Certification Exam

Eligibility

To be eligible for certification in Public Health/Community 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 two-year residency program consisting of one year of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and one transitional year of residency.
• 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.
• 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, you must submit the following to the AOBPM:

• A notarized copy of the institutional certificate indicating satisfactory completion of an AOA-approved internship.
• A notarized 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 applying via the clinical practice pathway, documentation of having met the practice requirements.
• Ten multiple-choice questions (which must be textually referenced) in the area of interest. Multiple questions from common information sources are allowed. See the AOBPM item writing guidelines.
• Copy of your current state medical license.

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 Public Health/Community Medicine Written and Oral Examinations will be offered in the Spring of 2026. Applications will open 6-month prior to the exam administration.

Exam Content Outline

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

For the written portion, the candidates will have two hours to answer 100 multiple-choice questions in the specialty area. Then the candidate will have two hours to answer three essay questions.

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.

.

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.