ABR Core Exam study guide
ABR Core Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Qualifying (Core) Exam is the American Board of Radiology's initial certification assessment for Diagnostic Radiology and Interventional Radiology/Diagnostic Radiology candidates, designed to assess skills and knowledge across the broad scope of both disciplines. Its content spans clinical practice domains across all imaging modalities, imaging physics, and noninterpretive skills. The exam is image rich and emphasizes image interpretation, which the ABR notes is best learned through clinical experience supplemented by in-depth reading to improve understanding of the range of presentations of any disease. Because the breadth of the exam can be intimidating, the ABR publishes preparation resources organized by clinical practice domain, each with three components: Domain Critical Concepts (the skills and knowledge expected by the end of the third year of training), Domain Blueprint (estimated percentage of specific content on any administration), and Domain Overview (a list of diagnoses that could be assessed, defining domain scope). The ABR Core Exam study guide has 3 sections and about 2,247 words.
01Clinical Practice: Thoracic and Cardiovascular Imaging
Chest radiography hinges on a systematic search pattern (airway, bones, cardiac silhouette, diaphragm, effusion, fields, gastric bubble, hila, hardware). Know the silhouette sign (loss of border indicates adjacent opacity) and air bronchograms as markers of alveolar rather than interstitial disease.
251 words, about 1 min02Clinical Practice: Abdominal Imaging
Abdominal imaging questions test pattern recognition across modalities. For the acute abdomen, know when ultrasound is first-line (right upper quadrant pain suggesting cholelithiasis, pelvic pain suggesting adnexal torsion) versus CT (nonspecific abdominal pain, suspected diverticulitis, small bowel obstruction).
238 words, about 1 min03Clinical Practice: Neuroradiology
Head CT remains the first study for acute neurologic presentations. Know the signs of acute infarction (loss of gray-white differentiation, insular ribbon sign, hyperdense MCA sign) and that CT is often normal in the first hours.
1,758 words, about 9 min