Applications for the Re-Entry Exam will be available at www.abog.org beginning in January 2026, but the physician must contact the ABOG Office of Medical Standards and Assessments for access to the online application here. No application will be accepted after March 15, 2026. A nonrefundable combined exam and CC fee of $2,055 for specialty, or $2,525 for subspecialty, must be paid at the time of application. No application will be processed without payment of the application fee and submission of all required documents.
When a diplomate’s application has been approved, an approval email will be sent to each applicant at the email address currently listed in the Profile Section of the applicant’s personal ABOG portal when they are approved to take the examination. The approval email will contain information for contacting a Pearson VUE Testing Center to schedule a seat for the examination. After the approval email from ABOG is received, the diplomate must contact Pearson VUE to obtain a seat for the examination. Diplomates are urged to obtain a seat as soon as possible after notification of approval to avoid long-distance travel to a site with an available seat since ABOG-reserved seats held at Pearson Vue centers will not be held past seat block release deadline date. After that date, it will be harder for candidates to reserve a seat at their preferred site. Seats in individual cities are limited and are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. ABOG will not refund any portion of the test fee if a candidate is not able to reserve a seat at their preferred testing center. Once diplomates have secured a seat, Pearson VUE will send a confirmation email with details to include the test center address. Diplomates are encouraged to save this email as ABOG is unable to resend Pearson VUE seat reservation emails. If special accommodations are required, those requests must be received no later than the close of the application period and should be submitted here. It may not be possible to accommodate requests received after the close of the application period. It is the diplomate’s responsibility to complete all steps to confirm the accommodation with the Pearson VUE Accommodations Scheduling Department. A confirmed accommodation will be reflected on the seat reservation email sent by Pearson VUE. For more information, please review ABOG’s Accommodation Policies.
The diplomate will be expected to demonstrate skills necessary to apply the appropriate knowledge to the management of clinical problems. These skills include:
- obtaining needed information;
- interpretation and use of data obtained;
- selection, institution, and implementation of appropriate care;
- management of complications;
- follow-up and continuing care.
The exam consists of 230 single-best answer multiple-choice questions. Many of the questions are constructed to be thought-provoking and emphasize problem-solving. For most questions, all possible answers may be plausible, but only one answer is most correct. The exam will only be given in English. The content for all exams is determined by ABOG's scientific and psychometrically sound practices, and can be found on ABOG's website. Common abbreviations that may be used can also be found on the website. There is no sole source that will serve as the basis for all questions on the exam. ABOG does not sponsor or recommend review courses for the examination. Diplomates may want to be familiar with the topics that are assessed on the exam and current textbooks.
The exam is scheduled to last approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes. Candidates will receive information after registering on the Pearson VUE Testing Center website concerning the location of their exam, as well as the time they must arrive. Candidates will be required to schedule their exam seat reservation with an 8:00 AM start time in their time zone at a Pearson VUE location in the United States or Canada. Requests to take the exam at a Pearson VUE location outside of the US or Canada will be considered if the reason for the request is out of the control of the candidate (e.g., military deployment).
Specific conduct and expectations on day of testing at the Pearson VUE testing center can be found here, including the Test Security agreement.
In the event of unforeseen circumstances with the testing center, such as early termination of an examination or an interrupted examination, Pearson VUE will offer an option to reschedule your appointment within 5 business days of the original date (on or before the Friday of the week of the exam), and will strive to accommodate your preferred location, date, and time - pending availability at a given center. If the candidate does not take their exam within the required time frame, the exam fee will not be refunded and will not be credited toward future applications.
The results of the exam will be reported online to each diplomate on or before the last Friday in October. We recognize waiting close to 12 weeks for these important results is difficult and the format of the exam creates an expectation for immediate feedback. Please be assured during this post examination period, extensive quality assurance checks take place to ensure your test result is fair and accurate. For example, content on the exam is re-reviewed to identify potentially flawed questions. If ABOG determines a question with more than one correct answer (or no correct answer) was on the exam, test-takers will not be penalized for that item.
When results are released, ABOG will provide the diplomate their scaled test score in addition to the result of “pass” or “fail.” Each diplomate, regardless of whether they pass or fail, will be provided with the percent scored in each of the major topic areas. The cut point for passing the exam is determined using validated standard setting methodology every 3-5 years and is equated statistically between that time.
For more information, see ABOG’s policies on Rescores, Appeals, and Requests for Reexamination.