Your practice matters
ABOHNS says the Oral Exam now uses cases from the candidate’s practice, making accurate recall and ownership central to preparation.
Practice-based ABOHNS oral preparation
ENT Oral Boards. Defend the cases you actually treated.
Prepare for the ABOHNS Oral Exam with fully de-identified Personal Case Uploads, voice-first examiner follow-up, anatomy and image interpretation, operative communication, complication rescue, and structured feedback built for Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.
9 mo
Practice collection
10
Selected cases
2
Oral sessions
Current public format
The modern ABOHNS Oral Exam begins with your real practice.
ABOHNS currently states that candidates are examined on cases from their practice and identifies a nine-month case collection log and peer review. Detailed case and session counts below come from the Board's published transition materials, which describe the redesign as evolving. Current portal instructions always control.
Official ABOHNS assessment sourceNine-month case log
The current public assessment page identifies a nine-month case collection log and peer review as part of application and eligibility.
Selected-case defense
Published redesign materials describe ten cases selected in advance, with additional records supporting two timed oral sessions.
Current portal controls
ABOHNS describes the redesign as evolving. Candidate portal instructions and direct Board communications supersede older transition details.
Current core + published transition format
The exam is built around the practice you can defend—not a list of generic vignettes.
The practice-based redesign makes case accuracy, professional ownership, operative judgment, and complication rescue inseparable. Detailed session numbers come from ABOHNS transition materials that the Board labels evolving; the current portal always controls.
Read the source-aware exam guideStage 01
Nine-month practice collection
ABOHNS currently confirms a nine-month case collection log and peer review for Oral Exam application and eligibility.
Stage 02
Ten cases selected in advance
Published transition materials describe ten selected cases with additional medical-record information supplied for the exam.
Stage 03
Two timed oral sessions
The transition model describes two 50-minute sessions, five cases per session, and two examiners in each session.
Session counts, case categories, deadlines, and permitted materials can change. Confirm the current ABOHNS Physician Portal and direct Board communications before acting.
Personal Case Uploads
Practice the cases ABOHNS can ask you to own—without moving PHI into a study workflow.
Beginning with the September 2025 Oral Exam, ABOHNS says candidates are examined on cases from their practice. SurgiTest makes that format rehearseable with fully de-identified Personal Case Uploads, spoken follow-up, timing, and complication branches. It does not replace the official case log, peer review, or selected-case portal.
Upload only fully de-identified educational material. Never upload names, initials, medical-record numbers, exact dates, contact information, identifiable faces, unredacted records, institutional labels, or metadata that could identify a patient.
Practice-based workflow
From case log to oral defense
De-identify
Remove names, exact dates, record numbers, facial identifiers, labels, document headers, and image metadata before educational use.
Reconstruct
Build the verified presentation-to-outcome timeline with studies, pathology, treatment, complications, and follow-up.
Defend
Speak through indication, alternatives, anatomy, operation, outcome, and professional ownership while the examiner probes.
Stress-test
Change the airway, bleeding, pathology, or complication branch and repeat until the response remains safe and concise.
The personal-case arc
Practice the entire path from chart truth to complication ownership.
A practice-based oral exam tests whether the surgeon can retrieve the case, explain the judgment, describe the operation, and respond safely when the outcome is not ideal.
01 · Reconstruct
Turn the chart into a precise, de-identified clinical timeline.
Preserve what actually happened: presentation, examination, studies, pathology, treatment, complication, follow-up, and outcome—without moving identifiers into the study copy.
No PHI
Timeline truth
Ten cases
02 · Indicate
Defend why this treatment was right for this patient at that moment.
Connect the patient’s goals, airway or functional risk, imaging, pathology, alternatives, comorbidity, and practice context before describing technique.
Evidence
Alternatives
Commitment
03 · Operate
Describe anatomy, sequence, verification, and bailout like the operating surgeon.
Move from airway and positioning to exposure, critical structures, decisive maneuvers, hemostasis, reconstruction, postoperative destination, and rescue thresholds.
Landmarks
Sequence
Verification
04 · Rescue
Own the complication, stabilize first, and explain what changed.
Recognize airway, hemorrhage, orbital, neurologic, infectious, or wound deterioration; mobilize help; control the source; disclose accurately; and state what you learned.
Stabilize
Source control
Ownership
Complete ENT oral-exam library
Eleven guides. One coherent path from case log to exam day.
Every resource is independently indexable, mobile-first, source-aware, and written to answer a distinct candidate question without manufacturing certainty or duplicating thin SEO copy.
Domain-balanced preparation
Personal cases are specific. ENT judgment must remain broad.
SurgiTest keeps the major clinical and operative domains visible so personal-case mastery does not become overfitting to one fellowship, one comfortable procedure, or one favorable outcome.
Otology & Neurotology
Hearing loss, chronic ear disease, cholesteatoma, vertigo, facial nerve risk, lateral skull-base pathology, implant candidacy, operative anatomy, and postoperative rescue.
Rhinology & Anterior Skull Base
Inflammatory sinus disease, epistaxis, orbital and intracranial complications, sinonasal tumors, CSF leak, endoscopic anatomy, reconstruction, and escalation thresholds.
Laryngology, Voice, Swallowing & Airway
Vocal-fold immobility, stenosis, dysphagia, aspiration, tracheostomy, airway tumors, endoscopic and open airway procedures, and emergent oxygenation strategy.
