Three standardized protocols
The current official overview describes three eight-item protocols completed in a 45-minute encounter with serial clinical decisions and two examiners.
Current ABU Part 2 preparation
Diagnose clearly. Operate precisely. Perform when the format changes.
Prepare for the Urology oral boards with standardized protocols, realistic OSCEs, de-identified personal-case exercises, imaging, cystoscopy, operations, complications, and structured educational feedback.
2 × 45
Current encounters
3
Oral protocols
3
OSCE stations
ABU Part 2 simulation
Urology Certifying Examination
Practice loop
Reason → Perform → Reassess
Protocol encounter
Diagnosis · Management · Follow-up
OSCE encounter
Communication · Imaging / intervention · Cystoscopy
Current public examination facts
Prepare for the current protocol-plus-OSCE architecture—not a generic oral examination.
Three distinct OSCEs
Candidates face professionalism and communication, a real-time diagnostic study or intervention, and simulated lower urinary tract cystoscopy.
Practice verification before admission
The certification pathway separately includes a six-month electronic practice log, complication narratives, peer review, and credential review.
Standardized, adjusted scoring
ABU materials describe section points, overall assessment, standardized answers, and adjustment for examiner, question, and protocol difficulty.
Sources: current ABU Certifying Examination page and current official examination overview. One 2027 handbook section retains older wording; the exam guide explains the discrepancy.
Current ABU public format
Two encounters. Three protocols. Three OSCEs. Different kinds of readiness.
The current ABU webpage describes two 45-minute encounters with different examiner teams. The updated official overview divides them into a protocol session and an OSCE session, with a short break between them.
Read the current exam guide2 × 45
Current webpage description
2 + 2
Examiners by encounter
Encounter 01 · Standardized oral protocols
Serial clinical decisions under examiner pressure
A scenario advances through independent scored items. One miss does not determine the next item, so recovery, adaptability, and current-task focus matter.
- Three Board-developed protocols
- Eight scored items per protocol
- Diagnosis, management, follow-up, and overall ability
- New information may include imaging, pathology, laboratory data, or video
Encounter 02 · Objective structured clinical examination
Observable communication, interpretation, and procedural recognition
The three OSCEs require more than spoken differential diagnosis: candidates must communicate, interpret a real-time study or intervention, and navigate simulated cystoscopy findings.
- Professionalism and communication scenario
- Real-time diagnostic study or intervention
- Simulated male lower urinary tract cystoscopy
- Observable task performance with follow-up questions
What SurgiTest trains
Match each ABU performance demand with a deliberate rehearsal loop.
Defend real-practice judgment
De-identified personal-case exercises
Reconstruct a newly written, fully de-identified case, own the original decision and complication, and adapt when one variable changes.
Answer serial protocol items
Voice-first examiner follow-up
Practice concise diagnosis, management, technical execution, complications, and follow-up while recovering cleanly after a missed item.
Interpret dynamic material
Image and study prompts
Rehearse CT, MRI, ultrasound, pathology, urodynamics, endoscopy, diagrams, video, and decision-changing data aloud.
Perform observable OSCE behaviors
Communication and procedural stations
Train disclosure, consent, conflict, diagnostic interpretation, intervention logic, cystoscopy recognition, and focused follow-up questions.
Describe urologic operations precisely
Technique-defense prompts
State selection, positioning, access, anatomy, key steps, protection, endpoint, diversion or reconstruction, bailout, and aftercare.
Rescue deterioration
Progressive instability
Manage infected obstruction, hemorrhage, urinary leak, sepsis, clot retention, Fournier gangrene, organ injury, and postoperative decline.
SurgiTest differentiator
Turn real-practice judgment into de-identified oral rehearsal—without uploading the official ABU record.
ABU verifies clinical practice through a six-month electronic log, complication narratives, peer review, and credential review. The oral examination uses Board-developed protocols and OSCEs. de-identified personal-case exercises connect those two realities as a private educational workflow—not an official submission path.
Practice a structured Urology caseStep 01
Keep the official ABU workflow separate
Complete the official workbook, Practice Breakdown, Verification Statement, Complication Narratives, peer review, and credential requirements only through ABU-authorized systems.
