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Did MKSAP 3 times and watched ACP videos 2016 editions .walked out of exam center with no doubt I will pass
My status still showing Not certified
Spoke with ABIM representative twice today she said "you cannot go by online status check, and we are experiencing a delay in result release" I asked her if I still have a chance to be certified she replied yes and all results will be out by tomorrow in the am

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Officially passed and was previously listed as certified.
 
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Passed and certified. Crappy score though, didn't have a lot of time to study being in a fellowship. Do our fellowship PDs get score reports? Or just pass or fail reports?

My understanding is that these scores really don't matter. Luckily, it seems like nobody cares. :) Not sure if the PDs get access - but again, even if they do, I highly doubt they care about the scores either.
Try not to worry about it - I think step 1-3 were the last boards where the scores actually mattered.

If anyone has other impressions, please let us know. But this is the general sense I've gotten.
Congrats on passing.
 
Got my email at 11:50 pm EST
Happy that I passed and am certified. :)

What i used:
Mksap 16 questions during residency
Mksap 17 questions in the months prior to the test
Medstudy questions (not the greatest)
Board basics
Medstudy video review (could watch at home whenever i wanted)

As I did questions i would review relevant sections of either medstudy or mksap books. Medstudy was easier to read. Read most of mksap during residency during rotations but it still feels like a textbook to me (and would put me to sleep)
Made a lot of flash cards/review sheets that i focused on the weeks before the test.

I started my review early and spaced it out enough that by the last month it was review of things i had read several times.

I did well in my ITEs averaged around 70th percentile all three years. As i started using mksap (borrowed from the library) in first year I have essentially been preparing for each of my ITEs too I guess. While i know some may disagree ive always advocated some preparation because (1) why screw yourself/get the PDs wrath if you dont have to, (2) ive never in my life gone into an exam without some prep, and will definetly prepare before then abim and (3) ill bet you anything everyone else is too and if im wrong whose gonna lose? So ive always told my interns to review a subject area they know they are weak in by reading on it during the day (dont stay up till midnight) and they will do better on the exam, on rotations, and be a better doctor for learning something over time rather than waiting to cram it in at the end of 3rd year.

That philosphy helped me build a good foundation over three years so that in the last months of prep i could focus on the nitty-gritty useless stuff they like to pick on at the exam. (Like murmurs and valsava).

Congrats to all who passed. Those that didnt - i would echo those that took a course. If i had the money/time i would have gone for a course, but i bought the medstudy videos (ahem real cheap off of ebay) and found it very helpful to condense the subject matter. If you are squirmy like me and cant sit for more than an hour lecture (let alone 3-5 days), then home videos are a blessing.
 
Yeah...I got 75% right according to my report and got the same score, a 364. Unless we're sharing a brain, I think it's pretty safe to guess how they score this despite all of this psychometric babble they have on their website. I guess they need a scoring system that fails a decent amount of people or the test would be even less respected than it already is. As I once heard CF (famous educator) say during one of his lectures: "Your family practice friends have a boards pass rate of 95%...you can tell how useless THAT is...". It's the old awful notion that a test is not a "good test" if too many people pass.

Congrats to those who passed. You don't need to spend any more time with medical trivia...at least not for the next 10 years. Pretty sure I won't ever waste another second or dollar on this trivia game.
I missed passing by 6 points. And if I'm interpreting the score report correctly, I got 75% of questions right. So apparently you can be about one SD below average and fail while still getting 3/4 questions right. If that's true, the whole test needs to be redone.
 
Passed close to 1 SD above the mean. I felt good coming out of the exam but wasn't sure how well I did. But there's no question, you need to prepare for this. The amount of preparation needed is really an individual one. I've done consistently well on the ITE throughout my residency with no studying and so I knew I had the foundation to build my knowledge just by doing questions. Most of my learning in residency was through patient care, reading uptodate, and attending conferences.

in terms of preparation, I did MKSAP 16 and 17 once over the course of 2 months and scored approximately ~67 and ~73% respectively (first pass, random, timed). I also read board basic the week prior to the exam to solidify my knowledge. I did not take any commercial course because again, I felt like my foundation was strong enough that I can refine my skill by doing questions.

Congrats everyone to those who passed. To those who failed, please keep your heads up. Like others have mentioned, this is not a reflection of your competence as a doctor. I attended a respected residency yet two people in my class failed, and it happened to someone I would of never expected.
 
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I still don't have a score report... Did anyone else not get their scores?
 
