ABFM Board Preparation Advice and Study Guide

It’s time for the most critical step to becoming a certified family physician—the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) board exam. To practice family medicine, you must demonstrate your commitment to a higher standard of care. Board certification does just that. If you’re preparing for this vital exam, use this ABFM study guide to help you prepare and pass.

Create your study schedule

ABFM exam prep should always start with a thorough study schedule. Whether your exam date is in the spring or fall, mark your calendar and start planning backward. Narrow down a focus area for each week, and each area should relate to the ABFM exam blueprint.

Follow the ABFM Blueprint Breakdown

• Acute care and Diagnosis: 35%
• Chronic Care Management: 25%
• Emergent and Urgent Care: 20%
• Preventive Care: 15%
• Foundations of Care: 5%

Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses

It’s also best to study according to your strengths and weaknesses. Not sure what they are? Test your knowledge with TrueLearn, a smart ABFM question bank. The TrueLearn SmartBank has a unique performance dashboard to track your strengths, weaknesses, and progress in real-time. Plus, learners can enable SmartAlerts on missed questions to trigger spaced repetition notifications and revisit concepts that need extra attention.

Set Weekly Goals

Combining what you know about the blueprint and yourself, create a weighted schedule by week leading up to exam day. It’s a good idea to give yourself a couple of weeks for general review and taking practice exams towards the end. For example, if you have 12 weeks to prepare, spend the first 10 weeks breaking down and focusing on specific subjects. Then use the last two weeks doing a comprehensive review.

Sticking to your schedule is going to require discipline. If you don’t meet the goals you set for yourself each week, it’s just going to pile up and create stress, which is the last thing you need. 

Select your study resources

Quality resources matter. We’re here to help you choose your ABFM board prep resources wisely so you can study smarter, not harder.

1. Previous ITEs

Any ITE from the past three years is a key study resource for the ABFM exam. ITE questions will help you familiarize yourself further with ABFM-style questions and help you see your progress in subject areas. All you have to do to access recent booklets is log in to your MYABFM Portfolio. 

2. TrueLearn

Outperform on the board exam with our ABFM question bank. We have more than 1,400 ABFM practice questions aligned to the exam blueprint. Each question has a rich explanation, and you can customize quizzes to challenge yourself with low-scoring questions. 

You can download TrueLearn SmartBanks from the Apple App Store and Google Play to study on the go. Think of it as your handy dandy ABFM board prep app.

3. AAFP Review 

The American Academy of Family Medicine (AAFP) offers an intensive three-and-a-half day review program, Board Review Express, for those who prefer to review material live or in person. Or, if you’re an existing AAFP member, you can access other board review resources for free.

How to prepare for test day

There’s more to test day prep than studying—here’s what you need to know.

Build your test-taking endurance

For this long exam, practice questions are valuable tools to help augment your test-taking stamina. Check out these free Family Medicine sample questions from TrueLearn to get started.

Pencil in self-care

Strike a balance between studying and rest. Breaks are more than necessary to ensure you do your best. Try adding self-care to your weekly routine and make a habit of getting a good night’s sleep.

Complete the tutorial before

Get familiar with the ABFM exam platform by completing the Prometric tutorial before exam day. It will help you navigate the platform and give you an idea of what to expect. No surprises here!

Two-week checklist

Complete the ABFM Two-Week Test Preparation Checklist and learn the logistics of the exam, its format, and the procedures you need to follow on the day of the ABFM exam.  

Now, you know everything you need to prep for the boards! Best wishes.