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He helped me prepare for my ABIM exam focusing on process and approach. We all know the information. Taking the test is a game, and Sean helped me figure out how to play it!
Kyle F.
Endocrinology board review means preparing for ABIM's Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism certification exam: up to 240 multiple-choice questions over a day of about 10 hours, with diabetes and hypoglycemia alone making up 24% of the exam (ABIM blueprint). The next sittings are Nov. 4, 2026 and Oct. 14, 2027 (ABIM).
It is not an exam to coast through. In 2025, 79% of first-time takers passed, down from 85% the year before (ABIM pass rates). Below are the blueprint, the exam day, five years of pass rates, and a review plan built for fellows and endocrinologists who are seeing patients while they study.
Exam format at a glance
| Topic | Official rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Length | About 10 hours in four sessions of up to two hours each, with 100 minutes of break time across three breaks and an optional tutorial of up to 30 minutes. | ABIM: endocrinology exam page |
| Questions | Up to 240 single-best-answer multiple-choice questions, up to 60 per session; about 40 are new questions that do not count toward the score. | ABIM: endocrinology blueprint (pdf) |
| Scoring | Pass or fail on the whole exam against an absolute standard set by the specialty board; unanswered questions are scored as incorrect. | ABIM: endocrinology exam page |
| Results | Released within three months of the last date of the exam; ABIM will rescore for a fee if you ask in writing within six months. | ABIM: endocrinology exam page |
What the endocrinology boards cover
ABIM publishes the share of a typical exam given to each content area, and reviews the blueprint every year (ABIM endocrinology blueprint).
| Content area | Share of exam |
|---|---|
| Diabetes mellitus and hypoglycemia | 24% |
| Calcium and bone disorders | 15% |
| Thyroid disorders | 15% |
| Lipids, obesity and nutrition | 12% |
| Adrenal disorders | 10% |
| Pituitary disorders | 10% |
| Female reproduction | 7% |
| Male reproduction | 7% |
Diabetes and hypoglycemia is nearly a quarter of the test, and calcium, bone and thyroid together are another 30%. Pituitary and adrenal disease are 10% each: smaller, but full of the stimulation and suppression tests that reward knowing exactly which test to order and how to read it. ABIM adds that questions can draw on general internal medicine and some adolescent medicine where it matters to endocrine practice.
Expect images and tracings, not just text. The blueprint lists continuous glucose monitoring tracings, imaging studies and patient photographs, and asks you to tell apart adrenal imaging techniques from CT and MRI to MIBG and 68-Ga-DOTATATE PET (ABIM blueprint). If you rarely read CGM downloads yourself, practise them before the exam does it for you.
How the exam day runs
The day is about 10 hours, split into four sessions of up to two hours and up to 60 questions each. You get 100 minutes of break time to divide between three breaks, and anything taken after a session comes out of that total (ABIM). About 40 of the questions are new items being tried out and do not count toward your score, and you cannot tell which ones they are (ABIM blueprint).
Answer everything: unanswered questions are scored as incorrect, and the pass or fail decision is made on the whole exam against a fixed standard set by the specialty board, not on a curve (ABIM). Reference ranges are printed in each question with a high or low flag (ABIM), so there is no value in memorizing lab ranges; there is value in knowing when a normal-range result is abnormal for the clinical setting.
Endocrinology board pass rates
ABIM's pass-rate report gives five years of first-time results for the endocrinology exam (ABIM certification pass rates):
| Year | First-time takers | Passed |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 361 | 79% |
| 2024 | 375 | 85% |
| 2023 | 347 | 82% |
| 2022 | 334 | 74% |
| 2021 | 365 | 74% |
The rate has moved between 74% and 85% over five years, which is lower than many internists expect after passing the internal medicine boards. Groups of a few hundred also swing more from year to year than the 10,000-plus who sit internal medicine, so plan as if the bar is high, whatever last year's number says.
A board review plan around clinic and call
Build the plan from the blueprint, not from what your clinic happens to see. A fellowship heavy on thyroid nodules and inpatient diabetes can leave gaps in male reproduction, lipids or metabolic bone disease, and each of those carries 7% to 15% of the exam (ABIM).
- Start with a timed baseline. One session of 60 questions at exam pace, then sort each miss into did not know it, chose the wrong one of two close answers, or ran short of time.
- Weight the weeks. Give diabetes and hypoglycemia about a quarter of your time, calcium and bone and thyroid about 15% each, and fit pituitary, adrenal and reproduction around them.
- Keep work days small. A short, timed block of questions with a capped review beats a long evening that never happens.
- Practise the media. CGM tracings, imaging and photographs take longer to read than text; time yourself on them.
- Rehearse the day. Sit at least one full four-session simulation and take ABIM's free tutorial so the interface holds no surprises (ABIM exam tutorials).
Endocrinology board tutoring
Sean Moazezi, DO, a board-certified internist, tutors endocrinology fellows and endocrinologists for this exam alongside his internal medicine board students. Sessions are one-on-one by live video (Zoom or Google Meet): you work board-style endocrine questions live and he checks how you got to each answer, which is usually where the points are lost. A scribe writes up each session and the weekly plan is set around your clinic and call schedule.
For the internal medicine exam itself, see ABIM tutoring or, after a difficult result, what to do if you failed the ABIM.