Written Exam

Eligibility

In order to sit for the Written Exam to earn a specialty certification in Neurocritical Care, eligible candidates must be AOBS Diplomates with primary board certification in Neurological Surgery or General Surgery with a subspecialty board certification in Surgical Critical Care.

General Requirements

Requirements must be met at the time of application for the exam. To be eligible for this exam, applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Certification/continuous certification: Be currently certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery in Neurological Surgery, or General Surgery with a subspecialty board certification in Surgical Critical Care and in compliance with the AOBS Osteopathic Continuous Certification (OCC) process, OCC components 1-4.
• Medical license: Have a currently registered full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in the U.S. or Canada. Applicants are required to immediately inform the AOBS of any conditions or restrictions in force on any active medical license they hold.
• Professional activity: Be actively engaged in the practice of Neurocritical Care, completing 12 months of enfolded fellowship.
• Demonstrate clinical competence: Procedural skills, and moral and ethical behavior in Neurocritical Care in the ICU clinical setting during the 12-month enfolded fellowship or practice experience during the preceding 36 months prior to the application.
• Support letters/references: from two physicians who are familiar with the applicant’s practice during the practice time submitted in the application.
• Adhere to the AOA Code of Conduct.

Exam Fee

An exam fee of $1,500 must be submitted with your complete application. No application will be considered complete until all fees have been paid.

All cancellations must be made in writing. Exam cancellations received 30 days or more prior to the first day of the exam administration date will be refunded less a $500 cancellation fee. No refunds will be issued for any cancellations that are received less than 30 days before the first day of the exam administration date.

Exam Dates and Deadlines

The Written Exam will be available in December 2025 via a remote proctoring platform. The application period opens six months prior to the exam. The 2025 examination dates are Dec. 4-6. Dates for the annual exam after this opportunity are still pending.

Exam Content Outline

The AOBS written exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions that test the candidate’s knowledge and understanding of basic science and clinical knowledge, skills and principles to the practice of Neurocritical Care. The examination is subjected to conventional psychometric analysis using accepted modern methods of key validation and item scoring. The total examination time is 3 hours and 30 minutes and is administered via a remote proctoring platform.

The exam evaluates academic knowledge in the following areas:

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

Following an initial or second failure of the AOBS Written Exam, the following rules apply:

• The candidate may apply for re-examination and pay the required fees ($200).
• The candidate must re-take the exam within a two-year period following the initial or second failure. If the candidate fails to take the exam within this period, the candidate’s file will be considered inactive. Any further applications shall be new actions at the discretion of the board.

Following a third failure in the written qualifying and/or oral certifying examination, the candidate may apply for reexamination upon successful completion of a board review course. The applicant must provide documentation of course completion prior to retaking the written examination. Remediation does not guarantee passage of the examination process.

Pass Rate

There is currently no pass rate information available. Please continue to watch this website for further details after the examination has been offered for a minimum of a 5-year period when we will be able to provide an aggregate pass rate and further details.