Certification Exam

Eligibility

To be eligible for certification in Aerospace Medicine, candidates must meet the criteria below:

• 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.
• Satisfactorily completed a two-year ACGME residency program (one year of Aerospace Medicine and one transitional year of an AGCME residency).
• Master of Public Health, or its equivalent, post-graduate degree with course content covering biostatistics, epidemiology, health services management and environmental health.
• Unrestricted license to practice in a U.S. state or territory.
• Adhere to the AOA Code of Ethics.

Exam Fees

A fee of $1,600 is required for the Initial Written and the Oral Components of the examination.

• Written examination fee: $800
• Oral examination fee: $800

Exam Dates and Deadlines

The Aerospace Medicine Exam is offered every fall. Registration for the written and oral exams opens approximately six months prior to the exam administration.

Exam Content Outline

The remotely proctored certification exam consists of two parts: a written examination and an oral examination.

Written Examination (Remotely Proctored)

For the written portion of the examination, candidates will have four hours to answer 200 multiple-choice questions. Of these, 100 will cover core topics (two hours) and 100 will be in the specialty area (two hours).

Oral Examination (Remotely Proctored)

Candidates will be required to answer and explain areas covering Aerospace Medicine, environmental topics and clinical topics (33% each). The oral exam lasts approximately 45 minutes.

The exam will cover the following topics:

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.