Get certified in
Emergency Medical Services
Certification Exam
Dates & Fees | |
| Exam Date | October 16 & 17, 2025 (Offered in odd-numbered years) |
| Application & Registration Window | June 2 – 11:59 p.m. on October 3, 2025 |
| Application Fee* | $470 |
| Exam Registration Fee* | $1,745 |
What is EMS?
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) involves prehospital emergency patient care, including initial patient stabilization, treatment, and transport to hospitals in specially equipped ambulances or helicopters.
How This Subspecialty Works
Person or Entity | Responsibility |
| Physician Candidate |
|
| American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM) |
|
| American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) | Develops and administers the EMS Certification Exam |
| ABEM’s EMS Subboard |
|
Eligibility Criteria
Physicians seeking to take the certification examination in Emergency Medical Services must:
- Be certified by an ABMS Member Board. AOBEM-certified physicians who have completed an ACGME-accredited EMS fellowship may apply through the training pathway.
- Successfully complete the training pathway as specified in the eligibility criteria.
- Complete and submit the application to ABEM
- Actively participate in the ABEM continuing certification process
- Fulfill the Policy on Medical Licensure
- Comply with the Policy on Board Eligibility for Subspecialties
If you are seeking access to the EMS application, first check your MyABEM portal to see if your eligibility has been pre-established and you already have access to apply.
If you do not currently have application access or you do not have an ABEM account, and believe you are eligible to pursue certification, you can request application access using this form: Request An Application
Exam Content
Core Content of EMS Medicine is the basis for all EMS examination content. It is published in Prehospital Emergency Care.
The distribution of test questions on the EMS Certification 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%
Certification Process
Apply
Accredited Fellowship Training Pathway
To apply via the accredited fellowship training pathway, access the online application by signing in to your MyABEM portal. If you do not currently have application access or you do not have an ABEM account, and believe you are eligible to pursue certification, you can request application access using this form: Request An Application.
For all applicants, the following must be submitted for an application to be complete:
- All information requested in the certification application
- Application and certification exam fee paid through the MyABEM portal
The application fee covers the cost of processing the application only and cannot be refunded.
A final review of an application will be completed when all information is received. Applications that are incomplete will be closed by February of the following year. Physicians with closed applications who want to take the exam must submit new applications and meet all requirements in place at the time the new application is submitted.
The application fee and exam fee are paid at the same time during application submission, and physicians are considered registered at that time.
ABEM emails notification regarding whether the physician’s application has been approved.
Scheduling
After paying the exam fee, scheduling will open in your MyABEM portal.
The EMS Certification Examination appointment time is approximately 8 hours. This criterion-referenced exam has 300 multiple choice questions, each with a single-best answer.
After check-in, the Pearson VUE test administrator will seat you in the testing room. Each EMS Exam appointment is 8 hours in length. However, only 6 hours and 20 minutes of this time is actual testing time, which is divided into two separately timed testing sessions.
Approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes of the appointment time is devoted to a one-hour scheduled break between the two testing sessions, and several accessory activities related to the exam administration. These accessory activities include acceptance of the ABEM Policy on Examination Irregularities, an optional test tutorial, examination instructions, and a candidate survey
Results & Scoring
The EMS Certification Exam is criterion referenced. A criterion-referenced exam uses a predetermined standard, which is adopted by the EMS Subboard as reflecting its performance standards (The Core Content of EMS Medicine). All candidates meeting the standard will pass the exam. Quotas or required percentages of candidates passing are not used to determine the passing score.
The score on the exam is not a percent correct; rather, it is a scaled score that ranges from 0 to 195 and does not include field test items. In addition to the field-testing process, each question receives a thorough review before being used to score the examination. Questions that do not meet the Subboard’s quality standards are not used in determining candidates’ final scores.
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 EMS 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 Certification Examination was determined in 2017. The pass rate for the 2023 EMS Certification Examination is 78%.
2023 EMS Certification Examinations Scoring FAQs
Results
Exam results are posted on a physician’s MyABEM portal within 90 days of the date of the examination. Physicians are notified via email when results are available.