Head & Neck Oncology
Mucosal, cutaneous, salivary, thyroid, and skull-base malignancy; staging, tissue diagnosis, multidisciplinary planning, resection, neck management, reconstruction, adjuvant therapy, and surveillance.
Endocrine & Salivary Surgery
Thyroid, parathyroid, salivary masses, nerve preservation, localization, extent of surgery, calcium and airway complications, pathology, and recurrence strategy.
Pediatric Otolaryngology
Airway, sleep-disordered breathing, congenital neck lesions, infection, hearing disease, foreign body, tonsil bleeding, family communication, and age-specific rescue.
Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Trauma, functional nasal surgery, facial nerve rehabilitation, cutaneous defects, flap selection, wound complications, aesthetic counseling, and outcome ownership.
Sleep, General ENT & Emergency Care
Sleep surgery, deep-neck infection, epistaxis, post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage, caustic or foreign-body injury, facial trauma, and rapidly changing airway risk.
Personal Case Defense
Fully de-identified rehearsal of the candidate’s own practice with chart-level command, indication, alternatives, operative sequence, complications, pathology, outcomes, and professional ownership.
What SurgiTest trains
Every capability maps to a behavior the examiner can hear.
Defend the care you delivered
Personal Case Uploads
Rehearse fully de-identified cases with the presentation, examination, imaging, pathology, operation, complication course, and outcome kept in one educational timeline.
Think aloud under pressure
Voice-first follow-up
State the diagnosis, urgency, primary plan, operative sequence, and bailout while examiner prompts expose gaps in judgment or communication.
Interpret anatomy in context
Image-aware cases
Connect endoscopy, audiology, CT, MRI, pathology, airway images, operative photographs, and anatomic risk to the next decision.
Rescue rapid deterioration
Progressive complications
Practice airway loss, hemorrhage, orbital or intracranial spread, nerve injury, leak, infection, flap compromise, and postoperative decline.
Maintain specialty breadth
Domain-balanced practice
Train otology, rhinology, airway, laryngology, oncology, endocrine, pediatrics, facial plastics, sleep, emergency care, and reconstruction.
Repair observable behavior
Structured educational feedback
Review clarity, data gathering, diagnostic reasoning, indication, technique, safety, complication management, ownership, and timing—without pretending to calculate an official ABOHNS score.
12-week arc
Move from case-log truth to calm, complete oral defense.
The curriculum layers personal-case command, specialty breadth, airway and complication rescue, timed mock sessions, and final logistics without confusing study material with the official Board process.
Open the complete study plan1
Weeks 1–3
Build chart-level command
Reconcile the case log, create fully de-identified summaries, map domains, and establish a repeatable spoken answer structure.
2
Weeks 4–6
Prepare selected-case packets
Practice indication, alternatives, anatomy, key studies, operation, pathology, complications, follow-up, and outcome for likely selected cases.
3
Weeks 7–9
Stress-test risk and rescue
Run timed personal and catalog cases with airway, bleeding, neurologic, infectious, oncologic, functional, and reconstructive complication branches.
4
Weeks 10–12
Simulate, taper, execute
Complete full mock sessions, repair recurring misses, verify current Board logistics, protect sleep and voice, and reduce last-minute novelty.
Observable answer signals
Sound like the surgeon who remembers, reasons, operates, and owns the outcome.
State the patient, problem, acuity, airway status, and immediate priority before narrating the chart.
Separate what actually occurred in the personal case from what you would change with hindsight.
Tie indication to symptoms, function, examination, imaging, pathology, alternatives, comorbidity, and patient goals.
Commit to one primary plan, then name the trigger for escalation, conversion, abort, or alternative reconstruction.
Describe the operation through exposure, critical anatomy, decisive steps, verification, hemostasis, reconstruction, and destination.
Recognize deterioration early, stabilize first, call appropriate help, control the source, disclose honestly, and own follow-up.
Candidate questions
Clear answers for a format that is still evolving.
Current Board facts are stated as current. Transition details are labeled as transition details. SurgiTest educational guidance stays separate from both.
Does the current ABOHNS Oral Exam use cases from the candidate’s own practice?
Yes. ABOHNS states that beginning with the September 2025 Oral Exam, candidates are examined on cases from their practice. A nine-month case collection log and peer review are required for application and eligibility.
How many cases are discussed in the redesigned oral format?
ABOHNS transition materials describe ten cases selected in advance, divided into two sessions of five cases. Because the Board calls the redesign an evolving process, candidates should confirm their current portal instructions.
Can I upload my personal cases to SurgiTest?
SurgiTest can be used to rehearse fully de-identified personal cases. Never upload protected health information, identifiable photographs, exact dates, record numbers, unredacted records, or metadata that could identify a patient.
Does SurgiTest replace the ABOHNS case log or peer review?
No. SurgiTest is an independent educational rehearsal platform. It does not transmit cases to ABOHNS, satisfy official case-log requirements, conduct the official peer review, or replace Board instructions.
Does SurgiTest reproduce actual ABOHNS questions or predict a passing score?
No. SurgiTest uses original educational prompts and de-identified user material. It does not reproduce secure questions, calculate an official ABOHNS score, or guarantee certification.
One personal case can expose the next repair
Reconstruct the case. Defend the operation. Rescue the complication.
SurgiTest is an independent educational platform. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by ABOHNS, does not submit the official case log or peer review, does not reproduce secure examination content, does not calculate an official score, and does not guarantee certification.
Upload only fully de-identified educational material. Never upload protected health information, identifiable faces or photographs, exact dates, record numbers, unredacted records, institutional labels, or identifying metadata.