GotGastritis
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Hi Everyone,
I passed my ABIM GI board exam with a good margin and I wanted to share my studying tips since I had difficulty finding any updated resources or recommendations when I was preparing for my own exam. Per ABIM rules, I won't share the specific content of the exam, but will provide some general study guidance.
For reference, I scored around 1 standard deviation above the mean. The minimum passing score is 324 with reference group mean score of 462. The test is broken down into 4 sections, 2 hours each, 60 questions per section with break time of 100 minutes just like the IM board exam. According to my score report, I missed around 30-40 questions out of 240 so my percentage correct was in the mid 80s. I'm not sure what exact percentage you need to pass, but I've heard aiming somewhere around high 60s to 70% or higher is generally a good target (don't quote me on this). I generally did well on the GTEs (usually scoring above the average in the 70 percentile) and went to a solid GI fellowship program where usually everyone passes the board exam.
Overall, the test felt challenging but do-able. Like all tests, the vast majority of questions were questions that you see in day to day clinical practice and questions testing your knowledge of the appropriate workup/management as recommended per our society guidelines. The challenging questions my colleagues and I all faced were the random questions completely out of the blue that were zebras and basic science questions (e.g. mechanisms of actions, GI Physiology, histology) that were far and few between. Look up the ABIM GI Board blueprint if you want to know what content they will test you on (can't share the exact content due to the test confidentiality we signed, sorry!). There were a few statistics questions, but all of them were your standard stats questions you've probably already faced with the ABIM IM board exam.
I definitely overstudied, but that's just me since I am neurotic like most of y'all. However, here are some of the resources I used and my thoughts about them:
ACG Self Assessment Tests: Overall solid resource and what people recommend taking before your exam to get a sense of what the exam will be like (the recommendations were to take the prior 3 years). The ACG self-assessment tests seemed to have more pictures/photographs than I recall from the actual exam, but I think these exams are really great learning tool to hammer down clinical algorithms.
Here were my scores the weeks before my exam
2021 SAT: 79%
2022 SAT 79%
2023 SAT 80%
2025 SAT 81%
2024 SAT (day before exam) 83%
DDSEP: It was a decent QBank we used during fellowship. Some of the content was very esoteric, but the vast majority of the questions from this qbank were reasonable and based on the guidelines. I completed the Q bank with an average score of 74% (we had already done the Qbank during fellowship so this was my 2nd go around). If you have the time, feel free to use this Q bank. I think alot of my colleagues did not like this Qbank that much and hated how it was formatted.
Steinberg GI Board Review: Overall, this was an excellent resource and I would recommend purchasing this for your exam since I definitely scored some extra points from some of the random things they go over. Make sure you not only watch the videos, but do the Question bank that comes with it as well. The only issue I had with the question bank was that sometimes the answers were outdated or inaccurate, so you kind of had to double check (use open evidence or GPT). The Histology and radiography question banks were helpful since those usually don't change with time. Also don't feel bad about scoring low on these question banks since they were hard (I think i was scoring below 70% on the questions lol)
Gastroenterology Clinical Focus by Qayed: Great concise resource that summarizes all of the updated clinical guidelines. I would recommend using this during the course of your Fellowship since it's just a great book to have overall.
Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease Review and Assessment by Qayed: I wouldn't recommend using this. This did pair nicely overall with the above book, but the content is outdated and there were too many specific pathophys quesitons that never showed up on the exam.
Acing the GI Board Exam: Even though this book was made in 2015, it was overall a very good book because it contained very quick, testable content and board favorite type questions that doesn't change much with time. I read the book during my dedicated study time and used The end of the book which contained all the quick high yield content the day before my exam.
Good luck and I hope this helps
I passed my ABIM GI board exam with a good margin and I wanted to share my studying tips since I had difficulty finding any updated resources or recommendations when I was preparing for my own exam. Per ABIM rules, I won't share the specific content of the exam, but will provide some general study guidance.
For reference, I scored around 1 standard deviation above the mean. The minimum passing score is 324 with reference group mean score of 462. The test is broken down into 4 sections, 2 hours each, 60 questions per section with break time of 100 minutes just like the IM board exam. According to my score report, I missed around 30-40 questions out of 240 so my percentage correct was in the mid 80s. I'm not sure what exact percentage you need to pass, but I've heard aiming somewhere around high 60s to 70% or higher is generally a good target (don't quote me on this). I generally did well on the GTEs (usually scoring above the average in the 70 percentile) and went to a solid GI fellowship program where usually everyone passes the board exam.
Overall, the test felt challenging but do-able. Like all tests, the vast majority of questions were questions that you see in day to day clinical practice and questions testing your knowledge of the appropriate workup/management as recommended per our society guidelines. The challenging questions my colleagues and I all faced were the random questions completely out of the blue that were zebras and basic science questions (e.g. mechanisms of actions, GI Physiology, histology) that were far and few between. Look up the ABIM GI Board blueprint if you want to know what content they will test you on (can't share the exact content due to the test confidentiality we signed, sorry!). There were a few statistics questions, but all of them were your standard stats questions you've probably already faced with the ABIM IM board exam.
I definitely overstudied, but that's just me since I am neurotic like most of y'all. However, here are some of the resources I used and my thoughts about them:
ACG Self Assessment Tests: Overall solid resource and what people recommend taking before your exam to get a sense of what the exam will be like (the recommendations were to take the prior 3 years). The ACG self-assessment tests seemed to have more pictures/photographs than I recall from the actual exam, but I think these exams are really great learning tool to hammer down clinical algorithms.
Here were my scores the weeks before my exam
2021 SAT: 79%
2022 SAT 79%
2023 SAT 80%
2025 SAT 81%
2024 SAT (day before exam) 83%
DDSEP: It was a decent QBank we used during fellowship. Some of the content was very esoteric, but the vast majority of the questions from this qbank were reasonable and based on the guidelines. I completed the Q bank with an average score of 74% (we had already done the Qbank during fellowship so this was my 2nd go around). If you have the time, feel free to use this Q bank. I think alot of my colleagues did not like this Qbank that much and hated how it was formatted.
Steinberg GI Board Review: Overall, this was an excellent resource and I would recommend purchasing this for your exam since I definitely scored some extra points from some of the random things they go over. Make sure you not only watch the videos, but do the Question bank that comes with it as well. The only issue I had with the question bank was that sometimes the answers were outdated or inaccurate, so you kind of had to double check (use open evidence or GPT). The Histology and radiography question banks were helpful since those usually don't change with time. Also don't feel bad about scoring low on these question banks since they were hard (I think i was scoring below 70% on the questions lol)
Gastroenterology Clinical Focus by Qayed: Great concise resource that summarizes all of the updated clinical guidelines. I would recommend using this during the course of your Fellowship since it's just a great book to have overall.
Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease Review and Assessment by Qayed: I wouldn't recommend using this. This did pair nicely overall with the above book, but the content is outdated and there were too many specific pathophys quesitons that never showed up on the exam.
Acing the GI Board Exam: Even though this book was made in 2015, it was overall a very good book because it contained very quick, testable content and board favorite type questions that doesn't change much with time. I read the book during my dedicated study time and used The end of the book which contained all the quick high yield content the day before my exam.
Good luck and I hope this helps
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