Official ABIM Exam/study tools thread!

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Took the test last week. Nothing like UWorld. Much shorter questions steps and sometimes would only get 3 answer choices to choose from. More like MKSAP in terms of question stem length.


Issue with ABIM exam is that they purposefully leave out information and make the diagnosis a bit unclear so you have to go through the differential diagnosis between the answer choices based on 1-2 factoids but sometimes the information they give you is based on atypical presentation which makes it even more ambiguous. 30% of the questions are like this. The percentage correct needed to pass also seems to be higher also for ABIM than USMLE.


Really at this point of our careers these questions should just be straightforward to test our knowledge and more importantly be relevant to what we see on a day to day basis.
 
paki20 said:
Took the test last week. Nothing like UWorld. Much shorter questions steps and sometimes would only get 3 answer choices to choose from. More like MKSAP in terms of question stem length.


Issue with ABIM exam is that they purposefully leave out information and make the diagnosis a bit unclear so you have to go through the differential diagnosis between the answer choices based on 1-2 factoids but sometimes the information they give you is based on atypical presentation which makes it even more ambiguous. 30% of the questions are like this. The percentage correct needed to pass also seems to be higher also for ABIM than USMLE.


Really at this point of our careers these questions should just be straightforward to test our knowledge and more importantly be relevant to what we see on a day to day basis.
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I noticed that as well. I am not sure why. So many questions with 2 seemingly correct answers.
 
Splenda88 said:
I noticed that as well. I am not sure why. So many questions with 2 seemingly correct answers.
Click to expand...

I definitely noticed that. Bunch of questions where it came down to just 2. Was really annoying because while the stems were shorter, they were also a lot more vague, which sucked..

Preliminarily while everything is fresh, I will say UWorld definitely prepared me a lot and highly recommend it. Idk if you can use it as your ONLY source but it nabbed me quite a few questions. I think combo MKSAP and UWorld is where the money is. I also HIGHLY recommend Board Vitals as a lot of the shorter answers seemed to have been inspired there. I wish I had spent more time on Board Vitals honestly and I think the new one is coming out soon.

My test didn't really have weird ID questions, but surprisingly pregnant patients and pulm was brought out a lot. Thats as far as I can say I believe without violating anything. Stats was also completely non-existent. I'm sort of mad about that as I actually took time to study it.

Overall, I agree with the above. I didn't feel like the test was representative of IM either in inpatient or outpatient. Lots of subspecialty stuff we wouldn't really decide on our own. Vague quesitons were also terrible since it felt like they were trying to be like a Step exam when this is just for certification. Makes you a bit mad there's NPs running solo without this sort of knowledge yet ABIM continues with this BS. I think I passed, but this test doesn't really set you up study wise to be a successful physician.

Though that's it for us 2021 ABIM takers, I do hope we all passed the thing! At least there's no curve so we can all succeed.
 
darklabel said:
I definitely noticed that. Bunch of questions where it came down to just 2. Was really annoying because while the stems were shorter, they were also a lot more vague, which sucked..

Preliminarily while everything is fresh, I will say UWorld definitely prepared me a lot and highly recommend it. Idk if you can use it as your ONLY source but it nabbed me quite a few questions. I think combo MKSAP and UWorld is where the money is. I also HIGHLY recommend Board Vitals as a lot of the shorter answers seemed to have been inspired there. I wish I had spent more time on Board Vitals honestly and I think the new one is coming out soon.

My test didn't really have weird ID questions, but surprisingly pregnant patients and pulm was brought out a lot. Thats as far as I can say I believe without violating anything. Stats was also completely non-existent. I'm sort of mad about that as I actually took time to study it.

Overall, I agree with the above. I didn't feel like the test was representative of IM either in inpatient or outpatient. Lots of subspecialty stuff we wouldn't really decide on our own. Vague quesitons were also terrible since it felt like they were trying to be like a Step exam when this is just for certification. Makes you a bit mad there's NPs running solo without this sort of knowledge yet ABIM continues with this BS. I think I passed, but this test doesn't really set you up study wise to be a successful physician.

Though that's it for us 2021 ABIM takers, I do hope we all passed the thing! At least there's no curve so we can all succeed.
Click to expand...
Agree with this 100%
 
darklabel said:
I definitely noticed that. Bunch of questions where it came down to just 2. Was really annoying because while the stems were shorter, they were also a lot more vague, which sucked..

