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Number and Distribution of Questions on Exams
The Exam Chair decides on the target number of CE and MOC questions from each subcommittee. The key factors are the BluePrint (CE/MOC: sheets “CE BluePrint” and “MOC BluePrint” and ITE sheet “ITE BluePrint) from the prior exam and the Chair’s impression of the balance on the prior exam.
The process is a bit complicated. What the Exam Chair selects are the numbers from each of the subcommittees on row 4. However, questions from a subcommittee may have content related to other subcommittees. That is captured in B8-J19. The totals question (Major Category plus Exam/Virtual Category) are in column L, percentages in column, M.
We don’t have any rule for how a question from a subcommittee should be weighed with respect to a question from another subcommittee. Furthermore, it may vary. Oncology questions from pulmonary are real oncology questions. The basic science content in some questions from other subcommittees is pretty minor.
If the Chair thinks the exam was too short or too long, total number of questions may be changed. Generally, most people finish a little early, but some take the full time.
Bottom line is to decide if a topic was over or under represented on the prior exam, and diddle last years number a bit one way or the other.