ABOG Case-List Preparation: From Complete Electronic Submission to De-Identified Oral Defense
The case list is not a last-minute study document. It is an official representation of your practice and a map for oral examination. Build accuracy, recall, and defense while maintaining strict separation from PHI and Board submission.
Key takeaways
- Enter the official case list only through ABOG’s designated electronic process and follow the current Bulletin exactly.
- The list should reflect all qualifying patients for whom you had primary responsibility during the required collection period, not a curated set of favorable cases.
- Create a separate de-identified educational brief for oral practice; never upload the official list, medical records, or identifiable media to SurgiTest.
- Know each case from presentation through outcome, including complications, follow-up, and what you would change.
The official workflow comes first
- 01
Read the active Bulletin and portal instructions
Confirm the collection window, categories, definitions, deadlines, privileges, affidavit/audit requirements, and any updates for your examination year.
- 02
Capture cases prospectively
Maintain accurate records throughout the collection period rather than reconstructing a year of practice near the deadline.
- 03
Reconcile primary responsibility
Apply current ABOG definitions across hospital, surgical-center, group-practice, consultation, faculty, and shared-care settings.
- 04
Validate facts before submission
Reconcile diagnosis, procedure, gestational age, complications, pathology, outcomes, and follow-up through approved records.
- 05
Submit only through ABOG
SurgiTest has no connection to the official portal and cannot transmit or certify case-list data.
The current 2026 collection and submission dates
| Milestone | Date | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Case collection begins | July 1, 2025 | Capture all qualifying practice prospectively and apply current category rules. |
| Case collection ends | June 30, 2026 | Complete the full collection period and resolve ownership or documentation questions. |
| Standard case-list deadline | July 31, 2026 | Submit the complete electronic case list and required material through ABOG. |
| Late case-list deadline | August 31, 2026 | A late process may be available under current rules and fees; do not plan around it. |
| Examination weeks | October–December 2026 | Use only the assigned week, time, and logistics communicated by ABOG. |
Prepare command across all three sections
| Section | Cases to know deeply | Questions to rehearse |
|---|---|---|
| Obstetrics | Routine and high-risk antenatal care, labor, delivery, operative obstetrics, postpartum care, complications | Why this surveillance? Why deliver now? Why this route? How did you interpret fetal status? How did you manage hemorrhage or hypertension? |
| Gynecology | Office-to-OR episodes, procedures, benign and malignant disease, perioperative care, complications | Why operate? Why this route? What alternatives? Describe the operation. What was the pathology? What happened afterward? |
| Office Practice | Preventive care, ambulatory problems, procedures, counseling, longitudinal follow-up | What risk could not be missed? Why this test? How were results communicated? What was the follow-up and safety net? |
Create one de-identified oral brief per case
- Case code that cannot identify the patient.
- Section and subdomain tags.
- Age range, parity or reproductive context, and gestational age only at the minimum specificity needed for education.
- Presentation, acuity, relevant history, examination, studies, and decision-driving data.
- Differential, counseling, options, and patient goals.
- Treatment, delivery, procedure, or operation with indication and key steps.
- Complications, pathology, outcome, follow-up, and recurrence or surveillance.
- One hindsight question and one altered-variable complication branch.
De-identification is not deleting the patient’s name
| Category | Examples to remove |
|---|---|
| Direct identifiers | Names, initials, addresses, phone numbers, email, medical-record/account numbers, social identifiers. |
| Dates and rare chronology | Exact birth, admission, delivery, surgery, discharge, pathology, or follow-up dates; use relative timing or broad intervals. |
| Institutional identifiers | Facility names, physician names, room numbers, logos, headers, barcodes, accession numbers, or portal screenshots. |
| Images and signals | Identifiable faces, ultrasound labels, fetal-monitor labels, radiology overlays, pathology labels, embedded DICOM or photo metadata. |
| Narrative uniqueness | Occupation, geography, rare event combinations, or family details that could identify an individual when combined. |
Build a six-layer defense for each high-yield case
- 01
Presentation and problem representation
Summarize the patient, context, acuity, and central decision in under 90 seconds.
- 02
Data and differential
Know the decision-driving history, examination, studies, fetal information, and dangerous alternatives.
- 03
Counseling and choice
Explain material risks, benefits, alternatives, uncertainty, patient goals, consent, and shared decision-making.
- 04
Treatment and technique
Defend timing, location, team, route, operation/procedure, anatomy, verification, and contingency.
- 05
Complication and rescue
Know what occurred, when it was recognized, how it was treated, what was disclosed, and the outcome.
- 06
Follow-up and reflection
State pathology, recovery, surveillance, recurrence, ongoing care, and what you would change.
Prepare for accuracy review without turning study into document transfer
Resolve inconsistencies through official records and approved practice systems before the exam.
Keep any required audit documents in the official workflow; do not move them into SurgiTest.
Know the basis for primary responsibility and how shared care is represented under current rules.
Do not curate out complications or unfavorable outcomes if the official requirements include the case.
Treat list accuracy as a professional-integrity obligation, not only an examination strategy.
Use Personal Case Uploads as a rehearsal loop
- 01
Upload the de-identified educational brief
Confirm again that no PHI, official record, image label, or identifying metadata remains.
- 02
Complete the opening defense without notes
State the case, decision, and outcome concisely.
- 03
Let the examiner probe chronology and rationale
Answer why you ordered, waited, delivered, operated, referred, or followed the patient as you did.
- 04
Stress-test a complication or changed variable
Practice how the plan changes with hemorrhage, fetal deterioration, pathology, injury, sepsis, or altered patient goals.
- 05
Repair one observable defect
Repeat until the correction appears in a different case and domain.
Prepare to defend without carrying the list
Current conduct information indicates that the candidate remains in an assigned room and should not bring the case list into the exam. Recall must therefore be organized, not dependent on a binder.
Use case codes and decision maps during study, but phase out external prompts during timed rehearsal.
Practice rapid orientation when an examiner selects a less memorable case.
If an exact detail is genuinely not recalled, do not invent it; state what you remember and continue with safe reasoning.
Expect examiners to ask about complications, pathology, follow-up, and what you would do differently.
Put the framework under pressure
Rehearse the exact decisions in your own cases.
Voice-first cases, adaptive examiner follow-up, imaging, complications, and structured educational feedback for obgyn.
Questions candidates ask
Frequently asked questions
Does ABOG require an electronic case list?
Yes. ABOG states that specialty Certifying Examination case-list information must be entered online through its official process.
Can SurgiTest submit or format my official case list?
No. SurgiTest is separate from ABOG and does not submit, certify, audit, or replace official case-list material.
What may I upload for personal-case practice?
Only a newly written, fully de-identified educational summary with no PHI, exact dates, identifiers, institutional labels, identifiable media, or metadata.
Should I include complications?
Prepare every qualifying official case according to ABOG rules, including complications and outcomes. For education, complications are essential practice material because they reveal rescue and ownership.
Will I have my case list in the exam room?
Current conduct materials indicate that candidates should not bring a copy into the examination room. Practice recall and defense without notes.
Source transparency
Official references
Board requirements, dates, and candidate instructions can change. Confirm current details directly with ABOG and the Board’s candidate portal.
Continue preparing