Become Certified
One-Day Exam
Designed to regularly assess and measure clinical knowledge, the one-day exam serves to assure the public that you are up to date and aware of the best practices in medical care across the wide spectrum of illnesses treated by family physicians.
To obtain initial certification, you must pass the Family Medicine Certification Examination (one-day exam), which is administered in April and November each year.
Key Information to Know:
- You may begin the application process before completing initial certification requirements, but all requirements must be met before your application is approved. Once approved, you may schedule a testing appointment.
- Your expected residency completion date determines your exam eligibility. You can find information on eligibility on the Dates and Deadlines page.
- The exam is administered by Prometric in a secure, computer-based, and standardized format.
- The exam day schedule consists of four 95-minute sections (75 questions each) and 100 minutes of pooled break time available between sections.
- All questions are single best answer, multiple-choice format.
- The exam blueprint outlines the targeted percentage of questions dedicated to each content category and can be used to guide your study plan.
- To help you prepare, ABFM offers several one-day exam resources.
- If you do not pass the exam, you may re-attempt provided that eligibility and application requirements are met.
Learn More
For complete information about the one-day exam, please visit the Family Medicine Certification Examination (one-day exam) page.