If you are listed as certified, you will have a pass grade. I'm yet to see anyone that had an incorrect certification status.
The ABIM representative told me yesterday not to go by certification status on ABIM status check as it is not reliable and the were still releasing results . She also said thet they are expeirncing a delay and taht all results will be out by this AM ... thats my only last hope ... but now have a deep feeling they failed me ... my hope is washing away as I didnt hear of anyone having their status changed to certified over the last 24 h
I guess its over ... I have a deep feeling of frustration as I never thought I will fail this exam when, I answered questions with confidence and stepped out the exam center without a shadow of doubt I will pass
Its terrible
 
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The ABIM representative told me yesterday not to go by certification status on ABIM status check as it is not reliable and the were still releasing results . She also said thet they are expeirncing a delay and taht all results will be out by this AM ... thats my only last hope ... but now have a deep feeling they failed me ... my hope is washing away as I didnt hear of anyone having their status changed to certified over the last 24 h
I guess its over ... I have a deep feeling of frustration as I never thought I will fail this exam when, I answered questions with confidence and stepped out the exam center without a shadow of doubt I will pass
Its terrible

I am certified, but still no report. I will absolutely lose it if I failed. I will be devastated. How in the world can they update the status on a website and say it is not reliable. What kind of place does that? I can see them saying something like "we cannot comment on the results of your exam/if you passed until the official score report is released." To say that their own website is not accurate or reliable is a complete joke.

If you are listed as certified, you will have a pass grade. I'm yet to see anyone that had an incorrect certification status.
There is always a first, right? Hopefully not in this case.
 
Stupid exam! So glad that it is over! Told myself that I would come back and post here if I pass this darn test.

I went to a Caribbean med school. Completed by training at a community hospital.

I was not always a great test taker (English is my 2nd language). Step 1: 220/Step 2: 230. Step 3: Pass (?220. Took it during a month in the ICU r0tation)

My ITE scores were terrible: 1st year: 25th percentile; 2nd year: 45th percentile; 3rd year: 58th percentile.
I read all the MKSAP 16 books when I was in residency; some of them twice. Attended most of the MKSAP questions reviews done by faculty.
During my third year, did MedStudy videos (some were helpful; I only watched Cards, Heme/Onc, Rheum, and GI), did MKSAP 17 questions, and did Uworld question bank twice. Believe it or not, I did WAYYY better on Uworld compared to MKSAP.

I think that I started studying religiously starting the 2nd half of 3rd year.

My fellowship program was kind enough to give me a 'light rotation' to help me study for the boards. But I found it so difficult to study over the weekend. I managed to put in about 2 hours per weekday and may be 5 to 6 hours per weekend since January.

On the day of the test, I was pleasantly surprised by how calm I was. I think that UWorld definitely prepared me for the exam more than MKSAP. I found the MKSAP questions to be vague and sometimes nonsensical. I think that about 80% of the ABIM questions were somewhat straightforward. There were a handful of questions that were outrageously ridiculous.

Coming out of the exam, I felt good. To be honest, this is the only board exam that I came out confident that I had passed.

As many of you, I found out from social media that people had 'passed.' When I search for my name/NPI number on 'abim certification look up' - it says 'No results found.' So I had to search JUST MY LAST NAME and a list is generated with all the people with similar last name and click on my name. But if I put my ABIM ID - then it says that I am CERTIFIED. What a weird system.

My status change from 'NOT CERTIFIED' on Saturday to 'CERTIFIED' on Sunday.

Got my official score at like 8PM yesterday (Monday). Scored way above the mean. If I can do this, you can as well!

To those who didn't pass, don't fret and don't give up. Don't let this stupid exam define you!

PM if y'all have any questions!!
 
I am certified, but still no report. I will absolutely lose it if I failed. I will be devastated. How in the world can they update the status on a website and say it is not reliable. What kind of place does that? I can see them saying something like "we cannot comment on the results of your exam/if you passed until the official score report is released." To say that their own website is not accurate or reliable is a complete joke.


There is always a first, right? Hopefully not in this case.

I am gonna bet that you did indeed PASS! :)
 
"You'll also notice we've updated our website to indicate that you are ABIM board certified."

The above was in the letter attached to the score report. I think it's accurate and the phone operators are just hedging per protocol until people get their score reports.


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I am gonna bet that you did indeed PASS! :)

"You'll also notice we've updated our website to indicate that you are ABIM board certified."

