Breaks during the ABO board certification exam

Started by golgi
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golgi

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Gotta take the boards in 1 wk - yikes! However there is no info on the website about taking bathroom breaks, snack breaks, etc...Also does the computer track the time for you? Are the questions broken down into separate blocks?

Anyone whose taken them before please help!! Thanks
 
Gotta take the boards in 1 wk - yikes! However there is no info on the website about taking bathroom breaks, snack breaks, etc...Also does the computer track the time for you? Are the questions broken down into separate blocks?

Anyone whose taken them before please help!! Thanks

Just like OKAPs, you have a set amount of time. You can break whenever and however many times you want, but you remain on the computer's clock. My preference was straight through, sans breaks, ending early.
 
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Thanks for the info. How many questions? How much time do you have?

Found the info on the ABO website.

http://www.abop.org/Cert Brochure.pdf

"The Written Qualifying Examination (WQE), which
consists of 250 multiple-choice questions, is the first step in
the Board certification process. The WQE is a computer based
exam administered on one day at approximately 230
test centers in the early spring of each year. The exam is
administered in an approximately five-hour testing period,
which includes a tutorial, break time, and an optional survey.
The actual test-taking time is four hours and thirty minutes."
 
The ABO results have been uploaded/updated on the website.
Good luck to all!
Cool. Thanks for the update. Does anyone know if we get an actual score when the results are mailed to us or is it just pass/fail?
 
Yes you will get an actual score. I think there was a total score and a percentile ranking. They also separate out the subject areas into individual percentiles as well. I remember this for certain because I had both a 99 and a 1 🙂
 
How does the schedule for the oral boards work? The SF one has a timeframe from Fri Nov 5 to Sun Nov 7, 2010. Are you divided into groups? Is it one day, two days, three days??

Thanks.
 
How does the schedule for the oral boards work? The SF one has a timeframe from Fri Nov 5 to Sun Nov 7, 2010. Are you divided into groups? Is it one day, two days, three days??

Thanks.

It's set up alphabetically and sequentially. The early and middle thirds of the alphabet go on Saturday (morning and afternoon, respectively), and the latter third goes on Sunday morning. There are 3 hours allocated for the examination.