ABIM Exam

Physicians who are certified by the ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine) have demonstrated that they have gone through intensive study, self-assessment, and evaluation to meet rigorous standards related to their field of specialization. To become certified, an individual must complete the requisite predoctoral medical education, meet the training requirements, meet the licensure and procedural requirements, and pass a certification examination.

While some people may be able to take the ABIM test and succeed with minimal preparation, most test takers will benefit from allocating time to study beforehand and reading through a ABIM Test Study Guide or practicing with a set of ABIM Exam Flashcards. Regardless of your studying techniques, be sure that you plan ahead and leave yourself enough time in advance of the test day to become adequately prepared. Last minute studying is likely to be rushed and does not maximize your chances of being successful.

Initial certification tests are given by the ABIM in 21 specialties, as follows: internal medicine; adolescent medicine; advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology; allergy and immunology; cardiovascular disease; clinical cardiac electrophysiology; critical care medicine; endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism; gastroenterology; geriatric medicine; hematology; hospice and palliative medicine; infectious disease; interventional cardiology; medical oncology; nephrology; pulmonary disease; rheumatology; sleep medicine; sports medicine; and transplant hepatology. Certification is good for ten years, after which time the physician must take another test to maintain certification.

ABIM Exam Study Guide | ABIM Test Flashcards

Most of the ABIM initial certification tests last one day (approximately ten hours), with the exceptions of the test for adolescent medicine, which lasts four hours, and the test for cardiovascular disease, which lasts 1.5 days (approximately 14 hours). The test questions are comprised of a brief statement, case history, graph, or picture followed by a question and a list of possible answers. All options may be partially correct; the test-taker must choose the one answer that is better than the others. Some tests (the cardiovascular test, for example) require interpretation of imaging studies. The maintenance-of-certification tests take approximately eight hours.

The testing day is divided into several sessions, each of which contains up to 60 multiple-choice questions. Included in the schedule are registration, an optional tutorial, instructions, the test itself, optional breaks, and an optional survey. The ABIM tests are criterion-referenced, which means that they measure a candidate's ability in relation to an absolute standard rather than in relation to the performance of others.