Standard Setting

Certification examinations

• The ABPN utilizes a criterion-referenced approach to standard setting. That is, there are no preset pass/fail rates for any group of examinees (referred to as norm-referenced approaches). It is always possible for all examinees to pass an examination.
• Periodically a standard setting study is conducted by the committee chairs and other board-certified physicians in the field who are not current test development committee members. During a 2-day meeting, they review all of the items on the examination and use well-established, evidence-based procedures to set the passing standard for the examination.
• After the standard has been set, statistical procedures are used to equate the pass/fail standard across different versions of the same examination.
• This phase typically takes 2-4 weeks.

• • Trainees / Candidates — Becoming Certified
  • Diplomates — Continuing Certification (CC)
  • Training Program Directors & Program Administrators
  • Patients & Credentialers