The above was in the letter attached to the score report. I think it's accurate and the phone operators are just hedging per protocol until people get their score reports.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Thanks for the reply. What I can't understand is if all the score reports are done, how does it take this long to release them? Wouldn't you think this all would just be uploaded to their server, then at a designated time release them all at once? Why have this rolling process over 24 hrs? I could see 1-2 hrs, but a whole day!?

This wait is just killing me. I just want my darn score to confirm the website certification status.
 
I still have yet to get an email or a change in my score report status! This wait is killing me.
 
Congratulations to everyone who passed!

I passed and wanted to share my study plan for those who will access this thread in the future.
- MKSAP 16 questions once during residency
- ITE exam score in the 70th percentile as a PGY-2
- Attended the Awesome Review course by Dr. Rahman - our entire residency class attends
- Read the Awesome Review notes x3 following the course (the majority of my studying)
- MKSAP 17 questions x1 in the last month prior to the exam (didn't read through the explanations unless I felt clueless on a topic)
- MKSAP 17 flash cards x2 the week prior to the exam

I'm a first year Hematology/Oncology fellow and fortunately my program allowed me to be on an elective to start the fellowship. I chose to come in to the hospital early (5 AM) and study for 3 hours every morning. I believe this was essential to my success, as I study best in the morning hours.
 
This is my first time posting here. I have taken this exam 4 times and failed. I understand how each one who has failed feels x 4. I am posting this time as a call for help. I feel so alone right now, and I am looking to see if I may be able to find a study partner to help me prepare to try and take this exam 1 more time next year. I refuse to give up on this, but I need a winning plan to take this exam and pass it. I do not want to make excuses, I just want to come up with a winning plan. I am tired up losing. I have done uworld, MKSAP, Medstudy and awesome review. I had my best result with awesome review, but still not good enough to get a pass. Any thoughts ideas or suggestions would be welcome.
 
I still have yet to get an email or a change in my score report status! This wait is killing me.

I just called ABIM and there is a pre-recording stating that results are slowly being rolled out over 24-48 hours. So I guess we still all can be waiting through tomorrow?
 
Got an email just before 9:30 AM CST. I was listed as certified, and I passed.

I walked out of the test pretty sure I failed. Scored in the 500's. You never know how you do on these tests when walking out.

Prep included MKSAP Q's twice (first time scoring ~68-72%), Awesome review (read the notes "one more time"), and read BB4 once.

Tough test, glad its over. Hopefully recert is easier.

I can stop obsessing over this forum and the ABIM website, which I have been doing for the past 2 weeks!
 
Just wanted to say my score report is up but still waiting on the e-mail. First saw I was certified on Sunday, but hadn't checked before that. Last time I checked yesterday afternoon the report wasn't up, this morning it was, still no e-mail. So I think it is possible your score is up there without getting notified. But I wouldn't stress about refreshing the page if you're "certified" I haven't heard of anyone not passing with certified status.

Still think it's a frustrating test. Very little to do with what you actually learned in residency. Studied about a month a few hours every night while starting fellowship and it was fine in the end but very stressful. Should definitely start earlier so you can focus on your new specialty/job/city instead of this test. But if time is short, knowing Board Basics front to back and MKSAPx1 was enough for me.
 
Just got my score report. Scored just above the mean. Did mksap x 1 had roughly ~68%. Thought it was a hard test but did as expected based on my ite exam results (60-80th Percentile).
 
I've been here a long time, and I feel it's only fair to continue to help this community.

Got my score report early this morning.
Certified on Sunday.
Pass on the report.
Only used MKSAP 16.

PGY1 ITE 80-90% (percentile)
PGY2 ITE 40-50%
PGY3 ITE 40-50% (I must've learned nothing in residency compared to my peers)
MKSAP First Pass 65%
Bought MKSAP 16 at the start of PGY2. Did not read ANY of the books. Started doing questions December'ish only during down-time while on-call. Got through about 300. Started really studying April and doing 50 ish questions per week and skimming the answers. Re-did my wrongs which took me up through July. Read about half of board basics starting in August (mainly just my problem areas). Reset MKSAP end of July/early August and was getting about 80% correct.

Test Day
Walked in confident. First two blocks were okay. Second two blocks were brutal. I was feeling more and more discouraged as the day went on and legitimately felt I was going to fail walking out. I marked about 20 questions every block even if I had the slightest doubt; I had about 20 minutes every block to go over those marked questions. I always pared it down to about ~10 that I was still unsure about. Anyhow, I took my breaks and I think I definitely needed them. This was the first test I really felt fatigued as I was taking it and by the end of the day.

