ABS Qualifying Exam · July 29, 2026

Your boards game plan.

--days to go 
Wednesday, July 29, 2026your exam day
Start here · your week

This week, day by day

Here's exactly what your week looks like. Tap any day to open it — your morning workout comes first, then your study blocks, then you're off. Today is already open for you.

Your full month is under Your Calendar in the menu — but day to day, this is all you need.
Your game plan

How the next few weeks go

It's about four and a half weeks, full-time, built to peak right at exam day. You'll learn every topic once, then go deeper, run a full practice exam, and ease off so you walk in rested. Sundays are off and Saturdays are light — that's on purpose, not slacking.

A day in the plan

What a study day looks like

Your mornings stay yours — work out, eat, then ease in. Two focused study blocks with a real break between them, and your evenings are off. Here's the rhythm:

What you'll study with

Your tools — you already have most of them

Keep it simple. You don't need a pile of resources; you need to finish one great question bank and actually learn from it. Here's the short list:

The one thing to add: the De Virgilio "Review of Surgery" book — Martin's getting it for you. A nice bonus is Behind the Knife's free podcast for the car. Everything else (Cameron, Pestana, Osmosis, big review courses) — skip it for a sprint this short.
How to use this site

Three simple steps

1Read "Why This Works" once. Five minutes. It shows you — with the actual research — why the plan is built this way, so you can trust it and stop second-guessing.
2Each morning, find today in "This week" up top. It lays out your whole day and gives you the exact questions to do.
3Check things off as you go. Optional, but it feels good — and the Progress tab keeps track for you.
9 / 10people pass this exam on their first try. The exam is built to be passable — and this plan puts you comfortably on the right side of that number.
No guesswork

How we figured out the best way to do this

This plan isn't based on a hunch. It pulls from the research on how people actually pass medical board exams — what works, what's a waste of time, and the numbers behind it. Here's what that research says, and how your plan uses each piece.

Mon Jun 29 → Wed Jul 29

Your next few weeks

Tap any day to open your plan for that day — workout first, then your study blocks. Sundays are off. Saturdays are light. Today opens automatically.

Just once, to set up: open TrueLearn and make sure your General Surgery QE question bank is ready. On Day 1 you'll do a short timed "diagnostic" so we can see your starting point — don't worry about the score, it just tells us where to focus.
At a glance

How you're doing

Optional · only if you like numbers

Log how your questions went

After a study block, jot how many you did and how many you got right. It's optional — but it'll show you which topics need more work.

Where to focus next

Topics by how they're going

Lowest first. Anything under 60% is worth another round before exam day.

Your most-asked question

What to use — and what to skip

Good news: you're already set up. You own the two most important things, and there's only one small thing to add (I'm handling it). Here's exactly what each one is for.

Bottom line: nothing new to buy or sign up for. You have TrueLearn and SCORE, and the De Virgilio book is on its way from me. That's everything — don't let any other course or book pull your time.
What's on the exam

Where the questions come from

The top few topics are nearly half the test — so they get the most of your time.

The big day

Exam-day checklist

Tap to check off. The last two days are about rest and confidence — not cramming.

    On pacing: about 96 seconds per question. If you're stuck after a minute, flag it and move on — you can come back, and guessing never hurts you. Trust your first instinct.
    ABS Qualifying Exam · Wednesday, July 29, 2026

    Based on the ABS exam outline and published learning-science research.