AGA Institute Gastroenterology Training Examination® (GTE®)
The first training exam for gastroenterology programs and fellows, promoting quality and consistency across GI training.
2010 Exam Testing Window: April 1-15, 2010
Exam registration will open early Dec. 2009.
The GTE serves as an assessment tool and benchmark for both training directors and fellows. The exam's overall goal is to enhance clinical care and research by advancing quality and consistency across GI training. Training directors and fellows benefit from the exam by receiving detailed score reports allowing them to effectively gauge progress over time.
Each year, the exam is updated to include the field's most relevant topics and new treatments. The GTE has consistently performed at a high level of psychometric validity.
Benefits of the GTE to programs and fellows:
- Provides national performance averages, establishing a standard by which fellows and programs can identify areas of improvement.
- Helps in determining needed resources that can assist programs in meeting accreditation standards.
- Identifies opportunities for improving GI training.
- Establishes a valid method for measuring the progress of fellows, meeting an ACGME requirement for general competencies assessment.
Facts About the GTE
Exam Content
The GTE covers all areas of the GI tract, including the liver, colon, stomach and duodenum, esophagus, pancreas, small intestine and biliary tract. It also includes content related to systemic disorders, nutrition, literature interpretation, statistics, epidemiology and ethics.
Exam Developement
The GTE is developed by subject-matter experts who make up AGA Institute's GTE Subcommittee. The subcommittee is responsible for exam content and administration.
The subcommittee receives support from other volunteer physicians within the AGA Institute. All exam questions are subject to a multi-step review process prior to being accepted for the exam. The GTE is developed in collaboration with the University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Medical Education.
Exam Administration
The GTE is a formal, closed book exam that will only be administered online and is available to all GI felllows, including those in 4th year training programs. The 4.0 hour exam covers a broad spectrum of GI and liver topics.
The exam is administered by proctors whose objective is to aid the AGA Institute in ensuring that all examinees are tested under comparable conditions. Training directors are responsible for selecting proctors and are excluded from serving as proctors themselves. (Proctors are typically the program's Administrative Assistant or Fellowship Coordinator.) Medical professionals are excluded from serving as proctors.
Special consideration will be given to examinees with documented visual, physical, hearing or learning disabilities, which would prevent them from taking the exam under standard conditions.
Score Reports
The GTE is not pass/fail in nature. Only raw scores (number of questions answered correctly and incorrectly) will be reported, along with corresponding percentages.
After all examinees have been tested and their scores properly analyzed, full and detailed score reports will be produced; one for the training director and one for the examinee. Both will provide:
- The number of questions answered correctly and incorrectly within each content area (raw totals as well as percentages).
- Mean percent correct scores.
- Percentile rankings and stratification of scores by year of fellowship.
- National averages within all content areas.
A detailed report of the examinees' performance is included on the training directors' score report.
Score Reports to Fellows: The Score Report to fellows will allow them to compare their performance against their peers on a national level and use this information as a guide to focus their study plan.
Score Reports to Directors: Training directors will recieve a list of their examinees' individual scores and a similar breakdown of scores by content area as presented on the fellows' Score Report.
Score Reports will be mailed to training directors and fellows within 4-6 weeks of exam completion.
Score Reports are confidential and should not be distributed beyond the institution except for accreditation purposes.
More information
Exam Administration: Contact Tamara Jones at (301) 941-2659 or e-mail GTE@gastro.org.