July 30, 2024

How ABIM Scores Assessments

ABIM considers the process of scoring an assessment critical as it has large consequences for examinees. Scoring is a thorough and rigorous process that involves several steps that must occur before the actual scoring even begins. This includes a careful development of assessment items (questions) by practicing physicians and an intense scrutiny of each item […]

ABIM Process

March 11, 2024

How Assessments are Approved for Physicians

ABIM’s Approval Committees, composed of practicing physicians in each discipline, play an important role in the process of building assessments: they review, revise, approve and finalize every question for every ABIM assessment. They are also responsible for maintaining the blueprints for the initial certification and traditional, 10-year Maintenance of Certification (MOC) exams and the Longitudinal […]

ABIM Process

February 1, 2024

How Does ABIM Create Assessment Questions?

ABIM launched the Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA®) in 2022 in response to feedback from the physician community asking for more flexible and convenient ways to maintain their certification.   As the LKA includes a greater number of questions than the traditional, 10-year MOC exam, ABIM established the Item-Writing Task Forces to meet the demand for […]

ABIM Process, MOC

October 11, 2023

Ensuring ABIM’s Exams Fairly Assess Physician Knowledge

Once a year, a group of the country’s leading experts on testing and measurement gather to discuss, debate and provide feedback on the scientific underpinnings of ABIM’s assessments. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) reviews the work of ABIM’s measurement staff and provides feedback on the technical psychometric procedures that ensure ABIM assessments are a fair and valid […]

ABIM Process

April 15, 2023

ABIM Blueprints: What are They and How are They Created?

Before ABIM creates any questions (also called items) for an assessment, several things happen behind the scenes. First, a review of potential topics for the exam is conducted. ABIM governance, physicians, relevant societies, and organizations may weigh in on what they believe is important for physicians to know in current practice in that specialty. The […]

ABIM Process

October 4, 2022

How ABIM Releases Exam Results

Each year, more than 30,000 internists and internal medicine subspecialists earn a new certificate from ABIM. As we enter the fall season, we understand many physicians are anxiously waiting to learn how they did on their exam, and in this post, we share some information about how the exam scoring process works. When does ABIM […]

ABIM Process, Uncategorized