AOBP Pediatrics Written Exam: Primary Certification Guide

This guide covers the American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics (AOBP) Pediatrics Written Exam for initial primary certification in Pediatrics. It does not cover Osteopathic Continuous Certification, Neonatology subspecialty certification, or conjoint examinations.

The AOBP describes the exam as a remotely proctored written multiple-choice assessment of basic-science and clinical knowledge, skills, and principles relevant to Pediatrics. Passing the written exam is part of the certification process; candidates in training must still have training completion verified before the AOA can certify them.

The overall score is based on the total number of items answered correctly. When content-area results are provided, they are diagnostic and are not separately weighted into the overall score. This is a written MCQ exam, not an oral examination or OSCE. The board’s retired sample items illustrate formats; the board says they are not a study guide.

The AOBP describes these percentages as guidelines, not fixed item counts, and notes that a question may reflect more than one category.

Preventive care and immunizations, infectious diseases, neonatal medicine, and mental and behavioral health are among the larger guideline categories. Smaller categories remain part of the published outline, including Osteopathic principles and practice.

The AOBP’s stated requirements for this primary-certification exam include:

• Medical school: Graduate from a COCA-accredited college of osteopathic medicine or an LCME-accredited medical school in the United States or Canada. Graduates of medical schools outside the United States or Canada may also be eligible if they hold a valid ECFMG certificate without expired examination dates.
• Residency: Complete a three-year osteopathic or allopathic ACGME-accredited pediatric residency.
• Applying during residency: A third-year resident may apply before completing residency if, by the exam date, they will have completed at least 30 months of residency or 80% of the program’s total rotations.
• Certification after residency: A passing result does not lead to certification until training completion is verified by AOA Postdoctoral Education.
• Other requirements: The board also requires adherence to the AOA Code of Ethics, a completed application, required payment, and training-status verification.

For the application route, fees, exam dates, and deadlines, use the AOBP’s current Written Exam and Applications and Payment information. Confirm the details for the cycle you plan to take; do not rely on information from an earlier cycle.

Prioritize by the blueprint

Start with preventive care and immunizations, infectious diseases, neonatal medicine and newborn care, mental and behavioral health, and the other higher-percentage categories. Then work through the full outline, including Osteopathic principles and practice, ethics, public health, child protection, and research methodology. Use the percentages to organize study time, not as a reason to skip smaller categories.

Practice the exam format

Use timed blocks of 50 questions in 60 minutes to match a published session. Include choose-one-best-answer items, matching sets, and practice interpreting visual exhibits. After each block, review missed questions and classify the cause—for example, a knowledge gap, misreading, interpretation error, or pacing issue—then revisit the underlying topic.

Rehearse remote testing

Because the exam is remotely proctored, check the current AOA testing instructions and complete any required technical preparation well before exam day. Use the AOA platform practice exam to learn the interface if useful; it is not specialty-specific.

• Keep pathways distinct. This guide concerns initial primary certification through the Pediatrics Written Exam. Osteopathic Continuous Certification, Neonatology subspecialty certification, and conjoint examinations are separate AOBP pathways.
• Check cycle-specific information. Use the current AOBP application and exam-date information for the cycle you plan to take. The board’s Written Exam page includes application and deadline guidance; follow its current instructions rather than relying on older dates or amounts.
• Know the review process. The AOBP accepts written-exam scoring-review requests within its stated post-result period. Its appeal process addresses qualifying procedural or administrative concerns; the board does not consider appeals based on exam content, answer sufficiency or accuracy, scoring, or the minimum passing score.
• Protect exam content. AOA policies prohibit unauthorized assistance, discussing the exam while a session is in progress, and reproducing or reconstructing exam content.