-score is below its minimum.
It feeds your development plan. In the 34-competency framework, Category 7 asks you to show a gap analysis and a CPD plan, and your self-ratings are the raw material for both (see the CPD competencies).

Why over-rating backfires

It is tempting to rate generously on the theory that a high number sets the tone. It does not work that way.

It does not raise your score. Assessors rate the example, not your self-rating.
It can cost you credibility. A 5 beside an example that shows level-2 work tells the assessor more about your judgment than about your competence.
It hides real gaps. If you rate a weak example 3 to clear a minimum, you lose the chance to replace it with a stronger one before you submit.
You are accountable for it. APEGS requires a signed CBA Declaration in which you take full responsibility for your submission, whether or not you used AI tools, editors or others, and PEO requires applicants who use AI tools to accept full responsibility for the accuracy and authenticity of their examples.

Under-rating has its own cost. At APEGA a self-score below a competency’s minimum blocks submission, and EGBC advises gaining more experience rather than rating yourself below a minimum. If your honest rating is below a minimum, the fix is a stronger example or more experience, not a higher number.

How to self-rate honestly

Read the level descriptions for the right category. PEO’s rating guide has three columns: Category 1, Categories 2–6 and Category 7. Read your regulator’s indicators for the competency as well.
Rate the example, not your career. The number should match what this example shows, not your job title or years of experience.
Apply the supervision test. PEO ties each level to the supervision you needed: significant (0 and 1), considerable (2), some (3), minimal (4) and none (5).
Check responsibility, risk and complexity. Ask who made the key decisions, what was at stake and how complex the problem was.
Compare with the minimums. If the honest number is below a minimum, choose another example or wait until you have the experience.
Put the evidence in the Action section. Write in the first person, describe your own decisions, and name the codes or standards you applied and the risks you managed. PEO does not accept hypothetical situations or work done by colleagues or your team.
Get a second reading. Ask a mentor or colleague which level the example shows. Their view is a check on your judgment, not a number to copy.

AI can help you organize your notes and check your own draft for gaps, but your examples must be your own work and you remain responsible for them. EGBC, EGM, Engineers Nova Scotia and Engineers PEI prohibit using AI (or third parties) to create or embellish examples; APEGS and PEO hold you fully responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of anything AI helped with. Our summary of what each regulator allows has the details.

If you want a structured way to do this, CBA Pro interviews you about your own work, competency by competency, and turns your answers into a formatted draft for you to review and improve. It shows you where information is still missing, and every fact comes from you.

Common self-assessment mistakes

Rating every competency 4 or 5.
Rating the job title or the years of experience rather than the example.
Writing “we” instead of “I”, which hides your own role.
Copying the indicator wording instead of describing what you did. APEGA specifically tells applicants not to copy the indicators.
Leaving an example thin because a validator “knows” your work. Validators confirm what you describe; they do not fill the gaps in it.
Relying on old or unofficial guides. Several regulators changed their rules in 2026, so use your regulator’s current guide.

Official guides to check

The bottom line

Self-assessment ratings do not decide your result; the assessors’ ratings do. An honest, well-calibrated self-assessment still helps you choose strong examples and spot gaps before you submit, and at APEGA every self-rating must meet the competency’s minimum before the CBAT can be submitted. Rate what each example actually shows, aim for a well-supported 3, and let the evidence in your Action section do the work.

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