Step 02
Create a new de-identified educational summary
Reconstruct the clinical frame, decision-changing information, indication, alternatives, treatment, complication, outcome, and follow-up without copying official or clinical documents.
Step 03
Defend the decision aloud
Explain diagnosis, management, technique, complication ownership, follow-up, and how the plan changes when anatomy, pathology, physiology, or patient goals change.
Step 04
Repair the observable weakness
Review safety, judgment, execution, interpretation, communication, rescue, and longitudinal closure, then repeat with a meaningful variation.
The Urology answer architecture
Make judgment visible across protocols, OSCEs, procedures, and complications.
SurgiTest trains the full transition from localization and interpretation to treatment, technical execution, rescue, and longitudinal ownership.
Localize and classify
Name the organ, function, acuity, and consequence that matter now.
Frame obstruction, infection, bleeding, malignancy, trauma, functional dysfunction, reproductive goals, renal risk, and the decision that cannot wait.
Interpret selectively
Request and read only the data that changes management.
Use imaging, pathology, urodynamics, endoscopy, laboratory testing, and functional assessment to answer a specific question rather than reciting a broad workup.
Commit to treatment
Choose a primary plan and defend the alternative you are not choosing.
State timing, indication, patient selection, counseling, expected benefit, functional consequences, the main alternative, and the finding that changes the plan.
Execute visibly
Describe access, anatomy, critical steps, protection, endpoint, and bailout.
Make ureteral, vascular, bowel, nerve, continence, sexual, fertility, renal, infectious, device, and conversion safeguards explicit.
Recognize and rescue
Treat deterioration while moving toward definitive control.
Mobilize the team, stabilize in parallel, decompress or drain when needed, control bleeding or sepsis, reassess response, and escalate without defending a failing strategy.
Follow-up closes the urologic loop.
After every intervention, state the physiologic or functional response you expect, the complication you are watching for, and the surveillance, pathology, device, continence, sexual, fertility, renal, or oncologic plan that follows.
Practice cases by domain
Build breadth across disease, function, procedures, interpretation, and longitudinal care.
The matrix mirrors the breadth of public ABU topic areas without pretending to reproduce a secure blueprint or recalled examination question.
Domain 01
Prostate cancer
Risk, imaging, surveillance, surgery, radiation interfaces, recurrence, systemic disease, continence, sexual function, and survivorship.
Domain 02
Bladder & urothelial cancer
Hematuria, TURBT, intravesical therapy, muscle-invasive disease, cystectomy, diversion, upper-tract disease, and surveillance.
Domain 03
Kidney & retroperitoneum
Renal masses, nephron preservation, venous thrombus, adrenal and retroperitoneal disease, bleeding, urine leak, and renal function.
Domain 04
Stones & endourology
Infected obstruction, decompression, ureteroscopy, SWL, PCNL, access, radiation, injury, sepsis, residual stone, and prevention.
Domain 05
BPH & lower urinary tract
Symptoms, retention, renal consequences, medical therapy, TURP, enucleation, simple prostatectomy, complications, and follow-up.
Domain 06
Female & neurourology
Incontinence, prolapse, fistula, neurogenic bladder, urodynamics, upper-tract protection, reconstruction, and functional outcomes.
Domain 07
Reconstruction & trauma
Stricture, radiation injury, ureteral injury, GU trauma, tissue choice, diversion, reconstruction, recurrence, and function.
Domain 08
Andrology & infertility
Male infertility, sperm retrieval, erectile dysfunction, Peyronie disease, priapism, prosthetics, counseling, and device complications.
Domain 09
Pediatric urology
Hydronephrosis, reflux, UPJ obstruction, valves, hypospadias, cryptorchidism, torsion, congenital anomalies, and family counseling.
Domain 10
Infection & emergencies
Urosepsis, infected obstruction, Fournier gangrene, clot retention, torsion, priapism, renal failure, drainage, debridement, and escalation.
Domain 11
Transplant & renal interfaces
Transplant obstruction, leak, infection, hematuria, graft dysfunction, renal replacement, immunosuppression, and reconstruction.
Domain 12
Imaging, pathology & ethics
CT, MRI, ultrasound, nuclear imaging, video, uropathology, cystoscopy, frailty, consent, disclosure, referral, and quality.