Preliminarily while everything is fresh, I will say UWorld definitely prepared me a lot and highly recommend it. Idk if you can use it as your ONLY source but it nabbed me quite a few questions. I think combo MKSAP and UWorld is where the money is. I also HIGHLY recommend Board Vitals as a lot of the shorter answers seemed to have been inspired there. I wish I had spent more time on Board Vitals honestly and I think the new one is coming out soon.

My test didn't really have weird ID questions, but surprisingly pregnant patients and pulm was brought out a lot. Thats as far as I can say I believe without violating anything. Stats was also completely non-existent. I'm sort of mad about that as I actually took time to study it.

Overall, I agree with the above. I didn't feel like the test was representative of IM either in inpatient or outpatient. Lots of subspecialty stuff we wouldn't really decide on our own. Vague quesitons were also terrible since it felt like they were trying to be like a Step exam when this is just for certification. Makes you a bit mad there's NPs running solo without this sort of knowledge yet ABIM continues with this BS. I think I passed, but this test doesn't really set you up study wise to be a successful physician.

Though that's it for us 2021 ABIM takers, I do hope we all passed the thing! At least there's no curve so we can all succeed.
Click to expand...
Hope I dont have to take that damn thing again. I heard we will have to wait for 2+ months to get the result. Why do we have to take that thing when other people (NP/PA) are practicing medicine solo without knowing a 1/4 of these things?
 
paki20 said:
Took the test last week. Nothing like UWorld. Much shorter questions steps and sometimes would only get 3 answer choices to choose from. More like MKSAP in terms of question stem length.


Issue with ABIM exam is that they purposefully leave out information and make the diagnosis a bit unclear so you have to go through the differential diagnosis between the answer choices based on 1-2 factoids but sometimes the information they give you is based on atypical presentation which makes it even more ambiguous. 30% of the questions are like this. The percentage correct needed to pass also seems to be higher also for ABIM than USMLE.


Really at this point of our careers these questions should just be straightforward to test our knowledge and more importantly be relevant to what we see on a day to day basis.
Click to expand...
So much information needed missing. I feel like uworld was easier as more info was available. A lot of questions, I was not sure what was being asked. Just hopeful I pass because I don’t know what I’ll do different.
 
There was a LOT of nephrology on my exam! Ugh. Barely any cardiology.. and I spent a lot of time studying cards :/

I also felt that I was able to narrow it down to two answers and then needed more info to really make a great choice.. but since it wasn't there, ended up guessing what's best between those two
 
Does anyone know what percentage of questions are needed to pass? I read 64% but not sure if that’s valid.
 
NYOrthoMD said:
Does anyone know what percentage of questions are needed to pass? I read 64% but not sure if that’s valid.
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We all have seen that 64%, and the 366 needed to pass last year but no one knows how ABIM grade this thing.
 
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I've counted 16 wrong so far out of the 80 something questions I remember... it's gonna be a long 2-3 months
 
Splenda88 said:
We all have seen that 64%, and the 366 needed to pass last year but one knows how ABIM grade this thing.
Click to expand...

They do throw away questions though since they're test questions and I remember them being a decent chunk, so impossible to really know.

I personally purged whatever questions I could remember. No use in being anxious about something out of my control.
 
darklabel said:
They do throw away questions though since they're test questions and I remember them being a decent chunk, so impossible to really know.

I personally purged whatever questions I could remember. No use in being anxious about something out of my control.
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I wish I could be like that. I've always tried to recall questions after a test and jot them down on a piece of paper/phone. Did it after SATx2, MCATx2, shelf exams, Step 1/2/3, and now ABIM. There's probably a condition for this and I might qualify for a SSRI
 
darklabel said:
Preliminarily while everything is fresh, I will say UWorld definitely prepared me a lot and highly recommend it. Idk if you can use it as your ONLY source but it nabbed me quite a few questions. I think combo MKSAP and UWorld is where the money is. I also HIGHLY recommend Board Vitals as a lot of the shorter answers seemed to have been inspired there. I wish I had spent more time on Board Vitals honestly and I think the new one is coming out soon.
Click to expand...

