The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) is one of 24 medical specialty certification boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. ABEM certifies emergency physicians who meet its educational, professional standing, and examination standards. ABEM certification is sought and earned by emergency physicians on a voluntary basis; ABEM is not a membership association.

ABEM develops and administers an In-training Examination (ITE). It is offered annually on the last Wednesday in February to all ACGME-accredited and RCPSC-accredited Emergency Medicine residency programs for a small fee. Programs are not required to participate in this examination.

The examination targets the expected knowledge base and experience of an EM3 resident. Unlike other ABEM examinations, the ITE does not have a passing score. It is a standardized examination that residents and program faculty can use to judge an individual resident’s progress toward successful ABEM certification. There is a strong relationship between the ITE and Qualifying Examination scores. Physicians with higher ITE scores have a higher likelihood of passing the Qualifying Examination and those with lower scores have a lower likelihood of passing the Qualifying Examination.

The examination is not designed for program evaluation, and the results should not be used to compare programs or residents across programs.