Written Exam
Eligibility
The following training requirements must be met before a candidate may sit for the Written Exam for primary certification in Pediatrics:
- Be a graduate of a COCA-accredited college of osteopathic medicine or an LCME-accredited medical school in the U.S. or Canada.
- Physicians who graduated from a medical school outside of the U.S. or Canada are also eligible if they hold a valid certificate, without expired examination dates, from the ECFMG.
- Complete a three-year osteopathic or allopathic ACGME-accredited pediatric residency training program. If your internship year was a pediatric specialty track, two years of AOA-approved or ACGME-accredited residency training are required.
- Third-year residents may apply to take the exam prior to completing residency, but you must have completed at least 30 months of residency or 80% of the total program rotations by the exam date. Candidates currently in training, upon passing, will not be submitted for certification until their training status is complete and verified by AOA Postdoctoral Education.
- Adhere to the AOA Code of Ethics.
Requirements
Once eligibility criteria are met, candidates must submit the following:
- A completed application.
- Pay required fees.
- Training status verified by AOA Post Doctoral Education.
Exam Fees
An exam fee of $1,700 must be submitted with your completed application. No application will be considered complete until all fees have been paid.
Applications for spring exams must be submitted by March 8 to avoid incurring a late fee. If you submit your application less than 30 days before the exam date, the late fee increases to $800. No applications will be accepted two weeks before the exam date.
All cancellations must be made in writing at least 15 full days before the examination date. Diplomates who cancel an exam will have the examination fee refunded, less a $300 processing fee.
Refund Policy for Written Exams
- Rejected/incomplete application: 75% refund (prior to submitting your application, please be certain that you meet the application criteria)
- Cancellations 31 or more days before the exam window: 50% refund
- Cancellations 0-30 days before the exam (including no shows): No refund
- There will be no refund of late fees
Exam Dates and Deadlines
The Pediatrics Written Exam is offered each spring, and is a remotely-proctored examination. The exam application period opens in the fall.
Exam Content Outline
The Pediatrics Written Exam tests the knowledge and understanding of basic science and clinical knowledge, skills and principles critical to the practice of Pediatrics. The exam is a written, multiple choice type exam and many items utilize visual images. The exam consists of eight sessions of 50 questions (approximately 400 items). Each section is timed for 60 minutes each for a total of 480 minutes (8 hours). It is required that candidates spend no more than one hour on each session to complete each individual session. After the second, fourth, and sixth sections there will be an optional 10 minute break.
8 sections
- Confirmation/Intro/Instruction
- Section 1 – 60 minutes
- Section 2 – 60 minutes
- Break – 10 minutes (optional)
- Section 3 – 60 minutes
- Section 4 – 60 minutes
- Break – 40 minutes (optional)
- Section 5 – 60 minutes
- Section 6 – 60 minutes
- Break – 10 minutes (optional)
- Section 7 – 60 minutes
- Section 8 – 60 minutes
Survey/Finish
Exam topics are listed below. The following percentages are to be used as a guideline only. Many items may reflect content from multiple categories.
| Primary Certification | |
|---|---|
| CATEGORY | PERCENT |
| Pediatric Health Maintenance and Preventative Care | 11% |
| Infectious Diseases | 8% |
| Laboratory, Procedural, and Diagnostic Performance and Interpretation | 7% |
| Neonatal Medicine and Newborn Care | 6% |
| Emergency Medicine and Critical Care | 4% |
| Gastroenterology and Nutrition | 4% |
| Mental Health | 4% |
| Nephrology/Urology | 4% |
| Neurology | 4% |
| Otolaryngology | 4% |
| Sports Medicine and Orthopedics | 4% |
| Adolescent Medicine | 3% |
| Allergy and Immunology | 3% |
| Developmental and Behavioral Health | 3% |
| Hematology and Oncology | 3% |
| Osteopathic Principles and Practice | 3% |
| Pulmonology | 3% |
| Social Determinants of Health | 2% |
| Cardiology | 2% |
| Child Abuse and Neglect | 2% |
| Dermatology | 2% |
| Endocrinology | 2% |
| Epidemiology and Public Health | 2% |
| Genetics and Metabolic Disorders | 2% |
| Ophthalmology | 2% |
| Rheumatology | 2% |
| Research Methodology and Quality Improvement | 2% |
| Ethics and Medical Jurisprudence | 1% |
| Pain and Fluid Management and Other Pharmacology | 1% |
Educational Resources
The following list of optional courses are provided as an optional study aid to candidates, the AOBP assumes no responsibility or liability for any of the listed resources. Additionally, the usage of any resources does not guarantee the outcome of a candidate’s scoring results. Participants are responsible for any costs associated with participation in these programs.
- Rationale provided for each incorrectly answered question (delivered via CATALYST)
- Med Study Program
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- American College of Pediatrics
- Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics (most recent Edition)
Exam Scoring
Scoring Criteria
AOA reports candidates’ certification results using standardized scaled scores. Scaled scores are more valid and reliable compared to raw scores and make scores comparable across different forms of the exam. The AOA reports scores on a 200 to 800-point scale with a scaled score of 500 or higher required to pass.
- A scaled score of 500 represents the minimum level of knowledge and skill necessary to pass the exam as established by AOA Certifying Boards.
- The highest possible scaled score is 800.
- The lowest possible scaled score is 200.
- Overall scores are based on the total number of items answered correctly, regardless of content area.
Results by Content Area
- When possible, a breakdown of exam scores by content area is provided to help you identify your areas of strength and areas that may need more development.
- The number of items for each content area indicates the relative amount of test questions on the exam for that content area.
- Content area scores are not weighted to calculate your overall score; each content area is scored separately after the overall analysis is complete.
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Rescoring of Examinations
Candidates may request that the AOBP psychometrician manually review the computer scoring of the exam. Requests for review of the written exam must be submitted in writing to AOBP at [email protected] within 30 days of receiving exam results. If the request is for an oral exam, the appeals must be submitted within two hours from the completion of the oral exam process.
Exam Failure
Candidates who do not pass any certifying examination may apply for reexamination and must take the exam on the next available date. The reexamination fee is identical to the examination fee. The certification exam can be taken yearly until board eligibility expires. Candidates who do not succeed in becoming certified by the end of the first re-entry into the certification process must petition the AOBP in order to enter the final certification pathway.
Pass Rate
The 5-year aggregate pass rate for the Pediatrics Written exam is 98.83%.
This pass rate includes board-eligible examinees who are first-time test takers in the past five years, excluding candidates retaking the exam.