• Andrew G Lee, Thomas A Oetting, Preston H Blomquist, Geoffrey Bradford, Susan M Culican, Carolyn Kloek, Chandrasekharan Krishnan, Andreas K Lauer, Leah Levi, Ayman Naseri, Steven E Rubin, Ingrid U Scott, Jeremiah Tao, Sonal Tuli, Martha M Wright, Darrell Wudunn, and M Bridget Zimmerman.
• Department of Ophthalmology, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA. AGLee@tmhs.org
• Ophthalmology. 2012 Oct 1;119(10):1949-53.

ObjectiveTo compare the performance on the American Board of Ophthalmology Written Qualifying Examination (WQE) with the performance on step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) and the Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program (OKAP) examination for residents in multiple residency programs.DesignComparative case series.ParticipantsFifteen residency programs with 339 total residents participated in this study. The data were extracted from the 5-year American Board of Ophthalmology report to each participating program in 2009 and included residency graduating classes from 2003 through 2007. Residents were included if data were available for the USMLE, OKAP examination in ophthalmology years 1 through 3, and the WQE score. Residents were excluded if one or more of the test scores were not available.MethodsTwo-sample t tests, logistic regression analysis, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to examine the association of the various tests (USMLE, OKAP examination year 1, OKAP examination year 2, OKAP examination year 3, and maximum OKAP examination score) as a predictor for a passing or failing grade on the WQE.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary outcome measure of this study was first time pass rate for the WQE.ResultsUsing ROC analysis, the OKAP examination taken at the third year of ophthalmology residency best predicted performance on the WQE. For the OKAP examination taken during the third year of residency, the probability of passing the WQE was at least 80% for a score of 35 or higher and at least 95% for a score of 72 or higher.ConclusionsThe OKAP examination, especially in the third year of residency, can be useful to residents to predict the likelihood of success on the high-stakes WQE examination.Copyright © 2012 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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