Register, Prepare and Take Your Subspecialty Certification Exam

Registration and Scheduling

If you are eligible to sit for the Certification Examination, you can schedule it through your Physician Portal during the open registration window. Test appointments are filled on a first-come, first-served basis by the test vendor, Pearson VUE.

How to register for and schedule your exam:

1. Sign in to your Physician Portal.
2. Click the Register button next to the exam you wish to take.
3. Complete the registration steps.
   • For Adolescent Medicine: Once you have completed the registration steps you will be contacted by ABIM with instructions on how to schedule your appointment with the vendor used by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP).
   • For Neurocritical Care: Once you have completed the registration steps you will receive a registration confirmation from ABIM. The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) will email instructions to you on how to schedule your appointment in August.
4. Once you have completed the registration steps, you will be routed to Pearson VUE’s site to schedule your appointment.

For Adult Congenital Heart Disease:

Physicians certified in Pediatric Cardiology by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) looking to take the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Certification Exam will need to contact ABIM to apply for an ABIM candidate number before registering and should plan accordingly to allow for adequate time to register by the deadline.

Change Appointment

To change your test center location:

1. Sign in to your Physician Portal.
2. Click the Change Appointment button.

Exceptions:

• For Adolescent Medicine, contact ABP.
• For Neurocritical Care, contact ABPN.

Cancel Appointment

To cancel your appointment:

1. Sign in to your Physician Portal.
2. Select the exam.

Click the Cancel Assessment button.

A blueprint is a table of specifications that defines the content of each assessment. The blueprint also includes the target percentage of questions from each primary medical content category on the assessment. This ensures appropriate and equal representation of the content categories between assessment administrations.

The ABIM Specialty Boards, Advisory Committees and Approval Committees for each discipline collaborate to ensure that exam blueprints are informed by broad stakeholder input from practicing physicians, societies and training program directors. This includes an analysis of current practice to ensure the blueprint reflects what is most relevant in that discipline.

Changes to the composition in the blueprint usually follow trends in current practice. View the blueprint for your specialty.

Multiple editions, or “forms,” of the exam are used, and they may differ in question order and content. Some questions require the interpretation of illustrative materials such as electrocardiograms, radiographs and photomicrographs (e.g., blood films, Gram stains, urine sediments).

The ABIM assessment development process involves multiple phases, including input from subject matter expert physicians who create and review questions based on an assessment blueprint that reflects current clinical practices. Questions undergo thorough review, pretesting and statistical analysis before being included in the assessment. This structured process ensures that each assessment remains up-to-date and relevant to clinical practice. Learn more about the assessment development process.

Assessments feature multiple-choice questions (MCQs) with a single best answer. Research has shown that scores obtained with MCQs are correlated with superior clinical performance; moreover, MCQs are particularly suitable for simulating clinical decision-making. The overwhelming majority of ABIM assessment questions use a clinical stem (patient-based case scenario) format that assesses the higher-order cognitive abilities required for clinical decision-making. A small number of questions address specific knowledge points without the use of a clinical stem. ABIM assessment questions include both Système International (SI) and imperial units for height (cm/in), weight (kg/lb) and temperature (C/F). View examples in Exam Tutorials.

Reference ranges for laboratory test reports are included in the text of ABIM assessment questions, as well as a high/low indicator if a patient's test result falls outside the reference range. As is true in practice, interpretation of a particular patient's test result in relation to the reference range depends on the clinical context. For example, reference ranges for tests assessing lipid or glucose metabolism may not be applicable in certain clinical settings. ABIM reference ranges should not be confused with patient-specific targets for such tests.

Laboratory test results in assessment questions are followed by their reference ranges, in brackets and italicized.

For example:

Serum albumin 4.0 [3.5–5.5 g/dL]

“H” or “L” will be shown if the patient's test result is higher or lower than the reference range.

For example:

Serum albumin 6.0 H [3.5–5.5 g/dL]

For laboratory tests in which the reference range varies according to patient characteristics such as gender or age, the range provided will be appropriate for the patient.

For example, for a 45-year-old man:

Hematocrit 39 L [42%–50%]

For a 45-year-old woman:

Hematocrit 39 [37%–47%]

Information on Specific Studies
The National Cancer Institute advises that there is no specific normal or abnormal level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. Therefore, ABIM is reporting “no specific normal or abnormal level” in place of the reference range for PSA.

The comprehensive metabolic panel contains the following assays: albumin, alanine and aspartate aminotransferases (ALT and AST), alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, blood urea nitrogen, calcium, creatinine, electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate), glucose and total protein.

Unless noted otherwise in assessment questions:

• Arterial blood gas studies are done at sea level with the patient breathing room air
• Reticulocyte counts are uncorrected
• Tuberculin skin tests are done with purified protein derivative (PPD) at intermediate strength (5 TU)
• Electrocardiograms are recorded at normal standard and speed
• Lung volumes are determined by body plethysmography

The examination pass-fail decision is based on your performance on the entire examination. Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect; therefore, you should answer every question. The minimum passing score reflects an absolute standard that is independent of the performance of any group of candidates. The standard for each assessment is set by the designated ABIM Specialty Board or Advisory Committee.

ABIM is aware that, on occasion, for a small number of questions, changes in medicine (such as the publication of new practice guidelines for hypertension) occur late in the examination publishing process and may alter what was previously the correct answer. Do your best to answer all questions according to your understanding of current clinical principles and practice. ABIM has a post-assessment quality control process to identify questions for which the correct answer has been changed by new information. Any questions that do not have a single best answer are not counted in the overall score.

After the exam is administered, it will be analyzed and evaluated to ensure the reliability of individual results.

Your final results will be released within three months of the last date of the exam in that area. When your results are released, you will receive an email notification with instructions on how to access your score report from your Physician Portal.

• For adolescent medicine and neurocritical care: A score report will be mailed to you within three months of the last date of the exam in that area. Copies of your score report will be maintained for two years from the date they were released. During that period, you may obtain a copy of your score report upon written request.

Questions regarding exam results should be submitted in writing within six months of the date results were released.

Those who pass the examination are designated as certified diplomates of ABIM. They will receive a certificate which will remain valid as long as they continue to participate in MOC in accordance with the MOC program requirements. The certificates are mailed from ABIM within three to four months after candidates are notified of their results. Note: your current board certification status, as well as whether you are participating in MOC, is reported in your Physician Portal.

ABIM's scoring process is meticulous and includes a rigorous set of quality control steps to verify the accuracy of results for every examinee. Learn more about scoring.

While it is highly unlikely that an error occurred in retrieving your answers or scoring your exam, you may request a rescore for a fee of $250.

To request a rescore for an ABIM administered examination, please submit a written request within six months of the results' release date. Your request should include your name, ABIM ID, the examination to be rescored and a check for $250.00 payable to the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Send to:
Rescore Request
American Board of Internal Medicine
510 Walnut Street, Suite 1700
Philadelphia, PA 19106-3699

Results of the rescore will be mailed to you within eight weeks of receiving your request.

View First-Time Taker Pass Rates for Initial Certification (pdf).