Assessments & Exams

The KBIM program uses a suite of assessments throughout the program, including EPAs, end f rotation assessments, research and QI project deliverables, exams, and other assessments.

Exams are either formative or summative. Formative exams are used to help residents understand their strengths and weaknesses and they don't affect the resident\'s progression in the program. Summative exams are designed to ensure that the resident has achieved a certain level of knowledge required of them to progress in the program.

Formative Exams

We use the American College of Physicians In-Training Exam (ACP-ITE) which is a standardized exam used for that purpose across many Internal Medicine programs in the USA and Canada. Taking those exams is mandatory for all residents every year, except at the end of R5 where it's optional.

After the exam, residents receive a detailed performance report letting them know how they did overall and in each subspecialty. It lets each resident know their placement compared to all test takers around the world for each subspecialty.

In addition, we do a Mock OSCE, which is modeled to be identical to the actual final year OSCE in terms of structure, content areas, and marking. This is done once for all R5 residents approximately 3 months before their final exam.

Summative Exams

There are 3 summative exams which are the R1 exam, the Part 1 exam, and the Part 2 exam.

R1 and Part 1 (R2) exams

The R1 exam was introduced in the 2023/2024 academic year. It's a multiple choice questions exam administered for all residents in June of their R1 year. Passing the exam is required to move to R2. Residents who do not pass the exam will repeat the R1 year and get a second chance to pass the R1 exam.

The Part 1 KBIM exam, also known as the In-Training KBIM exam, is a multiple-choice questions exam. To enter this exam, residents need to have completed a minimum of 21 months of training. Most residents take this exam in September, at the end of their R2 year.

Residents have a total of 3 attempts to pass this exam. The exam is conducted in September and March of each year. Residents can progress from R2 to R3 even if they don't pass the exam or don't take it for any reason at the end of their R2 year. However, residents will not be able to proceed to R4 without passing this exam. Residents who fail the exam on their third attempt are dismissed from the program.

Both the R1 and the Part 1 exams cover similar topics. The approximate number of questions in each topic is provided in the table below. However, questions in the Part 1 exam are written at a higher level of difficulty.

Here is a sample of questions similar to what you might get in the exam.

Part 2 exam (R5)

The Part 2 KBIM exam also known as the final KBIM exam, consists of an MCQ component and an OSCE. To enter this exam, residents need to have completed a minimum of 52 months of training. Most residents take this exam in September at the end of their R5 year.

The Part 2 KBIM exam is developed and administered by an independent committee, which falls directly under the Exam Office in KIMS, and not under the KBIM program. More details about the final exam can be found at the Exams Office website.

While the Part 2 exam committee is independent, we communicate with the committee regularly to look for ways to strengthen our program and give our residents the best chance of succeeding in the exam.

To advocate for our residents, we also discuss the process by which the Part 2 exam is developed, validated, and the methods in which passing scores and we are confident that the Part 2 exam committee is following the highest standards of high stakes testing.

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