This ABFM cheat sheet strips the Family Medicine Certification Examination down to the facts examiners test most, mapped to the five official domains of care. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Pair it with the rest of your free ABFM toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
ABFM exam at a glance
- Questions: 300 single-best-answer multiple-choice (one-day exam)
- Structure: Four 95-minute sections of 75 questions each — 380 minutes of testing
- Result: Pass/fail against the ABFM Board's minimum passing scaled score
- Cost: Annual certification fee (recently about $200/year); verify in your MyABFM Portfolio
What’s on the ABFM cheat sheet
- Acute Care and Diagnosis (35%) — the largest domain — CAP antibiotics, back-pain red flags, uncomplicated UTIs, and everyday office diagnosis.
- Chronic Care Management (25%) — first-line drugs and the comorbidity-driven next step for diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.
- Emergent and Urgent Care (20%) — recognize-on-sight emergencies — anaphylaxis, STEMI, DKA, sepsis, severe asthma, and hyperkalemia.
- Preventive Care (15%) — current USPSTF screening ages and intervals, immunization anchors, and counseling points.
- Foundations of Care (5%) — sensitivity vs specificity, predictive value, likelihood ratios, and number needed to treat.
How to use it in your final week
- Front-load Acute Care and Diagnosis (35%) and Chronic Care Management (25%) — together they are 60% of the 300 questions, so master these two domains on the sheet first.
- Drill the recognize-on-sight emergencies until they are automatic: IM epinephrine for anaphylaxis, primary PCI within 90 minutes for STEMI, and the calcium-shift-remove order for severe hyperkalemia.
- Memorize the prevention numbers cold — colorectal screening from 45, mammography from 40 every two years, and low-dose CT lung screening at 50-80 with a 20 pack-year history.
- Read the sheet the morning of the test, then pace at roughly 76 seconds per item across the four 95-minute sections so the long day never rushes you.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your ABFM practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
ABFM cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the ABFM cheat sheet is 100% free to download as a PDF, with no sign-up required. It sits alongside Career Employer's free ABFM practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your whole review layer costs nothing.
It condenses the highest-yield family medicine facts into a fast reference organized by the five domains of care: Acute Care and Diagnosis, Chronic Care Management, Emergent and Urgent Care, Preventive Care, and Foundations of Care. Think first-line drugs, recognize-on-sight emergencies, and current USPSTF screening numbers — the answers the single-best-answer vignettes reward.
The Family Medicine Certification Examination is pass/fail against a minimum passing scaled score set by the ABFM Board, so there is no fixed percentage to hit. The sheet focuses on locking in the first-line answers and best-next-steps that clear that bar rather than chasing a number.
It is built from the current ABFM Family Medicine Exam Blueprint and the five domains of care, with clinical facts checked against current USPSTF and NIH guidance. Fees and policies change, so verify current amounts in your MyABFM Portfolio before applying.
Click the download button — or the preview card — at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark the page so you can find it again the week before your Prometric appointment.
References
- 1.American Board of Family Medicine. “One-Day Exam.” theabfm.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.American Board of Family Medicine. “Family Medicine Exam Blueprint.” theabfm.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.American Board of Family Medicine. “Longitudinal Assessment (FMCLA).” theabfm.org, 2026. ↑
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