Thoughts
You either know it or you don't. Some answers are plain obvious, but then you'll find yourself second guessing those obvious answers. A lot of questions you will be between two answers and you could see how both may be correct (but I am sure if I had spent the time to memorize it, it wouldn't be so grey). I suggest you memorize as much as you can. I was lazy and didn't want to put in that work, but realize I would've probably felt much better during the test had I stored more things in my rote memory. Harder than the steps. Test has next to nothing to do with what you learn/do in residency.

Bottom line
I walked out feeling terrible with a legit feeling I could've failed. I passed with a margin I am also not necessarily comfortable with (so... consistent). I'm relieved and glad I don't have to take this test again.
 
Does anyone know anything about the MOC changes that are expected to start in the next year or two? From the website it looks like they're going to give an alternative to 10 year recertification exam. Anyone know any specifics about this?
 
Does anyone know anything about the MOC changes that are expected to start in the next year or two? From the website it looks like they're going to give an alternative to 10 year recertification exam. Anyone know any specifics about this?
No.

Hold off on registering for MOC as long as you can. Give them as little money as possible for now.
 
I was "Not Certified" over the weekend and all this week. The score report came to my email this morning at 7:59AM PDT. As expected, I failed.

I am looking for a study partner. I had one in the past and it was very helpful. I am happy to say my study partner passed this year and overcame this challenging examination. If you are interested, please message me privately. We can discuss geographic logistics, compatibility, and past historical performance and resources used. I intend to develop a strong study plan to attack this test and pass in 2017.

While it is natural for everyone to feel pity and despair over failure, I have experienced this multiple times now. This test is not a representation of the type of person you are, the type of physician you are, and the type of care that you provide to patients. It is only a measure of whether or not one answered enough questions correctly out of 240. And despite my multiple failures, I continue to forge ahead and know that I will overcome this obstacle.
 
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Passed (listed as certified Saturday and received score report Mon evening)

Background;
Exam delayed by two years as first year starting new fellowship and had busy schedule and second year had to cancel as I realized studying on a maternity leave was just not happening:confused:
Step 1: 230s
Step 2: 230s
Step 3: 210s
ITEs - never tried and was on overnight rotations for two of them, I think they were between 40-60th percentiles through the three years.

Current year; Chief fellow - had a relatively light first two months of the academic year but expecting baby #2:pacifier:

Study Prep;
- no studying during residency
- Started MKSAP 16 books about 2 months out from exam (read x 1 except for general medicine, heme/onc and critical care)
- Scored ~65-70% first time around MKSAP Qbank and annotated questions I got wrong in BB3
- Uworld 98% completed scored about 65% first time around, did one or two blocks of wrong questions and got ~80% second time around
- Had long studying days, about 8-10 hours a day or as long as my back would allow (books ONLY no laptop or phone to distract) Then another two hours after dinner doing questions. Luckily grandma was available to babysit the little one:happy:
- Crammed my BB3 during the week before exam

Anyway I left the exam feeling like "okay, I know I got dumb questions wrong but it can't be enough to fail". Like things that I knew but didn't recall in that moment of selecting an answer. These sorts of questions definitely showed up under my "medical knowledge points".

Bottom Line - I am pro- Uworld as I feel it has trained my mind to think the way the exam writers expect you too even though the questions may be a tad tougher. The explanations are gold and coupled with MKSAP BB I think is enough to pass comfortably.

P.S My husband took the ABIM the same day as well and passed by just doing MKSAP 17 in 3 months for whatever it's worth:whistle:

Goodluck to all!
 
Hi guys, logged in to give my two cents here - a somewhat different opinion.

Board Basics and MKSAP have everything you need to know not only to pass, but do very well. I used solely those two sources and scored 721.

Granted, some people are better test takers than others which makes a big deal in a somewhat arbitrary exam. But if you have reasonably solid test taking skills, there's no need to look anywhere other than MKSAP and BB.
 
Ok got my score report and scored a 590. U world Awesome and Mksap17 And choosing wisely.org and board basic for last 2 weeks
The test was tough with catches and tricks and straightforward questions where you think there's a trick.
My status got updated as certified on 16 th and score in the am today about 11 ish.
I came out of the test feeling miserable and having marked 10 to 15 questions per block.
I studied thinking I had poor ITE scores so would rather try to learn some concepts which will help my daily practices. Actual exam is trivia and buzz words but the prep is what I think exposed me to some concepts with greater depths and that was the silver lining to this "dark cloud" of test.
Dr Rahman is very good if you sincerely prep with awesome review honestly will help you about 50 to 60 percent of questions. Rest is what you pick up and a good 30 percent of the test is from another galaxy.
Glad it's over and will prep for subspecialty in 1 year. Hopefully MOC would be buried deep, never to wake up in some ocean floor on another planet.
 
