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Medical Oncology Maintenance of Certification Assessments

Medical Oncology MOC Exam Content

Blueprint for the Medical Oncology MOC Exam

ABIM updated the Medical Oncology MOC exam blueprint (pdf)—the exam content outline—to ensure the exam reflects what oncologists find most important.

  • An invitation to review the MOC blueprint was sent to all oncologists holding valid certification in the field.
  • Participants were asked to rate the frequency of blueprint topics in their practice and the importance of individual tasks (e.g., diagnosis, patient care) within those topics.
  • These ratings, along with Medicare patient visit data, informed adjustments to the distribution of medical content areas.
  • Going forward, blueprint review will occur on an ongoing basis to ensure that all MOC assessments reflect what endocrinologists themselves judge to be important to know in their practice.
  • The blueprint shows which topics were rated low-frequency and reports the importance ratings for all topics and tasks in the blueprint.
  • The blueprint also describes how ABIM is using the ratings to update the MOC exam by emphasizing high-importance content and limiting low-frequency topics.

Exam Content

The detailed Medical Oncology Maintenance of Certification exam blueprint for the traditional MOC exam (pdf) includes content areas covered and their relative percentages on a typical exam.

Exam Administration

Multiple editions, or “forms,” of the exam are used, and they may differ in question order and content. Some questions require the interpretation of illustrative materials such as electrocardiograms, radiographs and photomicrographs (e.g., blood films, Gram stains, urine sediments).

Exam Development

A complete description of the process used to develop ABIM exams is available in How Exams Are Developed. Topics include:

  • Pretesting
  • Question content criteria
  • Question-writing process
  • Question review/editing process
  • Relevance review

Question Format

The exam consists of single-best-answer questions only. This type of question consists of a brief statement, case history, graph or picture followed by a question and list of possible options. You must choose the one answer that is better than the others; note that other options may be partially correct. Familiarizing yourself with the question format in advance may help you work more effectively. Take the tutorial.

Copyright and Examination Non-Disclosure Policy

All ABIM materials are protected by the federal Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101, et seq. Access to all such materials, as further detailed below, is strictly conditioned upon agreement to abide by ABIM's rights under the Copyright Act and to maintain examination confidentiality.

ABIM assessments are confidential, in addition to being protected by federal copyright and trade secret laws. Candidates and diplomates who undertake assessments agree that they will not copy, reproduce, adapt, disclose or transmit assessments, in whole or in part, before or after taking an assessment, by any means now known or hereafter invented. They further agree that they will not reconstruct assessment content from memory, by dictation, or by any other means or otherwise discuss assessment content with others. Candidates and Diplomates further acknowledge that disclosure or any other use of ABIM assessment content constitutes professional misconduct and may expose them to criminal as well as civil liability, and may also result in ABIM's imposition of penalties against them, including but not limited to, invalidation of assessment results, exclusion from future assessments, suspension or revocation of Board Certification and other sanctions.

With respect to ABIM's Maintenance of Certification (MOC) products, including its medical knowledge modules and ABIM PIMs Practice Improvement Modules®, candidates agree that they will not copy, reproduce or make any adaptations of such materials in any manner; and will not assist someone else in the infringement or misuse of these or any other ABIM-copyrighted works.