Candidate Information Booklet
To assist you with your Pain Medicine Examination Application and results process, ABFM provides you with a Candidate Information Booklet that includes a comprehensive description of your requirements and policies. We recommend that you read this thoroughly before beginning the application process.
Pain Medicine
Candidate Information Booklet(s):
2023 [PDF, 344KB]
2024 [PDF, 260KB]
Test Center Selection
Once you have completed all of the application requirements, ABFM will notify the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) that your application has been approved and you are eligible to select a testing date, time, and location.
ABA will contact you via email within 2-3 weeks of your application being approved with test center reservation instructions. You may schedule an appointment online with ABA’s testing vendor, Pearson VUE, for any day that the examination is offered, depending on seat availability. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis, and availability is continuously changing.
Examination Content
The Pain Medicine Examination is jointly developed by the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA), the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR), and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The half-day computer-based exam is designed to recognize excellence among physicians who are specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of the entire range of painful disorders.
To review the complete Pain Medicine Examination blueprint, please visit the ABA Website.
HOw do I REquest to have my examination rescored?
ABFM offers the opportunity to have your CAQ examination rescored if you send a completed request form with a check for the appropriate amount within 14 days of the official release of the score reports. However, we strongly discourage this because the probability of an examination being incorrectly scored is extremely remote. ABFM and the other participating medical specialty certification boards employ many quality control procedures to ensure that all examinations are scored accurately. The quality control process is extensive and is the primary reason that it takes several weeks to provide candidates with their results.
Typically, the review is limited to verifying (1) that the responses as scored were indeed made by the candidate and (2) that the scoring process correctly transformed the candidate’s responses into a scaled score. This review is not a review of the content of the items, or a reconsideration of what the correct answer should be. It is also not a reconsideration of the passing standard or of the acceptability of the testing conditions. The review is limited by the policies of the medical specialty certification board that administers the test.
The American Board of Family Medicine administers the Sports Medicine examination. The American Board of Pediatrics administers the Adolescent Medicine examination. The American Board of Internal Medicine administers the Geriatric Medicine, Sleep Medicine, and Hospice & Palliative Medicine examinations.
If you wish to request a rescore of your examination, please click the link below to print the form, fill it out, and send it with the required check to the ABFM.