For posterity's sake, I would also recommend UWorld if this were your primary source. I had access to MKSAP and UWorld, but only went through MKSAP's question bank (~80% completed). Looking back, MKSAP emphasized a lot of info that was not on my exam (e.g. all the inappropriate chemo prescribing questions that shouldn't be on a medicine board exam, and I'm saying that as a hemonc fellow). After the exam, I checked to see if UWorld was more in-line with the type and content of questions that I encountered, and it absolutely was.

There does seem to be shorter question stems on the exam than in UWorld, as other people have noted. But for learning the material, I think the content is a better match.

Overall, I'm surprised about how challenging the test was, but if you performed in a competitive residency, I don't think you need more than two weeks of dedicated study time to comfortably pass the test. My opinion is that people going through multiple resources are doing themselves a slight disservice than sticking with one and going deep into each question, supplementing with UTD PRN along the way and thinking of different variations that that question could be asked.

Very nonspecifically and based on the ABIM content%, I thought my exam overemphasized endocrine although that could've been me as it's my weakest area. Lots of thyroid. Cards, GI, pulm were all fairly represented; know your murmurs. EKG questions were not hard especially if you had a cards-heavy residency. Some liver questions may be hard if hepatology wasn't emphasized in your training. Few hemonc questions, mostly requiring coag/iron interpretation; some basic smears and no hard chemo questions. A handful of rashes and eyeballs to look at. I felt ID was underrepresented overall. Both nephro/rheum were fairly represented, but selective in their coverage (didn't seem very comprehensive to me with overrepresentation in a few subcontent areas). Neuro was relatively straightforward. I would spend time reviewing content that requires a lot of prompt reading and/or interpretation of many labs (e.g. endo, nephro; +/-rheum) since that takes practice/training. Sometimes answers come in a seemingly "throw-away" sentence that points toward a particular risk factor for a disease, buried somewhere in the prompt. Training your brain to be attentive for 10 hours is the goal.

In total, I thought this was a reasonable general IM exam, which was different from the perspective I got from MKSAP and reading SDN. It was not a minutia-subspecialty-heavy exam. There were several questions that didn't match clinical practice (e.g. the clinically best answer is not one of the answer choices, or there were several answer choices that I would order simultaneously) - I would strongly push them to get rid of these. The IM calculator contained many commonly used tools, but it wasn't needed except for a handful of questions - I used the normal calculator much more. Other than that, the exam was fine and I hope I passed. Learn Alt-J (highlight), Alt-W (strikethrough) and Alt-N (next).

-My 2¢
 
I took it yesterday. It was friggin' hard. Hopefully won't ever have to repeat it. I used UW, MedStudy, and Board Basics. UW was definitely very reflective of the real thing. I also took the ExamCrackers practice exam and scored decently on it, but I have to say I think it was easier than the real deal.
 
BigGAC1 said:
I took it yesterday. It was friggin' hard. Hopefully won't ever have to repeat it. I used UW, MedStudy, and Board Basics. UW was definitely very reflective of the real thing. I also took the ExamCrackers practice exam and scored decently on it, but I have to say I think it was easier than the real deal.
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I did uworld and awesome review. Uworld was very similar to the test yesterday. Awesome review notes were amazing. Definitely recommend it. My third second i had no clue about half the questions so we’ll see. Hopefully we all passed!
 
darklabel said:
I definitely noticed that. Bunch of questions where it came down to just 2. Was really annoying because while the stems were shorter, they were also a lot more vague, which sucked..

Preliminarily while everything is fresh, I will say UWorld definitely prepared me a lot and highly recommend it. Idk if you can use it as your ONLY source but it nabbed me quite a few questions. I think combo MKSAP and UWorld is where the money is. I also HIGHLY recommend Board Vitals as a lot of the shorter answers seemed to have been inspired there. I wish I had spent more time on Board Vitals honestly and I think the new one is coming out soon.
Click to expand...

I am absolutely convinced that the ABIM creates an "impossible" exam for some candidates in order to avoid a 99% pass rate.

Why? Reading some of these comments makes me think we took completely different exams.

Mainly, the majority of the questions stems seemed VERY lengthy. Far more UWorld style than I would've anticipated.

Is it possible two people may perceive the same exam differently? Sure. What I know for a fact is that I did UWorld (lengthy), MKSAP (medium), and Board Vitals (paragraph or less) questions. It felt like the ABIM took questions from other specialty board exams and asked George RR Martin to expand the stems.

