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FAQs - ABSITE

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Program General Information

There are no scheduled breaks. During an unscheduled break, the exam time will continue to elapse.

Yes. It is a program decision to host examinees who are not currently residents. As the host, your program is responsible for ordering and paying for the non-resident's exam and receiving their results. The ABS does not accept orders or payments from individuals.

ABSITE results are made available only to the general surgery program that ordered and paid for the examination. Results are not provided to individual residents or non-resident examinees. Results should not be shared outside of the GME department.

Results will only be released once payment in full and the seating chart have been received.

The ABS will not provide a score report or transcript. Individual resident score reports are provided to the program only and are not retained as part of ABS records. It is responsibility of the program and the individual resident to retain individual score reports.

The ABS does not produce corrected copies of reports in cases where the information was either not provided or incorrectly provided on the order form. See the Cover Memo Supplemental Reports document included with your results.

The ABS does not require the ABSITE for any reason. The ABSITE is not required as part of the ABS board certification process.

No, your program can administer the exam any time during the exam window. Your program can also administer the exam in multiple sessions on the same day or over multiple days. A seating chart is required for each administration.

Yes, programs identified with a testing irregularity must administer the exam on the first day of the exam for the next three years. This includes any/all visiting residents taking the exam at your program.

ABSITE Ordering Process

The ABSITE is available only to ACGME-accredited general surgery programs. It is also made available to Canadian, osteopathic and international programs upon request. It is not available to individuals.

The ABSITE ordering process is completed via the program's portal on the ABS website.

The order form is found on the program's Status of Order page. Click on Training & Certification > For Residency & Fellowship Programs > 2022 In-Training Exams > Status of Order. Programs will be prompted to log in with their ABS credentials. The order form is pre-filled with each resident's name and clinical level, as provided by your program on the trainee roster for the current academic year.

Payment must be made by the program (not an individual trainee) in the form of a check or credit card via the ABS website. Wire or electronic transfers are not accepted.

The invoice is found on the program's Status of Order page. Click on Training & Certification > For Residency & Fellowship Programs > 2022 In-Training Exams > Status of Order. Once the order is "Submitted and Locked," the invoice will be available under Step 7: Examination Fee.

To correct information regarding a resident's name and/or clinical level on the trainee roster and ABSITE order form, you must complete the Change of Order Form

It is the general surgery program that grants the accommodation, not the ABS. Please note that an accommodation on the ABSITE does not guarantee an accommodation on the General Surgery Qualifying Examination (QE) when that time comes.

When completing the order form, you can select either 1.5x or 2x from the Accommodations field. 1.5x is time and a half for a total of 7.5 hours of exam time; 2x is double time for a total of 10 hour of exam time.

Your program can offer a nursing mother either 1.5x or 2x of exam time so that she may step out to pump.

Your program is responsible for ordering and paying for the ABSITE for all of your examinees even when taking the exam with a different program.

When completing the order form, you would select the host program from the Alternate Site of Examination drop down menu. The host program must be an ACGME-accredited general surgery program.

No. Changes made to clinical levels will not update your trainee roster with the ABS. To also correct the clinical level on the trainee roster, you must complete the Change of Order Form.

The ABS suggests using the most recently completed clinical level on the order form. This clinical level will be used for scoring. However, the clinical level at which any resident's ABSITE is scored is the ultimately the program's decision. Any change to a clinical level on the order form will not change the clinical level for that resident on your program's previously submitted trainee roster.

The program will need to provide the former name and the new name via the Change of Order Form. The program will also need to advise via the Change of Order form if this change also needs to be made on the Trainee Roster, which is separate from the order form.

No, registration codes are NOT transferable. They are unique to each examinee as it contains that examinee's name and clinical level as well as accommodations and alternate exam location information if applicable.

Programs will have two days to review the order form and make any changes before the codes are uploaded to ITS.

To request changes to an order at any point, programs must complete a Change of Order Form. A $300 change fee will be assessed for each change made once final registration codes have been posted to the testing website (e.g., if your program requests a change on one day, and then another change on the next day, this will be considered two change requests and your program will be charged $300 for both change requests, or $600 total).

A minimum of 2 business days is required for ABS to process the change and upload the change to ITS. Same-day changes will not be accepted.

Testing Website Information

All program log-in credentials are reset annually. You will receive a "Welcome" email sent directly by the exam vendor with your credentials for the current year.

The program director, program administrator, and any assistant program administrator are automatically set up as proctors and all will be sent the "Welcome" email. Examinees will not receive this email.

The program director, program administrator, and assistant program administrator have the ability to create additional proctors directly via the testing website. The Proctor Guide in the Help folder on the testing website explains the steps for creating additional proctors.

Once ABS uploads the FINAL registrations codes, these codes will be listed in the Roster on the testing website.

Questions regarding the secure browser, and all other technical questions, should be directed to ITS, the exam vendor, at 800-514-8494, +1-443-573-8399 or ABSsupport@testsys.com.

Examinee General Information

Individuals not currently in a general surgery program will need to find an ACGME-accredited general surgery program who is willing host. As the host, the program is responsible for ordering and paying for the non-resident's exam and receiving their results.

The ABSITE is available only to ACGME-accredited general surgery programs. It is also made available to osteopathic and international programs upon request. It is not available to individuals.

ABSITE results are made available only to the general surgery program that ordered and paid for the examination. Results are not provided to individual residents or non-resident examinees. Results should not be shared outside of the program's GME department.

The ABS will not provide a score report or transcript to individual examinees. Individual resident score reports are provided to the program only and are not retained as part of ABS records. It is the responsibility of the program and the individual resident to retain the PDF of the score report.

The ABS does not produce corrected copies of reports in cases where the information was either not provided or incorrectly provided on the order form. See your program, they were provided with Supplemental Reports on how to interpret the results.

There are no scheduled breaks. During an unscheduled break, the exam time will continue to elapse.

Your program will need to note this on their order form. The program can provide either 1.5x (time and a half for 7.5 total hours of exam time) or 2x (double time for 10 total hours of exam time). Note: an accommodation for the ABSITE does not guarantee an accommodation for the Qualifying Exam (QE). Accommodations on the QE must be formally requested in accordance with the ABS Examination of Persons with Disabilities policy.

Your program will need to note this on their order form. The program can provide either 1.5x (time and a half for 7.5 total hours of exam time) or 2x (double time for 10 total hours of exam time). Note: an accommodation for the ABSITE does not guarantee an accommodation for the Qualifying Exam (QE). Accommodations on the QE must be formally requested in accordance with the ABS Examination Accommodations for Lactating Mothers and Other Medical Conditions.

Your program director can help with the interpretation of results. The specific areas of weakness are identified in the summary results that you receive. The ABS does not discuss results with residents.
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