ABR Will Transition to New Diagnostic Radiology Oral Exam in 2028

The American Board of Radiology (ABR) announced that beginning in calendar year 2028 and first applying to DR residents completing training in June 2027 (entering their R1 year in July 2023), the certifying exam for DR will be the new DR Oral Exam. From that point on, a candidateʼs first opportunity to take the new DR Oral Exam will be the calendar year following completion of their DR residency. All DR candidates taking the DR Certifying Exam after 2027 will be required to take the new DR Oral Exam regardless of when they completed residency training. The ABR anticipates having two exam administrations per year.

The DR Qualifying (Core) Examʼs content, format, and timing will remain unchanged.

As part of continuing efforts to improve testing, particularly in light of technologic advancements implemented during the pandemic, the new DR Oral Exam will be an online exam taken in a location of the candidateʼs choosing.

The new DR Oral Exam will include select critical findings as well as common and important diagnoses routinely encountered in general DR practice, focusing on examples that optimally assess observation skills, communication, judgment, and reasoning (application of knowledge learned during residency).

It is not meant to represent a comprehensive review of clinical content. The oral exam aims to assess higher-level skills that are needed to be an effective diagnostic radiologist and are valued by referring physicians and patients.

To mitigate subjectivity and potential bias inherent in an oral exam, examiners will use a standard set of cases, and detailed rubrics will be used to score each candidate. This is an improvement over the prior oral exam model and is facilitated by current technology, including software developed specifically for this purpose by the ABR and currently used for oral exams in the three other disciplines (interventional radiology, radiation oncology, and medical physics). As in the past, examiner panels will meet after each session to discuss candidate results to ensure fairness and consistency. A conditioned exam result will be possible. The panels will be balanced for geography, gender, and new versus experienced examiners.