About me: nota good test taker, struggled all through med school, below average step 1, above average step 2/3. at morning report I did not usually know the answer to questions but was good at admitting and taking care of patients.

My score was not great (a little below average) but this is how I passed:

I started studying in June but did not really study hard until 3 weeks before the test. I was in a busy fellowship and there were two full weeks on service in July when I did not even touch a book or do a single question

I used 3 sources:
--MKSAP questions- I got the digital one that has an app for the phone and put them into random blocks. I would do questions everywhere (waiting for the elevator, in line at lunch, waiting for conference to start…) . The questions are not like the test questions but teach some of the material. I did not do that well on these, averaged 62%. I did not finish the questions, I still had 200 left by the time I took the test. I initially had planned to do all questions once and repeat the ones I got wrong, this was a pipe dream
--ABIM review course (the video lectures). Watched 80% of these on my computer. Most of these were great ! Doug Pauw is a fantastic lecturer and wrote the Boards Basic Book . Overall for me this course was just a good way to stay focused and have someone say some of the Boards Basics info out loud. Some of the lectures were bad and I would skip them. The video lectures are perfect in that they can be paused and watched any time. I could barely pay attention for the 1 hour, I can’t imagine doing an all day review class and absorbing anything meaningful from it.
-- MOST important resource- Boards Basic. I had planned to read this 3 times but the book is so dense, it is crazy. I couldn’t even completely read it though once. but I think every word in this book is important, even tiny details from this book showed up on the test. After the test I looked through this book and found a lot of answers to questions I had missed.

I thought about getting Uworld, I tried the sample free questions on the website and got all of them wrong so I decided it was “too hard” and did not buy. Glad I didn’t because I didn’t even have time to finish MKSAP. After I took the test though I was regretting it. Also surprised by all the love uWorld is getting on here, at my program I didn’t know a single person doing uworld
The one thing I could have done differently that would have boosted my score would be to have finished mksap and repeat the questions I got wrong, plus read Boards Basics X3 and memorize it.

Overall I’d say 1/2 of this test is crazy detailed and I flat out did not know the answer to at least 1/3 of test (like kind of got at what they were asking but had no idea what the answer was). 1/3 I narrowed it down to two answer choices but then had no idea. It is on everything (!) you can think of. There isn’t room to know all of this information so just try your best.

I do not think this test is at all a measure of how “good” of a doctor you are or anything meaningful at all but am relieved to have passed. I will never take this test again . F you ABIM. Lets band together and say ENOUGH.
 
Mksap17 questions don't seem to be as good at Mksap16. It feels like it was hastily put together. The explanations are copy/pasted from the text and sometimes don't directly address why other answer choices are incorrect. The GUI is not fluid and not similar to the ABIM testing software. There are no diagrams or tables. I'm quite disappointed by the lack of quality.

UWorld on the other hand has been pretty stellar.

I'm scoring around 65-72% in Uworld (tutor, unused) and 60-66% in MKSAP17..

Passed and scored 2 standard deviations above mean.

UWorld/MKSAP17 more than enough. Just grind through 3-4 blocks/day and mark/highlight anything that's not clear to you.
 
Congratulations everyone!
 
Passed! It wasn't pretty (was a crappy, below average score in the 450s IIRC) but after taking that wacky test I don't friggin care. I passed. Done with that nonsense for now.

High yield resources were BB3 (this was clutch - read it like FA for step 1), Uworld and to a lesser extent MKSAP.

For the record, I had mid 70s on all ITEs, 237/249 on steps 1/2 (896 on Comlex 3).
 
Do future employers/academic institutions ask for ABIM score report? How do they verify that the candidate has passed the exam?
 
Do future employers/academic institutions ask for ABIM score report? How do they verify that the candidate has passed the exam?
Many (but not all) care about whether you're certified. No one cares about your score report.

When you do credentialing in the future they may ask for a copy of your certificate (which we'll get in 1-2 months) or just look you up. The test is otherwise truly pass/fail.
 
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Do future employers/academic institutions ask for ABIM score report? How do they verify that the candidate has passed the exam?

