Correlation of standardized testing results with success on the 2001 American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Part 1 Board Certificate Examination.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if standardized testing results and other factors correlate with success on the 2001 American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation part 1 board certification examination (POE).

DESIGN: An anonymous two-part survey was distributed to 302 senior resident physicians in the American College of Graduate Medicine Education-accredited physical medicine and rehabilitation training programs in the United States deemed eligible for the 2001 POE.

RESULTS: A total of 94 of 302 distributed surveys (31.1%) were returned; 86 met the inclusion criteria (81 passes and five failures). A significant correlation was found between both quartile ranking on the Self Assessment Examination and United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) passage on the first attempt with POE quartile rank (P < 0.01). Other factors, such as number of hours of faculty-led didactics per week, textbook use, and participation in formal board review courses did not correlate with POE quartile ranking.

CONCLUSION: Residents who were successful on previous standardized tests scored well on the POE. Quartile ranking on Self Assessment Examination and USMLE or National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners success was found to correlate significantly with POE quartile rank. This information may be helpful for future POE preparation and prospective candidate selection for physical medicine and rehabilitation.