Content Specifications
The Core Content of EMS Medicine is the basis for all EMS examination content. The 2019 Core Content of Emergency Medical Services Medicine defines the content for the initial certification examination for EMS.
Core Content of EMS Medicine [Word]
Core Content of EMS Medicine [PDF]
It is published in Prehospital Emergency Care.
The distribution of test questions on the 2020 EMS Cognitive Expertise Examination by Core Content areas are as follows:
Clinical Aspects of EMS Medicine 40%
Medical Oversight of EMS 30%
Quality Management and Research 15%
Special Operations 15%
Sample Exam Questions
Notification of Examination Results
Results are mailed and posted online within 90 days the last day of the examination administration. ABEM will send an email to candidates notifying them when scores are available. ABEM cannot release your scores over the phone or email. Maintaining up-to-date contact information through your ABEM Personal Page will ensure you receive the results as soon as possible.
Passing Criterion and Scoring
The EMS Cognitive Expertise Exam is criterion referenced. A criterion-referenced exam uses a predetermined standard, against which all candidates are evaluated. All candidates meeting the standard will pass the exam. Quotas or required percentages of candidates passing are not used to determine the passing score.
Your final score on the EMS Cognitive Expertise Exam will be determined by first adding together the number of scored questions you answered correctly. This number-correct score will be used to determine your final score, which will range from 0 to 100.
Determining a Passing Score
Best practice in testing suggests that the passing score for an examination be substantially connected to the content and performance standards defined by The Core Content of EMS Medicine.
In order to maintain this connection, the passing score is typically reviewed every five to seven years, or when the format or content of the exam changes significantly (such as when the Core Content is revised). The process involves a representative panel of clinically active, EMS-certified physicians who are trained in a process called “standard setting.” This process requires the participating physicians to thoroughly understand the Core Content. The panelists then evaluate each test question and assess how a candidate who meets the ABEM standard would perform. The panel then recommends a passing standard (score) to the EMS Subboard. The Subboard weighs this recommendation and uses it to determine a final passing score. The passing score for the EMS Cognitive Expertise Examination was last examined in 2018. The pass rate for the EMS Cognitive Expertise Examination is 75%.
2021 EMS Cognitive Expertise Examination Scoring FAQs
Statement on Research
ABEM reserves the right to conduct and report research studies of its examinations and its examination data to benefit the specialty and for purposes of quality control and examination development. Individual candidate information will never be reported as part of the research. Your right to confidentiality will be strictly upheld.
ABEM also reserves the right to include, in any examination, certain questions or cases for the purposes of research and validation. These items will not be used in scoring for certification.
Disclaimer
Passing the EMS Cognitive Expertise Examination early does not renew your certificate. If all EMS continuing certification requirements are completed, certification will be renewed on January 1 of the year following the expiration of your current certificate.