Again, after reading these comments, it truly feels as if the ABIM has an "impossible" exam they use to drop the pass rate. This is a tinfoil hate that won't be coming off.
 
NS3964 said:
I am absolutely convinced that the ABIM creates an "impossible" exam for some candidates in order to avoid a 99% pass rate.

Why? Reading some of these comments makes me think we took completely different exams.

Mainly, the majority of the questions stems seemed VERY lengthy. Far more UWorld style than I would've anticipated.

Is it possible two people may perceive the same exam differently? Sure. What I know for a fact is that I did UWorld (lengthy), MKSAP (medium), and Board Vitals (paragraph or less) questions. It felt like the ABIM took questions from other specialty board exams and asked George RR Martin to expand the stems.

Again, after reading these comments, it truly feels as if the ABIM has an "impossible" exam they use to drop the pass rate. This is a tinfoil hate that won't be coming off.
Click to expand...
I agree. A few questions (like 10-15%) were weird as there were two plausible answers. They have to make the exam that way because if the passing rate is 97%+ year after year, people will start questioning the utility of this exam.
 
NS3964 said:
I am absolutely convinced that the ABIM creates an "impossible" exam for some candidates in order to avoid a 99% pass rate.

Why? Reading some of these comments makes me think we took completely different exams.

Mainly, the majority of the questions stems seemed VERY lengthy. Far more UWorld style than I would've anticipated.

Is it possible two people may perceive the same exam differently? Sure. What I know for a fact is that I did UWorld (lengthy), MKSAP (medium), and Board Vitals (paragraph or less) questions. It felt like the ABIM took questions from other specialty board exams and asked George RR Martin to expand the stems.

Again, after reading these comments, it truly feels as if the ABIM has an "impossible" exam they use to drop the pass rate. This is a tinfoil hate that won't be coming off.
Click to expand...

Oh I'm totally on board and I feel like most people here would agree with you. Problem with a test that has a 99% pass rate is people then get up in arms how easy it is and if we even need it. A "fair" test would probably be easier I realize you can't please everyone, but I think those people are dumb. Step 2 CS (when it existed) is the classic example. People said it was too easy and not needed. So examiners responded by arbitrarily making it harder.

To be fair to ABIM, the pass rate has gone up over the years, so maybe they are being more understanding.
 
MNCASC said:
MKSAP 19 part A is out now. Part B not until January 2022. Can someone tell me the difference between part A and part B?
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It's the other subspecialties / disciplines / topics within Internal Medicine.

/thread
 
If 93% passed last year, that means the same thing as "as long as you were 7th percentile or higher among all test takers last year, then you passed" right?
 
nets445 said:
If 93% passed last year, that means the same thing as "as long as you were 7th percentile or higher among all test takers last year, then you passed" right?
Click to expand...
I thought it was based on a certain threshold/score. If I read their PDF correctly, the passing score/threshold is evaluated ever five years. The only thing that gets adjusted are the experimental questions. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I think it's on the ABIM website
 
nets445 said:
If 93% passed last year, that means the same thing as "as long as you were 7th percentile or higher among all test takers last year, then you passed" right?
Click to expand...
"The examination pass-fail decision is based on your performance on the entire examination. Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect; therefore, you should answer every question. The minimum passing score reflects an absolute standard that is independent of the performance of any group of candidates. The standard for each assessment is set by the designated ABIM Subspecialty Board or Test Committee.

ABIM is aware that, on occasion, for a small number of questions, changes in medicine (such as the publication of new practice guidelines for hypertension) occur late in the examination publishing process and may alter what was previously the correct answer. Do your best to answer all questions according to your understanding of current clinical principles and practice. If ABIM determines that what was designed to be the correct answer has been changed by new information, this question will not be counted in the overall score."
 
NS3964 said:
"The examination pass-fail decision is based on your performance on the entire examination. Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect; therefore, you should answer every question. The minimum passing score reflects an absolute standard that is independent of the performance of any group of candidates. The standard for each assessment is set by the designated ABIM Subspecialty Board or Test Committee.

