Is There Gender Bias on the American Board of Surgery General Surgery Certifying Examination?

When oral examinations are administered, examiner subjectivity may possibly affect ratings, particularly when examiner severity is influenced by examinee characteristics (e.g., gender) that are independent of examinee ability. This study explored whether the ratings of the general surgery oral certifying examination (CE) of the American Board of Surgery and likelihood of passing the CE were influenced by the gender of examinees or examiners.

Data collected from examinees who attempted the general surgery CE in the 2016-2017 academic year were analyzed. There were 1341 examinees (61% male) and 216 examiners (82% male). Factorial analysis of variance and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the effect of examinee and examiner gender on CE ratings and likelihood of passing the CE.

Examinees received similar ratings and had similar likelihood of passing the CE regardless of examinee or examiner genders and different combinations of examiner gender pairs (all P values > 0.05).

These results indicate that CE ratings of examinees are not influenced by examinee or examiner gender. There was no evidence of examiner bias due to gender on the CE.