Certification Exam
Eligibility
To be eligible for certification in Occupational/Environmental 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 complete a one-year internship in an ACGME- or AOA-approved training program.
- Satisfactorily complete one year of ACGME/AOA approved residency training in Occupational/Environmental Medicine.
- Must have obtained a Master of Public Health (or equivalent) post-graduate degree with course content covering biostatistics, epidemiology, health services management and environmental health.
- Hold an unrestricted medical license to practice in a U.S. state or territory.
- Adhere to the AOA Code of Ethics.
Requirements
Along with your completed application, candidates must complete the following requirements:
- Residency training must be updated with AOA post-doctoral education.
- Satisfactorily complete a one-year internship in an ACGME or AOA approved training program, and upload a letter from the institution.
Exam Fees
A fee of $1,600 must accompany your completed application. This includes the non-refundable application fee of $500 and the $1,100 exam fee. No application will be considered complete until all fees have been paid.
If an applicant fails any part of the exam, the fee for re-examination is in one part is $500 and two or more parts is $750, along with a re-application fee of $150.
Exam Dates and Deadlines
The Occupational/Environmental Medicine Certification Exam has been postponed to the spring of 2025. Applications are now open. The application deadline is March 30, 2025.
Exam Content Outline
To achieve certification, the candidate must pass both the Written and Oral Examination.
The Written Examination is four hours with 200 multiple choice questions. Of these, 100 items will cover Core topics (120 minutes) and 100 items will be in the specialty area (120 minutes). Each written component (Core, OM Specialty) has its own separate cut score. Written Examination scores will be provided to the candidate within eight weeks.
Written Examination
The Written Examination will take approximately 280 minutes.
Security check-in process
Section 1: 50 items (60 minutes)
Break (10 minutes)
Section 2: 50 Items (60 minutes)
Break (20 minutes)
Section 1: 50 items (60 minutes)
Break (10 minutes)
Section 2: 50 Items (60 minutes)
End/survey
Note: The only exam which does not require CORE is the CAQ OCC examination, as it is an added certificate of qualification.
| Primary Certification | |
|---|---|
| CATEGORY | CATEGORY PERCENT |
| Treatment | 20% |
| Rules and regulations | 15% |
| Epi/Biostat | 5% |
| Health management/impairment | 3% |
| Toxicology | 20% |
| Hearing | 5% |
| Dermatology | 5% |
| Respiratory/industrial hygiene | 20% |
| Reproductive | 2% |
| Decompressions | 1% |
| Vibrations | 1% |
| Radiation | 3% |
Oral Examination
The oral examination will cover three topic areas over a one-hour duration: Administration, Environment and Clinical.
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.
.
Exam Failure
If a candidate fails any part of the exam, they may apply to re-take the exam components. Board-eligible candidate may sit for re-examination three times in a six-year period. This Board may require evidence of further training prior to re-examination.