All senior residents who took the May 2012 Oral Board exam passed. All residents who took the September 2010 physics and 2011 diagnostic written exams passed. None of our current residents need to take the physics or diagnostic written exams. This is the ninth consecutive year that all residents have passed the oral board exam. Our five year oral board pass rate for 2006-2010 as reported by the ABR is 100%. This rate puts us in the top quintile of all programs. (The official results for 2007-2011 should be released in 2012, the results for 2008-2012 are pending as well.) For 2005-2009, 36 programs in the country had a 100% pass rate. Since the ABR reports results for 184 programs, the programs with a 100% pass rate represent 20% of all programs (the top quintile). Just as we consider USMLE scores in the context of the total applicant, applicants should consider our pass rate as one of many factors (research opportunities, plans for fourth year minifellowships, impact that new ACGME duty hours may have on the program, and preparation for private practice or fellowship) when determining which program is the "best fit". The ABR is concerned that the pass rate rankings would be considered an ABR endorsement of a program. This is not the case. It should be stressed that the ABR exam is designed "soley for the purpose of distinguishing those who have (from those who have not) acquired and demonstrated the requisite standard of knowledge, skill and understanding essential to the practice of radiology". Perhaps for this reason, many insurance companies will only reimburse ABR certified radiologists.
The oral board exam will be replaced with a new comprehensive computer based exam, the "Core Exam" to be administered at the end of the third year, beginning with the class entering 2010. We are monitoring the progress of this exam as it is being created. The first Core Exam is tentatively scheduled to be administered the week of September 30-Oct 4, 2013. The Core Exam timing was delayed so that two classes were not studying for ABR exams at the same time. (The last regular oral board exam is tentatively scheduled for the week of June 2-5, 2013.) Future Core Exams will be scheduled earlier in the residency. The ABR recently issued a study guide. More information can be found at the ABR website.
Since our program has prepared residents successfully for the oral board exam, we are confident that we will be successful in preparing residents for the "Core Exam" as well. Beginning with the class of 2014, the ABR will report rankings based on the "core exam" pass rate. |  A note about ABR Program rankings: The ABR used to assign "rankings" based solely on the oral board 5 year pass rate. Therefore, if 36 programs had a 100% pass rate, they would be tied for the number 1 ranking. Unlike other ranking systems, the ABR assigned the next lower pass rate a number 2 ranking (as opposed to number 37 as one might expect). Concerned that students would consider these "rankings" an official endorsement, the ABR switched to the quintile system when reporting the 2006-2010 results. The 5th quintile now includes the programs with the highest pass rates. |