This petition is to change the ABEM (written) Qualifying Exam for future years. Questions need to be vetted differently to ensure they are a valid standard for candidates to be judged. We spend hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars in preparation. We pay hundreds of dollars for the opportunity to sit for the exam itself. We do this because we respect this board certification, and candidates deserve a better test of our knowledge and dedication.

I am an emergency medicine physician that took the 2023 ABEM (written) Qualifying Exam for the first time this year, and was extremely disappointed in the quality of the test questions. In preparation for the test, I used a variety of resources, including practice questions from PEER, Rosh Review, HippoEM, and Board Vitals. Although all of these have pros and cons, they were all much better quality than the questions that were presented on my actual exam. 

This test is supposed to determine the test taker’s competency to practice emergency medicine. By review of experiences in online emergency medicine communities, it seems that the exam used to succeed at this goal with only minor complaints. Every year there are test takers that dispute relevance; for instance whether or not we need to know autoantibodies for some rheumatological conditions, etc. However, this year it is not just about arguable relevance. 

The 2023 ABEM (written) Qualifying Exam was full of ambiguous question stems and answer choices. Multiple questions were lacking basic information such as omission of the most important vital signs; it did not provide necessary information to make diagnoses or management decisions. Many questions used unusual terminology that seemed to be trying to “trick” the test taker into choosing the wrong answer; it was full of “gotcha questions” that seemed hostile and unfair. The test this year had multiple errors including typos and timeline discrepancies in question stems. The questions with “stimulus” media to view were blurry or otherwise difficult to interpret because of the poor quality.

I am not alone in my disappointment and dissatisfaction in this exam. In the past few years there have been mounting complaints, culminating in the frustration with this year’s exam. This is not the quality or respect I expected from the most eminent emergency medicine certification board. The test needs to be changed.