The complete Urology library
Eleven source-grounded guides for the full preparation journey.
Each resource is independently indexable, internally linked, mobile-first, and connected to the supported structured-case practice path.
A deliberate 12-week arc
Progress from format fluency to stable performance in both encounters.
The plan develops protocol reasoning, OSCE execution, operative precision, complication rescue, breadth, and de-identified personal-practice command in parallel.
Open the complete study plan1
Weeks 1–3
Map the exam and establish a baseline
Learn the current protocol and OSCE architecture, audit the official practice-log requirements separately, and complete baseline cases across major domains.
2
Weeks 4–6
Deepen management and technique
Strengthen oncology, stones, reconstruction, voiding dysfunction, pediatric disease, operations, image interpretation, and longitudinal follow-up.
3
Weeks 7–9
Add OSCEs, complications, and personal-practice defense
Rehearse communication, diagnostic or interventional stations, cystoscopy, de-identified personal cases, changed variables, and rescue under time pressure.
4
Weeks 10–12
Simulate both encounters
Run complete protocol and OSCE blocks, repair repeated defects, verify current Raleigh logistics, and taper without changing answer frameworks.
Observable answer signals
Sound like the urologist who can diagnose, decide, perform, recover, and own the outcome.
Localize the organ, function, acuity, and consequence before listing a broad differential.
Tie every test, image, pathology finding, urodynamic result, or cystoscopic observation to a management decision.
Commit to a primary treatment and state the patient, anatomy, pathology, or physiologic finding that changes it.
Describe procedures through access, landmarks, protection, critical steps, endpoint, bailout, and postoperative priorities.
Recover after a wrong answer by accepting the new information and answering the current protocol item rather than defending the prior branch.
Close with complications, functional outcomes, pathology, device or drain plans, surveillance, prevention, and longitudinal ownership.
Candidate questions
Clear boundaries between official ABU requirements and SurgiTest educational design.
What is the current ABU Certifying Examination format?
The current ABU examination webpage describes two 45-minute encounters with different examiner teams, composed of three standardized oral protocols and three OSCEs. The ABU’s current official overview further describes three eight-item protocols completed in one 45-minute session and three OSCEs lasting about 10–13 minutes each in a second session.
Does the Urology Certifying Examination use personal cases?
The ABU evaluates clinical practice before admission through practice-log review, complication narratives, peer review, and credentialing. The oral examination itself uses Board-developed standardized protocols and OSCEs rather than candidate-selected oral cases. de-identified personal-case exercises are therefore an educational way to rehearse de-identified real-practice decisions and complications, not a substitute for the ABU log or a claim that those cases will be examined orally.
What is required for the 2027 ABU practice log?
The current 2027 electronic instructions require one physician-selected six-consecutive-month period of 160–180 days between April 1, 2025 and August 31, 2026, using the same period across all applicable practice locations. The log includes all office visits, procedures, and other billed patient services and is due September 1, with a late window through September 15.
How does ABU describe scoring?
ABU materials describe point scoring for sections within each protocol plus an overall assessment, with standardized answers and adjustment for examiner, question, and protocol difficulty. The 2026 ABU Report identifies diagnosis, management, follow-up, and overall ability as scored clinical-skill categories and describes a multifaceted Rasch and Fair Average approach. ABU does not publish a candidate-facing cut-score formula for SurgiTest to reproduce.
Does SurgiTest reproduce ABU examination questions or predict certification?
No. SurgiTest uses original educational scenarios based on public exam structure and general clinical practice. It does not solicit or reproduce secure examination content, calculate an official ABU score, predict certification, guarantee a result, or claim endorsement by the American Board of Urology.
Protocols. OSCEs. Practice judgment. One stable clinical voice.
Localize. Interpret. Decide. Perform. Reassess. Rescue.
Practice newly written de-identified personal cases and original structured scenarios aloud, perform observable OSCE tasks, and turn each miss into a specific repair.
Any personal-case exercise must be newly written and fully de-identified. SurgiTest does not accept or replace the ABU practice log, reproduce secure examination content, calculate an official score, predict certification, or claim ABU endorsement.