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
• Satisfactorily complete a one-year internship or transitional year in an AOA-approved training program.
• Satisfactorily complete one year of AOA-approved training in Aerospace Medicine.
  • If you earned your degree prior to 1990 but did not complete Aerospace Medicine training, you may be eligible for certification via the clinical practice pathway if you have a minimum of four years full-time practice experience (immediately preceding application) and have accumulated 200 hours CME in Aerospace Medicine.
• Must have obtained a Master of Public Health, or its equivalent, post graduate degree with course content covering biostatistics, epidemiology, health services management and environmental health.
• Successfully sit for and pass all sections of the certification examination.
• Hold an unrestricted license to practice in a state or territory.
• Adhere to the AOA Code of Ethics.

Requirements

Along with your completed application, you must submit the following to the AOBPM:

• A copy of the institutional certificate indicating satisfactory completion of an AOA-approved internship
• A copy of the institutional certificate indicating the satisfactory completion of your residency (along with the AOA OPT approval letter for those in non-AOA approved residency programs).
• A letter of recommendation from your residency program director or, if entering via the clinical practice pathway, documentation of having met the practice requirements.
• Copy of your current state medical license.

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

For the written portion, the 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). Then the candidate will have two hours to answer three essay questions.

The exam will cover the following topics:

For the oral portion, the exam will cover administration, environment and clinical topics (33% each). The oral exam lasts approximately 45 minutes.

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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