ABIM is aware that, on occasion, for a small number of questions, changes in medicine (such as the publication of new practice guidelines for hypertension) occur late in the examination publishing process and may alter what was previously the correct answer. Do your best to answer all questions according to your understanding of current clinical principles and practice. If ABIM determines that what was designed to be the correct answer has been changed by new information, this question will not be counted in the overall score."
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Thanks for pointing this out. A quick google search shows that you needed 64% raw score to pass the ABIM per MedStudy published on May 2021. So most likely the absolute cutoff is somewhere around the mid-60s.
 
NS3964 said:
I thought it was based on a certain threshold/score. If I read their PDF correctly, the passing score/threshold is evaluated ever five years. The only thing that gets adjusted are the experimental questions. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I think it's on the ABIM website
Click to expand...

Yes exactly it's a predetermined cut off score. Not based on percentiles. Last year 93% got above the cut off score, 7% got below the cut off score.
 
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mylohyoid28 said:
How is the waiting game going for everyone? Any bets on when we'll get scores? I am guessing... Thursday 10/14 😵
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last year it came out oct 16th I think...some of my seniors had posted!
I think we can also check on the website and see the physician portal earlier..
 
To those who have taken any ABIM test this year - does anyone know how Pearson and ABIM are handling potential COVID cases from testees - as in if you had an exposure to a COVID positive person or have any mild cold-like symptoms are you not allowed to take the test? Will ABIM make you wait the following year to take your exam, or do they give you another option to take the test when you test negative? I called ABIM to ask but they couldn't tell me what would happen.
 
SleepMedCali said:
To those who have taken any ABIM test this year - does anyone know how Pearson and ABIM are handling potential COVID cases from testees - as in if you had an exposure to a COVID positive person or have any mild cold-like symptoms are you not allowed to take the test? Will ABIM make you wait the following year to take your exam, or do they give you another option to take the test when you test negative? I called ABIM to ask but they couldn't tell me what would happen.
Click to expand...

No idea, I remember being super paranoid about getting a breakthrough case the day or so before my test and then being scrwed for a year. So IDK.
 
Splenda88 said:
Since i am working as an attending (aka having a life), I have not thought about it at all.
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Man good for you, that's awesome. I'm worried sick about if I fail it then I would have to take this beast again in less than a year.

mylohyoid28 said:
How is the waiting game going for everyone? Any bets on when we'll get scores? I am guessing... Thursday 10/14 😵
Click to expand...

I'm thinking mid-October as well. I have a little hope we'll be lucky like that one odd year it got released late September, but I doubt it with how COVID is going.
 
For ABIM is there one of those clues to see if you passed? Like log in earlier and see something appear or disappear (other than seeing the score report, obvs)
 
A couple of IM docs where I am have their board certification thru ABMS, is that legit?
 
darklabel said:
Man good for you, that's awesome. I'm worried sick about if I fail it then I would have to take this beast again in less than a year.



I'm thinking mid-October as well. I have a little hope we'll be lucky like that one odd year it got released late September, but I doubt it with how COVID is going.
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Why? Based on my contract, I have until the end of 2023 to pass it.
 
Splenda88 said:
A couple of IM docs where I am have their board certification thru ABMS, is that legit?
Click to expand...
ABIM is a subset of ABMS. Are you talking about ABPS? Because that's the bulls*** one. Only one of the 7 hospitals where I have credentials recognizes that for anything other than affiliate (participation in health plan only) membership.
 
gutonc said:
ABIM is a subset of ABMS. Are you talking about ABPS? Because that's the bulls*** one. Only one of the 7 hospitals where I have credentials recognizes that for anything other than affiliate (participation in health plan only) membership.
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I just look them up. Actually, they are all ABIM certified. Not sure what they put ABMS in their credentials when most put ABIM.
 
gutonc said:
Are you talking about ABPS? Because that's the bulls*** one.
Click to expand...

So just out of curiosity, what makes ABPS (and some might lump in NBPAS) the "bull***" ones, but ABIM (and the rest of ABMS) the 'righteous one'? Has the ABIM(ABMS) ever done anything worthwhile for physicians and patients, aside from the administration/proctoring of a test?
 
oncology2021 said:
last year it came out oct 16th I think...some of my seniors had posted!
I think we can also check on the website and see the physician portal earlier..
Click to expand...
I just checked Facebook posts from people who graduated in the last 2 years from my program - 2019 it was September 30th-October 4th. Last year it was October 14th-17th.
 
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