Does Failing the ABIM Exam Impact Matching into Fellowship

[surfking123]

I am planning on applying to a competitive fellowship next year. Currently working as a hospitalist. Unfortunately, on my first attempt, I failed the ABIM exam (just a few points away from passing). Will this adversely affect me when I apply for fellowship next cycle? Do fellowships or PDs know if you fail at all? I will be taking the exam next and am determined to do much better then. Thank you

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

There is no way they will know officially. The ABIM results are not a part of the ERAS application package.

There is no equivalent for them to "check a credit report" and find out you did not pass.

 

[Raryn]

No, because while certification status is public, programs have no idea if you took it or not. Plenty of people defer taking the ABIM exam a year or two after graduation. Knowing a graduate isn't certified means that they either didn't take it or failed, but unless they actively tell you that they had attempted it, no way to know which.

 

[ShuperNewbie]

The only person who knows besides you is your residency PD. So honestly, the worst thing about failing a board is just having to pay for / study for the test again. If you were going to fail a test in your career, this would be the test to fail.

 

[surfking123]

Very reassuring, thank you all

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

There is no way they will know officially. The ABIM results are not a part of the ERAS application package.

There is no equivalent for them to "check a credit report" and find out you did not pass.

Actually, it's not true that they can't find out. You can go to the ABIM page and put the name of any physician, and if they are board certified, they will show up.

If the BC question comes up, OP will have to decide if they want to be forward about it or if they wish to omit the truth and claim they didn't take it

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

Actually, it's not true that they can't find out. You can go to the ABIM page and put the name of any physician, and if they are board certified, they will show up.

If the BC question comes up, OP will have to decide if they want to be forward about it or if they wish to omit the truth and claim they didn't take it

that is true. though that does not confirm the candidate failed the exam as was mentioned in a previous post about maybe putting off the exam.


Some applicants have been concerned about "failing the in training exam and if that will affect their fellowship application." As mentioned in other posts, the answer is no.

I review applications for the fellowship program I oversee. the ABIM boards has never ever been an issue for applicants who worked as IM attending first before. In fact it has always been seen as a potential plus because this person has been an attending and has had to manage a large census before.

There is one scenario in which I can see this might be a problem.

Usually PGY4 first year fellows are afforded a lighter starting rotation if the fellowship is large enough so they can study more.

I can imagine particular fellowship PDs of smaller fellowship programs who demand perfection and want to ride their new fellows hard right off the bat. Perhaps this PD sees this applicant is a hospitalist and assumes "must have experience managing 20+ patients at once." Then this PD goes to check ABIM and cannot find surfking. then decides to obsess over why and assumes the worst and then decides to pass on surfking


yes i can see some multiverse reality in which this might be a problem.... but I wouldn't lose sleep over this lol

 

[ShuperNewbie]

that is true. though that does not confirm the candidate failed the exam as was mentioned in a previous post about maybe putting off the exam.


Some applicants have been concerned about "failing the in training exam and if that will affect their fellowship application." As mentioned in other posts, the answer is no.

I review applications for the fellowship program I oversee. the ABIM boards has never ever been an issue for applicants who worked as IM attending first before. In fact it has always been seen as a potential plus because this person has been an attending and has had to manage a large census before.

There is one scenario in which I can see this might be a problem.

Usually PGY4 first year fellows are afforded a lighter starting rotation if the fellowship is large enough so they can study more.

I can imagine particular fellowship PDs of smaller fellowship programs who demand perfection and want to ride their new fellows hard right off the bat. Perhaps this PD sees this applicant is a hospitalist and assumes "must have experience managing 20+ patients at once." Then this PD goes to check ABIM and cannot find surfking. then decides to obsess over why and assumes the worst and then decides to pass on surfking


yes i can see some multiverse reality in which this might be a problem.... but I wouldn't lose sleep over this lol

Yup. This exactly. It's not exceedingly common that someone would have passed the medicine boards upon entering fellowship (it's generally expected that you'd take the medicine board first year of fellowship), so no one's really going to ask if you've passed the medicine boards yet.

Also no one's going to check. PDs and aPDs have a million better things to do than check to see if their applicants have passed the ABIM boards.

 

[collegestud2013]

I am planning on applying to a competitive fellowship next year. Currently working as a hospitalist. Unfortunately, on my first attempt, I failed the ABIM exam (just a few points away from passing). Will this adversely affect me when I apply for fellowship next cycle? Do fellowships or PDs know if you fail at all? I will be taking the exam next and am determined to do much better then. Thank you

It can hurt a lot, especially if applying for a competitive fellowship where this is very uncommon among their applicant pool. The ERAS application does ask for board certification status (need to pick either Yes or No). If you're more than 1 year out of residency and it still says No, PDs will wonder why. Many programs will want to know for any applicants' board certification status If they already had the opportunity to become certified (ie those who are not applying as a PGY-3). They may ask during the interview or post-interview prior to ranking them. Having a board-certified physician is seen as plus ,as the programs won't have deal with scheduling boards and lighter clinical duties for the first few months of fellowship (which is already very busy), so someone who is already out of residency but still has to have time allocated to study and take the ABIM boards will look negatively. Also, given the annual pass rate is in high 80s% overall among all IM graduates across the board, for those applying to competitive specialties it's probably in the high 90s%. So being among those who don't pass puts you at the very bottom. It may also make programs question if you'll be able to pass the subspeciality board later on.

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

collegestud brings up a good point

though if one has a stellar application, lots of research, glowing lettesr of reccs, etc... then the ABIM boards not passing might be chalked up to "strong focus on subspecialty and just didnt really have the time to study for boards which will pass later on"

if one did not have the stellar application to begin with, then I am not sure passing or failing the ABIM boards will matter anyway

 

[ShuperNewbie]

The speculation on these forums is too high. Let's just ask. @randomhemoncpd do you care?

 

[randomhemoncpd]

As mentioned above, we have no way of knowing although it does look odd if someone is more than a year removed from IM residency and isn’t listed as certified as it raises that question.

Having said that, board pass rates are important, so any hint that a candidate might struggle to pass hem and/or onc boards is a red flag IMHO. This usually is reflected in a pattern of low scores though. If I see a bunch of 250+ scores it’s not going to be an issue.

 

[ShuperNewbie]