The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) released the results of the 2024 Qualifying Examination (QE) on Monday, November 25, 2024. The pass rate for first-time test takers is 82%, and for all test takers, the pass rate is 80%. This is lower than 2023 (88% and 86% respectively) and follows a multi-year trend.
ABEM recognizes that failing the QE has a significant impact on physicians who now will need to re-take the QE. We understand the downstream impacts of failing the exam this year.
During the over two years of stakeholder feedback during the Becoming Certified Initiative, ABEM heard from the specialty that maintaining high standards was of paramount importance. ABEM is committed to these high standards by maintaining the current standard for the QE.
This examination was not more difficult. The passing standard for the QE was determined in 2019. Since then, all subsequent exams have been psychometrically equated to this standard which means the exam difficulty has remained unchanged since 2019. Due to the magnitude of this year’s decline, ABEM verified that this is a real decline in performance and not a function of a more difficult examination or other measurement issue.
This year’s QE exam performance result follows a six-year trend of declining performance on both the In-Training Examination (ITE) and the QE. ABEM is committed to working with the EM community to identify factors associated with a decline in examination performance.
ABEM seeks to answer questions and provide support on the next steps for all physicians in the certification process. Candidates and others with questions are encouraged to contact qualify@abem.org.