I'll reiterate again what I mentioned earlier. Nobody ever cares about your score ever. It's a pass fail exam.
 
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So does this thread become totally inactive again now?
 
Failed by 8 points . Got 362 feeling miserable . Do you think I shud ask for rescoring ? Anyone heard about someone passing after rescoring ?
Please help I was 100% sure I passed
 
Exam experience
I passed !, I studied like crazy for this exam, about 6 months.
Few points I learned:
You can easily fail the exam if you don't take seriously.
Remember, they are testing about management in most of the cases, which very easy to forget especially don't see these cases that often in the real life.
Find a study partner, trust me, if you never done it in the past think about it seriously this time. It will help you tremendously.

Exam Materials:

Board Basics: It a very essential book, has a lot of what you need to pass this exam, BUT you need to keep doing it as many time as you can, you will like it after the 3rd round. I did it 4 times, some topics 5 times. I skipped general internal medicine and oncology because there a lot of unnecessary info, non of that showed in the exam, save your time for important subjects.

MKSAP: I did half of it when I was doing my first round of Board Basics. It can help you in early stages of preparing of the exam but definitely way easier than the actual exam.

UW: This is the key, by far the best source ever, very organized, hard to similar to the exam, you feel the exam is in you reach and between your hand when you do this qbank, and the good thing about Focus on what he is focusing on because these guys did great jobs. Don't be frustrate about your score. I did twice, got 67% first time, I whished i had more time to just reading and reading. Please be aware, don't just try to memorize the questions, try to fully understand the concept behind every question. By the way, most of these concepts are mentioned in BB

Awesome Review: I went to these courses. I did not like them at all, WHY?. His notes are so disorganized, with some random facts, you need to have a process of thoughts, which you will miss big time here, you have to write everything he says in the lecture or you will not get anything, and he speaks really fast. I did half of his notes with study partner, I just felt memorizing a qbank. There are certainly some good topics there, but the guy come up with some facts that you wonder why the hell would they ask about them, and yet you see them there. He must have an insider. This is my 2 cents about these notes I hope I'm wrong. I have some friend they swear by these notes but all of them they did not tast the beauty of BB.

My score: 590, I'm quiet average resident

Bottom line : It is all about having clear concepts no matter what sources you do. If you did good in your USMLE, you can do it with this one again.

Good luck everybody
 
I don't find my score report very helpful. Anyone know about what % of the questions you have to answer correctly to pass? to get average? Or is this top secret info hidden by the ABIM ...
 
I don't find my score report very helpful. Anyone know about what % of the questions you have to answer correctly to pass? to get average? Or is this top secret info hidden by the ABIM ...
http://www.abim.org/about/exam-information/score-report.aspx

To pass the examination, your standardized score must equal or exceed the standardized passing score. The passing standard for each ABIM Subspecialty exam is established using standard-setting techniques that follow best practices in the testing industry. The standard for each certification exam is set by the designated ABIM Subspecialty Board or Test Committee. Members of the specialty boards and test committees are nationally recognized specialists whose combined expertise encompasses the breadth of clinical knowledge in the specialty area. Members include both clinical educators and practitioners, incorporating the perspectives of both the training and practice environments. In setting the passing standard, the committee considers several factors, including relevant changes to the knowledge base of the field as well as changes in the characteristics of minimally qualified candidates for certification.

The passing standard for an exam is based on a specified level of mastery of content in the specialty area. Therefore, no predetermined percentage of examinees will pass or fail the exam. The committee sets a content-based standard, using the modified-Angoff method. This evidence-based method asks raters to conceptualize and estimate what a specialist who is just barely qualified to merit certification would be able to do. For each question, the rater is asked, “What is the probability that this type of physician will correctly answer this question?” The raters' judgments are systematically combined to derive the passing standard on the standardized score scale.

Following best practices in the testing industry, standards are periodically reviewed for appropriateness and may be adjusted. If the committee determines that the current standard is no longer appropriate, based on its judgment of the cognitive expertise essential for certification, it will set a new standard using the process described above. This new standard will then be periodically reviewed to ensure its continuing appropriateness.
TL;DR: The modified-Angoff method means different questions are worth different amounts of points. Missing an easy one is a lot worse than missing a hard one. Percentage questions right is a meaningless number.
 
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I don't find my score report very helpful. Anyone know about what % of the questions you have to answer correctly to pass? to get average? Or is this top secret info hidden by the ABIM ...
Each question is weighted. So, top secret hidden info.
 
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