How to Plan & Prepare to Pass Your MyEMCert

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The most significant change in emergency medicine maintenance of certification is here! In Spring 2021, ABEM went live with the new MyEMCert. This is wonderful progress, as the ABEM MyEMCert modules are much more relevant and practical to our day-to-day practice of emergency medicine.

Originally published December 2020
Updated November 2024

How can I prepare for the MyEMCert?

The simple answer is to do what you do every day: practice emergency medicine.

Much of the content that in the MyEMCert modules focuses on the frequent diagnostic and management decisions you make as an emergency medicine physician.

But if you want to eliminate worry and decrease anxiety about the MyEMCert, consider subscribing to the MyEMCert Qbank.

Before you subscribe to a resource, let’s talk more about the MyEMCert exam, the content you’ll be expected to know, when you have to take it, and how you’ll take it.

How does the new MyEMCert affect me?

ABEM created this great tool where you enter your current certification end date and it tells you the requirements to complete your maintenance of certification.

How is the MyEMCert formatted?

It is administered in modules. You’ll be required to complete 4 modules within a 5-year period.

You’ll be familiar with the format of the modules. The 50 questions are multiple-choice—the same format you’ve seen on the initial certification and in-training exams.

For now, eight modules have been released (each module has more than one version).

The MyEMCert presentation-based modules include the following:

Abdominopelvic
Abnormal vital signs and shock
Trauma and bleeding
Thoracorespiratory
Neurology
Social and behavioral health
Head and neck
Nontraumatic musculoskeletal

There are also Key Advances, which are sprinkled into each of the other modules. These are clinical policy alerts, practice advances, and suggestions from the literature.

Current Key Advance modules in the MyEMCert (linked to ABEMs synopsis) include (as of November 2024):

Let’s put this all together

You are ready to take your first module on Abdominopelvic.

Questions 1–40 are multiple-choice questions that focus on topics such as endometritis, diverticulitis, ruptured AAA, pyelonephritis, and prostatitis.

A Key Advance question on the MyEMCert may look something like this (taken from Blueprint/Rosh Review’s MyEMCert Qbank):

A 45-year-old woman with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, alcohol use disorder, cirrhosis, and hypertension presents to the ED with 3 days of fatigue and malaise. Her exam shows abdominal distension, a palpable fluid wave, and pitting edema to the bilateral lower extremities. Her home medications include lactulose, rifaximin, as-needed inhaled albuterol, inhaled ipratropium, and lisinopril. Vital signs include a BP of 100/65 mm Hg, HR of 90 bpm, T of 37.5°C, and SpO2 of 98% on room air. The patient’s initial lactic acid is 4.8 mmol/L. What is the most likely cause of her elevated lactate?

A. Carbon monoxide toxicity

B. Chronic alcohol use

C. Chronic heart failure

D. Hypovolemia

E. Sepsis

All you have to do is to select the best answer!

On ABEM’s MyEMCert, about 5-10 of the questions are case-based, meaning there will be the same clinical scenario for a set of 3-5 questions.

Tip: If you study for the MyEMCert with the Blueprint/Rosh Review MyEMCert Qbank and complete all of the questions, you can use the search engine tool to reference your previous practice exams while taking the actual exam.

Check out this demo from Adam Rosh:

What does it look like if I pass a module?

After you complete a module, a percentage score will appear along with a Pass or Fail. According to ABEM, there is no specific passing score, rather each module has its own cut score. The passing score for the MyEMCert modules is likely to be in the upper 80% to lower 90%.

What happens if I don’t pass a MyEMCert module?

The good news is if you do not pass a module on your first attempt, you can immediately retake a different version of the module (the content will be different). According to ABEM, you have three attempts to pass the module. If you do not pass after three attempts, you must retake the module the following year.

Key takeaways

The MyEMCert is a major advance for maintenance of certification in emergency medicine

Preparing for the MyEMCert modules includes doing what you do every day: reading and practicing emergency medicine

If you want to have a resource by your side or use it to prepare for the MyEMCert, consider subscribing to Blueprint/Rosh Review’s MyEMCert Qbank.

By Adam Rosh

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Adam Rosh is the founder and CEO of Rosh Review, which he created in 2011. He received his BA and MS from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He received his medical degree from Rutgers Medical School and completed his emergency medicine residency training at New York University/Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was chief resident. Dr. Rosh went on to serve as assistant residency director and residency director at Detroit Receiving Hospital.