Tips for ABSITE Studying (for General Surgery)

Written by Clementine Young, MD

The ABSITE is the American Board of Surgery In-Training Exam, a 5-hour test made up of about 250 multiple choice questions. General Surgery residents take it once a year in late January to early February, and scores are translated into a percentile by post-graduate year. What follows are my personal opinions regarding studying for this exam. There are many resources available and I will only describe ones I have personally used. I do not receive any incentive from the companies mentioned.

1.     Start early – The breadth of material covered on ABSITE is insurmountable if you wait until the last month. Be kind to your future self and start in July by trying out different resources to see what works best for you. 

2.     Pick a book – I mainly use Fiser ABSITE review which I love because it has bullet points and high-yield information. When I review a topic related to a real patient and Fiser lacks the depth I need, I use a larger textbook such as Cameron’s, Sabiston’s, or Schwartz’s, which supplements my ABSITE studying.

3.     Pick a question bank – My current program requires SCORE reading and weekly quizzes. I preferred TrueLearn questions last year so I will likely be purchasing that as well. There are other question banks available, see what your program pays for and what you like best. If you do questions in “tutor” mode you can do one question at a time whenever you have a minute and immediately review the answer. Questions are a great way to solidify knowledge or identify holes in your learning. It is recommended to finish at least one entire question bank before ABSITE.

4.     Use spaced repetition to your advantage – I am a huge fan of Anki. If it has never worked for you, perhaps skip this step. Otherwise, I downloaded the “YelloW” ABSITE deck on Reddit and it has been very useful. It breaks down the Fiser book into flashcards divided by chapter.

5.     Make the most of your commute time – I love the Behind The Knife podcast. Their ABSITE review episodes are bookmarked on my phone so I can listen to them while I drive, unless my mental health requires some music that day.

6.     You are not defined by a test score. Sleep the night before the test. Put your best foot forward and move on.

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